#threads || chanel and wren

[abdicatedarchive]

stuck with me || wren and chanel

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: hastings hospital // summer 2021.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: chanel x wren.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: car accident mention.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: chanel rushes to the hospital to see wren after the accident.

Chanel told her cabinmate Delaney to cover for her if anyone needed her for some reason. It was already late so it didn't seem likely, but she wasn't trying to get in trouble for leaving the campgrounds without any notice. The moment she read Rory's texts, she immediately started to panic. Everything was so good the night before, why did this have to happen? Rory had already explained that Wren was fine, but she couldn't stop worrying. For some awful reason it made her think of that terrible Halloween night back in high school. She couldn't lose someone else. Not again. Chanel got to the hospital as quickly as possible and ran to his room once she was told where he was, "Laurie?! Oh my god, are you okay? What happened? Rory texted me and I tried to get here as fast as possible." She was already running out of breath from all the running and rambling. If it wasn't for Rory telling her that he was fine, she probably would have been sobbing, even though she was still tearing up. It was a lot to process at once, and she wasn't great in these kinds of situations. She just hoped she wasn't making this more stressful for Wren. 

Wren was resting his eyes a little when Chanel came running in. This was the part he was worried about, all the trauma from Griffin was so real for her. Not to mention the other time Wren had to go to the hospital. It was all just a little much, and he felt so guilty. For making Rory feel guilty on accident and now Chanel being stressed out. He put his good hand on her face, "I am fine. First full day of being your boyfriend again and I'm already in the hospital though. That's tough" said Wren laughing a little. He wanted to lighten up the situation as much as he could, "but really. I'm fine. I might not be basketball fine for a while ... but I'm not worried about that right now." Wren knew he would be worried though. If he couldn't play basketball ... it would be such a huge change. His whole life revolved around the sport. Its how he made friends, how he was social. Sometimes he attributed it to why him and Chanel had started dating in the first place, even though he knew it was a lie. It was just nice to be a basketball player and to have your girlfriend cheering for you.

The dumb part of Chanel's brain focussed in a little too much on the fact that Wren called himself her boyfriend. She needed to do a lot better this second time around with him, so she wasn't going to push any kind of label on them until he was ready for that. Maybe he was, but there was more important things to talk about. That'll be a topic she brought up later, because of course Chanel would keep that in the back of her mind. Even though Rory said he was fine, she was relieved to hear him say it as well. She hoped he would recover in time for basketball season, but there was still a while before that came around again. Anyone could see how much Wren loved basketball, and it crushed her to think that it could be taken away from him. But that wouldn't happen, she was sure of it. "There's still a lot of time left, you'll be back to playing in no time." she said with a sad smile. "Is anything broken? How did this even happen? Do I need to bitch someone out? Cause you know I will, I have no problem with that." her questions kept coming in quick. Chanel tried to hold back, but she was still anxious about everything.

Lawrence hadn't given much thought when he called himself her boyfriend. A huge part of him thought it would be dumb to wait and ask. To begin it all, they had dated before. But the reality was that he had almost died, whether or not it felt like it right now, and there wasn't time to waste. Quite a foolish thing, labels, but it felt very important in the thick of things. "Yeah I just don't think I can do summer session in August" said Wren trying not to think about it too hard. How it was going to set him back. How he might not be able to use his wrist without it hurting for a long time. Quitting basketball just didn't feel like an option. But it might be the reality. "It's my fault. I was speeding and someone came in out of nowhere when I was trying to get home for a ... well an emergency. But don't tell Rory that. It's not her fault. It's just mine, I should have been more cautious" Wren rambled along, he tucked some hair behind her ear, "if you have someone to bitch out, it's me. But don't do that. I've been told by The Chanel Hampton that pretty privilege gets you out of most things" he said, laughing. But that made his whole body hurt, so he winced.

"Everything will be fine. Your coach will totally understand and you'll be back to playing in the fall." Chanel knew Wren could be really hard on himself, so she tried to stay as positive as possible. She made a little bit of an effort to not focus on him during games in the past year because of the breakup, but she always saw him as a great player. If anything, he was probably improving with every year that went by. There was no way this injury was going to take this all away from him. She remembered a few months ago how Wren mentioned that Rory was going through something, and though she didn't know what that meant exactly, she knew it was serious. "Yeah I won't say anything, promise. Is everything okay though, like with the emergency?" She wasn't going to be her usual nosy self and ask what the emergency was, but she did hope things were resolved. Chanel smiled as Wren spoke but immediately placed her hand over his good one and squeezed it gently once he winced, "She definitely knows what she's talking about, she a smart girl." she played along to lighten the mood. "Not only are you hot, but you're hurt, so bitching you out is a big no. I can get you something though, anything. I can stay the night, unless you wanna be alone. I get it." she nodded. "I totally didn't tell anyone I left camp, but Delaney's got that covered."

He just didn't know who Wren Bishop was without basketball. It had become such a huge part of his identity. Yeah he had other passions, but none like basketball. It just came so easily to him, and when he got more competitive about it he focused and trained until he could be the best. He liked being part of a team, it made him feel less alone. "Yeah, everythings okay with the emergency. I think she's grabbing coffee right now" said Wren, "she's planning on staying the night". He wasn't mad at Rory at all, but he was really worried that she was going to blame herself the same way he was blaming himself instead of the other driver. "I wouldn't be mad if you stayed. Just be careful I'm sore" he said as he shifted over in his bed a little bit. He wasn't sure what the hospital rules were, but Rory was already taking the chair. Wren's mind was rushing with the idea of him not being able to play again. At least not in college. He would always have the option to play for fun, but what if when he stopped playing he started getting worried about staying in shape again. What if his workout routines without basketball got too intense. He definitely needed to call his therapist, but he was happy with the easy fix of having Chanel next to him. "I'm really happy you're here" he whispered to her.

"That's good." Chanel said with a sad smile. She hadn't exactly talked to Rory yet since she'd been back, she sort of assumed his family hated her at this point. It was definitely all in her head, but it made sense to her. The fact that Rory thought to text her at all must have been a good sign. Chanel loved his family more than anything, and would be there for them no matter what. She perked up a bit when Wren said she could stay the night. Sleeping was always lot easier when he was by her side, she wondered if it was the same for him. As carefully as possible, Chanel got into the hospital bed and laid beside Wren. "I'll always be here." she replied sincerely. "I hate to say it, but you're kind of stuck with me now. I mean, you're totally lucky to be stuck with me of all people, but also, kind of a yikes too." she raised her shoulders and laughed. "At least I'm entertaining ... and really hot." She then took her phone out and texted Delaney that she'd be out for the night. "Are you gonna go back home when you get out of here? I don't know if taking care of crazy kids all day is really great right now." Chanel was just in her overprotective mode. Whatever Wren wanted to do was fine with her, but she still would be a little worried.

Wren smiled to himself when she said that he was stuck with her. "I think I've been stuck with you since we were five" he said with a little laugh. People didn't quit on Chanel Hampton, well that was wrong, but he wouldn't. Even with everything. He was never going to care about anyone the way that he cared about Chanel. "I'm not sure. I'll probably be back in a day or so? Just no more lifeguarding or piggy back rides for anyone" he said, feeling his wrist ache. He could do this. Wren enjoyed disciplining himself, and if he was going to get back out there he needed to do it right away. "Plus, Delaney is going to miss me in the cabin at night. She really loved tripping over my shoes this morning, and I have a reputation to uphold as obnoxious" he joked, laughing a little. His whole body hurt. He was exhausted. "Not to sound like a simp, but my mouth really hurts. Could you kiss it to make it better?" he said, wincing a little at the shitty line he had just pulled.

"That's true. I'm just so enchanting, you can't seem to stay away." Chanel said with an innocent, sweet smile. More like she couldn't seem to stay away from Wren. The thought popped into her head that she was already being annoying. Maybe Wren was being too nice, but didn't actually want Chanel over for the night. It's not like there was a lot of space anyways. But she told herself that if Wren didn't want her to stay, he'd be honest with her and say that. She needed to get better with pushing away because she assumed she was a burden on everyone. "A day?" she asked. Was that really enough time for Wren to get back to working? "You know your body, of course. But if you need more time, that's okay too." she said, trying to be as supportive as possible. She just didn't want Wren to overwork himself. Chanel successfully held back her laughter, but couldn't hold back a smile after hearing his little line at the end. She though it was cute, but she fell for practically anything Wren did. "Wow, having you been hanging out with Chase more recently?" she teased, before kissing him gently on the lips. Even after all this time, something as small as kissing Wren just never got old. "I don't wanna keep you up any later than you need to be though." she said before kissing him again. He must have been completely drained at this point, so hopefully some rest would do him some good.

The thing was, the kids needed him. The other staff needed him. He had made a commitment to camp and he was going to see it through, in whatever capacity that was. "I should be fine, I'll take it slow and make sure I'm going to all my check ups" said the boy, he was confident that he could handle this. He was Lawrence Bishop, nothing kept him down. Except those two times he was playing basketball and passed out, but that was neither here nor there. "I have been hanging out with Chase, do you think I got simp from contamination?" said Wren with a small chuckle, he knew better than to actually laugh after the last time. She kissed him again and told him to get some sleep, "I should probably do that, but I promise we can go back to late night chats when I'm better" he said as he laid his head back on the pillow. "I could honestly stay up and talk right now" said Wren, his words getting slower and his eyes closing, "we could literally talk about anything. I watched that cheer documentary this year" his words were getting slower and slower, "or the lore of the air bud franchise". Wren's eyes were completely shut, "whatever you want to talk about babe" as he fell asleep with her by his side. //END

[chase-stephens]

Full Party Thread Timeline (Chase, Olivia, Wren, Rory, Chanel, Lexi, Finnick)

The links lead to the start of where that event happened in the threads

Chase and Olivia pregame at his house (x)

Chanel and Finnick meet up before the party (x)

Wren makes Rory take him to the party (x)

Chase and Olivia arrive at the party and head to the kitchen for drinks (x)

Chase and Olivia at the top of the stairs (x)

Chase and Olivia find Wren in the crowd (x)

Olivia and Wren go outside to talk (x)

Wren and Chanel meet up on the dance floor and go outside to talk (x)

Chase ubers home to see Gabrielle (x)

Wren leaves with Valerie (x)

[lgcmanager]

SEASON 001, PART 002

** please note that if anyone drops from here on, they will not be removed from the show, simply considered npc **

On NOVEMBER 18, contestants are brought back in the studio for the first time since the first day of filming. they are instructed to sit in their initial ranking chairs. shortly after everybody is seated, bae siwoo makes his entrance. just like on october 7, he takes the time to converse with the trainees a bit before cameras officially start rolling. this time, he is accompanied by the coaches who have been teaching and monitoring the progress of the trainees during the past weeks.

after a short introduction for the camera, he moves on to the reason why everybody is gathered here; solos and positions. “we will begin with the girls!” he announces. “the choice wasn’t easy and some of you have surprised us while others have disappointed us.” those heavy words are marked by a short pause. “before we continue, do you want to hear the song?” he waits for the trainees’ reply before cuing the music and revealing the GIRL’S SOLO. after the short 30 seconds snippet, siwoo speaks again; “let’s reveal our top 3 girls...” the face of JUNG MISO appears on a wide screen; “first; number 6, jung miso. our child actress chanel jung, who’s catched the attention with her strong expression and visuals. next...” the screen splits and appears HUANG XIYU “second; number 9, huang xiyu. also known as alice, she’s the strongest dancer in the group and shows versatility with talent in singing and rapping. and last but not least...“ a third face appears on the face with them; KANG JINA. “third is kang jina. the only third year trainee of the lot. she’s definitely one of our strongest singers on the girl’s side. so who gets it? let’s see the result.” he points to the screen again and after a short moment of suspense, jung miso and huang xiyu disappear, leaving only KANG JINA. “Congratulations to kang jina! kim youngim and the trainers have noted that your skills match the solo very well. you might find a bit of challenge in the rap part, but we’ll look forward to the result.”

he gives everyone a chance to react to the announcement before all attention turns to the male trainees. “and now for the boys! before i proceed with the results, let’s make you wait a little longer by presenting the song…” he smiles mysteriously and the studio falls silent except for the 30 second preview of the BOY’S SOLO. “who will be the top three contenders?” right as he pauses, everyone can see KANG JUN’s face appear on the screens. “first; number 9, kang jun! a young trainee no doubt, but still a well-rounded competitor with high skill in singing, dancing and rapping. next is…” siwoo begins, letting the trainees see KANG YONGHWA appear on the screen with kang jun. “number 7, kang yonghwa! he’s no doubt one of the strongest dancers in this competition, but has been able to impress with his singing and performing skills. and finally…” attention is brought to the screen again, and right in the middle appears AHN JAESUN. “number 2, ahn jaesun. he’s trained the longest among everyone here and has been able to show the trainers it wasn’t in vain. a charismatic performer indeed, skilled in both singing and dancing. and now...” while everyone expects siwoo to announce the winner, a fourth face appears on the screen, shocking everyone. it’s LEE JIHO. “yes, number 10, lee jiho. trainers were supposed to choose only three contenders, but this young trainee impressed a lot as both a singer and performer. not to be underestimated. sadly, there’s no one else! while you four impressed these past weeks, only one of you can get this solo. the winner is…” there’s a deafening silence during which all eyes are glued to the screen showing the three boys. and suddenly, ahn jaesun, lee jiho and kang jun disappear. “KANG YONGHWA! congratulations. the trainers thought your image and skills fit the concept of the song very well. they hope this vocal challenge will push your limits even further. work hard, and we’ll see the results very soon.”

“while those results might be heaven for some of you and hell for others, this is not over. in a short moment you will receive lyrics distributions for the songs you’ve been practicing until now. we will reveal right away some crucial positions and final lineup. for the boys. AHN JAESUN  is named overall leader of the LEGACY BOYS and GEUM DANBI of LEGACY GIRLS. we will trust you with overseeing rehearsals and making sure every performance is up to standard. TSAI KING is named face and center of the LEGACY BOYS and HIT while YAMADA HIMEKO will be the same of LEGACY GIRLS and ADIOS. your position doesn’t end with a song; you will be front and center of promotion materials for the group. For HIT, JI HANEUL is the main vocal and AIKA WREN will have that position for ADIOS." the host then moves on to the other tracks. official groups go as follow;

MOVIE STAR

AHN JAESUN (Center and Leader)

PARK JACOB (Main Vocal)

PARK SEOJIN

TSAI KING

YOON DOWON

SIDE EFFECTS

AHN SEUNGMIN (Leader)

IM HYUNJIN (Main Vocal)

KANG YONGHWA

PARK DOHYUN (Center)

PARK VIGGO

BOOM

AHN DOHWAN (Leader)

CHOI JINYOUNG

JI HANEUL (Main Vocal)

KANG JUN

LEE JIHO (Center)

LATATA

GEUM DANBI (Leader)

JUNG MISO (Center)

LEE HARIN

PARK KYUNGA

RYU YERIN (Main Vocal)

SONG YEJIN

YAMADA HIMEKO

DALLA DALLA

AIKA WREN (Main Vocal)

BAE CHAEWON

HANG XIYU (Leader & Center)

KANG JINA

SONG AHYEON

due to the lineup changes and LINE DISTRIBUTION (BOYS & GIRLS) finally revealed, trainees are given the rest of the week to adjust. they will then head to the recording booth and film mvs for all songs. finally, on DECEMBER 22 the trainees will hold a mini concert in front of an audience of 750 people where they will perform all 7 songs. the songs will be released on DECEMBER 27 digitally and DECEMBER 30 physically. trainees will promote both main songs (HIT and ADIOS) on tv shows for a week and KANG JINA and KANG YONGHWA will each promote their respective songs the following week. we will reveal details concerning post future dreams promotions at a later date.

SCHEDULE

WEEK 1: PRACTICE

WEEK 2: RECORDING (boys from monday to thursday and girls from friday to sunday)

WEEK 3: RECORDING OF BEEP BEEP & BIRD + PRACTICE

WEEK 4: MV filming (one mv per day following this order; Hit, Adios, Movie Star, Latata, Side Effects, Dalla Dalla, Boom)

WEEK 5: Final rehearsals + Mv Filming for BEEP BEEP (Monday) and Bird (Tuesday)

DECEMBER 22: Concert @ 7PM

CONCERT SETLIST

MC 1 (Bae Siwoo)

Boom

Dalla Dalla

Side Effects

Merry & Happy (Trainee Girls)

MC 2 (Bae Siwoo)

Movie Star

Latata

Bird

Miracles In December (Trainee Boys)

MC 3 (Bae Siwoo)

BEEP BEEP

Adios

HIT

MC 4 (Bae Siwoo + All Future Dreams) - End

REQUIREMENTS

IMPORTANT: in order for your requirements to be valid, for each first post/solo posted, a READ MORE with a small INTERVIEW must be added. the interview can be just one question/answer, most likely about the thoughts or feelings of the trainee at that moment. For a thread, the interview section can also be done just once. This part has no minimum word requirement, but the number of words written in this part isn’t counted with the rest of your post (i.e; if you write a 300 words solo + 125 words for the interview, we only count 300 words). Make sure to usesthe hashtag lgc:futuredreams for everything related to this event.

PREPARATION PROCESS 2: Write a 300+ words solo or a 4 replies (minimum 8 lines) thread with another same gender trainee about a moment that could’ve been caught on camera during these upcoming 5 weeks (STARTING FROM NOVEMBER 18). REWARD: +5 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE, +4 NOTORIETY !

CONCERT: Write a 300+ words solo or a 4 replies (minimum 8 lines) thread with another same gender trainee about a moment that could’ve been caught on camera during the concert or backstage of it. REWARD: +5 POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE ANYWHERE, +5 NOTORIETY !

NOTE: this preparation process requirement is not the same as part 1! if you’ve already submitted your preparation process for part 1, you only have to pay attention to the requirements written in this post. if you haven’t, you may include the two preparation process in your submit for part 2. if you’re unsure, please contact us before submitting anything!

to validate your skill points and collect your notoriety points, please submit the following form ONCE on the points blog before DECEMBER 29, 11:59EST.

TITLE: MUSE NAME ∙ FUTURE DREAMS 001 PART 2

- PREPARATION PROCESS 2: +5 ( skill points distribution ) + 4 notoriety [ LINK ] - CONCERT: +5 ( skill points distribution ) + 5 notoriety [ LINK ]

[mollysmythtymsyllom]

Do I owe you?

So under the cut is a master list that I keep on a word doc. 

Please let me know if I am wrong with any of the threads that I have marked as posted. It is possible that I missed something or that I never got the notification.

Please don’t hesitate to chat with me in the IM and ask for the link to my last reply, an or link me to your last reply. I didn’t drop anything on purpose. 

Also if you have any questions please come and ask!  

@agentjadelance​

Will and Jade? - Drafted

@Amourpoetique

Parker and ? - Drafted

@arexyouxafraidxofxthexdark​. . .

Cassie and River - Posted

@aworldfullofmuses​

Will and Alison - Posted

@Babymccall 

Evan and Katie - Drafted

@babyvanillakisses​

Max and Amirah - Posted

@bcckmarked​

Alex and Tali - Posted

Bennett and Levi - Posted

Evan and Jessie - Posted

Harper and Lexxy - Posted

Harper and Lexxy New Years - Posted

Kendra and Jordan - Posted

Molly and Kang - Posted

@bewarelittlered

Will and Luna - Drafted

@birdofsouls

Tessa and Dinah - Posted

@Charmedidiotsrp

Nathan and Dylan - Drafted

@darling-muses

*Cory and Kimiko - Posted

Kane and Molly - Drafted

Nathan and Harmony - Drafted

@dashdasxorphans

Nathan and Tora - Posted

@demondetective

Bennett and Aleera - Posted

Max and Molly - Drafted

*Molly and Aleera - Posted

@emiliewrites

Nathan and ? - Posted

@eternalxsunshinex

Jamie and Eloise tickets - Queued

*Kane and Eloise - Drafted

Kane and Eloise thinking - Queued

@Freaks-poison

Max and Aster - Posted

@Frrightenedhhopless

Rulka and Olivia - Drafted

@gothxmcitysirens

V1 Max and Selina - Drafted

V1 Ryan and Pam - Posted

V1 Tessa and Selina - Posted

V1 WIll and Thea saved me - Posted

V1 Will and Thea big belly burger - Posted

*V1 Will and Thea Just kiss Already - Drafted

*V1 Will, Kendra, Harley and Thea - Drafted

*V1 Zach and Carrie - Drafted

V1 Zach and Thea - Drafted

V2 Cassie and Laurel - Posted

V2 Nathan and Thea Party - Drafted

V2 Nathan and Thea first date - Drafted

V2 Nathan and Thea break up? - Drafted

V3 Alex and June - Drafted

V3 Jamie and Thea meet - Drafted

V3 Jamie and Thea tickets - Drafted

V3 Kane and Selina - Drafted

@herethereismagic

Justin and Alexander - Drafted

@hugoandthaliacarella

Cole and Thalia - Drafted

@Inshayneinthemembrain

Cassie and Vaughn - Posted

@issuesbaskintheglory 

Alex and Brooke scars - Drafted

Alex and Brooke first time - Posted

Harper and Chanel - Posted

Nathan and Adriana - Drafted

Shauna and Andy text - Posted

Zach and ? - Posted

@jaimeshannon

Kendra and Jaime - Drafted

@kayaofindie

Cole and Eva - Posted

@le-jovial-pew

Dannie and Beth - Posted

@likepapertowns

Skyler and Kyle - Posted

@littlelosttotheworld

Max and ? - Posted

Quinn and ? - Posted

@megrodgers

Justin and Megan - Posted

*Harper and Megan - Posted

Quinn and Lottie - Posted

@Missmuses

Jamie and Gabby - Posted

@mistresslanyanox

Dannie and Nox Fight - Drafted

Dannie and Nox gift - Posted

Dannie and Nox sleeping - Drafted

@more2this

Bennett and Sam text - Posted

Bennett and Sam dateish - Posted

Molly and Sam Comic store - Posted

*Molly and Sam date! - Posted

@oc-values

Kendall and Dakota - Posted

Quinn and ? - Drafted

@Poeticsuccbus

Harper and Cheyenne - Posted

@popcultandlit

Dannie and Avery - Drafted

@Sexconfessionsx

Elliot and Jaxon - Posted

@sexmetalbarbii

Will and Micha - Drafted

Zach and Tatum - Drafted

@sighsandshouldershrugs 

Alex and Sara meet the parents - Posted

Alex and Sara tickets - Posted

Bennett and Sara - Posted

*Harper and Dani met the aunt - Posted

Harper and Dani fight - Posted

Harper and Dani meet - Posted

Harper and Dani Balto - Posted

Harper and Kayla - Posted

*Molly and Sara - Posted

Olivia and Sara - Posted

Ryan and Dani - Posted

Quinn and Dani - Posted

@stubbornmuses

*Jamie and Grace - Drafted

Meredith and Ashley - Posted

@stxckinoxryxuth

Zach and Venessa - Posted

@Sublimeofsins

*Will and Micah - Drafted

Zach and Tatum - Drafted

@that-awkwardrper

Cassie and Micah - Posted

*Charlotte and Toby - Posted

Kendall and Felix - Posted

Kendra and Nadia - Posted

Max and Trent - Posted

Molly and Sophia - Drafted

Nathan and ? - Posted

Ryan and Teagan - Posted

@theothermuses

Bennett and Darby

@tripletroublefisher 

Ryan and Charlie meet - Drafted

*Ryan and Charlie beginnings - Drafted

Ryan and Charlie Rough day - - Posted

Ryan and Charlie Scars - Queued

Will, Tessa and Charlie - Drafted

@velvetandberries

Tessa and Ruby - Posted

@vertigolaw

Cassie and Imogen - Drafted

*Dannie and Wren - Drafted

Evan and Imogen - Queued

Meredith and Adelaide - Queued

Meredith and Dalis - Drafted

Molly and Silver - Drafted

Olivia and Blue - Drafted

@warxpaiint

Alex and Jamie - Drafted

Bennett and Ashton - Drafted

Bennett and Emerson - Drafted

Cassie and Linclon - Drafted

Charlotte and Jamie - Drafted

Cole and Trevor - Drafted

Cory and Addison - Drafted

Dannie and Faith - Drafted

Elliot and Lyra - Drafted

Evan and Neptune - Drafted

Evelyn and Rory - Drafted

Evelyn and Logan in the car - Drafted

Evelyn and Logan in the woods - Posted

Harper and Nikolas - Drafted

Jamie and Camden - Drafted

*Jamie and Charlie - Drafted

Justin and Brody - Drafted

Kane and Serenity - Drafted

Kendall and Torah - Drafted

Kendra and Jordan - Drafted

Max and Shae - Drafted

Meredith and Kodee - Drafted

Meredith and Jordan - Drafted

Molly and Levi - Drafted

Nathan and Riley - Drafted

Olivia and Sasha - Drafted

Parker and Jace - Drafted

Quinn and Sam - Drafted

Ryan and Aiden - Drafted

Shauna and Sinead - Drafted

Tessa and Jasper - Drafted

Will and Amethyst - Drafted

Zach and Addison - Drafted

@wingsandahalo

Alex and Heather - Queued

Charlotte and Iris - Posted

Elliot and Farah - Drafted

Harper and Lux - Drafted

Justin and Hazel - Posted

Kane and Grace - Queued

Max and Verena - Queued

*Meredith and Grace - Drafted

Molly and Ava - Drafted

Olivia and Skylar - Drafted

Olivia and Skylar 2 - Posted

Parker and Zane - Drafted

Will and Eric - Drafted

@Wonder-and-wonderland

Max and Alice - Posted

Parker and Alice - Posted

@xhalfhurricane

Jamie and Maisie - Drafted

@xleialevinex

Justin and Leia - Posted

@xoxokatielou

Kendall and Katie - Posted

*Jamie and Katie - Drafted

Max and Katie - Posted

Bennett and Katie - Posted

[abdicatedarchive]

seems like we’re back folks || wren and chanel

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: camp harton // summer 2021.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: chanel x wren.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: none.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: they finally talk, communication trope be damned.

Chanel should have done this before they were working at the summer camp, but she wasn’t going to wait until after it was over either. The more she waited, the worse she felt about everything. Chanel was a very stubborn girl, and one thing she hated was admitting when she was wrong. When it came to her and Wren’s last conversation … well, she still thought he was in the wrong, but she messed up too. This wasn’t only about that though, there was another apology that was way overdue. Chanel waited until nighttime to go to Wren’s counselor room and knocked on the door. Once the door opened, she looked up at him and started speaking quickly just in case he tried to close the door on her, “I would have texted you, but I was scared you wouldn’t answer, and I really needed to talk to you. So here I am… Can I come in?”

Wren was sitting in his counselor room with Miles, just messing around with the guitars. When the boys saw Chanel, Miles immediately made a suggestive face and started to moan out Wren’s name so he could hardly hear Chanel. “Shut it Cambric” said Wren as he ushered himself and Chanel outside. “Sorry about him, he’s just … well he’s Miles. Head empty but also incredibly full. Let um… go on a walk” he said as they headed down the train around the camp grounds. “What’s going on? Are you doing okay?” asked Wren, worried about her. She wouldn’t have come to him after everything had happened unless something was really wrong. No matter what happened between them, he was always going to support her and understand her.

Chanel looked over at Miles and smiled sarcastically before flipping him off. She knew how Wren’s bandmate worked so she didn’t take him too seriously. He was harmless, for the most part. Chanel nodded and stepped aside so Wren could exit the cabin. “No, it’s fine. I’m very used to him by now.” she rolled her eyes. Chanel stopped walking after a bit and stood in front of Wren, “I’m fine. I just, I sort of have a lot to say.” Ugh why was apologizing so embarrassing? Maybe it was because her first apology was going to sound ridiculous, but she needed to say that one first. Everything after was just, really heavy. “Look, I didn’t mean what I said to you the last time we spoke. I was like, lying about you not being good at sex, and I was just trying to upset you, which I know was totally uncool, but yeah…” she trailed off before shaking her head. “But I’m not saying all of this because I only care about sex! I just don’t want you to feel bad about yourself because of something I said, you know? So I’m sorry … and you’re like, good at all of that. But more importantly sorry.”

This was a first. Chanel Hampton was apologizing before him. Wren had really held onto his stubbornness these last few weeks. Only out of spite was he able to not go running to her and say he was so sorry for what he said. “I accept your apology. Thank you” said Wren with a half hearted smile. He had a lot to apologize for, “and I’m really sorry too. You know I don’t care about your number, I’m just jealous of every guy and girl who has gotten to spend time with you. Jesse possibly getting that chance, even as a joke, it sent me spiraling about you … about myself… about what was left of us” he said earnestly. It was hard for him, knowing that she was the most beautiful girl he was ever going to be with. That he had peaked so young and felt the kind of love that he assumed only came once in a lifetime. “Do you think we’re bad for each other?” he asked as they walked, his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie.

“Yeah I know. It’s fine, really.” Chanel knew Wren had a kind heart. Ever since he was a kid, that never changed, but when they were together, she was scared that he’d grow embarrassed of being with her because of her reputation. Though she thought very highly of herself, she couldn’t help but feel like he was too good for her. “Not sure if it would make you feel any better, but you’re always my first choice. Even when you’re miles and miles away.” she said with a sad smile, thinking back on all the times she wrote up those unsent letters when he moved away. Chanel stayed silent for a moment when she heard his question. The only bad seemed to be her, or at least that’s how she viewed it. “Everything seemed great between us, until I fucked up.” she answered softly. It crushed her thinking about what could have been if she was just honest. This was it though, she needed to own up to what she’s done. “Actually, can I tell you something else?”

Wren knew that in his heart and in his head, that she was worth it. That he wanted them to work. That all this other stuff … it could pass. He guilted himself for giving up, but after everything they had been through together, he felt like such a burden. Like she only existed to watch out for him, but she never let him watch out for her. “Don’t say that. I messed up too” said Wren as he stopped walking. “You can tell me anytime thing” he said softly. He wanted to be there even if she was yelling at him, or they were having a fight they could easily work out. Wren wished that they both didn’t come with such heavy baggage sometimes. Wished that they could just be head empty and happy together like your typical prom queen and king. But they had spent prom night fighting, and here they were a year later. Nothing was different, but yet everything had changed.

Chanel stood still when Wren stopped talking, it was almost hard to look him in the eyes right now. There was so much shame in finally apologizing now, after a whole year. She knew she should have the night they broke up, but she didn’t because she was too damn stubborn. “I should have said this a long time ago, but I’m … really sorry for how I went about everything last year. There’s no excuse, I was wrong. Like, I was out of my mind for thinking I could completely hide something like that from you and act like it didn’t happen.” She was doing a good job so far holding in her tears, she didn’t want him feeling bad if she started crying. Chanel wasn’t expecting him to forgive her at this point, but this still needed to be said. “And I know I don’t talk about my issues a lot, and I never wanted you to feel like I’m pushing you out of my life. I just didn’t want to sound like some broken record.” she shook her head. “I’ve put too much on you and your family our whole lives by never leaving any of you alone.”

Wren just put his hand on her head and pulled her into his chest, resting his chin on her head. He knew there was mascara getting onto his sweatshirt, but he didn’t care. She needed him. She still needed him after all this time. Sometimes when he was angry about what happened, it was because he needed her so badly but it felt like she didn’t need him at all. “I don’t want to be left alone by you” he said quietly as he kissed the top of her head. “You’re the girl of my dreams. All of you is. I just want to be the one in yours” said the boy, holding her close. He didn’t even want to kiss her, he just wanted to hold her. This wasn’t about sex. It really had never been about sex at all. It was about two people who had everything that the other one wanted, and how easily they could hurt one another because they loved so much.

Once Wren pulled her in, Chanel suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion and started crying quietly into his chest, wrapping her arms around him tightly. She felt like such a burden sometimes, like she was so desperate for love and everyone could see it when she was around them. But it wasn’t about wanting any kind of love wherever she could find it, she wanted Wren’s love. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before, it was home to her. “Of course you are.” she said, smiling to herself. “You’ve always been, every single part of you.” Chanel looked up at him and wiped her eyes, “I wouldn’t want you any other way. You mean everything to me.”

He knew he needed to set a boundary with her now. But it was so hard to not just ignore all of it and be with her. Wren tucked her hair behind her ear, “promise to tell me when things are going on, okay? I want to be there for the bad stuff, not just you there for mine” he said as a weak smile appeared on his face. This was it. This is what he wanted, more time with Chanel. There was this pull to him to be with her, even from when they were small. To even be her friend was a gift, he wanted to spend the rest of his days protecting her.

Chanel nodded her head, “I promise.” she said softly. “But if I’m being totally annoying, you can tell me.” she immediately added in. Maybe that was stupid to say, but it always just felt like Wren would be too nice to tell her to stop, so she thought she’d shut herself up instead. She knew she had to work on this though. She needed him to know that she was not only showing her life to him, but she was also telling him too, even if it was super embarrassing to her. Chanel really wanted to get it right this time. She wanted to be a better person, not only for him but for her as well.

"I don’t know, maybe totally annoying is our thing” said Wren with a laugh. He gave her a kiss on the top of her head, “does this mean all my sweatshirts are going to go missing again?” he asked as he took her hand, rubbing his thumb up and down hers. He had a feeling this summer was going to be great. Nothing could go wrong, just camp and Chanel and good times. They might not be official, but he would be sure to make his grand declaration of love when they could get out of here for the night. He wanted it to be more special than last time.

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Wren flashed a flashlight into Chanel’s window three times from his bedroom. He hoped she was home, he waited for her to send the flashlight signal back. When it was sent, he met her in the middle of the culdesac. His heart was racing, he had to tell her.  Wren saw her approaching and she looked beautiful, it didn’t even matter what she was wearing. She looked beautiful. He had no idea that Quinton left town, or that she was even upset. “Chanel, I just need to get this off my chest. Don’t be with him. Don’t be with anyone, be with me” said Wren, feeling his heart skip a beat. “I have liked you my whole life” Wren added, “and I can’t stop thinking about you. Not now, not then. You just have to shut me down now, because I am never going to get over you unless you do” Wren thought he might pass out, he was so relieved to get it off his chest. But there was the looming rejection in his midst.

@chrysolites​

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Wren escaped the chaos of his house for a little while and headed around the cul de sac to Chanel’s house a house over. He got the key out of the place it was stored and headed inside and called out to Chanel as he went to find Chanel in the kitchen. “There’s my favorite person” he said with a laugh as he put the packages down and went up behind her while she was stirring and he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head in the crook of her neck, “It’s been a while since I got some alone time with you” he said planting a kiss on her neck before turning her around to give her a kiss. “I have some presents for you” he said in reference to the packages. There was a small mountain of gifts, he had really gone all out. But he had no idea what Chanel had gotten him, so he had just gone a little overboard. He was still going to be topped, but he didn’t even know it yet. @chrysolites​

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Wren locked his phone and went to go change out of his workout clothes and into some pajamas. He was excited Chanel was coming over, and he had a lot of nervous energy about it. He wanted to tell her tonight. But she had been drinking, so maybe it wasn’t for the best. Wren made sure his room was in order, trying to not pace around too much. He was closing up his homework when she arrived.

@chrysolites​

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Wren and Chanel were squatted down trying to put together the start of their snowman. They were almost done with the first ball, “I want this snowman to be dummy thick” joked Wren laughing a little until he slipped on an icy patch. “Oh you’re laughing at me? The Chanel Hampton is laughing at her boyfriend? The cruelty never stops” he teased as he quickly balled up snow and threw it at her. “Yeah, I’m ready to fight. Good luck babe, I’m in it to win it” said Wren, the tip of his nose burning from the cold. He went to form another snowball before he was hit in the back, “I’ve been shot!” he called out before retaliating and throwing another snowball at her. @chrysolites​

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Wren and Chanel were rollerblading down the street on a Saturday, age 9. “So you have cooties now, right?” said Wren with a laugh as he did a little jump on his skates. He was jealous that Chanel had kissed someone, and that he hadn’t yet. He thought they were going to be weirdos forever, and she was just getting all this attention at school. No one ever noticed him, only Chanel. What if she got a new best friend? His little head was already anxious. Then he slipped and fell, skinning his knee. 

@chrysolites

[abdicatedarchive]

Dinner Party at the Bishops || Wren, Chanel, Rory, Jonah

@chrysolites @missrory

Wren jumped up when he heard the doorbell ring and smoothed out his clothes before going to the door quickly, but his mother had already opened it. "Chanel Hampton, as I live and breathe" she said with a kind smile. She was happy that her son was finally together with the girl he never quite shut up about, even as a kid, but she wanted to know what this girl was like. She'd done her fair share of sleuthing online.

Chanel didn't realize how hard it was to find a family-friendly outfit in her closet until tonight. She picked out a cute pink, two piece set (she loved her two piece sets) and made sure to wear the new perfume she bought. Wren had told her to wear something new and she didn't think too much on it. Once she knocked on the door, she straightened out her skirt and took a deep breath in. She shouldn't have been so nervous, but she was. She hadn't seen them in so long so she needed to make a good impression. "Hi Chrys!" she spoke with a big smile on her face. "How have you been? How's work going?" she asked, before looking behind her to see Wren.

Jonah on the other hand was just a ball of stress. This was the first time he was ever meeting Rory's parents, the first time he was in a situation like this at all. Rory was his first and only girlfriend and though they had been seeing each other on and off for years, this news of her parent's coming to town scared him. He knocked on the door and said a little prayer in his head to the gods. Please don't mess this up. Please don't mess this up.

Chrys gave Chanel a tight hug and caught a whiff of the girl's perfume, not what she had been expecting. Wren's room smelled a particular way, and she assumed it had been the girl. She was very suspicious of all that Nana let go down here. "You've grown up so much!" she said kindly, "and work has been great, I just spent the last 3 months in the most interesting location. It was great for my writing and I really connected with the locals" said Wren's mom before Wren came over and took Chanel's hand to lead her into the living room along with his mother. "Mom, Chanel's team is heading to qualifiers soon" Wren added to the conversation, "Very exciting stuff, the teams really good".

Rory was upstairs when she heard the doorbell ring, she got up and saw Chanel at the door. Giving the girl a sweet smile she went to say hi. Wearing the scent Chanel usually wore she was hopefully not to feed any of her mother's suspicions. Then she heard the knock she ran to her fathers side as he opened the door so he wouldn't embarrass her in front of Jonah. "Hi." Rory smiled happy to see him." You must be Jonah." her father moved to the side to let boy in and fixed his glasses to get a better look at him.

Chanel hugged Chrys back with a smile on her face. She missed them a lot, they were always so kind to her when she was younger. Maybe they just felt bad for her cause her parents weren't exactly the best, but she pushed the thought out of her mind quickly. "It's must be so fun traveling everywhere! I'd love to do that someday. But I'm glad you're back, it's been so long since I've seen you both." she looked over at Wren as he grabbed her hand, and nodded once he mentioned cheer. "Oh yeah, super exciting. We won nationals last year, so hopefully we can deliver again. Wren's season just started too. You'll get to see him play, he's like, so good. The best on the team."

Wren blushed a little, "I'm not the best, it's just that no one can tell anyone on the team apart except for me" said Wren being modest. He had been working so hard to really kill it this season, he wanted to push himself. "Jonah!" said Wren going to give his buddy a good dapping up. It was nice that they were all together.

Jonah jumped a little when the door opened, but seeing Rory instantly relaxed him. She looked so beautiful. "Hi. Your hair looks really nice." he repeated back to her softly before looking over to her father. "Yes. Hello sir." he slowly put his hand out to shake her father's hand. "That's me, Jonah Keller. Nice to meet you." he said, hoping he didn't come off too awkward. Jonah smiled at Wren and dapped him up like good bros do.

Chanel smiled back at Rory and said hello. "Ooh you look so good!" she said excitedly to the girl. She turned back to Wren and nodded with wide eyes, "Oh yeah, everyone on the team looks a lot a like. Kinda confusing when you see them running around everywhere, but Wren's the tallest so you can spot him out easy. And he makes the most shots so he's totally the best." she nudged her boyfriend as she explained to Chrys. "It's a fun time."

Rory blushed as she touched her hair, she didn't know why she did that she knew it looked good but him noticing made her blush."Thank you I just got it done." She watched as her father took his hand and gave him his special handshake that's suppose to tell him everything he knows about a man. 'Chanel that outfit is everything." she complimented. Her mother making her way to greet Jonah."So this is the one huh?"she nudged Rory. 'Hello I'm Rory's mother it's nice to finally to meet you."

"I love it." Jonah said truthfully looking at Rory with a big, dorky smile on his face. He kept a smile on his face once her father shook his hand, but he was already mentally freaking out. Turning his attention to her mother, Jonah nodded his head in response, "Hello Mrs. Bishop. It's nice to meet you too." he spoke politely. "Thank you for inviting me tonight." It was nice to be around an actual family, it felt comforting.

Nana came in and pinched her son on the cheeks, "Oh my sweet baby boy is here, I am so happy to have all my favorite people in one place" she said looking around the room. "We have some good southern food, but also a little bit of savory kugel to keep with the Hanukah spirit" Nana announced to the room. "If y'all will join us in the dining room"

Chanel looked down at her outfit and smiled big at Rory, "Oh my god, thanks hun!" she said before Nana came in. She walked to the dining room with Wren and took a seat next to him as everyone was sitting down.

When Nana came in the attention went to her, both Rory and her Mother rolled their eyes at the interaction between him and his mother. "Yes let's go and get to know each other." Her mother said happily as she began to walk. Rory took Jonah's hand and followed suit. Sitting across from Wren and Chanel so they could silently communicate. Her hand still holding Jonah's under the table.

Alex was in blissful ignorance, he was just super happy to be home. He honestly did not even notice his wife or daughter roll their eyes, everybody loves Nana. They were all seated, "So, Jonah ... Chanel. What are your plans for college?" he asked as they started to pass food around. Chrys keeping a watchful eye on Wren's plate. They had been watching him like hawks the whole time they had been home.

Jonah smiled to himself once everyone was seated and he still had Rory's hand in his. The question shouldn't have really came as a surprise, but it did. College was honestly something Jonah didn't think about too much. He was too busy thinking about what was going to happen once he turned eighteen. His foster parent's were super sweet and he hoped they would actually adopt him and his brother one day but that wasn't certain. If they didn't, he'd have to move out and live on his own. He needed to make sure he had enough money. "College?" he asked, trying to come up with some kind of answer that was good enough. "I would like to be a writer." he said. "So hopefully if I have the money I'll be able to go to college and see that through." he answered, regretting how much he said.

Chanel looked over at Wren and Rory's parents and smiled, she also was little stuck when it came to the topic of college, but for different reasons. She just simply didn't know what she wanted to do. "I keep going back and forth with what I want to study. I wanna make sure it's what I love, you know?" she tilted her head to the side, "But I've sort of been thinking about culinary school. I've suddenly got this passion for cooking. Who would've thought!" she said, leaving out the part where she was sort of forced into cooking for herself back at home. Luckily she actually started to enjoy it, but she hadn't talked to Wren about her plans of culinary school. It wasn't for certain.

''Oooh A writer and a possible chef in the family hun, we could be so lucky." Chrys nudged her husband."Mom please." Rory whined. She could see the wheels in her moms head turning and planning their whole life together. "Oh hush, ignore her she's cranky." Chrys never let her smile falter. "Would you guys like wine? or tea to go with this delicious food." Rory gave Wren a what is she doing look before shaking her head and putting food on her and Jonah's plate.

Wren moved his hand to Chanel's knee and looked up at her and gave her a look that said please dear god do not fall for it. He prayed that Rory shot Jonah the same look, and he returned his gaze to Rory. "Nana the food is delicious" said Wren as he picked at what was on his plate, taking a big bite for everyone to see.

Chanel knew what was up. Her own parents would have asked the same question, but they would be serious about it. Or at least her mother would have. But Chanel knew not everyone was like her parents. "Oh I don't drink, but thank you for the offer. Tea for me please!" she said casually. She looked over as Wren took a bite and smiled. Jonah nodded his head in agreement with Chanel, "No thank you. I'll have tea as well." he smiled as he looked down at the food. "It does look delicious." he said before taking a bite.

'Tea it is." Chrys said getting up. Rory was relieved but that lasted a few seconds as Alex decided to speak."So how did these friendships." he did air quotes. "Happen. I want all the deets. I'm saying that right or is it tea, never mind I want the tea guys." he fixed his glasses as nana and Chrys came back with tea and more food.

"Dad" said Wren with a laugh, what a quirky man. Him and his sweaters. Wren smiled at the question though, "I thought Wren and Chanel were going to date when he moved here" said Nana, "and I thought those two were going to get back together. But it seems ... the Bishop children are a little slow paced" Nana added as she tried to put more food on Wren's plate from her seat. Wren shook his head to the food, "Hey now, it's not that we're slow. It's that we like to wait for the right moments" said the boy as he defended the fact that they were both total weenies.

"Look at my little baby of course she was smitten, look at that face." Chrys smiled pointing her fork at Wren. "Rory is absolutely stunning no way he could stay away from my sweetness." Rory shook her head at the comments that were being made." We had to do it with style, you know unforgettable moments?" she wasn't wrong the hoops they had to deal with wouldn't be forgotten anytime soon.

Chanel laughed along with Wren as Alex spoke. He hadn't changed one bit. "He is a cutie." she said with a single nod. "I was a little slow though. Guess I just thought he saw me as just a friend, but I feel really lucky. He's been nothing but sweet to me." she spoke truthfully. "I mean, he's always been sweet to me but he's an amazing boyfriend! Best I've ever had." she let the last comment slip and quickly took a bite from the food. Hopefully they didn't think too hard on that. Jonah looked over at Chanel, feeling nervous for her. "Huh? Oh yeah, Rory's amazing. She was one of my first friends when I got moved out here. I-I guess I was just too nervous to ask at first." he said, keeping out obvious details as to why they just started dating again. "She's incredible. I'm really happy I met her."

Wren smiled when Chanel said he was the best boyfriend she had ever had. It made him feel really good about himself. "Oh, so the Rorster made the first move? That's my girl" said Alex with some pride. He had raised a headstrong daughter, he could not exactly say the same about his son. They were all looking at Wren picking at his food, he had eaten a fair amount for him. "Wrennie, do you want seconds?" asked Chrys with the sweetest smile, "You had a big practice earlier" she added. She looked over to Rory for a little support. "I ate a late lunch, but I'm gonna go refill the water pitcher" said Wren as he got up from the table and went to the kitchen with the water pitcher to avoid having to talk more about his food. "Chrys" said Alex sternly, "We're not doing this right now, we have guests" he said quietly.

"Babe." Rory smiled at Jonah, before groaning internally at the nickname he let slip. Rory had also been watching how he would handle the food. She looked over at her mother then dad before speaking."We were pigging out at the salon, I don't even know how I'm making it through this first place." she lied. "See leave the boy alone." her father spoke waiting for Wren to come back." So are we in love or just infatuated?" he asked trying to put on his serious voice.

Chanel kept quiet once Wren left the room, she didn't know what to say. She didn't like to bring up that subject to Wren, she didn't want to upset him if everything was okay. Chanel believed what Rory was saying and tried to think positively on the situation. 

Jonah smiled at Rory once she said babe, but actively chose not to look at any adults in the eye. At least not right now. He started to become incredibly confused when Wren left and it seemed like he was the only one that felt that way. He just sat and awkwardly continued to eat the food before Alex asked that question. He could tell his face was heating up as he chewed on his food. He had just told Rory he loved her at the ski trip, but was he supposed to say it out loud right now? "I-I-I... Yes." he answered, completely flustered. Idiot! 

Chanel looked over at the parents and stayed quiet for a moment, "Love? Oh, we... we haven't... I mean I really like him, of course. But yeah, ya know?" she let out a forced laugh.

Wren came in at what felt like the worst time, Jonah was clearly flustered. Chanel was word vomitting about how they hadn't said that yet, "Chanel and I have only been dating like two weeks" said Wren as he put the water pitcher back down on the table and poured himself a glass. Why did his dad have to ask this right now? "Wow, these are some exciting developments" said Chrys as she took a sip of her wine. Jonah and Rory had said I love you, this was ... interesting information. She wondered why she had not heard more about this already. Wren ate some more of his food to please everybody at the table and put his hand under the table to hold hands with Chanel and smiled at her. Nana thought about how excited she was for a nightcap at the end of all of this, a stiff drink seemed very much in order.

Rory sighed eating some more food on her plate. She had lied about eating and she was starving but she knew if she ate too much her mother would catch on. She could already see the conversation about how she didn't tell her about being in love.  "May I ask about your parents? What are they like? Where are they from? Is a family dinner with all of us in a future  I make a delicious lasagna." Chrys prided. " she does, its what she made for the first date and I was hooked. I knew I was going to marry her then."

The mention of parents instantly made his stomach knot up. He hated bringing the mood down with his problems, but he wasn't even sure what to say. "P-Parents?" he repeated back, feeling pressure on his chest. "Uh right yeah, so Corey and Melissa are really nice. My... my foster parents." he specified, the words just kind of came out. It felt wrong to call them his parents. Jesse had already started calling them mom and dad, and he had been here less than Jonah. He wished he was that comfortable to call them that, but it still felt weird. "I'm um, not exactly sure where they're from... but Corey is the principal of the school and Melissa is a therapist. They've been amazing the whole time, I'm very grateful for them." he said truthfully, trying his best to make eye contact with everyone at the table. 

Chanel also wasn't too excited to bring up her parents. Chrys and Alex knew her parents already, but she didn't exactly want to talk about them. There wasn't anything good to talk about. "Oh they're doing good. Mom and dad are the same." she lied. More like a half-lie. They pretty much were the same, but things had been very different. "I'm sure my mom would love to see you guys again." she forced a smile on her face, hoping they wouldn't bump into each other while Chrys and Alex were in town.

Chrys and Alex felt instantly bad for what they had asked when Jonah was answering. "Well, your foster parents sound lovely" said Chrys kindly. No one was going to ask any more details from Jonah, they had clearly taken the conversation in the wrong direction. They had no clue. He seemed well adjusted though, clearly he had been through a lot, but he didn't show it too much. Luckily Chanel came in with the distract, "Well, any time your parents want to come by there are welcome here. They've always been excellent company" said Alex in response, was it necessarily true? Not exactly, but they had no idea about the ongoings of the town right now. It hadn't been something Wren had mentioned in their phone calls. "Jonah is an excellent writer, mom" said Wren, "the school paper is great, and it's all thanks to him" Wren added to gas up his pal.

Rory sighed pushing her plate looking at her parents. She knew they meant well they usually did but sometimes they missed the ball. "Mmhmm I have a few issues upstairs if you want to take a look."She was sure her mother had been through every nook and crannie to see what she was up to maybe she read one of the papers. "Chanel is killing it as a cheerleader and with Wren they are the ultimate power couple." Rory said proudly  making herself aware that she didn't participate in any school activities and if she caught on. Her parents were already planning a speech of being more social in their head.

Jonah awkwardly laughed and waved his hands from side to side, "I wouldn't say excellent." he shook his head. "Oh but thank you." he corrected himself. Jonah appreciated the compliment, but he never viewed himself as a great enough writer. It's why he put himself as an editor for the school paper. "I'm more of an editor, but I write up some issues every now and then." he explained to Chrys and Alex with a small smile on his face. "But I mean if we're talking about talent, Rory is the best at designing clothes! I wish I could do that. She's so creative, but I'm sure you all know that already." he said, more relaxed. He could gush about Rory all day. 

Chanel nodded her head and continued to eat, "I'll let them know." Another lie. She did not want her mother embarrassing her, she'd already done enough of that. She then smiled at Rory once the girl complimented her, "Aw thanks!" she said cheerfully. "You and Jonah are super cute though. Just a bunch of power couples here." she said, hyping up Rory. If Rory was into Jonah, he must be great.

"Mom, I showed you that jacket that Rory made me the other day. That's just the tip of the iceberg" said Wren thinking about the dope jacket that she had made. Rory was so talented. Sure, Wren had a full resume of high school experiences but Rosy was just so talented in something that could actually be used beyond a resume. "Well, I'm glad you all get along so well, happy that the twins still have such a good bond" said Chrys extending her hand to squeeze Alex's. Nana smiled, "They've really taken well to returning to White Lake" she said confidently. She felt like she was doing a good job, and proud of herself that two very successful parties had been thrown here with no one going to the hospital, thank the Lord himself.

For the most part they were right on the outside it looked like they were striving and adjusting well. "Of course the only time we fight is when he eats my  food that he knew I was saving for later.' Rory sighed dramatically. Chrys nodded happy to hear Wren being associated with food. " It's a Bishop man thing your father does that to me also. You got to be quick dear." She smiled. "So what plans do you have for the winter vacation? Or any hopping parties that are happening?" Alex sat back proud of his lingo even though his daughter looked less impressed.

Chanel wasn't sure if she was doing anything with her parents for Christmas. It was one of few holidays they sort of celebrated together, and that was only because it involved gifts, and Chanel's mom loved gifts. "You know my parents, they love to live in the now." she said, putting it nicely. "I'm not exactly sure what we'll be doing, but I do love a good party." she said without too much thought. Hopefully they wouldn't think she's some kind of crazy party girl, even though she sort of was. 

"Corey and Melissa like to go all out for the holidays. The kids really love it." Jonah explained with a small smile on his face. This was also going to be the first Christmas in a while that he was spending with Jesse. "I'm sure they have a bunch of family stuff planned for Christmas day." He then turned to Rory, "I'm sure they'd love if you came over during the break. They've been asking about you like crazy these past few days."

Chrys and Alex knew that Chanel was putting it very kindly that her parents were the flakiest people of all time. They had had their fair share of cancelled plans with the Hamptons. "Yeah the Hampton's big Christmas party" said Nana, going in for that fun correction so that Chanel could save a little face, "I go every year" because Nana also liked to have a good time. "How many kids are your parents fostering?" asked Chrys as she took another bite of food. Alex also turned to Jonah, very interested in his living situation.

Rory nodded, she didn't know what to say and if she didn't say anything then she  couldn't incriminate herself or anyone else. "Have they?" She was a little surprised. "Whenever you want me to come over I'm there. " she smiled before scanning the room, everyone was almost  finished eating and if she knew her parent's that meant they would separate them and talk to them privates.

Chanel looked over and nodded her head, "Yep. It's always a fun time when you're around." she responded to Nana, giving her a face to show she was grateful for the comment. It was always so hard to make her parents look good. 

Jonah was pretty much finishing up his meal when he got asked about Corey and Melissa. "The number changes every now and then, depending on if someone get adopted." he started to explain. "Jesse and I, oh my brother, we're the oldest. But there's always a pretty big group of kids there. Kinda feels like Cheaper by the Dozen." he chuckled. This house was the best one he had been in so far. He nodded his head at Rory, "You can come over sometime this week?" he suggested.

Wren was also nervous about everyone being separated and talked to, so he devised a plan for himself. "Chanel will you help me clear the table?" he asked as he started picking up plates for people and heading to the kitchen with a stack. Chrys corrected him, "Chanel's a guest" she instructed her son. "Mom, she eats here like 3 times a week. She's basically family" he said, he almost let it slip that it was like she lived here. She had been basically for weeks. There was a ton of her stuff that he had just dropped off at her house before his parents got home. Chrys allowed the two to head off to the kitchen with plates to start cleaning. Wren put the plates down and gave her a quick kiss, "You look really pretty tonight, I meant to tell you that earlier. Sorry my parents are ... well them" he said looking down at her.

"No problem, im Christmas shopping Monday and mom daughter day is Wednesday so any other day works." She glared at Wren when he took her idea. Rory couldn't think of anything else they could do. "Do you want to get some fresh air before my dad and you have a talk?" Rory said getting up. " Be back in 10 minutes." Chrys stated and keep the backporch light on." She wasn't sure if Jonah and Rory had started having sex but she wasn't going to take any chances

Chanel nodded her head instantly, she was already so used to helping with the dishes, "Don't worry! I don't mind help out at all." she said with a sweet smile on her face. Once she set the dishes down, Chanel got on her toes as she kissed Wren, "Yeah? I haven't worn this in like, forever! Forgot I had it. Wish you could take it off of me." she spoke quietly before giving him a wink. "What's to apologize for? They're great. Everything good with you?" she asked, trying to make it casual as she referred to him leaving for a bit when his eating became a subject at the table. 

"Maybe Friday?" Jonah asked before he got up from the seat, "Uh yeah." he smiled and walked outside with Rory. By the time they were outside, he let out a sigh of relief. "Oh god, I feel all shaky. Do I look shaky? Are my palms sweaty? Sorry that's a weird question. I just hope I'm doing fine." he rambled as he paced a bit back and forth. "Do you think they like me? Or, oh shit, do you think they hate me? Don't answer that. Wait no, maybe you should. Be honest."

Wren wanted to take the outfit off her too, he preferred their casual dinners with Nana where they weren't stuck at the table for so long. He put his hand on her waist but didn't say anything, he knew once he opened that door it would be impossible to shut and his parents were in the next room. But then, then she asked about how he was doing. She totally meant the food thing and the little outburst at the table about seconds, and who knows what his parents said when he was refilling the water. "I could be better" he said, moving her against the fridge and kissing her more deeply and moving his hand down from her waist onto her ass. It was a fool proof way to keep Chanel distracted from whatever his parents had said about food at dinner.

Rory watched him as he started rambling, he had done so well at the dinner table she was sure he was nervous on the inside but he hid it so well. She took his hand and pulled him closer to  her,fixing his hair. " I love you and my parents adore you and you look so good tonight." She wrapped her arms around him. "You're doing amazing babe,really." She kissed him softly. Jonah was a good guy and she was sure her parents saw that. " I hope they haven't made you uncomfortable in any way?"

Wren knew Chanel too well. She'd take any opportunity to get a little physical and this was no exception. She smiled against his lips as he began to kiss her, moving his hand down her ass and up her skirt. Once she got started, she didn't exactly know where to draw the line. She wasn't thinking about how they were literally in an open kitchen with his family in the next room. 

Jonah blinked a couple times as Rory pulled him closer to fix up his hair. "I love you too." he said with a genuine smile, practically forgetting everything he was thinking about before. Jonah just wanted to make a good impression, this was such a big deal for him. He couldn't mess this up. Hearing Rory's reassurance did help though, he trusted her. If she felt like he was doing a good job, then he'd take her word. Jonah kissed Rory back before shaking his head at her question. "No, I like them." he answered. The only question that caught him off guard was about his parents but that answer was bound to be a little awkward. It shouldn't have even surprised him. "Your dad's pretty funny." he said with a smile.

"Chanel Hampton, the things I am going to do to you later" whispered Wren into her ear as he moved down to kiss on her neck. A few moments later Nana came in and Wren immediately removed his hands from Chanel and went over to the kitchen island, "Nana, hi" he said with a deer in the headlights look. "You two better keep it together, your mother is nothing like she was when they were young. She's forgotten, so keep your hands to yourselves" she warned. Chrys walked into the kitchen, "Keeping our hands to ourselves?" she teased almost. "Mom, it was just a kiss. Nana's just making sure we're not grossing anyone out" Wren lied.

It was nice to have a minute alone with him, she was on edge hoping her parents didn't totally embarrass her, or catch him up with a question that would land them in hot water. Jonah was doing an amazing job with her parents, and they seem to like them so it seemed like the hard part was over. She let her lips touch his once more." Aww young love." Alex interrupted clasping his hands over his chest. "Is it really love or lust, They may mirror each other sometimes." He said." i know i have to..what do kids say curve the ladies." he said with a corny smile.

Chanel quickly straightened her skirt out and stepped away from Wren, unsure of what to say. All she did was nod at Nana in response. She had known Wren's parents since she was young, but a lot has changed, she's changed. She didn't want them to hate her. Chrys's voice made her jump a bit. "Yep. Uh, oh right! I should finish cleaning these dishes." she quickly said as she turned around to the dishes they placed on the counter. 

Jonah kissed Rory back before instantly turning his attention to Mr. Bishop as he came by. "Lust? Nonono. Just... love." he said awkwardly. He of course did really love Rory, but he wasn't sure if talking about love the first day he met her parents was right. Was there even a right answer to any of this? Jonah chuckled and nodded his head, "Ah right. It's that winning personality of yours, can't be beat." Maybe complimenting was the right answer.

Wren was deeply uncomfortable to say the least, and he was hiding the most poorly timed boner behind the kitchen island. "Oh Chanel, you don't have to do the dishes, we can just hangout" said Chrys, "I'm still fun old Chryssie" she said with a smile that was all too kind. She was trying way too hard, "Nana and Wren would love to do the dishes, wouldn't you two?" she asked. "Wren would love to do the dishes, of course" said Nana as she was poured herself some whiskey and sat down, "My old bones, ya know" Nana joked and Wren laughed. He felt bad that Chanel was about to be whisked away. 

 Chrys took Chanel on her arm and led her to the living room, "So Chanel, that instagram of yours" said Wren's mother, "you're such a pretty girl" she said. She meant it as a compliment, but it all came off as vaguely threatening.

Alex nodded," Good love is always better." He said proudly before looking over at his daughter and smiled. " I'm going to let you in on a little secret." He paused and Rory had already started rolling her eyes. " sweater vest, woman love them. Got one for everyday and my wife loves every single one of them." He boasted and rory rolled her eyes again. " im going to go help nana." She excused herself after kissing jonah's cheek.

Chanel smiled back at Chrys, her wanting to hangout must be a good sign. "Sounds good to me." she said, trying to move on from what just happened. It wasn't like his mom actually saw anything. As she walked to the living room, her smile slowly faded. "My instagram?" she asked softly. This was definitely not what she wanted to talk about with her boyfriend's mom. Yeah, she showed a lot, but she was Chanel. Of course she would. "Uh, thank you." she said, forcing the smile back on her face. "That's very nice of you to say."

Jonah relaxed a bit when he got the response he was given. He was doing good. Once Mr. Bishop said he had a secret, Jonah raised a brow, unsure of where this was going. He hadn't even noticed Rory rolling her eyes. "Oh wow, very fashionable." he said with a small smile. Jonah did like this man. He was a goober, in the best possible. "I'll have to make a mental note. Guess you'll be seeing me some sweater vests." he turned to Rory, but that was a lie. He was not going to do that. "O-Okay, yeah. See you soon." he smiled before looking over at Mr. Bishop, the nerves kicking back in. "Um, thank you for inviting me." he said automatically, even though there was a good chance he had already said that. He couldn't remember in this moment.

Chrys was being kind, and Chanel was a beautiful girl .. but there was something to be worried about. "I'm just concerned what colleges are going to think, no shaming or whatever. I'm just saying ... those archaic bastards are not exactly empowering" said Chrys. There was a reason she had chosen writing instead of teaching. 

Wren was doing dishes when Rory came in, "Guess we both have to do dishes. I tried my best to get you out of it" said Wren laughing as he tossed her the dish rag to be on drying duty. "So did Dad catch you too? Because Nana had the delight" he joked.

"Don't worry She'll never admit it but she gets her fashion sense from me." He stood in front of the younger man. "I wanted to have a little chat." Alex said not really sure how to do the questioning thing. "I see that you love my daughter and I know she loves you, but are you both past the problems that caused your previous breakup?"

"We were just kissing, no grinding." She smiled. " You lucky it was mom, I can see her now. Oh Lawrence what is going on here..then 2 hours about the birds, bees and everything in-between."

Chanel crossed her arms around her chest, feeling uncomfortable in the outfit she was wearing. Maybe this was even too revealing. Chrys and Alex must have already talked about her before she came, they must feel so disappointed in Wren for being with her. "I didn't really think of that..." she spoke softly. "I guess I do some things without really thinking it through." she shrugged, feeling embarrassed just talking about this. "I must get that from my mom." the words came out before she could stop it. She hated thinking about any kind of similarities between her and her mom, and she did not want to talk about her mom with Chrys, so she simply tried laughing it off.

Jonah's eyes widened a bit but tried to keep his composure. He wasn't expecting Rory's father to bring up their previous breakup, he wasn't even sure how much he knew. Thinking about it made his heart start to race. He just hoped he didn't look as nervous as he felt, "Um yeah, y-yes." he corrected himself. "We're... uh, we're working on our communication." he tried to explain. "I was really in my head about our relationship, but I'm just like that." he tapped his forehead, trying to laugh it off. "We're doing really good. Yeah."

Chrys and Alex had most definitely talked about Chanel before she came over, and they had been keeping up with her through the years online. How could they not? They worried about her, her parents were not exactly inspiring role models. They wanted to see Chanel succeed. "Well, we don't need to talk about your mother. We can just talk about Wren" said Chrys taking a deep breath, changing out one hard conversation for a harder one, "How much had Wren told you about his recovery?" she asked, doing her best to pry in an unrevealing way. It was not working that well, but at least she didn't ask outright how much Chanel saw him eat or when. She was deeply worried about him, especially getting into a relationship which could be another stressor.

"I think she might be giving Chanel the birds and the bees talk right now" said Wren, his heart rate picking up. "I love having them here, but why are we doing this? This is so stressful. They're being interviewed. We're not some book mom is going to write or some seminar that dad is going to teach for gods sake" Wren added with a laugh. Their parents were well meaning but also absolutely ridiculous sometimes.

Alex nodded as he listened. He knew his children and he knew them well they both developed a habit of keeping everything to themselves or just between them. Must be a twin thing because he always talked about everything to his mother and Chrys. "I'm glad that's very important. And are you to intimate? Like having sex?" he threw the question in there like his wife asked him to.  He hoped his angel was still pure, most girls didn't stay virgins this long but she had, 

"I could see the title now. How to relate to your teenage twins, school, clothes and sex." Rory grabbed a rag and dried a few of the dishes." I have no idea what dad could be saying, you know he tried to make sweater vest cool." she couldn't belover her father sometimes, she just wantedvto hang out, eat and make out maybe.

"Dad just doesn't understand that we are a turtleneck family" said Wren with a laugh, he did enjoy a good turtleneck. "We should go check their room for a manuscript. I really wouldn't put it past mom at all" said the boy as they finished up the last of the dishes, "Shall we... go snoop?" he asked with a grin and a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"Our heights and length of our necks make us look so sophisticated. "  she raised her brow with a devious smile. "Yes and they left their phones upstairs, we can see what they've been up to." she folded the rag and put in the counter confident they won't get caught.

Chanel almost sighed from relief once Chrys said that they could just talk about Wren instead, but then she heard the question and it felt like a punch to the gut. She couldn't catch a break. "His recovery?" she asked back, only to get more time to answer the question. Chanel didn't know how to answer this. The past few times she wanted to bring the topic up to Wren, she didn't. Maybe she should have talked about this with him. "We don't really talk about it. He told me he went to a clinic." she answered, still pretty flustered. "He's been doing good. I mean, I think he has." she had to add in the last comment, Chanel should have been more on top of this but she didn't want to seem overbearing. "I haven't noticed anything since that time he came over my house after one of those workouts." she let it slip out, referring to the time when Wren came over to "fight" with Chanel but only resulted in him almost passing out. Fuck, why would she bring that up? She didn't want to have any problems with anyone, especially not with Wren.

Jonah stared at Mr. Bishop in silence for a quick moment. What do I say? Did Rory already tell them? Maybe she didn't. Unless this is a test. She might have told them and he's asking me to see if I'll lie or not. Oh god oh god oh god. his mind was racing. "Sex? Oh no, sir." he answered, hoping he was convincing enough. Jonah wasn't the best at lying, especially when he was internally panicking. But he couldn't possibly say yes. They had sex when they weren't even together, and then the rest of that night got him in a lot of trouble. As it should have. "I haven't uh, brought that up yet. We just got back together so... you know." he laughed nervously. Please believe me, please believe me. I don't want to get my ass kicked.

Wren and Rory raced upstairs to their parents room and started opening cabinets. Wren slammed a door shut, "Ew, sex toys drawer" said Wren faking a gag. It was deeply unfortunate, "Why was that the first one, and why isn't it in a bedside table drawer like a normal person??" Wren said as he looked at his sister. 

Chrys put her head in her hands before pulling up and pushing her hair back, "Just keep tabs on him, he takes everything so seriously but this" said Chrys. They had been good parents, they had really done all they could to build him up, but it wasn't enough. "It's something he's going to have for the rest of his life, but that doesn't mean that it's always going to be bad" Wren's mother added, "And it's by no means your responsibility. Just be patient with him and tell Nana or a hospital if things get really bad again" she warned.

Rory was happy she wasn't the one to open the cabinets she was sure that's not what she wanted to see. "I don't even..." she shook her head. "Our parents don't know what normal is." She said looking under the bed and pulling out a suitcase. "I'm scared to open this." 

Unlike Chrys, Alex was a bit more trusting. If the boy said he didn't deliver his daughter then he believed  him. More importantly he wanted to believe, he didn't want to think of her as anything less than his little girl. And if Jonah was lying he was happy to hear it. He wasn't like  Chrys when it came to that part of his daughters life" Good you guys should wait until never, you know just to be safe." He said half jokingly. " no but seriously  as long as my daughter is happy and you're happy i approve  the relationship."

Chanel was feeling overwhelmed by the conversation. She wanted to make sure Wren was okay but she didn't want to piss him off either. She needed to find some inbetween but all of this was so much. "Was it like, really bad? Back in California?" she asked softly. 

Jonah relaxed a bit once Mr. Bishop spoke. Maybe he shouldn't have lied about it, it felt weird to already be lying about something. But it was sex. It would have been weird either way. "I am happy. Very happy with her." he spoke truthfully with a genuine smile on his face. "I want to make her happy too. I really care about her." Jonah nodded, he really wanted this to work out this time. "She is in good hands, promise."

Chrys could see the care and concern in Chanel's face, "Yeah, he passed out during one of his srping basketball games and we had to take him to the hospital" said Wren's mom, "But he can tell you that story in his own time" she added. She put her hand on Chanel's shoulder, "Just watch him but don't make him feel like he's watched, me and Alex are pretty bad about it" she admitted.

Wren was now more curious than ever for Rory to open the suitcase, "If it's bad then you just shut it and put it back seconds after opening it. How bad could it be?" said Wren as he kneeled down next to her, "Just open it, I have to know now" the boy said as his heart rate started picking up for no reason. He had no idea what was in there.

Rory nodded her curiosity usually got the best of her so why would this time be different. Undoing the latches she opened  it."Drug test." she groaned handing her brother a box.   What do they think we do here, party and get super lit." she said a little annoyed. "I wonder if all parents do this or is it just ours?"           

Alex could tell he was telling the truth which made him all warm and fuzzy on the inside."Good because I will do absolutely nothing but my wife, she's the scary one out of us and you don't want to have to go against her because of her children." he said softly."I have one more inquiry if you don't mind young man.

Chanel nodded slowly once Chrys explained a bit. Thinking about how they were in basketball season right now made her panic a bit. These were already stressful times for Wren. "Watch him but don't make him feel watched. Right, okay. Got it." she forced a smile on her face. That seemed way easier said than done. "So I shouldn't ask him about it? Maybe not... He seemed good on Thanksgiving which is nice." Oh was she wrong about that.

Jonah could already feel the nerves coming back, "Oh okay... I-I-I'll make sure not to get on her bad side." she nodded a bit frantically. "I uh, don't mind at all." he responded back, but he very much minded. He thought the worst was over, but how bad could the question really be?

"He'll talk when he's ready to talk" said Chrys, her guard coming back up. She didn't need to divulge all her son's secrets to his girlfriend. "And make sure you keep up with Rory and Nana, I've read a lot about eating disorders and lying is a huge part of keeping up appearances. So if he says he ate with Rory, or Nana gave him dinner. Just check up later" she suggested. "Other than that, please don't get pregnant. You both have a lot going for you right now, and I'm just going to put that thought out there". 

"Drug tests? What are they going to test Nana too? What the fuck" said Wren rolling his eyes. "This is so annoying" he said, "If anything they should be happy I get high and have the munchies".

"I would love to see that exchange between those three." she chuckled." I really don't see the point of these." she shook her head, Rory knew some kids their age had drugs problems but they had to know the twins weren't like that.

"How is Wren, is he doing well?" Alex wanted to see without asking, he didn't want to push their son but if something was wrong he highly doubt Wren would come to him or Chrys would be the first ones to know, shit he might be surprised if he was the last one to know]

Chanel listened carefully, trying to take in everything at once. She knew she could go to Rory or Nana about it, but she always felt kind of weird doing that. It was like she was going behind Wren's back, but everyone just cared about him. "I will." she promised. Chanel couldn't help but laugh after Chrys's last statement. "My mom already told me the same thing, and my now my dad. A few times." she sighed. "That's definitely not gonna happen, trust me. Gotta keep my body like this a little longer. More like a lot longer."

Jonah furrowed his brows at the question, he wasn't expecting to be asked about Wren. "Wren? Oh yeah, he's great." he answered with a smile. Jonah had no clue what was going on with Wren and he was still thinking about what happened while they were all eating. It seemed like he was the only person that was confused about it. "He's really good with basketball from what I've seen and is class president. Oh he's also in a band, he really good on the drums." he went on, not sure if this is what Mr. Bishop meant by his question. "Is everything okay with him?"

"I always liked your parents" Chrys half lied, they were fun but they were not the best people. She should probably get coffee with Tiffany anyway, "I'll try to catch up with your mom while I'm here, but Chanel you know you are always welcome here. I know your parents aren't home often and Nana is more than hospitable to you and Taron and all Wren's new friends that he magically made when he got here. Not that he isn't great, but the kids here were so mean to him when he was little" said Wren's mom, "I'm so happy to hear he is doing as well as he is" she added with a kind smile. She was thankful her son had so many people looking out for him, it made her feel better about being away all the time.

Wren got up and looked out the window carefully to check on Jonah and Dad, "We need to wrap it up" he said as he double checked that everything was back in place. "Getting caught isn't going to go well" Wren added nervously, "they're probably not even going to test us".

"Of course, im just checking in on him to making sure he's doing well. He seems very active in school I just want to make sure he's not overdoing it. He needs to have fun too." Alex smiled. The twins were the independent types of something was wrong they never knew until it was too late and he didn't want that to happen again...especially with Wren. "Thank you for looking out for them. We should head back my mom made brownies."

Rory nodded closing the suitcase and pushing it back under the bed and getting up. "I really hope not." She made her way out the room. Closing the door. "Let's go save our beaus."

It was nice to hear that someone liked her parents, even if it was a lie or not. They definitely brought mixed feelings out of people. But even though Chanel had a complicated relationship with her parents, it hurt when she heard people talk negatively about them. She could cause they were her parents, but it was different when it came out of someone else's mouth. "They like you too." she said back. Chanel parent's at least remembered Chrys and Alex after all this time, that meant a lot in itself. "Thank you, that means a lot. Really." Once Wren left, all she had were Taron and Sophie's family. She appreciated everything they did for her, but she knew she had to be such an annoyance to the Bishops and Hayworths. "Everyone loves him, I can't think of one person that has a problem with him." she shook her head, it was about time people saw how amazing Wren was.

"I understand. We have a little friend group that hangout and play video games." Jonah explained with a smile, hoping that would somehow show that Wren was having fun and not overworking himself with school. "Oh you don't have to thank me. I just really care about them." he said truthfully before heading back inside the house. "I do love brownies."

"That is so good to hear, really" said Chrys with a smile across her face, not that Wren being liked was difficult. It was just a worry when they sent him back to White Lake. "Well, Nana made brownies" she said getting up, "So grilling session is over" she said with a laugh, "Just be careful with him, he's ... delicate" said Wren's mom as she led them back to the kitchen where Nana was waiting with a whole plate of brownies.

Wren and Rory headed down the stairs and into the kitchen before anyone came back, "Oooh, brownies" said Wren enthusiastically picking one up and taking a bite before putting it down and distracting people with conversation, "So, Chrismukkah?" he said to the room, "What are we thinking? Divide the house in half this time? Or mix the decorations?" he asked.

Rory followed her brother and picked two up  but she actually ate the first one.She closed her eyes and enjoyed the chocolate goodness"I say we mix the decorations. Last time we did half and half everything clashed." Rory said putting the rest of the brownie in her mouth. 

Alex made his way to his wife and whispered the information he found out. " Wren is doing well here and Rory is still a virgin but most importantly someone thinks my sweater vest are cool. So its obvious you and Rory were wrong."he said happily  grabbing  a piece of brownie.

Chanel smiled and followed Chrys to the kitchen, "I will." she answered with a single nod. "Brownies!" she exclaimed as she skipped over to Nana. "Your brownies are the best!" she said cheerfully as she took one of the brownies from the plate.

Jonah walked into the kitchen and smiled at Nana, "Thank you." he said as he grabbed a brownie and took a bite. He turned over to Chanel and gave each other a look. They were both winded from the separate conversations they just finished having.

Wren put his hand around Chanel's waist at they had the discussion, worried about whatever his mother had said. "Mixed decorations for sure" he nodded in agreement.

Chrys gave Alex a look, "Wren is doing well, Rory ... I'm on the fence about that virgin claim but he looks nervous enough, and ... do not get me started on the sweater vest. That is coming off as soon as we are upstairs" said Chrys with a quiet laugh as the two conferenced.

"You okay?"Rory whispered as she moved closer to Jonah. She wasn't sure what her father had said but she wanted find out. "We can go tree shopping...and find a theme." She said excitedly.

" I'm too scary to lie to babe." He shot a her a smile." If you want me naked then thats all you have to say." He turned his attention back to the kids. " Okay.  Okay you two or more than welcomed to join so they don't go overboard.

Chanel wrapped her arms around Wren for a moment, hugging him from the side before taking a bite out her brownie piece. "Rory's great with decorations, but I can't pass up an opportunity to tag along. It helps me get into the holiday spirit!"

Jonah placed his hand on the small of Rory's back and leaned in closer to her to speak, "Yeah, I'm fine." he answered with a smile. "But I told him we didn't have sex so if they ask you, right now, we're holy virgins." he whispered quickly, looking around to make sure no one heard. "I'm happy to join." he told Mr. Bishop politely.

The evening ended with decorating and Christmas music. A lovely evening at the Bishop house.

[abdicatedarchive]

Lasagna || Wren & Chanel

Redo of Wren and Chanel’s first conversation when he returned to White Lake @chrysolites

Wren: Hey idk if ur mom told u but i moved back to town, r u still next door?

Chanel: Lawrence?

Wren: Wren, but yeah 😀

Chanel: oh sorry lmao but no my mom didn't tell me, she's been busy lately. how long are you staying?

Wren: just wondering, i ran into her and she insisted on giving me your number haha 

Wren: I'm moving here permanently actually

Chanel: omg... im sorry, was she annoying? 

Chanel: really? wow that's fun! maybe we should catch up sometime 

Chanel: if you want

Wren: she didn't recognize me at first, but she was just talking about when we were kids 

Wren: rory's out for the night, but me and nana are having lasagna if you want to come by for dinner? She's heading out pretty quick for her book club, so maybe we could watch a movie or something 

Wren: catch up, we could roller blade?

Chanel: probably cause it's been so long, sorry about that. her brain is not that big 

Chanel: sure, im not doing anything today   

Chanel: do you still roller blade?? i do! we can totally do that

Wren: I haven't in a long time, but I'm down to be a total clutz 

Wren: head over around 7?

Chanel: sounds good!

Wren had set the table and was helping Nana set up the kitchen, "You excited to see your old friend Laurie?" asked Nana with that special glean in her eye. "Uh yeah, it's whatever" said Wren shrugging it off, he was kind of nervous to see her after so long. But he knew that he was looking a lot better, and he was excited to see the look on her face. That validating look that would affirm for him that he had gotten a lot better looking. He'd been recovered for a while, and he was feeling good, like he didn't need to see someone in town for mental health. He heard a knock at the door and he headed over, "I got it" he said to Nana and she just smiled to herself and took the lasagna out of the oven. "Hey" said Wren as he opened the door for her.

Chanel put in the extra effort to put on something cute. She went with a pink top that ties up in the front with a matching skirt. Not too revealing cause Nana would be there but enough to show Wren how good she looks. Chanel was always told that she was a pretty girl, but her confidence was at an all time high. Before leaving the house, she texted her mom that she'd be at his house. She didn't want to think about the conversation Tiffany had with Wren, she must have made Chanel look like such a dweeb. As she made her way over to his house, she could feel the nerves kick in. She hadn't seen him in years, he never even wrote to her. Neither of them did, but Chanel was just too scared to send the letters, she tried. She knocked on he door and took a deep breath before Wren opened the door. Her eyes widened as she slowly looked up at him, "Oh. Hi." she said, putting on a sweet smile. What the fuck happened to him? She always loved her little Laurie, but he was so tall and really hot. Like really hot. "It's been so long. You look good." she said softly. There was clearly a lot going on in her head.

Wren would have noticed how she looked at him more, but he was distracted. Respectfully distracted. Don't look, don't think about it, you've seen more from her instagram, you got this he thought to himself as she told him that he looked good. That was all he needed to hear, that validation that it wasn't all in his head. It was what he was most looking forward to that one summer he was supposed to come back, but he ended up going to rehab instead. But that was the old Wren, he was feeling healthy and confident: ready to be back here. "You look great too" said Wren going in to give her a hug, which ended up being a little bit of an awkward hug to begin with. "Oh Chanel!" said Nana as she came up and gave the girl a hug as well, "Dinner is all set, but I'll only be here for a little while so you two can catch up better" said the woman as she led them into the dining room and everyone sat down.

Chanel loved hearing that she looked good, it's all she ever heard but it was just more fuel for her ego. If she had known he looked like this, maybe she would've worn something more reveling. Nana was cool, she would have understood. She was taken back as he went in for a hug, but she wrapped her arms around him awkwardly and patted his back. Chanel's smile widened once she saw Nana, she didn't see her as often anymore but that was mostly her fault. Seeing Nana reminded her of Wren. "Thanks for inviting me, I've always loved your cooking." she said with a nod. "We do have a lot to catch up on." she looked up at Wren as she passed by him to go into the dining room, her tone being a little suggestive. "So are your parents here?" she asked Wren as she took a seat. "Why did you guys decide to come back?"

Wren just assumed that was how she talked, not that she was being suggestive. He just didn't pick up on things like that at all, especially not from her. Wren knew he looked good, but he didn't think that he looked Chanel level good so there was nothing to even consider. He had friend-zoned himself. "My parents are off in Europe teaching and writing, they're cultural anthropologists which I could never have pronounced last time we hung out" he joked, it was a big word and they hadn't seen each other since they were small. "But Rory and I wanted to finish high school in the states, so we decided to move in with Nana" he replied, he was nervous to go back to school in a month or so. Luckily most people wouldn't remember him or recognize him anyways. "White Lake has a great team, so it just all works out" Wren said with a soft smile.

"Right, cultural anthropologists." Chanel repeated back with a smile. "I think I use to tell my parents that they worked with culture and they'd just ignore it." she shrugged her shoulders. "But that's exciting for them." It was a little sad to think that Chanel wouldn't be seeing Wren's parents right now, but if he was living here permanently, she assumed his parents would eventually visit. Her brows raised once she mentioned a team, "Oh you're going to be on a team? Like the debate team?" she asked. Chanel just assumed it would be something like a debate team and not a sports team. He never played on a sports team when they were younger.

Wren realized that she really didn't know him at all anymore, which was weird for him. They used to know everything about each other, "Basketball" said Wren to clarify, "I used to do swimming and lacrosse too, but I'm slowing down a little and focusing more on just the one" Wren stated, "What are your extra curriculars now?" he asked, already knowing she did cheerleading. He'd looked her up on instagram on several occasions. Luckily she didn't know that, so it just looked like he was making conversation. Nana was just serving up the lasagna.

Chanel tried to not look so shocked by the answer but she was. It made her wonder how much he's changed since they last saw each other. She definitely changed. He was always so sweet, he'd probably hate the person she is now. "Wow, you were doing so much. That must have been fun. We could always go swimming together when you're free." she told him with a smile. She just looked great in her bikinis and thought he'd appreciate the sight. Who wouldn't? "I'm on the cheer team, been doing it since freshman year. So I guess I'll be cheering you on at your games." she said in a sweet tone. "Thanks." she nodded at Nana as she was served her food. "It looks amazing."

"Yeah, I'm lifeguarding down at the country club" said Wren with a smile, he had thought it was a good way to keep busy and make friends before school started. He had already made one good friend, so that was an improvement from last time he was in White Lake. He really only had two friends when he left, not that he had managed to stay in contact with either of them. "That will be so sweet, I'll also be cheering at the games" said Nana with a laugh as she sipped her wine. "So you must know Valerie" said Wren with a smile, blushing a little but not too noticeably as he dug into his food.

Chanel started eating the food when Wren brought up Valerie. Ew. Out of all people, he wants to talk about her. "Valerie Richie?" she asked with a straight face. "Yeah, she's on the team." Unfortunately. she kept the thought to herself. "Why? Did you know before you moved? I don't really remember if you did." That was a lie. She knew Valerie and Wren did not talk to each other back then.

"Funny enough, I never met her before. She must have been in different classrooms all those years" said Wren thinking about it, he hadn't even known how long she had lived here. "I was looking for a present for Nana when I ran into her, and we ended up going on a sort of date and then an actual date. She's really nice" said the boy smiling to himself as he ate another forkful of lasagna. "Do you like being on the team with her?" he asked.

Chanel stayed quiet for a second, she wasn't exactly sure how to respond to this. She didn't know he had such bad taste in girls. She also questioned how long he's been in town. Wren was already going on dates with other girls and he only texted her cause her mom gave him her number. He must not even want her over. Maybe what she thought back then was true, and Wren just didn't really want anything to her. "Actually no I don't." she said casually. "We don't get along, never have." she shrugged her shoulders. "Um, just wondering but how long have you been back?"

Wren was surprised that Chanel didn't get along with Valerie, she was such a nice girl. Well, they both were. Maybe it was a weird long term rivalry or something, he was sure they would work it out soon enough. I mean, now they have Wren in common. Well he hoped they would. Chanel was one of his oldest friends, and he would hate to have her not want to be in his life. He decided to not say anything, "Like three/four days" said Wren candidly. He had spent the first day with Nana and Rory getting settled, then he met Valerie in town the next day and they went out the day after that. Nana interrupted, "Oooooh, okay I definitely have to go to book club, Mrs. Street just found out from her husband who the mayor is having that affair with" said Nana laughing to herself a little, "Gotta go hear the gossip" she said as she got up, "Chanel it was so lovely to see you" she added as she gave Wren a kiss on the top of his head and headed out.

Chanel nodded at the answer that was given to her. It wasn't that long, but deep down in her heart she kind of hoped she'd be one of the first people he went to see. But she understood, they weren't like they used to be. "Oh, well I'm glad you're back. I've missed you." she said with a genuine smile. Chanel turned to Nana as she spoke, the smile instantly disappearing as she mentioned the mayor's affair. She could feel her heart drop. This wasn't how any of this was supposed to go. Now Nana is gonna hate Chanel and her family too. "Huh?" she snapped out of it and looked at up at the woman. "Oh right, yeah. It was nice seeing you too." she turned over to Wren and forced a smile. "So... this lasagna. It's really good." she said, playing with the food on her plate. Chanel didn't know what to say, but she felt like she needed to distract Wren enough to not ask questions.

Wren started eating some salad as Nana left and he smiled and waved, excited to get to spend time with just Chanel. They could watch snow dogs or they could go roller skating. The options were ... well they weren't endless but they were something. "I can't believe how much drama this town has" said Wren just making conversation, not knowing any better. "Does the mayor have kids or anything? That kinda sucks that everyone is talking about it" he added.

"Yeah, it's sucks." Chanel spoke quietly. It's all people were talking about and now that everyone knew it was her mom, people were starting to give her nasty looks now. She hadn't done anything but people had already made their minds up about her. "Um yeah he does. They go to our school, one son and one daughter." Chanel looked up at Wren as she spoke, she felt like avoiding eye contact with him would make her look suspicious for some reason. She didn't even want to think about how Juliette and Montag were feeling. They probably felt the same way she did, but she avoided them at all cost. "You've missed a lot." she forced out a laugh, trying to make light of the situation.

"I feel like I have" said Wren, "But Stevie's still here, and Taron. I should really reach out to them" he said with a shrug. He knew he should, it was just that he wanted to be confident and at his best when he saw everyone he knew. He wanted everything to be in order, completely under control before he threw himself back into everyone's lives. He also knew that those people would come with their opinions of other people, and he wanted to be open to getting to know people himself. "How have you been? Things good at home?" he asked, hoping that was a nice change of topic.

"I'm sure Taron misses you. I go over his and Sophie's house a lot." Chanel had been spending even more time over their house since things at home were getting worse. She was really grateful for the Hayworth's but she felt like such an annoyance, she was going over so frequently. "Home? It's fine. I've been okay- good. I've been good." she corrected herself. Chanel had been super stressed lately. Things at home were worse than they've ever been, but she didn't want Wren to know that. She just wanted a nice dinner with him. "So does your family still call you Laurie? Or is that completely off the table now? I liked it." she tried changing the subject, hoping that talking about himself would distract him enough.(edited)January 1, 2021

It was good to hear that everyone else was still close, he worried that people would have massive drama that he would have to navigate when he got back. He didn't want to pick sides on years long beef when he didn't really even know anyone that well anymore. "Nana does, even Rory calls me Wren now" said the boy with a smile, he wouldn't super mind it if Chanel called him Laurie, as long as it didn't catch on at school. He liked Wren better, but hearing her say Laurie brought a childhood familiarity to him that he hadn't felt in years.

Chanel loved his old nickname. As kids she never used his full name, it just seemed too weird saying it out loud. "That's nice." she said. It sounded like she wasn't paying attention to what he was saying, but she was too busy thinking about Nana coming back. She didn't want to leave, but she couldn't stay. It was best to save the embarrassment and get out while the woman was gone. Having dinner alone with Chanel must have been uncomfortable for Wren anyways. "I'm really sorry but I... I need to go. I'm not feeling well." she was already getting up from her seat as she spoke.

Wren was surprised when she said she had to go, she had seemed fine. "Yeah, um let me walk you out" he said as he got up from his seat. He had wanted to catch up more, to go roller skating or watch a movie. Just spending time with her already made him happy to be back in White Lake. There was something about Chanel Hampton that was comforting for him. "It was really nice seeing you again, Chanel" said Wren with a soft smile across his lips. He couldn't help but think about how beautiful she was, and he was hoping that they could get back to being friends like when they were children.

Chanel crossed her arms over her body as she walked towards the door, she didn't want to come off rude with her sudden exit but she panicked. Even after all these years, she still cared so much about Wren's opinion on her. Even if this news about her family didn't change his mind, he'd eventually find out how much she's changed. It was best to avoid him altogether. It's not like they were really friends anymore. "Yeah it was. I guess I'll see you around. Bye, Wren." she responded back with a weak smile before heading out the door and to her house.

[abdicatedarchive]

a fight you don’t come back from || wren and chanel

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: chanel’s dorm room // spring 2021.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: wren x chanel.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: uh oh, language.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: honestly this whole argument is really upsetting and i don’t want to give details.

Wren was out running trying to not think about the messages on his phone. That shit got him so worked up. He was positive Jesse was just gaslighting him, but then Chanel liked his comment! Wtf was up with that? Would she seriously do all of that with him yesterday and then even consider being around Jesse like that? One of his friends, and he knew she knew that. Wren didn't like letting things so surface get to him, but it got under his skin so easily. Thinking about her switching up on him, so soon too. Like he was just somebody to use. He knew he was worth more than that. He headed into the dorm and went up to her door and knocked very loudly. Luckily for him Juliette was not in there or it would have been very startling for her. "It's Wren" he said, as his breath came down to normal. When she opened the door he just started talking, "what the actual fuck Chanel, Jesse?" he said as he rubbed the nape of his neck. He was boiling with rage, but he was doing his best to keep it down. It wasn't working very well.

Chanel was busy looking through her Instagram with a pleased smile on her face, the bathing suit pictures always did well. But of course, she was secretly hoping Wren would see it, give a like, maybe even comment something. She'd give it some time though, there was no need to freak over nothing. She was Chanel Hampton, of course he'd like the picture. Then the sound of someone knocking almost made her drop her phone. There was no way Juliette was banging on the door like that, but it still pissed her off. Who the fuck needed her that badly? The moment she heard Wren's voice, the smile instantly appeared on her face. "Coming!" she yelled out happily, before opening the door. Unfortunately, Chanel didn't even have a chance to say hello, "... what?" she asked, furrowing her brows at him. "What about him? Are you like, okay?" He seemed really upset, and she wasn't sure why.

He was unbelievably pissed at how happy she sounded when she said she was coming. Nothing was okay, and he was so insanely jealous. Even if it was a joke she was playing into it. "They're clowning me in the group chat and you're totally egging it on like you'd get with Jesse" said Wren, realizing how crazy he sounded but he wasn't done. The words started spilling out of him, "but of course you wouldn't let this just be a good thing" he said mentioning between the two of them. There wasn't even a them. It was all just pretend, "not that there even is a thing, not if it's gonna be like this" he said, his brow furrowed. He felt jealous like a boyfriend, but he knew that wasn't his place which only made him madder that he felt this strongly.

Chanel narrowed her eyes in confusion, she seriously was at a loss for words. For a moment, she didn't understand where Wren was going with this at all, but it slowly hit her. Jesse's comment on her picture. She did like the comment, but she just enjoyed the attention, from anyone really. It meant nothing to her. But to see Wren so upset about this, that was sort of new. These were usually the kinds of things she would get jealous of. But there was a silver lining, he was jealous. So he had to have some kind of feelings for her, right? Then he kept going, and his words started to hurt more and more. "Like what?" she asked, the anger building up in her now. Chanel thought things were moving in the right direction, but now he was saying that there wasn't anything going on between them? Was there really nothing to this for him? "I am not going to get with Jesse, ew. I mean, like, no offense, but no. It was one dumb comment, and I didn't even respond. If this is what you're so worked up about."

"Like what? Like its me versus everyone on the planet to get your attention" said Wren, it was kinda cute when they were dating and she wanted to get him a little mad so he'd be a little more aggressive in the bedroom. But that was high school and it was clearly a game. With them broken up it was not like that at all. "You know what, I am fucking worked up. Clearly this is not working". Wren did not think he was going to come out of this with such a grand proclamation. To be honest with himself, he regretted everything that was coming out of his mouth right now. Not to mention he was making a fool of himself, it was obvious how much he cared. It was embarrassing.

Chanel immediately rolled her eyes at Wren's first statement. "Oh my god, you're being ridiculous." She thought it was so obvious that he got all her attention. Even when they were younger, Chanel gave all her attention to Wren, so much that she was scared he secretly found her annoying and would leave her for someone better. Her expression softened after Wren finished speaking, was he really done? Again? Just like that? "Are you ... are you fucking kidding me? Now you decide that this isn't working, because of some comment on my picture?" Wren just never wanted to try, he always left the first chance he got. It's like she was never worth it. Why was she never good enough for him? "What was all this? Some grand attempt to get one last fuck before you ditch out on me? Again?"

Wren's insecurities were at the forefront. That he was never attractive enough for her. Not outgoing enough. Not healthy enough. That he let her in too quickly and she knew too much of his baggage. "Don't ever say I ditched out on you. You didn't include me" he yelled, "you're the one who ditched Chanel!" Wren was furious, she had chosen to leave him out when they were seniors. She was the one who decided to do everything on her own and that is why she was so lonely. They were close, their arguments were always like this. Up close and personal. They were the kind of close physically and emotionally where they knew how to hurt one another. Truly hurt one another. He turned down the yelling and his voice got low, intending to hurt her. Which was not good, but he was so fueled with rage "and if I was going to make a grand attempt to get one last fuck, you wouldn't even be able to stand right now"

Chanel hated herself for how she went about everything senior year, she never thought it was going to result in her relationship ending. If she was able to take it back, she would. Maybe this was the time to finally say sorry, as if that would actually matter at this point. But she was so angry, and she did feel left behind by Wren. "I made a mistake!" she yelled back. "But I didn't leave, I wanted to work through it. You left me, you immediately gave up." Their fights always got nasty, and it usually ended with her regretting whatever stupid thing she told him. But in the moment, she just wanted to hurt him, even if it meant lying to him. Chanel was visibly taken back by his last comment, and she had half a mind to slap him, but she didn't. There had been guys along the way that spoke to her like that, but to hear it from Wren disgusted her. "Oh is your confidence suddenly kicking in now? You sure have a lot to say for someone who's only fucked one girl. I'll be generous and say two if that makes you feel better, but I'm sure there's no more than that." she glared him up and down. "Nothing's really improved from last year."

"I left because you gave up on us way before I ever left" he yelled, "I wasn't the one keeping shit from you". Chanel really knew where to hit. Which just fueled the rage and confusion more. "There is more than that, not that anything could ever compare to your number" he said, holding his eye contact as he watched her look him up and down. Poking at her number was most definitely not okay, and he didn't really think about her like that. Only when he was insecure did he think about all the other girls and guys she had been with, and how they were better looking than him. God, it drove him crazy. Chanel was really the only person who did it for him, at the end of the day when he had been with other girls it had either gone really badly or he had to think about Chanel the whole time.

"No I did not, I was trying to keep what we had." Chanel's blood was boiling. To think the one person that made her the most happy in this world was also the one that upset her the most. But Wren knew where to go if he wanted to hurt Chanel, he knew everything about her, or at least she thought he did. He kept going on and on about how she never let him in. Sure she didn't always talk about her issues, but he could see it for himself, especially the ones she had at home. He was always going over to her empty house when they were kids, she was at his house almost ever night for dinner when they were together. Chanel being alone was no secret, why did she have to be even more of a hassle and vocalize it to him? She held back any tears that were fighting to come out when he spoke, being the meaner person seemed easier than showing how hurt she was. Even thinking about Wren being with other people drove her crazy. "I mean, you were the person that lied about not being a virgin, I wouldn't be surprised if you're lying about this too. That's what you do, talk a big game but always fall short." Chanel was straight up lying at this point. She couldn't even find someone that came close to Wren once they had broken up, it was incredibly frustrating.

She didn't seem to be hurting at all, and his heart was on fire. It was so painful for them to be talking like this. Like it was really and truly all over. "Lying is more your thing" said Wren bluntly. He wasn't going to be backing down. But he wasn't afraid of making an exit. Especially since she was criticizing something he was so sensitive about. Wren was deeply insecure that he wasn't a good partner for Chanel in the way that she needed. Had she been lying the whole time they were together? It drove him crazy, "I'm just gonna go. Enjoy your night" he said harshly as he headed out the door. He headed right out of the dorms and went on a run to get the rest of his frustration out. Lawrence was only a few feet away from the dorm before he broke down crying, he was so mad at himself for being so unkind. For treating her so poorly, but he was still so angry at her. How did they get like this? How did they let each other do this?

Chanel bit down on her bottom lip once Wren started speaking again. Not only was she holding back tears, but she was at a loss for words at this point, mainly because she was lying to him during this conversation. It just showed her that she never learned from last time, and that she was no better than before. "Whatever." she mumbled as he left the room. The moment the door closed, she immediately began to cry. She was so frustrated with herself. Chanel still thought the whole issue with Jesse was stupid, but she of course had to make everything worse. Her and Wren were finally at a good place with each other, she hadn't been that happy all year, and it was all ruined in the matter of minutes. She was still upset with Wren, especially with everything he said to her tonight, but she was even more upset with herself at this point. [ END ]

[abdicatedarchive]

i thought we were goodish || wren and chanel

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: dorms // spring 2021.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: wren x chanel.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: none.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: wren and chanel attempt to communicate. it goes surprisingly well.

In Chanel's pretty little head, she thought her and Wren were getting back to a good place. Even after her dumb fuck up of kissing him the last time they were together, he still seemed to show interest in hanging out with her again. But she couldn't get over the fact that he made his friend bring her skates back, and she took his hoodie from Chanel's room without her noticing! Why did this bother her so much? Because anything that didn't go Chanel's way pissed her off. Shocker. She tried her best to not hit him up first because she didn't want to come off as desperate, but she couldn't wait any longer, so she decided to just go to his dorm room. After she knocked on Wren's door and he opened it, she almost immediately walked in, "Is Jet here? No? Cool." she spoke too quickly for him to give a proper answer. "I need to talk to you."

Wren was back in his golden girls hoodie and was working through some homework while having some cookies that Nana had dropped off. When he heard a knock at the door, he assumed Jet had forgotten his keys again. He was pleasantly surprised to see Chanel, but she looked ... not exactly happy as she blew past him into his room. Wren was about to respond when she cut him off before the words could even form in his mouth, "talk about what?" he asked. Wren went over everything he had done in general recently, and didn't think there was any severe Chanel offense. Unless somebody lied to her, or she was just pissed for no reason. Well, by no reason we mean a Chanel reason. Which in a court of law would probably count, in Wren's opinion.

Chanel noticed Wren was wearing his hoodie and pouted her lips without realizing. Stupid boy looking cute in his stupid sweater that she wanted to wear. It was all stupid. She exhaled sharply before her eyes travelled up to look him in the face, "If you don't want to hang out, or like, I don't know, talk at all, just tell me." she crossed her arms and raised her shoulders. Chanel obviously hoped that wasn't the case, but she wasn't going to say it. She already got broken up by him before, she didn't want to look like the loser that couldn't get over him.

Wren genuinely had no idea what she was talking about, he was happy that she was here. He was happy to be around her ... but he did not understand why she was mad. "When did I ever say that?" said the boy, cocking his head to the side. He hoped it wasn't something through the grapevine that was misunderstood, who would believe him? "I haven't said anything like that at all. I thought we were goodish?" he added.

"No it's not about what you said, it's about what you did- or didn't do...?" The sentence came out as more of a question. Chanel didn't know how to explain it, she was just upset, in her usual bratty way. “I thought the whole, I give you your hoodie, you give me my skates, meant you wanted to see me again. We’d like hangout or something.” she tried to explain. “But then Stevie showed up and it seemed like that was you sending a message. Like, I’ll just get my friend to do this instead cause I actually don’t wanna see you again.” Saying all of this out loud made her roll her eyes, she sounded kind of stupid but it all made sense in her head. “You get what I mean, right?”

He hadn't been thinking about how it would make Chanel feel when he gave Stevie the excuse to see Juliette, the accountability of needing to do a task so she wouldn't chicken out. "It wasn't that at all, I wanted to hold Stevie accountable to see Juliette without having to physically walk her there" said Wren, feeling like an idiot. He should have done the exchange with Chanel. He wasn't sure if Chanel had even wanted to see him, it was just easier. But easier wasn't always better, and he knew that now that she was here and hurt. "Last time we hung out, you ran out of my room" said Wren with a little shrug as he shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the floor.

If Chanel didn’t feel stupid before, she definitely did now. Wren was always putting others before himself, and he simply did that out of the kindness of his heart. Chanel’s brain just never worked that way. “Okay ... I mean, yeah that is technically true.” she spoke slowly, tossing some of her hair off her shoulder. “But I thought I crossed some kind of boundary, you know? Kissing your ex, it’s not usually a smart move.” Referring to Wren as her ex still pained her, it never sounded right. “Besides, I don’t know if you’re seeing someone.” she slipped the comment in, trying to figure out if he actually was with someone right now. “I wouldn’t want to ruin that.”

Wren really didn't care for being called her ex, he felt like he was a lot more than the title recognized. He smirked when she asked if he was seeing anyone, "I think we both know that I'm not" said Wren, laughing a little at the idea. "I'm not exactly anyone's idea of a good time" he slipped in, knowing that he wasn't exactly fun to date. Especially not after everything that had happened Junior and Senior year. "If either of us was going to see someone, I would bet money on you" he added with a smile, "are you? Seeing anyone?" he asked, his voice cracking a little bit.

Good to know. Chanel thought to herself. She did her best to hold back a smile after hearing that Wren wasn't seeing anyone, but it was starting to peak through a bit. "Oh please." she shook her head. "I'd say I had the most fun with you. Now I'm not exactly sure if you're talking about sex or just you in general, but I stand with what I said." she said with a single nod. If there was any opportunity to compliment Wren, she would take it every single time. She loved boosting his confidence. Chanel answered Wren's question with the shake of her head, "Nope. I think I've been too distracted lately." It was the truth. She didn't have time to think about other people right now. Ever since her and Wren started talking again, he was sort of all she thought about.

He knew she was just being kind, but he also knew that she didn't have to be. She was Chanel, she knew better than anyone that she didn't have to do anything. Wren smiled and bit his lip a little before his smile grew a little more. Her compliments had that kind of impact. "Let me get a redo" he said as he pulled off his sweatshirt and folded it up, handing it back to her. "Hey, thanks for bringing that buy, it's my favorite sweatshirt. I hope you took good care of it" Wren said with a kind smile. It was little moments like these that made him forget everything that had happened. All the layers of mistrust between them, all the walls that had been rebuilt.

Chanel's small smile instantly widened as Wren gave the sweater back. Even if it was for a second, the thought was cute and she very much appreciated it. "Of course I did. I couldn't let anything happen to your favorite sweatshirt. I might have to borrow it again though, I just look so good in it." She reached her arms out to give the sweatshirt to Wren, before pulling back quickly, "But, I would like something in return." she wiggled her eyebrows as she spoke. "You said you had your skates with you, right?" she asked excitedly. "Maaaaybe you could show me how much you've improved."

He was about to take the sweatshirt back when she pulled it back, smiling at her wanting to skate. "Only if you promise not to laugh if I fall" said Wren as he took the sweatshirt and put it over her head, he was okay not having it for the afternoon. She did look good in it. He liked the way his clothes hung on her short frame, they made her seem even smaller, like he could put her in his pocket for safe keeping. Wren reached down under his bed and pulled out his skates, "to your room to get yours?" he asked as he looked her up and down. She looked like she was his girl, it felt comfortable.

Chanel put her arms through the sleeves of the sweatshirt and fixed her hair, she was practically glowing at this point. "When have I ever laughed? I usually just clean your scratches, give you your first kiss, and then we watch Snow Dogs." she referenced back to when they kids. The memory of their first kiss always stuck with her. "Yep!" Chanel instinctively grabbed his hand and walked out of his room. She quickly took him to her room grabbed her skates, "We have a mini first aid kit. Should I bring it just for you, Laurie?" she teased him with a smile on her face.

"Damn shame, we can't have a proper repeat of the events that day" said Wren giving her a frown. "I don't really know how to tell you this, but I've already had my first kiss. My precious flower is gone to this world. Never to be seen again" he teased as they walked down the halls. They were holding hands, god it felt good. People passed them by. He liked the idea that Chanel was going to be seen around with him today. A few less people were going to hit her up because of it. That made him feel good. "I think I can go without the first aid kit, but leave it out in the room so it's easy access. Just in case you fall" he said, laughing a little at the idea. She was an amazing skater.

Chanel pouted her lips sarcastically, "I'd say you're breaking my heart, but I've also already had my first kiss. What a shame." she responded, smiling afterwards. "I'd like to say I enjoyed my second kiss a lot more though. No offense to Cole, I hope he's doing good." She started to swing her arm back and forth a bit as they walked, it just felt so natural to be like this with Wren. Chanel nodded her head a couple times as she laughed at his last comment, "I am officially offended, Lawrence. Let's hope I don't accidentally shove you a little while we're on our skates." she teased him as she grabbed her the first aid kit and placed it on her bed. "You do know that Chase and I used to accidentally drop the flyers on our team, right? I am not one to mess with." She made air quotes when she said the word 'accidentally'. They never let the flyer hit the floor of course, it was just a way to spook them when they were having issues.

Wren remembered being so deeply jealous of Cole when they were kids, that he got to kiss Chanel before he did. It was an old insecurity now, especially since he and Chanel dated for over a year and were currently holding hands. "You would purposely push me?" he said, faking shock. "I don't see Chase anywhere, so there's no one here to help you. I hate to say this, but I could definitely take you in a fight" Wren teased as they went into her room. He sat down on Juliette's bed and put on his skates while Chanel grabbed hers, sad to have let go of her hand. "So what's the music situation looking like for this? Want to share airpods or do you have a boombox to skate around with?" he joked.

"Oh don't tempt me with a good time. I might be shorter, but I'm strong, and I have won quite a few fights in my life." Chanel stated proudly. She never did back down from a fight, and she wouldn't mind playing around with Wren. "I bet I could pin you down to the ground." she laughed as she let her mind wonder off to the thought of him pinning her down to the floor. Chanel wouldn't mind losing that fight. After she grabbed her skates, she hopped onto her bed and started putting them on. "I was thinking you could just sing to me. You're in a band, I'm sure you're good enough." she said jokingly, missing the day when she'd go see him practice. Chanel grabbed her airpods and opened the case to hand him one, "I do have a special rollerskating playlist, but since you're with me, you could pick something out first."

"I know, I've broken up a few of those fights" he replied with a laugh. Wren remembered when he was dating Valerie that her and Chanel were pretty much constantly in a physical altercation. It felt like so long ago now. "I'd like to see you try" said Wren as he thought about how good it would feel to be play fighting with Chanel, to have his hands all over her. He hadn't touched her like that in so long, his mind couldn't help but stray into thoughts like that. He liked her for so much more than her body, but goddamn it did not hurt at all how beautiful she was. "I think your rollerskating playlist sounds good to me. I will not be singing, unless you want me to get Rose and Stevie in on this outing. I just do some harmonies" he said as he tied up his skates.

"That is true. I know I don't make the kindest decisions all the time, but one thing I know I do is bring excitement to everyone's lives." Chanel laughed as she thought about the times she fought Valerie. Sometimes Chanel would find herself in a lot of trouble because of it, but at least they were memorable moments she could look back on and laugh at now. Once they both had their skates all tied up, Chanel walked over to Wren and placed both hands on his shoulders, "There's not a lot of space here, but I think I could manage." she told him as she pushed him back onto Juliette's bed and got on top of him. Chanel simply did not know the meaning of self control, especially whenever she was around Wren. In her eyes, she wasn't doing anything too crazy. It was just some harmless fun before they go out to skate. All very wholesome. "See, it's just too easy."

He was ready to head out and had his skates all ready to go in his hands. Wren had just been making a joke about him and Chanel wrestling, but he smiled when she pushed him back onto Juliette's bed. When she got on top of him, his brain went on fire. How much he missed her was really sinking in, how he hadn't been able to do anything with anyone else. How all he thought of was her. "You got me" said Wren sighing, faking a defeat. Wren held on to her hips and flipped her onto her back, putting her hands above her head, "You know, Chanel. It's kinda like you're letting me win. It's just that easy" he taunted.

The worry about taking something too far would usually sink in right about now, Chanel was trying to be on her best behavior when she was around Wren. But once she was under him, she knew this was going in a pretty good direction. She missed having him this close, with his hands all over her. "Hm, me letting you win? I don't know what you're talking about." she put on an innocent face as she spoke. "I'll gladly accept this defeat." she said softly as she wrapped her legs around Wren to pull his body closer to hers. "But I'd like to think this is a win for me too."

Wren laughed as she said this was a win for her too, "whatever makes you feel better about losing" he said, feeling his hips against hers. Wren thought about the last time they actually kissed, and all the destruction that had come from that. But that went to the back of his mind as he thought about how badly he wanted to kiss her. To be connected with her like that, even here on Juliette's bed. Wren pressed his lips against hers, moving his hands all over her. Not thinking about what this meant for right now or tomorrow, or in a week. Just existing and doing what he wanted.

Chanel laughed along with Wren as he spoke, looking back and forth between his eyes and lips. To no surprise, she was tempted to kiss him again, but she felt like she had ruined the good time they were having the last time she did. She just wasn't sure if that was something Wren wanted. He was the one to break things off, it would make sense if he had moved on after all this time. All the doubt she had though, completely left her mind as she felt his lips on hers. Chanel deepened the kiss as her hands moved up the sides of Wren's face. This seemed like a good enough sign, so she left herself have this.

Wren wanted to hold onto her forever, but he knew that this was just casual for her. It was always just casual for her, he had lost his chance with the way he had acted. Wren was so hyper critical of himself, but he couldn't help but feel like he was where he was supposed to be when her hands were on his face. Wren put off the immediate need to ask what this was, or what this meant and just enjoy himself for once. He missed her so much. This meant everything to him, even if it was on Juliette's unsuspecting bed.

Chanel was too into this moment to come up with any kind of thoughts, all she knew was that she was truly happy. She felt like she actually belonged when she was with Wren, it was a feeling she wasn't exactly used to throughout her life. No one truly valued Chanel, she was simply meant to be used, so she did the same with others. There was no reason for her to care when no one took her seriously. But there was no fear of being used by Wren. Chanel's hands travelled down his shirt, but before she tried removing it, she pulled away from the kiss, "Sorry, is this okay? I totally don't mind either way." she said with a smile.

"Yeah, it's good. But we might want to get off of Juliette's bed" said Wren with a little laugh as he held onto her, putting his face in her neck. He kissed her collarbone before getting up and putting his hand out for her to get up off the bed. He pulled her close in the space between the two beds, bodies up against one another as one hand was holding hers and his other on her waist. It felt like they were back in the kitchen when they would dance and just have fun. He wanted to tell her that he missed her, but the words wouldn't come out. So he just kissed her, hoping she would understand what he meant.

It didn't even cross Chanel's mind that they were on Juliette's bed, her mind was too preoccupied to be thinking of things like that. But as usual, Wren kept her grounded. "Oh my god." she laughed as she nodded her head. "Yes, I'm not trying to have more problems with her." Chanel smiled against Wren's lips as they kissed. Sure she had hoped something like this would happen again, but she didn't think it actually would. She thought Wren would eventually end up with some really sweet girl and her chances would be gone, and that still very much could happen, so she tried to enjoy this moment as much as possible. Chanel pulled at his shirt as she fell back onto her bed before removing it. She was worried she was moving too quick, but it was Chanel, and it she wasn't sure if she'd have this opportunity again.

- Fade to Black -

After everything, Wren still wasn't sure where the two of them stood. If this was just a hook up for her or if it was something more. He got back into her bed with her and he just wanted to exist with her for a minute. Even if it was just a meaningless hookup, it felt like they were back. Wren was worried about sounding like a total dweeb, but he needed to know. "So what does this ... mean?" he hated the words as they came out of his mouth.

After Wren was back in her bed, Chanel moved in close and laid her head against his chest with a small smile on her face. She didn't want this moment to end with him. She picked her head up to look at him once she heard his question. "Well I guess it can mean whatever we want, right?" The answer was clear for her, but she wasn't too sure if they were both on the same page. "I mean, I do care about you, I always will. So I'm totally not using you for sex." she said with a laugh before realizing that there was a possibility that this didn't mean anything to him. "Unless this is just a casual thing for you ... cause I get it. What does this mean for you?"

The way she laughed made him a little nervous, like he shouldn't go all in on his answer. He needed to hold back to protect himself. "I mean I don't think anything between us has ever been casual" said Wren, skirting his answer. "I mean, I had fun. I think we should keep doing this" Wren said looking at her, it wasn't like they should date again. He wanted to, but she wasn't going to let him in. And right now, he didn't really want to tell her what was actually going on with him. Like there was a wall between them and only the happy stuff got in. "It's really whatever you want" he said honestly as a comforting smile appeared on his face.

Chanel could feel her heart sink, she didn't want to be just some girl Wren was hooking up with. She wanted so much more, she wanted to go back to what they were before. But she had no right to ask for more when she was the problem. If he broke up with her once, why would he want her back after all this time? "Right, yeah. We could keep doing this. I had fun too." she answered back with a smile plastered on her face. "It's nice to talk to you again, so I don't want to cross any line here. I'm just trying to be good. Shocker, I know." she forced out a laugh, trying to seem more relaxed about this than she really was.

Wren couldn't help but feel back to where they started with her here. There was something so comfortable about it all. "You're not crossing a line. We can just agree to let the other one know if we do" said the boy, wondering if he could start having her sleep here. He knew she didn't sleep well without somebody. He wanted to be that person. He just didn't know how to ask. He had ended it, what gave him the right to ask for something so big.

Chanel nodded her head, "That sounds good to me." Communication was never her strong suit, especially when it came to their relationship, but maybe this would be a good way to show Wren that she wanted to try and be better. "Is it crossing the line to ask if you're doing anything the rest of the night?" she asked with smile. They planned to go rollerskating, but time clearly got away from them. Now all Chanel wanted was to spend the night with him. "Cause I'm free if you are."

He thought about it for a minute, but his want to stay like this overtook any kind of smart thoughts. "I am not doing anything, we can hang out here or in my room. Whatever is better for you" he suggested. He definitely didn't want to put Juliette out of her room. "We could watch Snow Dogs or Jumanji or Jennifer's Body or the Scooby Doo movies" Wren said, listing off a few of their favorites. His least favorite part of dating was having to learn a bunch of stuff about someone when he didn't know how long they would be hanging out. He liked that he already knew Chanel through and through, but that was the problem. Like that might all be fake, the way she could lie to him so easily. It made his skin crawl.

"Maybe your room, Juliette should be coming back any minute." Chanel answered. Sure they had both kicked each other out of the room before when they had company over, but they at least gave each other a heads up in advance. The smile widened on her face when Wren began listing off the movies they could watch. "Hm, I haven't watched Snow Dogs in a hot minute." She still kept that stupid promise she made to herself back when she was a kid where she would only watch that movie with Laurie. "But then there's Robin Williams. I don't think I can pass that offer up. Unless you wanna go the Pride & Prejudice route." she brought up one of his favorites as well, it always reminded her of Wren. Chanel didn't care what they were watching, just being around him was more than enough, and she didn't know when this would happen again. There's was always that chance that Wren didn't want to do anything with her beyond sex, so she wanted to really be in this moment.

"Yeah let's go to mine" said Wren, he was happy that this wasn't it. He wanted more, but he knew it wasn't good for him. He talked with his therapist about healthy boundaries and being less of a people pleaser, but with Chanel it was hard to stick to his guns. Honestly ... it was hard with everyone. Wren wanted to be a good guy so bad, but it always ended up hurting him or he ended up really hurting someone when he let them down or he lashed out. He started to get dressed, "you know I have a soft spot for Robin Williams. Legendary man" Wren replied as he looked at her up and down. Being with Chanel felt so good, but he knew he was going to hit a low later. That's how it felt when they weren't around each other. Just low.

Chanel was trying her best to not look as excited as she felt. Things with Wren had been turning out a lot better than expected recently, but that didn't mean they were back together. Yes, she's the one who messed up, and yes, she should have apologized for it a long time ago, but bringing that up right now would ruin the good moment they were having. She also couldn't act like she wasn't hurt by what happened. The breakup seemed so quick, it almost felt like Wren had no issue leaving her behind. For some reason, the people she loved the most never stuck around. Chanel got dressed as Wren did and fixed her hair, "Isn't he the best?" Before walking out of the room, she placed her skates back to where she kept them. "Wow can't believe you got out of skating with me. It's almost like you know I'll outshine you. Weird." she raised her shoulders and smiled, acting like she wasn't the one to totally change their plans.

Wren laughed as she teased him about skating as he opened the door for her and they went out into the hall, "Weird that I picked a different activity where you outshine me. But watch out. I am very good at watching movies. The best, even. I've heard stellar reviews from people" he said laughing a little as he unlocked his door and they went into his room. "Do I need to lock up my sweatshirts? Or are you on your best behavior?" Wren joked as he turned on the tv, kicked off his shoes and got onto his bed. Wren pushed the thoughts about the break up out of his head. Today was just going to be a good day. He needed it more than he thought. She was probably going to leave him for someone more exciting, but for now he could enjoy this. "If you want we can order a pizza" he suggested. He had been doing really well in therapy, having a treat was going to be okay.

Chanel rolled her eyes and smiled up at Wren, "I'm just multitalented, what can I say?" she raised her shoulders as she spoke. "So are you though. I gotta admit, I was really impressed back in the day with all those boy scouts skills of yours. What can't you do, Laurie? I'm so jealous." she sighed dramatically. She always thought highly of Wren, even as kids. Anything he did was amazing in her eyes. But that might have been because she had a massive crush on him back then as well. Chanel must have acted like such a dork, and it was totally embarrassing to think back on. "What's the fun in being on my best behavior? Plus, my clothes don't cover a lot and these rooms can get really cold." she said with a pout before hopping on his bed. Hearing him suggest pizza put a smile on her face, "Ooh yes! I'm up for any kind, I'm not picky." Between this and Valentines day, it seemed like things were going well for Wren. Unfortunately, the selfish part of her brain thought about how it must be because she wasn't in the picture. A life without her must have been a lot less stressful for him.

Wren let out a hearty laugh, "it always comes back to the boy scout uniform. I see your ways Chanel Hampton, and I stay impressed." He liked how playful they were being, it felt like the last year had just been stressful. Every conversation had been awkward or hard. In a true moment of simpness (as certain men are called to) he took off his sweatshirt and handed it to Chanel, "Say it with me. I will return Laurie's sweatshirt" he coached. He loved the way his clothes looked on her. It felt like he was taking care of her needs when she wore his clothes. He liked taking care of her, he liked when she took care of him. Wren leaned back on the bed and opened up an app to order pizza, getting a plain cheese pizza. "It should be here in like 45 minutes to an hour" he said, resting his hands behind his head. He hoped she would put her head on his chest, and he really wanted her to spend the whole night. But he felt like he was wanting too much for what they were.

Chanel laughed along with Wren, "I can't help it. You shouldn't have shown me all those cool ways to tie a knot back then. Maybe I wouldn't have found all of that super cool. I think you knew what you were doing." she poked at the side of his arm. Chanel missed the times they spent when they were kids, it was all so happy and innocent. Sometimes she'd let her mind wander and think about how different her life would have been if he didn't move to California. It's not like she started acting out because he moved, but he was one of the only people that really cared about her. Life was lonely without him. Chanel flashed her teeth at Wren as she grabbed the sweatshirt, "I will return Laurie's sweatshirt. When? Who knows!" she said as she put it on. Wearing his clothes was always a form of comfort for her, especially at night when she had trouble sleeping. Chanel held back the strong urge to wrap her arms around his body and lay against him. Wren just looked so good and she was so weak for him. But she didn't want to cross any line so she sat next to him and made herself comfortable like that. "Sounds good, we could wait for the food to start the movie." she suggested, trying to spend as much time with him as possible. "Or we could start now, whichever works for me."

When wren was working on getting his knot tying badge, him and Chanel had tied literally everything they could find. His parents were frustrated for weeks trying to get things open in the house. He remembered retying knots after his parents finally cut items free. "We can wait for the food" he said with a smile as he looked over at her, the space between them felt like it was getting bigger and bigger.  "If it gets kinda late, and there's that really long walk back to your dorm room a few doors down. You could stay here. It's such a long walk, and it might be pretty late when we finish the movie. Especially if we were to watch two. As a professional movie watcher, I know these things" said Wren laughing a little. He was uncomfortable asking her to stay, but he wanted to communicate what he wanted.

Chanel's smile widened as Wren suggested she stay the night. She was already planning on subtly asking that without seeming too pushy, but it was nice to know that he wanted this too. Maybe it was the stress of the semester, but Chanel had been having more and more issues when it came to sleeping. She promised herself that she'd see someone about it, but she kept putting it off. It was just difficult overall. Sleeping next to Wren always helped with that though, she felt safe around him. "Well you are the professional here, and you've always seemed trustworthy." Maybe she could have used a better word than trustworthy. The topic of trust was not exactly something she wanted to bring up, so she quickly kept on talking. "Plus I've been so tired from our last team practices for the semester. Long walks are a total no right now." she laughed. "So yeah, I'll stay. I'd love to. I wouldn't want you all by yourself, I'm sure Jet would want you to have some company."

Wren was doing pretty well until she said the word trustworthy. He did his best for it to not send him spiraling, but it reminded him that he couldn't trust her whatsoever. When you can't trust someone, they start to feel like a stranger even though you've known and loved them your whole life. She was a stranger, and as much as there was between them. None of it was real. "I'm sure Jet would, it's not every day he lets me be in here alone, or at all" said Wren, trying to bring himself back to the moment. It was a cruel twist of fate that the one person Wren wanted to share his life with, didn't want to share everything with him. It made him feel like a decoration, pretty to sit there but not useful. Not a necessary thing in her life. There was a time where he would have given anything to be important like that to her. That time seeped into the present, and he found himself wanting to be that for her again. To be important to Chanel Hampton, for real this time.

[abdicatedarchive]

let me in || wren x chanel

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: spring 2020.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: wren x chanel.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: abortion mention tw.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: TBD

"Nana, I have to go. I promise you I don't know anything about this and those ladies are lying because they want to start stuff. She could have also been picking it up for her mom" said the boy. He was desperate for anything, any answer. Wren ran over to Chanel's house after Nana straight up threatened to whoop his ass. He hadn't heard anything in town, and of course Nana heard about it first. Wren didn't even have time to think about what was going on, or how he was feeling. He just wanted to be there. He needed to be there. Wren blew past Tiffany, mumbling something about how it was important, and she just let him go. Wren arrived at Chanel's door and slammed it open, "Is it true? Tell me it was just for your mom" said Wren, lost as to what to say. It wasn't that it happened, they were both guilty of that. But she hadn't told him? After all this time? Wasn't he important to her? Wasn't he a part of this? He kept pacing, "Just tell me its for your mom, can't you order stuff like that on Amazon? Why is Nana asking me about it?" he said, at his wit's end.

Chanel wanted to deal with this on her own, she didn't need anyone else to know. The more people knew, the more real it would become. Her and Wren had been doing so good, she never thought she'd get to experienced a relationship like this. It was perfect, and she didn't want this to ruin it. Once she saw the pregnancy test results, she felt sick to her stomach. This was all such a disaster. She had spent all day in bed, and at this point, she thought she was all cried out. Then Wren came storming in, it practically made Chanel jump out of bed. The internal panic quickly kicked in once he started speaking. She thought she was doing such a good job at keeping this a secret. But everyone talked in Hastings, and with her family's shitty reputation, it only made sense that word would get around quick. She could already picture it. "Chanel Hampton getting pregnant in high school, who didn't see that coming?" "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree it seems." Just thinking of what people were going to say was driving her crazy. Chanel stayed silent for a moment, she didn't know what to say. She couldn't lie to him, but she didn't want to have this conversation. She just wanted all of this to be over. "Can we please not talk about this? I have everything figured out. Just ... just tell her it's a lie."

Wren would believe it if he was told that the whole town heard his heart break in that moment. Figured it out? He stopped dead in his tracks, all he felt was his poor beating heart. Figured it out without even telling him? He thought they were a team. He thought it was them against everybody else. Wren sat himself at the foot of her bed, and he felt a tear fall down his face. It wasn't the getting pregnant, it's that she didn't tell him. That she made all these decisions without him. That she was going through something and he wasn't the person she wanted to tell. Chanel Hampton, choosing to be alone in this world when he was the fool who wanted to be by her side through the good and bad. Wren felt like shit, that he had dragged her into all of his problems but she never said anything about hers. Like their whole relationship had been one sided, "Chanel" he said weakly as he looked over at her, "why haven't we talked about this?" She had asked to not talk about this, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to be there, he wanted all of her. That included the good and the bad, but he felt so betrayed by the fact that she wasn't sharing all of her. She was hiding from him. Everything felt like a lie. He thought that he knew her better than anyone, maybe he didn't.

Chanel could feel her heart sink as she noticed that Wren began to cry. She was unsure of what was actually hurting him. Her getting pregnant to begin with? Her saying she had it figured out and what that specifically meant? The fact that he found out from someone else that wasn't her? There were so many different possibilities as to what made him feel this way, and that was the worst part. No one made Chanel happier than Wren, it's always been like that. He brought this warm light into her cold, dark, lonely life. She wanted to be that light for Wren too, but sometimes she was so selfish. She would put herself first, like now. Even when she thought not telling him was best for everyone, including him, Chanel was still being inconsiderate. Whether she knew that or not. "What is there to talk about?" she asked as if this wasn't something important, but she knew it was. She was just scared. Scared of what this would do to their relationship, scared of what his family would think, scared of how her parents would react. "This is will all be over and we could just forget about it, okay?" she crawled over to the side of the bed Wren was on and placed her hand on the side of face to wipe away his tear. "We could just go back to normal."

When she put her hand on his face he put his hand on top of hers, holding the moment. There was so much importance in hands, how they interacted. "Chanel, I think we have different ideas of what normal is" said the boy quietly. "If you're going to treat me like some fragile thing, and keep me out of everything... I don't know if I want to return to that normal." They never fought about anything real, and when they did fight about stupid things it was all yelling. This was eerily quiet. The thickness of everything unsaid hanging in the air. "I can't even imagine how scary all of this is for you, but I could have been there to lean on. I want to be there. I just can't believe you don't want me there for you, you're ... you're breaking my heart, Chanel" said Wren. That was something really scary about having the real thing, it can really hurt you too. They had hurt each other before, but this was different. He couldn't look at her, he knew he would just melt if he did. That was the problem, this wasn't okay. He couldn't pretend like this was a thing that happened and it was over. There were so many layers of it all. He put his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. Isolating just as she had, with no one to lean on.

Something as simple as Wren placing his hand over hers put a smile on Chanel's face. For a moment, she thought he would agree and they'd get through all of this together with ease. Or as much ease as you could possible have. She didn't think she could get anymore stressed. But as he spoke, it was like the wind had completely been knocked out of her. She stayed completely still, she didn't even notice if she was breathing, until she opened her mouth to talk. "What?" the word came out almost as a whisper. Chanel hoped she was just jumping to conclusions and he didn't mean what she thought. "I'm not keeping you out of everything, I tell you everything. You know that. It was ... it was just this one thing, I promise." she shook her head as her eyes began to well up. "I didn't want this to ruin everything." She thought she was trying so hard to maintain what they had, couldn't he see that? Yes, she should have told him, but Chanel didn't think he would be this upset about it. "Of course I want you here with me, what are you talking about? I love you." Chanel placed her hand on Wren's shoulder and pushed gently to try and get him to sit up straight. She just wanted to look him in the eyes and tell him how much he meant to her, show him how honest she was being. "I love you." she repeated. "You know that, right?"

He felt her hand on his shoulder, here she was being there for him when she never let him be there for her. He thought about all the times he had had it rough, with his eating. When he didn't have the strength to physically move. How she ran out onto the court when he fainted during the big game. She was there for him, and he had let her in. It hadn't been easy, but he had done it. In his defense, it was different. Wren didn't fully understand his illness the way that you could understand a pregnancy test. He really had thought he was fine for a long time. Wren sat up and put his hand on the nape of her neck, their foreheads coming together to touch. "I know you love me, but you won't let me love you" he said, tears falling into their laps. "I want to be there, when it happens. Is that okay?" he whispered. Wren knew he needed to be there, he wanted to be there. This was all because of something they did, and he was going to regret it for the rest of his life if he wasn't.

Chanel thought she knew what heartbreak felt like, during homecoming night junior year. Once in that godforsaken hallway and again later that night in Wren's bedroom. But she was wrong. What she was feeling in the pit of her stomach right now was something she had never experienced before. The pain in her chest was so prominent, her heart was absolutely shattered to pieces after hearing him speak. You won't let me love you. She wasn't even sure how to process that. How long had she been causing this damage? How could she not tell? Did he really not love her? Did he ever love her? There was a part of her that was putting all the blame on herself, but of course with Chanel, there was always another part of her that needed to put the blame on someone else. Was Wren really about to throw their whole relationship out the window because of this? It's like he wasn't putting up a fight at all. He had completely given up on them. Chanel pulled back and nodded her head quickly, her eyes were starting to sting from the tears. "I mean, yeah. Of course that's okay." She didn't want to talk about any of that right now, the only thing she cared about was that they would still be together after this. "Are you ... are you really done? Just like that? Please just tell me I'm misunderstanding. You still want this, don't you?"

Wren looked over to her, "I just don't know how we can be together when you won't let me in" said the boy. His heart was pounding, he felt it sink to his stomach. "I want all of you, good and bad. Chanel, I gave you all of me and there's so much bad about me and you're still here. I love you so much, and I am going to be here through what you've decided. I support you. I am here. But I don't know how we're supposed to be a couple when you hide from me on something so big." He felt like such an ass, breaking up with her when this was all happening. He didn't even want to break up with her, but she didn't love him. She didn't. She couldn't. Not as much as he did, that was made clear today. "It's not the pregnancy or the abortion. It's that you thought you could just take care of things and never let me be there to hold your hand. That you didn't want it until you were forced into it because my Nana came home to yell at me" said the boy, his heart laying on the floor of his stomach. It made him hate that he had eaten, because there was so much turmoil in his stomach between his heart and the food he'd had today.

It was times like this where Chanel wished she would react a little more calmer to unexpected situations, but she was just too impulsive for her own good. In the moment, she didn't see much wrong with it, but eventually she would find herself with a lot of regret. Especially when it came to Wren. Chanel was no stranger to ruining relationships, romantic or not, but she didn't want this one with Wren to end up the same way most of her relationships did. He was the most important person in her life. Chanel furrowed her brows as he finished speaking, my Nana. The way Wren was speaking to her was already different. As if she was just some random person that meant nothing to him. How could he get rid of her so easily? "You love me? Or I won't let you love me? Cause if you loved me, wouldn't you try, at least a little more, to hold on to what we have?" she started to raise her voice, the frustration in her was building up. "You love me, but you're fine with completely dropping me?" It always seemed like the people Chanel loved the most couldn't care less about her. "After everything?" she asked, the tears continuing to flow down her face. "I wasn't trying to hurt you."

He had no choice but to put his walls back up. She had made it clear that he didn't deserve to be in the know about her, and he needed to be more guarded. Wren wasn't going to sit here and get his heart pummeled. "I love you as much as I can" said the boy, getting a little frustrated at her tone. "I am not fine with dropping you and I'm not dropping you, you dropped me!" he exclaimed. Wren was getting more and more mad, "it doesn't matter whether or not you were trying to hurt me, you did and you were totally fine with it until I knew!" It pained him to yell at her, but he was so upset at everything. How he had let her in like this just for her to not reciprocate it. He had spent more than a year opening up to her and being vulnerable about things that he didn't share with anyone, but something they shared happens and she can just not tell him about it? Ridiculous.

I love you as much as I can? What does that even mean? Chanel's thoughts were all over the place, she wasn't even allowing herself to really take in what Wren was saying. "I hid this one thing from you. Just this. That's all, I swear." She made it sound like this one thing wasn't a very big thing, but she wanted him to know that she wasn't always hiding from him. Chanel felt like she was always open with Wren, he was the only person that really understood her. "I'm not hiding, I'm not lying, and I did not drop you!" she yelled back. "I just ... I didn't want this to ruin everything we have. I was scared about how you'd react. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen, you just fucking leaving." Wren wouldn't have broken up with her because she got pregnant, he wasn't like that, but the fear of that actually happening took over. "Please, Laurie." her voice cracked as she spoke. She just didn't know what to do at this point.

This was a huge thing to hide, he couldn't just let it go. "Chanel, you dropped me the minute you decided I didn't need to know" said Wren, yelling back at her. "I wouldn't have, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to trust you when we're at different colleges next year. What's the next thing I don't need to know? The same thing your old boyfriends didn't need to know?" he snapped, he shouldn't have said that. "I shouldn't have said that, I just ... if we're not communicating now, how the hell are we going to communicate potentially thousands of miles apart" he said, his voice softer now. They had been keeping their college stuff quiet from each other, not trying to impact where they were going to go. When they had something to share, they just left the school name out when they were talking about how the college application process was making them feel.

Chanel was definitely excited for this next step in their lives, and if everything worked out the way she hoped, she'd be going to her dream culinary school. But she tried not to think about the fact that they'd be separated again. Hearing Wren bring up her old boyfriends was like a punch to the gut. Chanel kept quiet for a second, biting down on her bottom lip as a tear rolled down her cheek. She felt completely defeated at this point. It became clear that Wren was never going to fully trust her, he probably never did to begin with. Her past would stay with her forever, and she had no one to blame but herself. "I would never do that to you. Never." she spoke softly. "But I'm sure my words don't mean shit, so ... so just go. I wouldn't want you stressing about whether I'm messing around with other people in college or not. Have fun wherever you go."

He wanted to believe her so bad, but between his insecurities and this ... he didn't know how he could. His heart was breaking. How could he be letting her go? How could they keep hurting each other like this. "Just text me when it's time for your appointment. I'll drive you, and be there for it. If you'll still have me" he said softly as he got up and headed towards the door, standing in the doorway. Leaving meant it was over. He couldn't seem to make it through the threshold.

This was it, their relationship was coming to an end. After all these years they spent together, the friendship that they built as children. It was all over. She had lost Wren once before, and here she was losing him again, slipping right through her hands. Chanel held back to urge to run up and hug him. She wanted to tell him she was sorry and she'd never do something like this again, but her own stubbornness got in the way of that. "Yeah, okay." she spoke quietly as she sat back down her bed, pulling her knees in to hug them close to her. "I guess I'll see you then."

"Alright then" said Wren, swallowing hard as he took one last look at her for today. He shut the door behind him and took a long breath. He wanted to just open the door and crawl into bed with her and hold her. To be there for her, to tell her it was all going to be okay. He could do that at the appointment, he would do that at the appointment. He would be good to her, even if they were done. Fuck. They were done. He was no longer dating Chanel Hampton. The girl of his dreams. Fuck. He ran all the way home, but he couldn't go inside. He took a detour on his old path and kept running for what felt like hours.

Chanel immediately broke down into tears after Wren left. She was back where she started, all alone with no one by her side, and it crushed her. Sometimes she felt bad for putting so much of her happiness into Wren, but she had never been so loved by someone else before. It was a feeling she never wanted to lose. She felt so empty in this moment, and she knew it was only going to get worse. The appointment was coming closer and closer, and she could already feel word about this pregnancy spreading around town. There was no way to fix this. Chanel just couldn't keep anything good in her life, she always found a way to fuck it up.

[abdicatedarchive]

parent trapped || wren, chanel, jet, and sailor

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍: gio’s italien off campus dining // valentines day.

𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: wren x chanel x jet x sailor.

𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒: rudeness.

𝐃𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐒: sailor and jet set up their broken up friends for valentines day, and it becomes the weirdest double date of all time.

It was Valentines day, and Jet wanted to meet up the three of them: Jet, Wren, and Sailor. Wren called it a bromantic evening, much to everyone else's eye roll. Jet had suggested the italian place, and Wren was down to eat some pasta with his friends. "Weird of Sail to not be here before us" said Wren as they sat down at a table for four. It's not like they really had tables for three, so he didn't even think twice about it. "I'm not ... third wheeling, am I?" he joked, at this point it was a running gag for him that Sailor was the only person Jet had been close to and not tried to get with. Even Wren and Jet had kissed, and as much as he did not want to think of her right now on this special holiday ... Jet had also slept with Chanel.

"Can't third wheel something that's never going to happen," Jet shrugged, letting the comment roll off his shoulders as if his mind hadn't been bombarded by the girl he had been spending a little extra quality time with as of late. Using his free hand to check his phone to be sure that the girls were still on their way, the boy made himself comfortable in the seat across from Wren, careful to leave an empty seat for Chanel. "She should be here soon, but would it be so bad if it was just the two of us? You know you want me to give you these roses instead," he winked at the boy, motioning to the bouquet he had picked up under the assurance that it was rude to show up to a valentines day date without a gift...and it would be from the both of them.

Chanel fixed her hair as her and Sailor made their way to the restaurant, "Did I tell you that you look really hot? Cause you do." she told the other girl with a big smile on her face. "You always do. I bet Jet would agree too." she teased her friend as she wiggled her eyebrows. At this point, it was very normal for Chanel to tease the two about their very special friendship. She was appreciative of them for inviting her out for the night. Ever since her and Wren broke up, Sailor and Jet seem to bounce back and forth between the two. It sucked not hanging out like they used to, but Chanel was not about to suggest that they bring Wren along. No way. As they walked inside, Chanel instantly noticed Jet at a table, "Hello sweetheart, your valentines have arrived!" she yelled out before noticing Wren sitting with him. "What? Wait. No! What the fuck? Sail!" she looked over at the girl with wide eyes.

A part of Sailor actually felt a little bad about what they were walking into. Well, at least what Chanel was walking into. The blonde was laughing now but the redhead wasn’t sure she would be in a minute once she’d realized their table was set for four rather than three. “Maybe, but I obviously dressed up for you so who cares what he thinks,” she mused, grateful for the dimly lit ambiance of the restaurant tonight so that Chanel wouldn’t see the subtle traces of a blush creeping over her cheeks. Linking her arms with the other girl (strategically keeping her close in case the plan backfired and Chanel tried to make a break for it), Sailor did her best to look confused when the blonde’s eyes turned on her. “What? Oh....huh. Is that Wren?” Sailor spoke to Chanel, feigning shock. “Wow, so weird. Anyway, I’m starving, aren’t you? Let’s sit c’mon,” she said, urging her friend forward. “Got room for the both of us?”

"Jet if you wanted to seduce me, all you have to do is ask. Or hear me out? Let me sleep in my own room, easy access to make a move on me" Wren teased back, excited to hang out with the two of them. With it being Valentines, sometimes he thought he was being pitied ... but at least it was their idea. He knew he had been kind of a mope all year, even when he did get with someone new it never lasted long and it was always a sore topic. Then he heard her voice, calling out to Jet that his valentines were here. What the fuck was this, Wren shot a look to Jet and shook his head, his lips pursed. He put his hand on the back of his neck as he watched Chanel freak out to Sailor. "You two are really proud of yourselves aren't you?" asked Wren shaking his head, he might have even wagged his finger at them, "You're lucky I want pasta and this is the only place on campus where it's edible" he said, sinking into his chair a little bit. Trying not to look at her, and how good she looks. Stupid Chanel Hampton in her cute outfits. Who was she even dressing up for? Jet? He knew she just liked dressing up, but it felt like a personal attack.

He wanted to act surprised, to pretend he hadn't been (in)patiently waiting for both of the girls to walk into the only relatively romantic and still inexpensive restaurant within walking distance from their dorms, but a smirk played on the corner of his lips at Wren's comment despite himself. "Come on Laurie, you can't be too mad...two beautiful women and my company? Doesn't get much better than that," he teased, standing up to pull out the seat for Sailor- continuing the plan to force the exes together. Once he was seated again, he offered Sail the roses, plucking a stem out of the bundle as he did so, "for our valentines," Jet chuckled, making eye contact with the blond across the table as he held the rose toward her trying his best not to let things be awkward now that their plan had been executed.

"Maybe we can ditch him later on and have the night to ourselves?" she teased the girl with a wink afterwards. "I can get Juliette out of the room for the night." she giggled. Chanel linked arms with Sailor with no thoughts in her pretty little head. As far as she was concerned, this was just going to be a casual night with her favorite people. But now, this was a very stressful night with her favorite people and her ex, who might take the spot for being her most favorite person but she would not admit to that. She couldn't think like that. She hated Wren She had to hate him. "I cannot believe you two!" she whispered to the girl as they approached the two boys. Chanel tried to keep her eyes off of Wren, but it wasn't working. Why did he have to look that good? Didn't he have any consideration for her feelings? She looked at Jet and Sailor in silence when the only seat that was available was beside Wren. It just kept getting worse. Chanel slowly pulled out the seat for herself and sat down, keeping her focus on the two in front of her. "Thank you, Jetson." she said with a straight face as she grabbed on to the rose.

“Bold of you to assume I knew anything about this. You know Jet’s the one with the bad ideas,” she defended, trying to make light of the situation whilst knowing her hands were far from clean in this.  “Thank you Jet and thank you, Wren, “ she added, giving Chanel a pointed look. God, she wanted to laugh at how awkward this already was, “they’re beautiful.” Thankfully, any other inevitable awkwardness was interrupted by a waiter walking up to the table and asking for their drink orders. “Just a water. And maybe your alcohol menu? Some of us are going to need it,” Sailor answered first, the last part uttered more lowly to the waiter than anyone else at the table. “At what point do we just...pull a parent trap and ditch them?” she leaned over to ask Jet while the waiter turned his attention to the exes. “I guess we should be grateful that no ones walked off yet. Though, maybe I should tell him to take the sharp objects away from the table for now.”

When the waiter arrived, Wren took the opportunity and took out his fake and handed it to the waiter to check, "could I get an old fashioned and then four tequila shots for the table" said Wren to the waiter. If this was happening, they might as well all have a drink. Lawrence was looking down to avoid eye contact with anyone and everyone at the table, but he felt his eyes draw to her thighs as intimate thoughts crawled into his head. God, Chanel Hampton's impact oh him. He looked over at her, making eye contact, "I didn't tell them to do this, I promise" he said earnestly. The last thing he wanted was for her to think that he had planned any of this. Getting rejected when he didn't even ask for it? That would be a torturous hell. It felt good that she didn't have real plans for Valentines day, that she would prefer to be with Jet and Sailor ... just like him.

Despite the tension in the air, Jet held an amused grin. What was the worst that could happen from their little plan? There was no way the pair didn't want to spend valentines day together anyway- in his mind he and Sailor were doing them a favor...even if they hadn't asked. Placing an order for water as well, Jet rested his hand on Sail's thigh as he leaned in to hear her just a little better. "Is now too soon?" he teased, eyes practically sparkling as he spoke to the girl, "no way- where's the fun in that? Gotta leave a little suspense for the rest of us. You look beautiful tonight, happy valentines day, Red." Straightening up once again, Jet took in the friends across from him for a moment before clearing his throat and lifting the menu, "So, Chanel, what are you going to order?"

Chanel looked over at the waiter and forced a polite smile on her face. "I'll just have a water, thank you." she said with a single nod. She would have gotten something else, but since Wren ordered shots for the table, she held back on anything else. She can hold her liquor fairly well, but she was too nervous to even be tipsy around Wren. Chanel was a smart girl, she was very aware that she couldn't even trust herself. She looked over at Wren once he spoke to her, it was hard to even look at him in the eyes, "I didn't think you would." she said honestly, she was pretty convinced that he wanted nothing to do with her. "They're both sneaky. I can't really say I'm surprised." she whispered back to him. Once Jet asked Chanel what she wanted, she raised her shoulders and looked at the menu, "I don't know. I can always let you both decide. Seems like you guys are making a lot of... choices tonight." she said, trying not to sound too bratty.

Her ears perked a little at Wren’s order of four tequila shots, clearly not wasting any time.  “Probably.” Jet’s hand on her thigh isn’t unfamiliar, but it’s making her feel warmer than she’d ever hoped to be while sitting in the company of their two closest friends. Quietly placing her hand on his own before he can think to get any more adventurous, she starts fiddling with his fingers beneath the table. Scrunching her nose at him, she can’t help but smile while she thanked him. “Right back at you.” She’s already looking at her menu too when Jet turns his attention to Chanel, and when she comments she could only try to bite her tongue. She adored Wren and Chanel but having to bounce between the pair was exhausting. And to be fair, they wouldn’t have had to make these sorts of choices for them if her friends hadn’t kept making such bad ones. “In that case, you should definitely try their Penne Arrabbiata. It’s got spice, just like you,” she teased, childishly sticking her tongue out. “You can hate us tomorrow, but we haven’t done this in ages. Not all four of us, at least, and it’s not like either of you had any real Valentine’s Day plans anyway...right?”

He wasn't exactly going to admit that he didn't have a date, "Bold of you to assume, but I am surprised you two wanted babysitters on your date" said the boy, accusing the other pair of what they all knew was going to happen. It was just a matter of when. Some day Jet would realize that the best thing that has ever happened and will ever happen to him was Sailor, and this time they weren't going to be wrong about it. The way that they were all wrong about Wren and Chanel. The tequila shots arrived at the table, "Alright everybody, L'chaim" said Wren as he took the first shot. He was looking over the menu and decided on the risotto and gave the order to the waiter. Being next to Chanel was driving him crazy, he could feel it already. He had done his best to avoid being in sit down settings with her, it was just too hard. The old habits that his body was used to when eating with her. Holding her hand under the table or having her take a bite of his food, just the little things that he knew he couldn't do anymore.

Snickering at Sailors comment, Jet wanted to comment about the fact that last time Chanel let him make some choices for them, she was left satisfied...so he was sure this wouldn't be any different. But, for once, he held back. He didn't want the night to get somehow more awkward. "We just wanted to get the band back together Laurie...relax," he rolled his eyes, though it was becoming increasingly harder to focus on the uncomfortable situation as the girl seated beside him played with his fingers under the table. Ordering another round before the waiter had set down the shots, Jet held his up in cheers with the rest of the table. Squeezing Sail's hand as he made eye contact with the tequila shot in his hand- his playful smirk was only interrupted when he tipped his head back, emptying the glass. Ordering lasagna as an afterthought. "So, are you guys really going to be weird for the rest of the night? Or are we going to have a good time...for old times sake?"

Chanel immediately stuck her tongue back out to Sailor, "I am spicy, in the best way possible. So thank you for the compliment... but since I trust your judgement, I'll get the penne arrabbiata." she mumbled before ordering the dish. Sure she was a bit annoyed that her two friends set them up like this, but she'd be completely lying to herself if she said she didn't want to be this close to Wren. Plus, Chanel would definitely do the same thing if she was them. Sitting so close to her ex was just as hard as she thought it would be. She awkwardly played with the end of he skirt to keep her busy until the drinks came to the table. Chanel grabbed her glass and downed the shot before nodding her head at the question being asked. She of course missed the whole group hanging out, and she was always worried she'd be the one to ruin things with them. That's just the way it went with her friendships, and in a way she was right. "Well I could have had a real date, but I'm not going to be a complete bitch the whole time." she promised her friends. "I will though, count this as you two's first date. Unless you guys are already on date two? Five? I wouldn't be surprised." she teased with an innocent grin on her face. It was just too fun messing with Sailor and Jet.

Despite Jet telling him to relax and knowing Wren was merely teasing, Sailor can't help but feel a little flustered at the comment, shifting a bit in her seat just so that she could lightly kick the basketball player's foot under the table. Tequila. It had to be tequila. Taking one of the shots for herself as Jet squeezed her other hand out of sight, Sailor tried not to let any mildly inappropriate thoughts consume her. But before they really could, she was shaking her head clear of them, raising her glass and murmuring a quick 'Bottoms up'. By the time the waiter had found their way back to her, Sail was ready and sent them off with an order of some linguine dish in a lemon sauce that she could barely pronounce ( but had somehow managed to not totally butcher ). "Four, actually," she quipped with a roll of her eyes. "You know you can deflect all you want, but I'd call you two practically teaming up with the same tactic...progress," she mused, voice lilting.

The tequila and the drink were definitely some of Wren's better ideas this evening. When Sailor noted that they were teaming up, he felt the warmth in his chest. It may have been the tequila, but he was thankful that he wasn't blushing. Wren mused for a moment, "So we're all in agreement, it is a great thing that Chanel and I are here to actively make fun of your date, for of course old time's sake and new times current reality. That Jet and Sailor are getting married." A smirk formed on the boy's face, "I mean, Jet's never been on that many dates with anyone. So I'm expecting the ceremony must be soon, have you sent out your save the dates yet? Jet is pretty used to telling people about his STDs, I mean ... save the dates." It was all in good fun, but it was annoying to have been tricked here. None the less, he was laughing at his own quip.

It wasn't that Jet didn't want to be seen as dating Sailor, or even marrying her, that bothered him. It was mostly the fact that they were being teamed up on for a relationship, or lack thereof, that he felt the need to protect. To shelter from the outside world so that they could figure it out just the two of them. Whatever direction it went. "Excuse you," Jet chuckled his tongue placed in his cheek as he shook his head, "I've never had an STD. I , unlike some people, know how to use protection." Had he taken it too far? Probably. But the words had left his lips before his brain had the chance to stop them. Taking a sip of his water, Jet let the comment fall between the group before he wagered a glance at Sailor- his human moral compass- to see if he had said too much.

Just hearing her name come out of Wren's mouth made Chanel's stomach flip... how pathetic. She turned to actually look at him as he poked fun at Jet. It made a smile form on her lips, mainly because she wanted to hear what Jet would say next. She knew he could get a little sassy, and she loved it. Once she turned her attention to Jet and heard what he said, her smile vanished. She looked over at Sailor for a second, but quickly looked away to not make any eye contact. If it were anyone else, Chanel would have made a scene and thrown her water on him, but this was her friend, and she was trying to be on her best behavior. So, she simply put her hands down on her lap and clenched her fists. "Hilarious." she said with a straight face. "I'm going to the bathroom." she added in before getting up and leaving to the restroom. Chanel was just too embarrassed and needed to leave for a moment. That was the last thing she wanted to talk about.

While Sailor had only managed to catch Chanel looking away, she'd known the girl long enough to tell from her demeanor alone that Jet's 'joking' had landed far too close too home. She didn't think the dig was meant to actually hurt them, reasoning it was just a clumsy ( stupid, very stupid ) slip of the tongue, but that hadn't stopped her from the little look she gave Jet as soon as Chanel had much too calmly left the table. Dropping Jet's hand, she pushed her chair away from the table and took a deep breath. "Okay, you," she pointed to Wren, "And especially you," she pointed at Jet, "Behave. I'm just going to check on her, I'll be right back." It didn't take Sail long to cross the restaurant floor, only stopping on her way there to steal two of the shots from the waiter that was already making their way back from the bar to the table with Jet's round. "I come in peace and with a gift," she alerted as she entered the restroom.

Wren felt a wave of guilt for getting fiesty with Jet, he had no idea that the other boy would take it that far in front of Chanel. It was one thing for him to give Wren flack about the situation, it had been almost a year, and things ... as traumatic as they are, can become jokes between the right people. Chanel Hampton was not to be included in that list. Wren was about to get up and follow her when Sailor had already gotten up and told them to behave. "Jetson Williams, what the fuck is wrong with you. My digs were not that deep, dude. And come for my neck, not Chanel's. You embarrassed yourself in front of Red too" said Wren, using Jet's nickname for Sailor just to drive the point home. "You know those jokes are off limits in front of her, neither of us know what that was like for her" Wren added taking a deep breath and taking a sip of his drink. "And now she's definitely not going to want me to walk her home or anything like that. Are you happy with yourself? You just ruined my shot with her dude, it's Chanel. I know I was just playing big game about how I don't want to be here with her, but dude look at her. Of course I want to be here, I was kinda excited about it. Now she's thinking about why we broke up." Wren shook his head, feeling bad for chewing Jet out. They really never did this, everything was usually just jokes. "And to be fair, I am sorry for making fun of you and Sailor" he tacked on, because he had started all of this.

Jet watched as the blond disappeared only to be followed by Sail soon after and felt his stomach drop a little as he realized he was going to have to deal with Wren alone.  Leaning back in his seat, Jet ran his hands through his hair as he half paid attention to the scolding and half tried to decide if taking the shot that had been delivered to their table would make things worse for him or better. His eyebrows pulled together as he made an attempt to figure out at what point he had embarrassed himself in front of anyone at that table- they all knew him. They had to know that he didn't mean to hurt any feelings, after all, it had been a year and it was only a joke. "You're kidding yourself if you think I ruined your chance with her, Laurie. She's a big girl, I think she'll be okay. It was only a joke, man," picking up the shot he continued, "and it's not like we aren't all aware that you're going to end up together anyway. Did you see the way she was looking at you? And I'm not even going to mention whatever that look you were giving her was." Jet chuckled, referring to the obvious love sick puppy dog eyes that Wren had always seemed to have for Chanel and Chanel only. Was he taking the situation as seriously as it demanded? Absolutely not, but when did he ever? Choosing to ignore Wren's apology for any comments made about he and Sail, Jet shrugged his shoulders and continued to divert the attention back at his friend after downing the second shot, "Do you want me to go apologize? Or do you want her to be mad at me? Which one would help you're little walk home?"

Once Chanel walked into the restroom, she leaned against the countertop and looked at her reflection in the mirror. It was stupid to leave the table like that, doing it only made everything more awkward. She should have ignored the comment and at least acted like it didn't bother her. It's not like Jet would ever mean to hurt her, but as usual, she went ahead and acted dramatic. Chanel then started to wash her hands for no particular reason, she just needed to do something. It had been almost a year, she should be over it, but she wasn't. She lost her relationship because of it. She lost any ounce of respect she was getting from everyone else, or at least that's how she saw it. Her father still constantly brought it up, saying how embarrassing it was for the whole family. Her mother continued to joke about it with her friends, because it was Chanel, and that was bound to happen to her. Of course she meant no harm in the jokes, but it hurt. Chanel was still trying to get over it, but to others, it was just a joke. A joke that everyone saw coming. She looked up to see Sailor's reflection in the mirror and forced a smile, "Hey, babe. I do love gifts." she said as she noticed the shots in her friend's hand. "Sorry, I know you guys just want to have a good time." she apologized immediately. "I'll come back, keep my mouth shut, and just eat my food."

“Hey, no. No one wants that. And that’s not you,” she told the blonde, reaching past Chanel to place the shots on the counter. Stepping forward, Sailor wrapped an arm around her friend’s back before dropping her chin to her shoulder. “You know Jet wouldn’t say that to hurt you, right? And I’m sorry if we overstepped with having both you and Wren here. To be fair, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Are you mad at me?” she asked, looking at the girls reflection with a pout. “I mean you have to forgive me. I brought you a shot.”

Wren shook his head, "We both know she's a lot happier single." It was an unfortunate truth to Wren that she was happier playing the field than she had been tied down to him. "She looks at everyone like that. It's Chanel" it just felt like something that was universally acknowledged at this point. "Have I been looking stupid all evening?" he said, as his head fell back and his hand went from his forehead down his face as if to wipe the look off his face. "I don't know man, I don't know anything about her anymore. I don't know what's going to set her up. Just follow Sailor's lead. She's doing your damage control in the bathroom" said Wren, a small laugh falling from his mouth. The situation was just so uncomfortable, it warranted some inappropriate laughter. No one was actually going to call Jet on anything, it was just how things were. He was an ass, and they all loved him.

"She's never looked at me the way she looks at you, Wren. Actually...I don't think I've ever seen her look at anyone that way," the boy clarified, trying to think of another time in their whole lives that he had noticed Chanel seem truly in love. Maybe he just wasn't observant enough, but he was sure this was different. This was love. Snickering, Jet wanted to tell his friend that he looked stupid every evening,- the teasing they were used to popping back into his mind, but he was also aware of the thin ice he stood on...so he just shook his head and took a sip of water, "no, not stupid...just- a little flustered." Rubbing the back of his neck, Jet chuckled, "What would I do without Sail? Always cleaning up all my messes." His eyes were no longer on the boy sitting across from him, but instead, trained in the direction of the bathroom that the girls had disappeared behind...wishing they would come back to the table and things could be the normal he had become so accustomed to only a year prior. "People don't change that much in a year, Laurie- if anyone knows Chanel...it's you. Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."

Chanel tilted her head to lightly lean on Sailor's as she looked back at the girl's reflection, "I know, I was just being dramatic. That's on me." she said with a sad smile. She hoped her stupid exit didn't make her friend feel bad about the comment he made. They were all fine with poking fun at each other, this was just something she needed to get over. "No I'm not mad at you, you're too pretty for me to be mad at. Ugh, pretty privilege sucks when you're not benefitting from it." she told Sailor playfully. "Anyways I'm sure if Wren and I were still together, we would have done something similar to you two." she admitted before grabbing the shots and handing one to her friend. "But now I have to come up with a way to get back at you guys, so cheers to that." she teased before raising the glass and downing the drink. "Ready to go back?"

“Being sad about something isn’t being dramatic,” Sailor pointed out, laughing when Chanel further made a comment about ‘pretty privilege’. The redhead just as playfully fluttered her lashes as if to drive the point home. While she missed Chanel and Wren teaming up to do anything, it was weird to think that they would ever have to team up to get Jet and herself in the same room. Especially, as of late ( not that Wren and Chanel actually knew as much ). “You wouldn’t have to trick me to hang out with my favorite people. Besides, Jet and I not talking?” she trailed off, trying not to let the thought get to her. She couldn’t think about that. Holding out her own glass, Sailor drowned the thought and linked her arm with Chanel’s. “Of course. But if you change you’re mind, just give me a little signal, and we’ll ditch them for a galentine’s day of epic proportions,” she conspired, waiting until Chanel actually looked like she was ready before leading them out of there and back through the restaurant. “All good?” she asked, eyes flickering between Jet and Wren as soon they reached the table.

"Just don't do anything offensive, just hang out and everything will be fine. I want her to get used to hanging out with me again, and we can see where things go from there" said Wren, his heart jumping when he saw the two come back to the table. The food arrived, and once Chanel sat down he reached out under the table to squeeze her hand. He knew it was risky, but he also knew that her love language was physical touch and he wanted her to know that he was there for her. He put his hands back above the table to take a bite of his food, grabbing some garlic bread from the middle as well. "This is so much better than cafeteria food, that's for sure" said Wren, just saying something to fill the void.