#to the point that when they moved away at the end of the series topanga knew that she couldn't separate them

[grifalinas]

Remember that episode of Suite Life where one of the twins dressed as a girl to enter a beauty pageant to win money for bikes and then Carey finds out and is like "why are you wearing a dress" and he's like "it's a scam" and she's like "oh thank goodness"?

What about that episode of Boy Meets World where Cory (later swapped to Shawn, because the writers accidentally made him an egg) decides to live as a girl in order to write about the experience of being a girl and his mom asks him how was school and he's like "I decided to be a girl" or w/ever and she's all "-horrified!-"

Anyway yeah I think about those things a lot

[joshjacksons]

Joshua Jackson interview with "Mr Porter" (2021)

Minutes before Mr Joshua Jackson joins me in a booth for a Friday afternoon drink at a vibey hotel bar in Santa Monica, he’s confronted by his past. Or rather, a woman in her early twenties who is binge-watching Dawson’s Creek, the teen show about a close-knit group of high-school friends coming of age in a sleepy American town, which made Jackson incredibly famous between 1998 and 2003. The series, which also made household names of Ms Michelle Williams and Ms Katie Holmes, went off air 18 years ago, but is now streaming on Netflix, to the bemusement of Jackson, who played lovable rogue Pacey Witter. “This girl was like, ‘Are you...?’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, I am. He got old. I’m sorry to break it to you,’” he says, before ordering an iced tea and a charcuterie board to tide him over until dinner time. “It always surprises me when young people say they’ve just got into Dawson’s Creek. I’m like, ‘Is it a costume drama to you? Do you feel like you’re watching a historical documentary?’”

The idea of a Friends-style reunion episode or a Sex And The City revival feels equally far-fetched to Canadian-born Jackson, now 43 and wearing it well in a pale green linen shirt and tailored linen trousers by Oliver Spencer that complement his fading brown hair and Cali-tanned skin.

“I don’t know why you’d want to [bring it back],” he says. “Nobody needs to know what those characters are doing in middle age. We left them in a nice place. Nobody needs to see that Pacey’s back hurts. I don’t think we need that update.”

And Jackson doesn’t need Dawson’s Creek. From Mr JJ Abrams’ sci-fi series Fringe (2008-2013) to the Golden Globe award-winning The Affair (2014-2019), from Ms Ava DuVernay’s ground-breaking true-crime drama When They See Us (2019) to the recent Ms Reese Witherspoon and Ms Kerry Washington-produced Little Fires Everywhere (2020), he has commanded the small screen – with a collection of dynamic and diverse work – ever since.

His latest role as Mr Christopher Duntsch, the Texas surgeon convicted of gross malpractice when 33 of his patients were left seriously injured after he operated on them and two of them died, in chilling Peacock crime drama Dr Death, is only stepping his career up another gear.

“I’ve never played anyone irredeemable before,” says Jackson, who is joined in the eight-part series (based on the 2018 Wondery podcast of the same name) by Messrs Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin. “He is charming, gregarious and has a high-level intellect, but he’s also a misogynist, probably a sociopath, certainly a narcissist and a complete incompetent who is incapable of seeing himself.”

If Duntsch is terrifying, then Jackson’s portrayal is even more so. The artist formerly known as Pacey is virtually unrecognisable (thanks to prosthetics) in the opening scene, but the real challenge for Jackson was allowing himself to view someone who is so “spectacularly evil” as a human being in order to walk in his shoes. “It’s a more damning portrayal of the man to make him into a human being, rather than just make him the bad guy,” he says. “He really believes he’s the hero, he’s the genius and that he’s the victim, so once I got past my own judgment, all the other things fell into place.”

Jackson might have his pick of stellar roles – and challenges – now, but it has not happened by accident. Take it from someone who has been in the business since landing his first job aged 14 in Disney’s live-action movie series The Mighty Ducks, opposite Brat Pack alumnus Mr Emilio Estevez.

“You try to make it look like it happens accidentally,” he says, “but there is no way to do this and not be ambitious. I’d say I’m extremely ambitious because I’ve been doing this cutthroat job for nearly 30 years. I’m in the pay-off phase of my career now. One of the benefits of surviving for as long as I have is you get to learn from your own mistakes.”

Such as? “I wouldn’t say, ‘I wish I hadn’t done that,’ because it all becomes bricks in a path, but [after Dawson’s Creek] I was not choosy enough about the things I was doing. You get stuck. You start trying to perform the performance you think people are hoping to see you do. I was so used to working all the time that I just worked all the time. There was definitely a conscious moment in my mid-twenties when I realised I wasn’t really enjoying the work that I was doing. My manager at the time just said, ‘Take a breath. You’re burnt out.’”

The turning point came in 2005, when Jackson was offered a role in the two-hander Mr David Mamet play A Life In The Theatre, opposite Sir Patrick Stewart. “God bless him, Patrick could have made my life miserable because I had no idea what I was doing, ” he says. “I hadn’t been on stage since I was a kid and now I was in the West End in over my head. But it reminded me that I actually enjoyed being an actor, that it’s not about the red carpet or travelling around the world. What I really enjoy is working on good material with good people.”

It’s no surprise Jackson’s time on Dawson’s Creek led to a career crisis. From the ages of 19 to 24, he lived with his fellow cast mates in Wilmington, North Carolina, filming day in, day out, in an arrangement he likens to college. “You get to the end and they’re like, ‘Here’s your degree. Go live now. You’re an adult. Go out into the world,’” he says.

But most graduates don’t have to deal with global fame. “It’s transitory. You’re only ever cool for a moment and then you become much less cool. I was always pretty dubious about flatterers,” he says, recalling a time he was stung in London in the mid-2000s. “I went on a date in Hyde Park with a woman whose name I will not use – she was socialite-famous – and she was acting completely bizarre, looking over her shoulder the whole time. I came to find out that she had hired a photographer to follow us through the park and gave a whole story to the tabloids about how I was going to meet her family.”

It was his growing fortune, rather than fame, that caused Jackson the most anxiety. “Suddenly, at 19 years old, I was making more in a week than most of my friends’ parents would make in a year,” he says. “It was lovely to have the money, but it was that feeling of nobody is worth that kind of money. You feel like a fraud and it took me a long time to forgive myself for not being the thing that I was perceived as.”

Born in Vancouver, but raised in Topanga, California, until he was eight (before moving back to Vancouver following his parents’ divorce), Jackson bought his childhood home in 2001 and lives in it today with his wife, British Queen & Slim actor Ms Jodie Turner-Smith, and their 15-month-old daughter.

“My father unfortunately was not a good father or a husband and exited the scene, but that house in Topanga was where everything felt simple, so it was a very healing thing for me to do,” he says. Fast-forward to 2021 and his baby daughter now sleeps in her father’s childhood bedroom. “There was a mural of a dragon on the wall in that room that I couldn’t believe was still there, years later. The owner [who sold him the house] said, ‘I knew it meant a lot to somebody and that they were going to come back for it some day.’”

Becoming a first-time parent during a pandemic sounds stressful, but it afforded Jackson months at home with his wife and child that his normal work schedule wouldn’t have allowed.

“I now recognise how perverse the way that we have set up our society is,” he says. “There is not a father I know who works a regular job who didn’t go back to the office a week later. It’s robbing that man of the opportunity to bond with his child and spend time with his partner.”

Despite his obvious career ambitions, fatherhood has changed Jackson’s priorities in “every possible way”, he says. “It’s 100 per cent changed how I approach my work and my life. That has been made so clear to me in this past year. For me to feel good about what I’m doing day to day, my family has to be the central focus.

“There are plenty of things left for me to do, but now the thing that gets me excited is experiencing the world through my daughter’s eyes. I can’t wait to take her scuba diving. I can’t wait to take her skiing. I can’t wait to read a great book with her. I’m not worried at all she’ll be a wallflower. She’s been a character from the word go.”

Jackson met Turner-Smith, 34, two days after his 40th birthday. He had been single since his 10-year relationship with German actress Ms Diane Kruger ended in 2016. “I was not looking to fall in love again or meet the mother of my child, but life has other plans for you,” he says.

The couple met at a party. Turner-Smith was wearing the same The Future Is Female Ejaculation T-shirt Ms Tessa Thompson’s character, Detroit, wears in the 2018 film Sorry To Bother You. “That’s what I used to break the ice. I shouted, ‘Detroit!’ across the room. Not the smoothest thing I’ve ever done, but it worked. We were pretty much inseparable from the word go. It was a whirlwind romance and I can tell my daughter I literally saw her mother across a room and thought, ‘I have to be next to this woman.’”

A self-confessed “useless” shopper, Jackson gives his wife full credit for his current wardrobe. He is jewellery-free, apart from a wedding band and a gold signet “JJ” ring on his little finger (a present from his wife), and discovered tailored sweatsuits (by Stampd and Reigning Champ) in the pandemic.

“Jodie has influence in the way that a wonderful wife encourages you, through love, to dress well. She was like, ‘We’re going to throw away all the sweatpants from your past and I’m going to get you some that actually make you look like an adult male and you will still feel comfortable around the house,’ and I’m like, ‘What an amazing idea!’ Who knew you could get sweatsuits that actually look good on your body?”

Jackson’s style has evolved, he says, “from slovenly teen to it’s-nice-when-your-clothes-actually-fit-you”. The penny dropped after he auditioned for his former co-star Estevez, who was directing the 2006 Mr Robert Kennedy biopic Bobby. He said to me, ‘You only got this job because I know you. You came in here to play a very well-put together 1960s political operative and you’re wearing jeans and a hoodie.’

“I had to grow up a little bit. We are very much raised in Canada to never, ever show off, so it took me a while to recognise it’s OK to look good when you go out.”

Still, when you’ve grown up in front of the camera, “every pimple literally documented”, and lived (very successfully) to tell the tale, you can probably be forgiven for the odd fashion faux pas.

“I wore a silk Ascot to an event once in Paris and I still have nightmares about it,” he says. “I looked like Fred from Scooby Doo, but you live and learn.”

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Fire Season Comes Early To California (CNN) Fire weather is coming early to California this year. For the first time since 2014, parts of Northern California are seeing a May “red flag” fire warning due to dry and windy conditions. The warning coverage area extends from Redding in the north to Modesto in the south, and includes portions of the Central Valley and the state capital of Sacramento. The warning also extends to the eastern edges of the Bay Area. A brush fire that started Friday in Pacific Palisades flared up Saturday due to gusty winds, burning more than 1,300 acres and threatening homes in Topanga Canyon. Topanga State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains is about 20 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. The Palisades fire caused about 1,000 people to be evacuated from their homes early Sunday, with other residents on standby to leave.

Pandemic Refugees at the Border (NYT) The Biden administration continues to grapple with swelling numbers of migrants along the southwestern border. Most of them are from Central America, fleeing gang violence and natural disasters. But the past few months have also brought a much different wave of migration that the Biden administration was not prepared to address: pandemic refugees. They are people arriving in ever greater numbers from far-flung countries where the coronavirus has caused unimaginable levels of illness and death and decimated economies and livelihoods. If eking out an existence was challenging in such countries before, in many of them it has now become almost impossible. According to official data released this week, 30 percent of all families encountered along the border in April hailed from countries other than Mexico and the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, compared to just 7.5 percent in April 2019, during the last border surge. The coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy, erasing hundreds of millions of jobs. And it has disproportionately affected developing countries, where it could set back decades of progress, according to economists. About 13,000 migrants have landed in Italy, the gateway to Europe, so far this year, three times as many as in the same period last year. At the U.S.-Mexico border in recent months, agents have stopped people from more than 160 countries, and the geography coincides with the path of the virus’s worst devastation.

The U.S. conversation on Israel is changing, no matter Biden’s stance (Washington Post) In Washington, support for the Palestinian plight is getting louder in Congress. On Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote a widely circulated New York Times op-ed pulling the spotlight away from Hamas’s provocations to the deeper reality of life for millions of Palestinians living under blockade and occupation. He pointed to the havoc unleashed in recent weeks by rampaging mobs of Jewish extremists in Jerusalem, as well as the questionable Israeli legal attempts to forcibly evict the Palestinian residents of a neighborhood in the contested holy city. “None of this excuses the attacks by Hamas, which were an attempt to exploit the unrest in Jerusalem, or the failures of the corrupt and ineffective Palestinian Authority, which recently postponed long-overdue elections,” Sanders wrote. “But the fact of the matter is that Israel remains the one sovereign authority in the land of Israel and Palestine, and rather than preparing for peace and justice, it has been entrenching its unequal and undemocratic control.”      In another era, Sanders would have cut a lonely figure among his colleagues. But he is not alone. A number of Democratic lawmakers, including solidly pro-Israel politicians, issued statements indicating their displeasure with the casualties caused by Israel’s attacks in Gaza. Others were more vocal, accusing Israel of “apartheid.” Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) tweeted: “This is happening with the support of the United States....the US vetoed the UN call for a ceasefire. If the Biden admin can’t stand up to an ally, who can it stand up to? How can they credibly claim to stand for human rights?” Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a center-left pro-Israel advocacy organization that increasingly reflects the mainstream position of American liberals, said in a briefing with reporters last week that the “diplomatic blank check to the state of Israel” given out by successive U.S. administrations has meant that “Israel has no incentive to end occupation and find a solution to the conflict.”

Mexico City is sinking (Wired) When Darío Solano‐Rojas moved from his hometown of Cuernavaca to Mexico City to study at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the layout of the metropolis confused him. “What surprised me was that everything was kind of twisted and tilted,” says Solano‐Rojas. “At that time, I didn't know what it was about. I just thought, ‘Oh, well, the city is so much different than my hometown.’” Different, it turned out, in a bad way. Picking up the study of geology at the university, Solano‐Rojas met geophysicist Enrique Cabral-Cano, who was actually researching the surprising reason for that infrastructural chaos: The city was sinking—big time. It’s the result of a geological phenomenon called subsidence, which usually happens when too much water is drawn from underground, and the land above begins to compact. According to new modeling by the two researchers and their colleagues, parts of the city are sinking as much as 20 inches a year. In the next century and a half, they calculate, areas could drop by as much as 65 feet. Spots just outside Mexico City proper could sink 100 feet. That twisting and tilting Solano‐Rojas noticed was just the start of a slow-motion crisis for 9.2 million people in the fastest-sinking city on Earth. And because some parts are slumping dramatically and others aren’t, the infrastructure that spans the two zones is sinking in some areas but staying at the same elevation in others. And that threatens to break roads, metro networks, and sewer systems. “Subsistence by itself may not be a terrible issue,” says Cabral-Cano. “But it's the difference in this subsistence velocity that really puts all civil structures under different stresses.”

Today’s the day: British holidaymakers return to Portugal as travel ban ends (Reuters) Sun-hungry British visitors descended on Portuguese beaches once again on Monday as a four-month long ban on travel between the two countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic ended, in a much-needed boost for the struggling tourism sector. Twenty-two flights from Britain are due to land in Portugal on Monday, with most heading to the southern Algarve region, famous for its beaches and golf courses but nearly deserted as the pandemic kept tourists away. Visitors from Britain must present evidence of a negative coronavirus test taken 72 hours before boarding their flights to Portugal and there is no need to quarantine for COVID-19 when returning home. Back at home, most British people will be free once again to hug, albeit cautiously, drink a pint in their pub, sit down to an indoor meal or visit the cinema after the ending of a series of lockdowns that imposed the strictest ever restrictions in peacetime.

Afghans who helped the US now fear being left behind (AP) He served as an interpreter alongside U.S. soldiers on hundreds of patrols and dozens of firefights in eastern Afghanistan, earning a glowing letter of recommendation from an American platoon commander and a medal of commendation. Still, Ayazudin Hilal was turned down when he applied for one of the scarce special visas that would allow him to relocate to the U.S. with his family. Now, as American and NATO forces prepare to leave the country, he and thousands of others who aided the war effort fear they will be left stranded, facing the prospect of Taliban reprisals. “We are not safe,” the 41-year-old father of six said of Afghan civilians who worked for the U.S. or NATO. “The Taliban is calling us and telling us, ‘Your stepbrother is leaving the country soon, and we will kill all of you guys.’” At least 300 interpreters have been killed in Afghanistan since 2016, and the Taliban have made it clear they will continue to be targeted, said Matt Zeller, a co-founder of No One Left Behind, an organization that advocates on their behalf. He also served in the country as an Army officer. “The Taliban considers them to be literally enemies of Islam,” said Zeller, now a fellow at the Truman National Security Project. “There’s no mercy for them.”

A Desperate India Falls Prey to Covid Scammers (NYT) Within the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak, few treasures are more coveted than an empty oxygen canister. India’s hospitals desperately need the metal cylinders to store and transport the lifesaving gas as patients across the country gasp for breath. So a local charity reacted with outrage when one supplier more than doubled the price, to nearly $200 each. The charity called the police, who discovered what could be one of the most brazen, dangerous scams in a country awash with coronavirus-related fraud and black-market profiteering. The police say the supplier—a business called Varsha Engineering, essentially a scrapyard—had been repainting fire extinguishers and selling them as oxygen canisters. The consequences could be deadly: The less-sturdy fire extinguishers might explode if filled with high-pressure oxygen. A coronavirus second wave has devastated India’s medical system. Hospitals are full. Drugs, vaccines, oxygen and other supplies are running out. Pandemic profiteers are filling the gap. In many cases, the sellers prey on the desperation and grief of families.

Full-blown boycott pushed for Beijing Olympics (AP) Groups alleging human-rights abuses against minorities in China are calling for a full-blown boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, a move likely to ratchet up pressure on the International Olympic Committee, athletes, sponsors and sports federations. A coalition representing Uyghurs, Tibetans, residents of Hong Kong and others issued a statement Monday calling for the boycott, eschewing lesser measures that had been floated like “diplomatic boycotts” and further negotiations with the IOC or China. “The time for talking with the IOC is over,” Lhadon Tethong of the Tibet Action Institute said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. “This cannot be games as usual or business as usual; not for the IOC and not for the international community.” The push for a boycott comes a day before a joint hearing in the U.S. Congress focusing on the Beijing Olympics and China’s human-rights record, and just days after the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said boycotts are ineffective and only hurt athletes.

Grief Mounts as Efforts to Ease Israel-Hamas Fight Falter (NYT) Diplomats and international leaders were unable Sunday to mediate a cease-fire in the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel vowed to continue the fight and the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on a joint response to the worsening bloodshed. The diplomatic wrangling occurred after the fighting, the most intense seen in Gaza and Israel for seven years, entered its deadliest phase yet. At least 42 Palestinians were killed early Sunday morning in an airstrike on several apartments in Gaza City, Palestinian officials said, the conflict’s most lethal episode so far. The number of people in killed in Gaza rose to 197 over the seven days of the conflict, according to Palestinian officials, while the number of Israeli residents killed by Palestinian militants climbed to 11, including one soldier, the Israeli government said.

Israel, Hamas trade fire in Gaza as war rages on (AP) Israel carried out a wave of airstrikes on what it said were militant targets in Gaza, leveling a six-story building, and militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel on Tuesday. Palestinians across the region observed a general strike as the war, now in its second week, showed no signs of abating. The strikes toppled a building that housed libraries and educational centers belonging to the Islamic University. Residents sifted through the rubble, searching for their belongings.

Israel’s aftermath (Foreign Policy) In Israel, the aftermath of days of violence in mixed Arab-Israeli towns has led to a one-sided reaction from state prosecutors: Of the 116 indictments served so far against those arrested last week, all have been against Arab-Israeli citizens, Haaretz reports. Meanwhile, Yair Lapid, whose centrist Yesh Atid party’s chances of forming a coalition government has crumbled since the violence broke out, placed the blame on Netanyahu. If he was in charge, Lapid said on Sunday, no one would have to question “why the fire always breaks out precisely when it’s most convenient for the prime minister.”

Long working hours can be a killer, WHO study shows (Reuters) Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend that may accelerate further due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Monday. In the first global study of the loss of life associated with longer working hours, the paper in the journal Environment International showed that 745,000 people died from stroke and heart disease associated with long working hours in 2016. That was an increase of nearly 30% from 2000. “Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard,” said Maria Neira, director of the WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. The joint study, produced by the WHO and the International Labour Organization, showed that most victims (72%) were men and were middle-aged or older. Often, the deaths occurred much later in life, sometimes decades later, than the shifts worked. It also showed that people living in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region were the most affected.

[smolbeandrabbles]

The Next Best Australian Record - Harold x Reader (Adore)

GIF CREDIT: X Cruel Summer / Magnets 

Author’s Note: I like blaming my fics on peoples influences - this one is totally on @mendelskrull - no take backs!! 😉😉

@sufferthesea thank you for staying with this series, 2 & 3 wouldn’t have happened without your support and, of course, this song is yours 😊 Lana Del Ray - The Next Best American Record

Disclaimer: Adore characters and plot not mine / once again I’ve made it far more convoluted! / gifs not mine / lyrics not mine

Premise: Now you’re back at University you can both let this affair breathe. But what happens when Harold returns home for the weekend, does what happens in Sydney stay in Sydney?

Words: 5054

Warnings: sexual connotations / small swears / May-December Romance / Student-Teacher Relationship

_______ My baby used to dance underneath my architecture To the Houses of the Holy, smokin' on them cigarettes My baby used to dance underneath my architecture He was cool as heck He was cool as heck

My baby used to dance underneath my architecture He was '70s in spirit, '90s in his frame of mind My baby used to dance underneath my architecture We lost track of space We lost track of time And we were so obsessed with writing the next best American record That we gave all we had 'til the time we got to bed 'Cause we knew we could We were so obsessed with writing the next best American record 'Cause we were just that good It was just that good Whatever's on tonight, I just wanna party with you Topanga's hot tonight, I'm taking off my bathing suit You made me feel like there's something that I never knew I wanted It's you, all the roads lead to you Everything I want and do, all the things that I say It's true, all the roads lead to you Like the 405 I drive through Every night and every day I see you for who you really are ---

Three weeks had passed by exceedingly slow, although you really had managed to get going on your work with no outside distractions. Your friends had thrown one last beach party before you all packed up and headed off, but drinking only led to yearning – so it made you pretty relieved that you had no number to shamelessly drunk text. The university friends you’d been keeping in touch with over the break we’re all itching see each other again, and you couldn’t wait to return to the house you’d been renting together and class, at least some of you we restless for classes to begin. You most of all, for obvious reasons. It would be so great to be with all of them again and gain a little more of your independence. The only real adult influence in your life would be your… uhm… Well, that was the thing, you didn’t exactly know what you were supposed to call him. So you would hold that thought. Your schedule came through and you were already desperate to get back in the classroom and see Harold again. Part of you wanted to email him as soon as you reached Sydney, but you knew it was best to settle in and figure it all out before you resumed seeing him. Besides, it was going to be much more dangerous for him out there. Sure, if you’d been caught here there’d be a lot of questions and falling out; not that you didn’t think you wouldn’t be spiteful enough to call out his wife and her friend, and drag everyone down with you… but in Sydney he was your lecturer. (Not that he wasn’t at home, but, family friends was a different twist to taking advantage of a student). You knew you’d have to be careful, the last thing you would want was to be responsible for ruining his career… or his life. With your car packed up, you were finally saying goodbye to your parents before you started your long drive. You’d planned out all your breaks and setting off this time of day meant you’d make it in plenty of time and daylight. But they were still trying to check on your schedule, telling you to call them at your break points so they knew where you were and how you were doing. Hugging you and asking you to be careful on the roads, as if you hadn’t done this 200 times before. If you had to say ‘I’ll be fine, I promise!’ one more time you’d likely go insane. What you didn’t expect was to find someone else appear in your driveway to see you off. And he certainly wasn’t someone you would consider a friend. Despite still seeing his father around, you hadn’t actually seen much of Tom since you’d broken up. And even your parents were shocked to see him standing there. “…H…Hey…” You walked over, eyebrow raised, “What’s up?” It was strange to say that you felt a little guilty – had you always been leading him on? Was there ever a time you actually wanted the guy standing in front of you? You couldn’t think like that, not really. Tom was good to you, and you had enjoyed your relationship. Not sorry it was over, but for the way you’d let it end. Plus, if you really thought on it – this man had started it. You’d found out he was cheating on you before you’d so much as touched Harold. “Nothing.” Then he shrugged, “No, maybe that’s a lie. I… I just wanted to say goodbye before you went off to Sydney.” Tom couldn’t quite meet your eyes as he spoke; “I guess I didn’t want to leave things bad between us, y’know? Before you left.” “Oh-!” You could count yourself as surprised, “I… guess I understand that.” “Yeah.” He laughed, “I also wanted to wish you good luck, with your next year.” “Thank you.” You smiled gently, “That’s sweet, you don’t have to.” “So… can we… at least be cool with each other?” You laughed, “I guess.” There was a few moments awkward silence before he cleared his throat, not satisfied to end with that; “How’s the guy working out?” You hoped you had as good a poker face as you thought you did; “Yeah, good.” “Will you see much of him now?” “A little...” You quickly changed subject before he got too deep into the detail; “How’s, uh, how’s the girl... working out?” “Good.... yeah. No, uh, no complaints.” “Good…” You nodded too. And the awkwardness set in again, before he reached out to hug you – and you found yourself in maybe the most awkward ‘exes’ hug in the entire world. “I’m sorry. It shouldn’t have-” “Tom it’s okay. Honestly. What happened happened. We’re probably… better off with who we’re with now.” “I guess.” He let you go and you stepped back, with a smile “Take care of yourself. Maybe when I’m back we can catch up!” Although you weren’t sure how serious you were, maybe you’d stop by for his father and just casually catch up with him. Tom’d never know. You waved each other off again and you watched him walk away, with at least a smile that clearing the air really might have been a good idea. It was done; it’d make tension at that house a little lower if you did ever turn up for any reason. “Oh!” He turned, walking backwards down the hill, “Say hi to my dad for me!!” You couldn’t help your smirk, it just appeared instantly, “Oh, I will!”  Though you’d be doing a lot more than that. *** For the first few weeks you got settled into your routine, getting a feel for your class schedule and the nuances of moving back in with your best friends. You only had one class with Harold this semester, which you counted as a blessing because you weren’t sure how this was going to work now. Though you already knew you had two classes with him next semester, and that was enough to keep you going on. If you thought sitting in class was good for seeing him, and those little knowing looks he kept flashing you – especially when you happened to answer a question right (c’mon, you were eager to please the man. You’d always been like this in Harold’s class.) – it really had nothing on your friends teasing. They all knew you had a crush on him – that was the last few years of being here and sitting in class, so whilst every right answer had a different meaning now between you and he, your friends sat there with the same little smirks on their faces: ‘Ohhhh! Someone’s got a crush! STILL!’ ‘Seriously? No summer romances to yearn and miss – or does that not do it for you!?’ ‘Oh, we should know Y/N! It’s all about the fantasy!’ ‘Y/N, getting all your answers right won’t get you in his pants-!’ - Well, little did they know! And you weren’t about to bring Tom up; in fact you weren’t even sure anyone knew that Harold usually lived in the same town as you. It certainly wasn’t something you were going to say now; less it help people put two and two together if things got suspicious. When you did start seeing each other again – around the time he gave you your assignments and you went to check on him under the guise of ‘wait can you just go through this one more time-!?’ - it was tentative and slow moving. You supposed out here in Sydney where you didn’t have the rush of summer, or have to sneak around both your families, you could really let the relationship just breathe and be what it would be. You didn’t see him on campus any more than you thought necessary, you tried not to run to him after class unless you had a burning question, so most of the time you would leave him with a sweet goodbye smile instead, and he would give you a gentle nod to bid you a good day. Even in his office you tried to keep it focused on your coursework, that didn’t mean he didn’t hold your hand as he took you through something, and he usually gave you a goodbye kiss before you left. You couldn’t lie that it felt a little strange, considering what you’d been used to back home – it’d never really been this delicate. You weren’t sure you didn’t enjoy this a little more. Still, after spending so much time together this summer, even if it was tangled up in sheets, there was still that need to be closer than the University would ever allow. So he gave you his address. At first you thought that was risky, and wondered what kind of excuse you’d have to give your friends… Although they didn’t seem to mind you heading out for your own purposes. You just made sure to never lie if they did enquire. ”Where you heading?” “Oh! A family friend recently moved to the area. It’d be kinda cool to hang out with them!” And they never questioned more than that.

You actually liked working on your assignments up here, his house was quiet and you got to pressure yourself because he was your teacher and instead of procrastinating you should be getting this done for his class. The assignment was simple enough; you had to design a play (based on the theme he’d set) and then write it’s key scene. Producing an essay on why you’d chosen the elements for the piece that you had. You were just glad this wasn’t one of your performance classes – you could get away with anything in the scene if you didn’t have to perform it yourself. Though you were sure Harold would make one or two of you read a little in tutorials. Maybe you could use your relationship to your advantage; Please for the love of God don’t pick me! You knew he would anyway, though. Whilst you were focused on your writing, when he was here and not on campus teaching, he was also typing away on his own composition. When you were taking a break from your own work you got curious enough to wander over and see what Harold was doing, looping your arms around his neck. “What are you working on?” “Oh…” He clasped your hands in his, “Just a pipe dream. It’s been in the works a loooong time…” “Yeaaah,” You pressed your lips to his cheek, settling your head on his shoulder, “But what is it?” “It’s a play.” “Oh? We’re all working on the same thing-!?” You brightened up, scanning a few lines. Even from what was in front of you, you sensed a familiar theme. “Oh my God!” You couldn’t help but grin as you teased him; “Are you just going to steal our work-!?” He laughed, teasing you back, “No-! That’s not it!”             You straightened, look disbelieving as Harold tipped his head back to keep his eyes locked with yours; “Ohhh! It totally is-!” “Well only the good ones-! And you’ll get credit-!” You snorted, “Yeah alright, I’ll remember that when I take you to court for copyright.” He narrowed his eyes, “Thing with you is, I could believe you actually would.” “Nah,” you leant down to kiss him, “If you want to steal my shitty ideas that’s fine with me.” “I’m sure they aren’t that bad!” You slipped from his grip, walking backwards and holding his hand until the last second, with a sharp intake of breath. “I wouldn’t be so sure…!” It couldn’t have been more than 20 minutes until he joined you, and you were biting your lip hard again; “Stop watching me!” “I’m here to help you actually.” “Help?” You raised your head, and then tilted it; “A distraction.” “Ahhhh…” He leant forward and brushed his lips to yours, “I hope a welcome one.” You pulled him back to you by his shirt; “Kiss me again and I’ll tell you.” Eventually you did end up throwing ideas around, sitting in his lap with your notebook as Harold held one arm around your waist, stroking his other through your hair. Both thoughts for his play and your own work – Harold just wanted you to be happy with your idea before he watched you spent all your effort on it. Eventually you thought you had it figured out, at least more than just the bare bones that you’d had before – now it had real structure and detail. Although telling him the detail was a step too far, “Don’t tell me! I want a surprise when I mark it-!” You folded your arms with a pout, “Well you’ve basically just told me your entire storyline! Now I’ll know when I see it!” “It’s a work in progress – It’s changed a million times already.” You settled and cuddled into him, peppering his neck and jawline with kisses as you did; “Well at least promise me that I can read it when you finish it? Maybe I could even be in it by that stage!” He chuckled, pulling you in closer; “You’d be the first I cast-!”

*** As at home, your lover had a house in Sydney that wasn’t too far from the beach. It was Friday morning, and Harold was due to drive back for the weekend. You’d started spending more weekends together, although you wouldn’t get the opportunity this one coming. As you weren’t due in class until much later in the day, after class yesterday (your only period, and also his) you’d headed over here. Whilst your assignment was doing a lot better and might almost be complete, his play was still nowhere near finished. Harold liked to recite pieces to you when you were curled up together, sometimes he’d hand you scenes and ask you to read characters and you couldn’t help but see scary parallels between them and conversations that you’d had with him. “Is this… leading somewhere?” “No.” The hand that wasn’t holding the script traced soft patterns over your stomach, “Why?” Your turned your head to him slowly, “Are they us?” “They… are a culmination of… a lot of relationships.” “They talk like we do.” “In this scene, yeah.”  He gave a shrug, “In others they’re Roz… and then relationships past.” You shifted visibly at the mention of her name, but understood what he was saying. It was a look at various relationships through the lens of different life stages. Harold drew you closer to him and kissed your forehead gently, “We can stop.” “No, it’s okay, it’s just- The thought of people seeing this or reading it… I guess it’s all a little scary.” You placed the pages on the table and wrapped your arms around his, caressing Harold’s skin as you pressed kisses into his arms. “I promise you if you don’t want this, I’ll take it out,” He continued to kiss your face and you were already smiling again, “still, it’ll be years from now at the rate it’s going.” He finally reached your lips; “I won’t do this without your permission.” “And yet everyone else doesn’t get a say?” “I think that says a little bit more about you, doesn’t it?” You bit your lip gently, before pulling him in again, “Hush, don’t make me yearn for you now…” On Friday morning he woke you early, and suggested going down to the beach while the weather was still good, and it wasn’t so hot and crowded yet. Harold was right, the presence of anyone else was minimal, and you could keep your hand in his almost the whole time you were together. All you could really do was look at him and wish this could in any way be normal. You hadn’t really been joking with him yesterday, you yearned for this to work out. That one day it wouldn’t matter who saw you together, because it would just be that. You’d be together. A dream, and yet one you would never be sure of lasting. Could it realistically last? Even now, hundreds of miles from home he was still wearing a wedding ring, and you were still aware of the fact that he could be yours and still not be yours. You took a deep breath of sea air and closed your eyes, focusing on his hand in yours. On his voice, already planning your next rendezvous… he wanted to take you on a trip somewhere out of the city. Harold’s attention was all yours, all of it was on you, and you needed to remember that; he knew you needed that. How much you craved it, how important his attention was to you when he was about to leave for home again. You could be adult about the relationship you shared, but he knew your emotions were still that of the 20-something you were. Harold knew how to placate that, and the fact he wasn’t about to drop you because of it showed you nothing more than how important this was to him. Maybe for the first time – even though he’d already stayed through your ‘I love you’ confession. By the time you were back to his, the sun was turning up the heat, and you weren’t about to pass up the opportunity. He’d barely shut the door before you were all over each other – your hands up in Harold’s hair and his kisses all over you. Yet by the time you were to the bedroom you’d significantly cooled off, and it was sweeter, a little slower. You pulled at the strings of your bathing suit to undress for him teasingly; and as ever Harold was receptive to this by the way he whispered your name. Today he loved on you slow and sweet – and it was everything you’d always wanted. He might have had somewhere to be, but there was no time limit here. Not in the safety of his home miles away from anyone that really knew you. No way to be caught out by friends or significant others (who didn’t treat either of you better anyway). You lay together for a while afterwards too, in the gentle afterglow, talking like you always did; about nothing and everything… Until Harold decided that if he wanted to beat any traffic back home he best be heading off and reality dragged you back – as it always did. You may have had him all to yourself here, and for longer than you ever had before, but it was still never enough. By the time you were out of the shower, washing away the tacky ocean air and the heat of the moment, he was ready to leave. With just a towel wrapped around you as you combed through your hair, he entered the bathroom to kiss you goodbye, winding his strong arms around your waist his kisses grazed the shell of your ear before his moustache scratched your cheek as he kissed you again, making you scrunch your face and giggle. “Okay, I best make a move...” Harold’s hands were on your hips and you knew his hesitation. You weren’t in the mood to help him decide to leave you, and so just kept kissing him. But you had to admit to yourself that you were in two minds. Half of you just wanted him to leave so you could get him back quicker, the other half just wanted him to rip this towel from your body and take you to bed once more before he left. You could make a pretty safe bet that both options were going through his head too. Finally he did let you go and pulled away, you were proud of yourself for not whining at him or looking disappointed, you knew Harold had to go and you would let him. Collecting his things up again, Harold paused and turned back to you by the bedroom door; “Lock up when you leave-!” “I will!” “I’ll be back soon, okay, I’m just collecting a few items and checking in...” “Babe, I know, it’s okay.” And it was. Because despite your envy of that wedding band, it was for nothing but show. “Be good.” You couldn’t help but smirk at him; “I will.” “Work hard!” “Certainly-!” “Especially on my stuff-!” “Yes-! Of course! Now go-! Or you’ll get caught in traffic-!” He nodded, and waved you off with one last blown kiss. You gave it a few seconds, but had to call him back, because you’d forgotten something very important; “Oh! Harry!” (for this was the nickname you had designed for him – even though you didn’t use it so often yet… he was warming to it, you were sure!) Harold turned once more; eyes curious. “I love you.” He chuckled, “I know sweetheart. As you keep telling me.” He left you with a soft wink, and you waited to hear the front door close. Somehow that made you smile more. You knew he still wouldn’t say it, not with that ring on his hand… but you also knew he did love you. That was enough, it had to be enough, you had to let it be enough. All you could do now was wait for him to return to you and you could be patient! And yet, you already couldn’t wait to be back in his arms.

 **

All things considered you’d had an amazing weekend hanging with your friends, and in the late evening sunshine you were all sitting in the lounge. There was a movie on but none of you were paying attention to it, more likely to only pay attention when you wanted to chat shit about it. But you were all chatting shit and spilling tea in general – and you’d really missed this all summer. You were lounging on your stomach across the couch, every so often munching on popcorn with your phone sat next to you. Ah, yes, by now you’d exchanged numbers. It was for emergencies only; and you really did mean emergencies. There was no casual texting of any kind; you still didn’t want anyone to be able to trace this. The trail you would leave would be simple texts that wouldn’t mean a thing to anyone else, nothing risqué… not even an ‘I miss you’… It wasn’t even a burner phone; it was your real mobile. And with nothing to take out of context, and nothing to look bad, how could anyone possibly touch you? ‘HH’ flashed up on your phone screen and suddenly hanging out with your friends no longer became fun. HH – for Henry Holland, a designer with a flair for putting H’s on everything, you thought it was about time you wore some of his stuff. Maybe that was a little too obvious. ‘I’m going to be here longer than I thought.’ A million thoughts flashed into your head, and you realised that you couldn’t ask him about any of them. But it worried you instantly – were things okay? Why did he need to stay longer? You weren’t sure what was going on with his family; and you weren’t close enough with Tom to casually ask him how things were, although that was still a number in your phone. Your thoughts began racing – silly things that shouldn’t even be thought about. Had he made up with Roz? Had it all come out? Someway, somehow and everyone back home was firefighting? No – if that was it you couldn’t imagine it wouldn’t get back to your parents, even out of spite. And then your phone really would be blowing up. Maybe he’d move the family out here? You weren’t sure you could see that working either: you’d only just managed to disentangle yourself from your families. You couldn’t imagine either of you wanted to go back to sneaking around (even though you had to admit there was a certain thrill attached to it). What was happening? And why could you only think of every worst case scenario…!? You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, suddenly feeling very dizzy. “Y/N… Y/N, are you okay!?” Your friends suddenly noticed how quiet you were; not to mention your lack of response to their banter. “Y-yeah…” You put on your best smile and turned your mobile over, “Just, overthinking!” You did eventually send a message back, just ‘Okay’ – because it was okay, it was his life. You could sit and be worried and want to call him but you knew you couldn’t. Neither of you were ready for that motion yet. But you didn’t receive anything else, and your first class of the week with him was taken by a substitute. Which had your friends teasing hitting home a little harder than it should; “HAHA! Y/N! What are you gonna do, you can’t drool for an entire lesson?” “Y/N just lost her eye candy.” “Oh my God guys, shut up!!” You laughed, “I can’t help that our best teacher is also hot---!” “That’s about the only reason you pay any attention!!!” “Oh sorry-!” You folded your arms, “At least I actually pay attention!” Although by the end of the lesson they were all agreeing with you – and this was one of the most boring classes you’d ever had the misfortune of sitting in. It made you miss him terribly. ** News of Harold’s return reached you before his text did. Accidently, of course; you were waiting for your tutor appointment when two other lecturers passed you. “I hear Harold got back last night!” “Oh thank GOD-! We can’t afford another week without him-!” “Should be back in tomorrow…” You were immediately elated, and desperate to see him. So when his text came through in the middle of your next class, you couldn’t help smiling like crazy. ‘Hey, I’m back in town. All good here, how are you?’ ‘Good. I’m fine.’ You chewed your lip, and then sent the next part anyway, ‘I’m glad you’re back… I missed you’ It didn’t receive a reply, you didn’t expect it too – you just needed to say it. The first thing you did when you got back on your laptop was book the first appointment with him you could, which had you flying up the stairs to his office the following morning. He laughed as you had to give yourself a minute to catch your breath, “I’m surprised you didn’t drive up yesterday.” “I just wanted to… let you settle back.” “You needn’t have.” Harold cupped your cheeks and touched his forehead gently to yours; you placed your hands over his, unable to stop beaming as the feel of him close to you once more. “Still, thank you for being so considerate.” You stood like that for a further few seconds, comfortable in each other’s presence before he kissed you. Not in the same way as he usually kissed you goodbye in this office. A real kiss, and removing his hands from your face only made you entwine your fingers with his. But you pulled back from him suddenly – which left him more than just a little surprised. Your eyes were wide by this point. You knew what it felt like to hold hands with him; because you always had to contend with a wedding band. You brought Harold’s hands up, removing your fingers from his – you couldn’t have helped your shocked gasp; he was void of one. “Wait, what-?!” He watched your face very carefully, but couldn’t help but smile himself. There was no point in teasing you with this one. “Divorced. Finalising.” You raised your eyes to his; disbelieving. You didn’t hear that – those words didn’t come from his mouth! And even if they did HOW and WHY!? “Shit, what-!?” Harold laughed, “I mean it’s a long story but, more of a test. Something that might sound like one last chance - I said they could move out here. She doesn’t want to leave. I can’t say that it didn’t feel like it was any damn excuse would do.” He shrugged, “Guess I gave her one.” “Wh…What about Tom?” Despite effectively stealing his son’s girlfriend, Harold still had a good relationship with Tom, you didn’t want that to change for him. “He’s a big kid, seems fine. We talked a lot while I was there. Trust me, I think it’s safe to say we all got what we wanted…” He brushed his lips to yours once more, and wound his arms around you pulling you into a tight embrace.  “I knew it was over Y/N, I just had to be sure.” You nodded, “I know. I know; I’m not mad. It’s all over… It feels a little, freer now.” You couldn’t be sure it felt like it quite yet, but one big weight had certainly just been lifted off this relationship. If Harold wasn’t married this was no longer an affair, even if it had started that way. He was now free to be in a caring relationship. You were lucky to be that person. You knew that. You were lucky to be the one in his arms right now that he was telling this too. He was yours and you were gonna do your best to take care of him here. Like he always took care of you. Harold couldn’t help but think, as he held you here - your arms around him, holding him like you’d never let go, on where this could be going. On the prospect of planning and building a future with you. It’d be for the long haul, and it wouldn’t be easy – but it was doable. He could see it. It may take time, but Harold hoped you’d see it to. That eventually you’d be ready to talk about things like that… And suddenly he realised, he could say it, he could say ‘I love you’ out loud. He could tell you just like you told him, and he could mean it – although he always had. You were still young, you had time to figure things out. He tipped your chin up so that he could kiss you once more and you gripped him even tighter. It was all about enjoying this moment right here. Harold didn’t have to start again. He already had all he needed.

---

Thank you for reading! 💙💜

[fanficsbykay]

Girl Meets Senior Year | Ch. 2

Summary: Three years have passed since Lucas and Riley fought on the first day of High School. The two never spoke again until one fateful night, the night Lucas saved Riley. Now he must save her from herself and not fall for her in the process. Rucas AU Centric. Joshaya x Smarkle x ZayxOC

Word Count: 1,968

Trigger Warning: Sexual Abuse

[1]

Chapter 2 Girl Meets Shattered

3 Years Later

"I believe that two people are connected at the heart, and it doesn't matter what you do, or who you are or where you live; there are no boundaries or barriers if two people are destined to be together" - Julia Roberts

Riley sat at the counter of her Mother's café and scribbled feverously in her notebook.

"Cake?"

Riley looked up and saw Zay standing in front of her with a slice of chocolate cake. Zay grinned and placed the small dish in front of her notebook. She smiled softly and stuck her finger in the chocolate mousse. Riley brought her finger to her lips and moaned at the taste of the sugar.

"Zay you are awesome! I am glad my Mom gave you this job" Riley commented as Zay passed her a small silver fork.

Zay had scored a job at Topanga's a year ago as a Waiter and it has helped him keep everything on track. Riley wasn't surprised that Zay was good at his job, he loves the people and they love him. Between serving the guest and snacking, he made everyone feel important. He was no longer Robin Lunch; he was Zay Best Waiter Ever.

"Well it does help that you are one of my best friends," Zay said as he took a bite of her cake.

"Zay!" Riley scolded with a laugh.

"Quality assurance" Zay mumbled with his mouth full.

"And?" Riley said as he took another bite.

"It's ok" He joked and Riley let out a laugh.

"Zay Man!" Riley turned around to see Maya walking with a messenger bag.

"No love for me Peaches," Riley said, taking a bite of her cake.

"Well that depends on you Honey, did you finish the next chapter?" Maya asked.

Riley smiled triumphantly and pulled out her iPad and notebook. Maya grinned and snatched the two out of her hands.

"Riles! You've been holding out on me! Now I can draw Violet and Peaches, I've been lacking some great art time" Maya cooed and flipped through the pages.

"I still can't believe you two are creating a graphic novel," Zay said as he took the last bite of cake and grabbed the plate.

Riley tilted her head in disbelief of Zay eating her snack and let out a chuckle. Yet he was right who knew that Riley Matthews could write so well. It was well known Maya had amazing artistic abilities, but one day Farkle and Maya read a short story that Riley wrote. They couldn't believe that Riley had a way to convey her emotions onto paper.

So junior year Riley and Maya began writing a series called Violet and Peaches. The series was about two best friends that fought crimes and had the ability to turn into cats. It was a silly idea, but anything could be possible in their world.

Their little crew actually would have weekly meet-ups and read the adventures and discuss what they believe should happen next. Maya would sketch the new ideas and Riley would write it all down. Farkle has even suggested that they submit it to publishing companies to get offers. However, Riley declines every time while Maya boasts about being the next great graphic designer.

"Believe it, Zay!" Maya said and stopped at a page.

"Riles this is it, this is Violet and Peaches next adventure, I love it," Maya said and a bright smile graced her face,

"Thanks," Riley said and shrugged.

"No drawing Maya we have to head to the Homecoming Game!" Zay said as Maya pulled out her sketchbook.

"Do we have to?" Maya whined and frowned.

"Of course Riley here is our homecoming queen nominee," Zay said and threw his apron onto the countertop.

"Zay you have to lock up," Topanga said as she came from behind.

"But Mrs. M, the game, Riley, Cheerleaders!" Zay rambled and widened his eyes.

"Mom, I got it," Riley said and walked behind the counter.

"Riley aren't you supposed to be at the game to walk across and everything?" Topanga asked.

"I'll be a few minutes late it's fine, really besides, we are closing in twenty minutes, guys go have fun, it gives me private Riley writing time," Riley said and placed her hands under her chin.

"Riles, you sure?" Maya asked as she stood from her seat.

"Totally fine Peaches!" Riley said and grinned.

"Zay!"

Riley's grin faltered from her face when she heard the familiar voice. A voice that she didn't hear often, yet it still sent waves throughout her body. She looked down at the grain of the counter before she felt his presence nearby. He didn't acknowledge her or greet her, but he did glance at her.

"Lucas dude what are you doing here?" Zay asked as Maya glanced between Riley and Lucas.

"Dude you said we were meeting up at four-thirty, it's almost five" Lucas laughed as Zay patted his arm.

"Sorry late shift today, but come on we are all going to the game now," Zay said as Maya grabbed Riley's hand.

"Coming Maya?" Lucas asked as he turned to the Blonde.

"Yeah, Huckleberry" Maya retorted before giving Riley a squeeze.

The three began walking towards the door as Topanga followed slowly behind them. In a silent walk towards the subway, the three of them did not say anything. It could have been the awkward tension or the fact that Riley's mother was a few feet behind them.

"What the Princess isn't joining?" Lucas asked and rolled his eyes.

"Lucas!" Maya scolded and pinched his arm.

Maya didn't want Lucas bashing Riley especially in front of her own mother. Lucas wasn't surprised at Maya's actions; however, he was surprised at her using his name. He didn't make it easy for his friends to spend time with him whenever Riley tagged along.

Somehow he would end up canceling or make Riley feel uncomfortable that she would leave. It was like a switch came on inside of him that made him have to hurt her feelings. Maya had every right to be protective, but he just could not help himself.

"Sorry, Maya I guess I forget you have to protect the Princess" Lucas said and let out a chuckle.

Maya rolled her eyes and shoved him into Zay which made them fall on the ground. Topanga came over and Maya pulled her away from the two boys. Zay jostled Lucas off of him and stood up.

"Why Lucas? Why do you have to be an ass about Riley?" Zay demanded.

"She makes it easy Zay," Lucas said and stood up from the ground. He wiped his jeans and shook his head in anger. Lucas clenched his jaw and made fists before releasing them.

"Cut it out, at least for tonight! It is our last homecoming game and I want to enjoy it with all my best friends" Zay begged and clasped his hands together.

"Whatever let's just catch up to Maya so we can't sit with Smackle and Farkle," Lucas said as he pointed to the subway.

"Crap I left my wallet back at Topanga's, I think Riles is still there" Zay commented and smacked his pants.

"Look I got it don't worry, I won't say anything mean to the Princess," Lucas said and rolled his eyes.

Zay bit back his words and just held up his hands to allow Lucas to go to the café. At least in his mind, the two had to say something to one another. Lucas handed Zay his MetroCard before walking back to Topanga's. He had no idea what he was going to say to Riley and he hoped he didn't have to. He walked down a flight of stairs to see the door closed and the lights were off inside of Topanga's.

Lucas was surprised to see the lights were all off at Topanga's and placed his hands on the glass. He peered into the darkness to see nothing but an empty café. He pulled the door to see that it was unlocked and felt uneasy about what was going on. Despite not speaking to Riley, he knew she wasn't irresponsible to leave the place unlocked.

"Um hello?" Lucas called out as he walked into the dark café. The bell rang over his head and he reached to his left to find the light switch when he saw something from the corner of his eye. Lucas fell back into the glass door with a heavy shove shattering the glass. He groaned and noticed that the person was dressed in all black and was running up the stairs.

Adrenaline began to build up in him and he scrambled onto his feet. He scurried inside and began looking for Riley.

"Ri- Ril - Riley?!" His voice shook with vulnerability and he was surprised he even got her name out. Chairs were strewn haphazardly on the floor and the café counter was bare except for a rag. Lucas heard a whimper and knew where she was. He slid to his knees and saw Riley lying face down behind the bar. Her hair was spread out around her and her skirt hiked up.

"Riley?" Lucas cried and picked her head up as she cried again.

"Lucas?" She questioned as tried sitting up.

"Riley, please stay still I have to call the cops" Lucas begged as he searched for his phone in his pocket. His fingers trembled as he dialed the police and his voice cracked. After reading off the numbers to the police and hanging up he looked down at Riley who was curled in a fetal position.

He studied her as he noticed her underwear further away from the two and he froze. That was a question he didn't want to be answered right now. All that he knew was that she needed him and the three years of anger melted away. She pulled down her skirt and tried sitting up which made Lucas move away.

"No Lucas please, don't leave me" She cried and held him tightly.

"Please I know you don't like me, but don't leave me alone, please Lucas, please"

He held her tightly as she broke down within his arms.

"Don't worry Riley I got you, no one will hurt, no one" He whispered.

He held her for about five minutes before the cops arrived. Before he knew it Riley was on a stretcher and cops were asking him about twenty questions at once. Yet it didn't matter because he just stared at Riley as she was strapped in and crying.

"Son?" The Officer asked.

"I … I … didn't see him sir, but I know he was heavier and taller than I" Lucas croaked.

The Officer noticed Lucas's gaze and patted him on the back. He comprehended that Lucas was not going to be helpful until he knew that Riley was going to be alright.

"Lucas?" Riley cried and Lucas walked over. She grabbed his hand and began to cry as the paramedic placed an IV in her arm.

"I'm right here Riley," Lucas said as she squeezed his hand.

"Young man, only family can ride with her, you can meet us at Mount Sinai," The Paramedic said as Riley gripped his hand tighter.

"Please" Lucas begged as the stretcher moved away from him and Riley thrashed crying for Lucas.

Lucas stood dumbfounded and watched Riley begged for him. Thumps filled his ears and he realized his own heart was racing for her. He was scared for her and he did not know what to do.

"Son?" The Officer said and Lucas turned to him. The Officer handed Lucas's what he could only figure was Riley's bag and some papers.

"Go to her," The Officer said as Lucas without a second thought ran out of Topanga's.

[phroyd]

For 63-year old U.S. Post Office carrier Peggy Frank, that Friday marked her first day back at work after recovering from a broken ankle. At 3:35 p.m., Frank was pronounced dead after paramedics found her unresponsive in her non-air-conditioned truck. In September, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office confirmed what seemed a forgone conclusion: Frank died of hyperthermia — she overheated.

A few months later, in November, the Woolsey Fire swept through Malibu and parts of the San Fernando Valley. The blaze killed three and forced the evacuation of almost 300,000 people, burning 96,000 acres and destroying 1,643 structures. Then, after heavy rain in areas scarred by the fire, came the mudslides in December and January that killed one person and closed portions of the Pacific Coast Highway.

For most of the population, climate change is too big a thing to grapple with. As the theorist Timothy Morton argued, it’s a “hyperobject” — it is too big, too sprawling in time and space, and too complex to see fully from any single vantage point. It’s numbing. But by narrowing our focus, we can catch more than a glimpse. It may be easier to understand climate change at the regional level, says Katherine Davis Reich, associate director of UCLA’s Center for Climate Science. “We can all appreciate what climate change impacts would be in our backyard and act on that, much more than at the global level.”

Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the United States, is perched precariously on the edge of the Pacific. Not long ago, it was the nation’s frontier; today, its cultural industries produce the globe’s films, music, and television, always hunting for the next new thing. Here, the line between the present and the future has always been thin. As it swelters, burns, erodes, and collapses, that barrier may have been swept away altogether. For L.A., 2018 was not a sign of things to come. It’s a sign of things that have arrived.

That Los Angeles should exist at all is itself a tale of the extraordinary becoming commonplace. An underpopulated backwater until the discovery of oil in 1892, today’s L.A. is a thick smear of civilization over what may not actually be a desert, but what certainly has the mythic feel of one. Precariousness is the resting state of L.A.’s collective unconsciousness.

The city has been grappling with ecological collapse since its beginnings — and not just in films like Chinatown or San Andreas. In 1927, the Los Angeles Times warned of an environmental reckoning: “I was pessimistic enough to imagine that self-confident Los Angeles had forgotten Babylon, Palmyra, Palestine, China and Timgad. What I now saw was our own beloved land. And I saw sand dunes, sage brush, aridity, stately ruins, idle derricks, desolation.”

“By the end of century, a distinctly new regional climate state emerges.” This climate includes a new, fifth season: a super summer.

Even the most dire predictions don’t suggest that Los Angeles will go the way of Timgad — a Roman colony in modern-day Algeria that is now covered by sand. People will still flock here, and even if the city were to collapse, it would happen over a much longer time scale. Still, by 2069, Los Angeles could well be on the way to a new season of misery.

“With the exception of the highest elevations and a narrow swath very near the coast, where the increases are confined to a few days, land locations see 60–90 additional extremely hot days per year by the end of century,” one study concluded. Downtown Los Angeles could experience up to 54 days measuring 95 degrees or higher by 2100, a ninefold jump. By then, temperatures in Riverside could reach over 95 degrees for half the year.

“By the end of century,” the authors of the study found, “a distinctly new regional climate state emerges.” This climate includes a new, fifth season: a super summer, driving people indoors for weeks at a time, stressing the power grid with heavy demand for air conditioning, and wreaking havoc on agriculture and, by extension, the food supply.

Climate change plays favorites, and the heat increase would not be evenly felt. In fact, its unequal distribution could create an “environmental justice story,” explains Davis Reich. “Areas like the San Fernando, the San Gabriel Valley, or the Inland Empire, where the extreme heat burden is already greater, are where the season of extreme heat will occur — parts of the region that are arguably less well-equipped to deal with compared to places like Santa Monica.” There’s a dark irony there, since wealthier people produce more carbon emissions. “The people who have contributed to the problem the least are going to suffer from it earlier and more,” Davis Reich says.

Meanwhile, beaches in Los Angeles will be facing their own threats. Rising sea levels will attack the coast in at least two ways: inundating beaches and eroding cliffs. “Our beaches are compromised. Not just from overall sea level rise, but also coastal storm events,” says Lauren O’Connor Faber, the city’s chief sustainability officer.

In 2017, scientists modeled the effects of sea level rise on 500 kilometers of shoreline in Southern California. A sea level rise of 0.93 to two meters, they predicted, would result in the loss of 31 to 67 percent of beaches in Southern California, including some of its most well-known. A separate USC studyconcluded, “In Malibu, both low and high sea level rise scenarios suggest that long segments of beach will essentially disappear by 2030.”

“Those beaches are the basis for a lot of California’s identity,” said the first study’s lead author, Sean Vitousek, an assistant professor of civil and materials engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Vitousek was part of another research project predicting that because of rising sea levels, sea cliffs in Southern California would erode, on average, up to 120 feet over the next 80 years. By comparison, the rate of cliff erosion in California over the past 80 years maxed out at 1.5 feet. At the end of the century, the model predicted an increase in cliff erosion of “27–185% above historically observed retreat rates.”

Those changes put more than just surfers and beachcombers in peril. In 2060, sea level rise will likely put between 414 and 3,979 homes along the coast in the L.A. region at risk of flooding — up to $3 billion in value. Beach nourishment — artificially adding sand to bulk out the shoreline — is one option but may not be enough. The coast could be armored with sea walls, cliffs shored up, and sea gates constructed. Vitousek says that a shoreline retreat strategy might be needed — but it won’t be easy. “Because there is so much money involved in all of this, people will fight tooth and nail to keep themselves on the coast for as long as possible,” he says.

And as the coastline advances, the forests around Los Angeles have already begun to burn.

In December 2017, a series of 27 wildfires ignited in Southern California, including the Thomas Fire, which burned more than 281,000 acres across Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, resulting in two deaths and the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. Less than a year later, the Woolsey Fire burned 96,949 acres, spreading south from the mountains into Malibu, where it destroyed hundreds of homes and killed three people.

If you think think of 1994’s Northridge earthquake as L.A.’s signature disaster, the coming decades may make you reconsider. Because while climate change may not have much effect on earthquakes, it will lead to more — and more destructive — wildfires. The area burned by Santa Ana fires is predicted to increase by 64 percent by the middle of the century, compared to 1981 to 2000, while non–Santa Ana fires, which occur from June to September and are concentrated inland, will increase by 77 percent. The number of structures destroyed will rise as well — 20 percent for Santa Ana fires and 74 percent for non–Santa Ana fires. Santa Ana fires currently threaten 3,400 structures in an average year, while non–Santa Ana fires put 440 structures at risk per year.

Eventually, all that risk adds up.

“One thing that often gets lost is that wildfires are perfectly natural,” Davis Reich says. “These landscapes were made to burn and need to burn periodically to be healthy. When we build into our wildlands, there is a risk that our buildings will burn. We have to confront that more seriously than we have in the past.”

After fires destroyed a neighborhood in the Bay Area in 2017, local politicians debated the wisdom of rebuilding homes in high-risk areas. There was little appetite for such a move there (or for similar efforts in parts of Southern California), but eventually it may become too expensive to continue rebuilding in high-risk spaces. The Los Angeles Times mapped the 1.1 million buildings in California located in zones at highest risk for fires, showing clusters in the Santa Monica Mountains, the Palos Verde Peninsula, Mission Viejo, and Yorba Linda. Nearly all of Topanga, Paradise, and Malibu were also at risk. Few political leaders want to discuss managed retreat yet — but in 50 years, they may have to.

Climate change is no longer on the horizon. It has arrived.

The masterstroke that allowed Los Angeles to grow may be the one that causes it to retract: Los Angeles depends on imported water, whether from the Owens Valley or farther abroad. As the globe warms, those supplies will dwindle and become harder to manage. Sixty to 70 percent of the water used in Southern California comes from the San Joaquin River and Tulare Lake basins, the Sacramento River basin, Mono Lake, and the Colorado River basin. (The bulk of the remainder is pumped local groundwater.) Of that, 75 percent is drawn from spring snowmelt from the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, and other mountain ranges.

The Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in November 2018, projected “substantial reductions in snowpack, less snow and more rain, shorter snowfall seasons, earlier runoff, and warmer late-season stream temperatures.” Snowpack reduction in Southern California mountains could reach as high as 50 percent by the end of the century. At the same time, water flow in the Colorado River could be down 35 to 55 percent.

Water demand in 2050 is projected at 1.4 million to 1.7 million acre-feet per year, while supply is projected at 1.4 million acre-feet per year. At best, it’s break even. At worst — well, ask Cape Town.

And those estimates may underrepresent the risk to L.A.’s water supply. A 2015 study concluded that “the mean state of drought in the late 21st century over the Central Plains and Southwest will likely exceed even the most severe megadrought periods of the Medieval era,” causing “an unprecedented fundamental climate shift with respect to the last millennium.”

Another study conducted in 2016 found “a pronounced increase of droughts and aridity in the Southwest during the latter half of the 21st century.” A megadrought — one that would last multiple decades — “could become commonplace.” Droughts of that magnitude were associated with collapse of the Angkor, Anasazi, and Maya civilizations.

“There are two futures in front of us,” says O’Connor Faber, CSO of Los Angeles. “One in which we do not act, do not take leadership. We let the disasters happen. That’s an untenable future. The good news is that���s not at all the future that L.A. accepts.”

It’s not a future that the state of California hopes will come to pass. In 2006, the state enacted a cap-and-trade system to reduce its carbon emissions. A new state law mandates that by 2045, California will rely solely on clean electricity. In recent sessions, state legislators have begun to reshape the laws that govern the state’s housing market, hoping to encourage denser buildings oriented around mass transit, rather than sprawl that forces drivers onto jammed freeways.

For its part, the city of Los Angeles has embarked on an ambitious effort to do what it can. As Mayor Eric Garcetti told Rolling Stone in September, “We’re not waiting for Washington. The cavalry isn’t coming.”

So the city is building up local water supplies and curbing demand, increasing the tree canopy and building out cooler infrastructure to reduce its heat island, spurring the installation of solar power, and armoring its beaches and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Progress has already been made: Emissions at the port have dropped by double digits, tens of thousands of electric vehicle chargers have been installed, and improvements in public transit are coming.

As she works through the list, Faber O’Connor says she recognizes the magnitude of the task but has reason to hope. “I’m feeling very positive,” she says. For her city, climate change is no longer on the horizon. It has arrived. And like a car speeding down a clear freeway, the city is racing to catch up.

Phroyd

[seriestrash]

A Christmas Pact

❄ Day Three ❄

A/N: This fits within the television series universe! The Rucas we know and love with the addition of some Christmases we never got to see! Inspired by @hopeandbelieve5​ (original prompt in the end notes) ❤️

Summary: Riley and Lucas' Christmases throughout the years and a pact they made to hopefully one day reunite them.

Word Count: 1922

❄ ❄ ❄

Christmas; Seventh Grade

By now Riley and Lucas were new friends and evidently crushing on each other. Lucas goes back to Texas for the holidays and Riley learns why her Uncle Shawn has been distant most of her life. 

Christmas; Eighth Grade

By now Riley and Lucas are a complete mess. They'd gone on their first date, they'd had their first kiss and they’d been boyfriend and girlfriend for a day, brother and sister for a week and friends since Texas...

Christmas; Freshman Year

By now Riley and Lucas had survived a triangle that began in the new year. Eventually they ended up exactly in the right place. Together. Lucas hurts Riley's feelings by going to Texas for the holidays without telling her. He sees the mistake he made and shows his festive spirit and demonstrates his deep understanding of Riley with his secret Santa gift for her.

Christmas; Sophomore Year

By now Riley and Lucas are in love. He stays in New York for the holidays and makes up for last years holiday season. He helps organise the biggest secret Santa yet.

Christmas; Junior Year

By now Riley and Lucas are still in love. Lucas goes back to Texas for the holidays but this time he tells Riley first and there's not a day he's away, that they don't speak on the phone for at least an hour.

Christmas; Senior Year

By now Riley and Lucas have been dating a little over three years. Their relationship is solid but Riley still worries about their future together. This year Lucas stays in the city for the holidays. 

Riley is being neurotic with her celebrations - even more so than usual - and it’s causing agitation amongst the group. Lucas presses Riley about the matter, he wants to know why she’s trying so hard to make this Christmas the biggest one yet. She insists she just loves the holiday season but Lucas knew it ran deeper than that and eventually Riley opens up. 

They’re in her room, Lucas is sat at the end of her bed and Riley’s pacing around the room talking about the day she had planned out for the two of them. It was booked down to every last minute. 

“Riley, we don’t have to go ice skating, get Santa photos and make a three story gingerbread house all in one day.” Lucas laughs. 

“You forgot the gingerbread family.” Riley says. “And yes we do.” 

“What’s going on, Riles?” Lucas asks. 

“I love Christmas.” Riley says simply. “I just want to make sure we do everything we possibly can.” 

“It’s more than that.” Lucas says as his eyes follow Riley around the room as she paces. “Speak to me please?” 

Riley stops in place, her back to Lucas. She takes a deep breath before turning around. “What if this year is the last Christmas we get to spend together?”

“Why would you think that?” Lucas furrows his brows. 

“Because you’re going to college back in Austin and I’m staying here in New York...” Riley says. “And your parents are moving back to Texas too so you have no reason to leave Austin.” 

Lucas jumps up and takes both Riley’s hands in his. He makes sure she holds his gaze, “Riley, I have you. That’s more important than anything and as long as you’re in New York I’ll always have a reason to leave Austin.” 

“I don’t even like that you spend every second Christmas in Texas and that’s only a week. How am I going to handle being apart for months?” Riley questions. 

“We’ll be fine.” Lucas says with a sweet smile. 

“How can you be so sure?” Riley looks up at him with a pouty expression. 

“Because I love you.” Lucas shrugs a shoulder and says it nonchalantly. “Like I’m going to screw this up.” 

Riley rolls her eyes but she wears a wide smile. He was dorky but she loved him.

Christmas; Freshman Year (College)

By now Riley and Lucas are adapting to their news lives on campus and their new lives two thousand miles apart. For the first time ever Riley spends Christmas away from her family, instead she stays with Lucas in Texas.

Christmas; Sophomore Year (College)

By now Riley and Lucas are starting to feel the distance. Lucas makes the trip to New York for the festive period but not without great difficulty trying to organise his schedule. When he and Riley finally reunite it’s sweet but something is clearly off between them. On Christmas Eve night they’re at the Matthews and Hunters joint family celebration hosted at the bakery. Lucas wears one of those goofy hats with the mistletoe attached as a joke. Riley laughs at it and gives him a kiss but Lucas could sense her mind was somewhere else. 

Lucas takes the silly hat off and leads Riley out front of the bakery so they could talk privately. Once alone the two begin to really talk about what’s happening between them. The conversation ends up with Riley in tears as she talks about how distant she feels from him and how much she misses him. Lucas’ throat is tight too as he fights the urge to cry also. 

“So what are we breaking up or something?” Lucas asks with a broken expression. 

“I think we have to.” Riley wipes her tears away. 

“But we love each other?” Lucas frowns. 

“I know but right now we’re destroying each other.” Riley frowns too. 

“But we’re meant to be together, we can make it work.” Lucas insists. 

“If we’re meant to be together Lucas we will be but what if trying to make it work now ruins the chances of us working in the future?” Riley asks. 

“So you want to break up now so we can maybe one day be together?” Lucas does’t like this at all.

“How about this?” Riley perks up a little and she tries to compose herself further. She picks up the silly hat Lucas was wearing and breaks the faux mistletoe in two, she hands one half to Lucas and keeps the other in her hand. “Lets make a pact, the first christmas after college lets agree to meet somewhere, no contact before hand, just show up or don’t. If we’re both there with our half of the mistletoe then we’ll make it work.”

“Just show up?” Lucas pricks up a brow. 

“So we can’t influence each other.” Riley says. “We just pick a place and a time and wait. If we’re both there we know for certain this is what we want and if one or both of us aren't then we know we’re not meant to be.” 

“The first Christmas Eve after graduation, 5pm, let’s meet right here?” Lucas asks for confirmation. 

Riley nods. She holds the mistletoe half in there air and Lucas lifts his too. 

“I’m telling you now Riley, I’ll be here.” Lucas says like he’s never meant something more serious than that. 

Christmas; Junior Year (College) 

By now Riley and Lucas barely speak to each other. It was just weird and hard to get over each other with constant communication so they let it taper off. They both plan to spend the holidays alone. 

Christmas; Senior Year (College) 

By now Riley and Lucas don't speak at all. By chance they both met someone on New Years Eve the previous year. Both the ex high school sweethearts are in new relationships this festive season.  

Christmas; The year after college 

By now Riley and Lucas are both single again and  truthfully they both let their relationships fall apart at the thought of each other. The pact they made their sophomore year of college played on each of their minds. Riley and Lucas had each stumbled across their half of the mistletoe at different points and it became abundantly clear that their current relationship didn’t match up. 

It came to the week before Christmas and both of them wondered if they should wait in the agreed upon spot. They both wanted to but realistically thinking they thought it was silly. They hadn’t spoken in two years and neither of them knew if the other was still in a relationship or not. 

Christmas Eve sees Riley taking a chance, she takes her half of the mistletoe and waits out front of Topanga’s Bakery. 5pm. Nothing. 6pm. Nothing. 7pm, Riley’s freezing and still nothing. 8pm the bakery closes and the manager waves to Riley as she leaves. Still nothing from Lucas. It’s almost 9pm and Riley’s still sitting alone out front of Topanga’s. 

“At least I know know.” Riley says quietly to herself as she gets up. 

Riley is disappointed as she walks up the stairs. Once Riley rounds the corner at the stop of the stairs she’s quite literally knocked to the ground. Riley lets out a shriek in fright as she hits the ground with a thud. 

“Riley!” A familiar voice exclaims. 

“Lucas?” Riley meets the familiar green eyes of the person whom knocked her over. 

“You’re here.” Lucas lets out a breath of relief. 

“You’re late.” Riley frowns. 

“You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had.” Lucas says and he still has Riley pinned to the ground. 

“Can you maybe tell me that off the ground?” Riley laughs nervously and Lucas gives her an embarrassed smile before helping her up. 

Lucas is slightly puffed, it appeared as if he ran here which would explain him colliding with Riley the way he had. “You said we couldn’t call each other before hand so I just hoped you were still here.. If you came at all.” Lucas begins to quickly ramble his explanation for being late. “First the airline double booked my seat so I had to wait for a later flight and then that flight was delayed and then bad weather meant we had to circle around a few times and then the cab I took blew a tyre and then I was already so late I just decided to get out and run.” Lucas takes a breath. 

"You think maybe the universe is trying to tell us something?" Riley asks. “Seems like it went to a lot of effort to make sure we didn’t make the deadline...” 

"The universe can shut up." Lucas lets out a breath he was holding and he cups either side of Riley's face before closing the space between them with a kiss. Riley's stiff at first just from the shock of Lucas' assertion but she loosens up very quickly. Riley brings her arms up and loops them around Lucas' neck, pulling herself closer.

When they part Lucas reaches into his pocket and pulls out half of the mistletoe Riley gave him when they first made the pact. “I told you I’d be here, Riley.” Lucas says. “And maybe we did have to break up for things to work out now but I’m ready. I’m all in.”

Riley is the one to initiate a kiss this time. When they part Riley reaches into her own coat pocket and pulls out the other half of the mistletoe. They both hold them in the air together like they had the last Christmas Eve they were together.

“Okay.” Riley nods. “I’m all in too.”

Being with Lucas felt safe and not safe as in boring but safe in the way that the complete uncertainty of their open futures didn't worry her. She knew they were going to be together and not just right there and then in the moment but ultimately they were each other's true future.

End Notes: Sorry this one is short! I had a much more detail version planned but I wrote this whilst on a road trip so I made it quick and sweet! Hope you still like it  :) Here is the prompt that inspired it; 

[perpetuelledaydreaming]

GRL MEETS WORLD MASTERLIST

Although the show is over, I’m still not done writing about Lucas and Maya. I love their chemistry and everything about them, as well from other characters like Riley and Farkle. Therefor, if you are bored or looking for something to read maybe you could check my stories and please leave reviews to see what you think of them, I value all the comments.

Thank you!

Love-J

You, again. - Maya keeps finding this same Texas guy, over and over again. Until the point where she really doesn't know when she began feeling that she knew him already.

Fresh Start. - What if things would have been different and Maya was the hot blonde New York City girl that had moved to Austin, Texas because of an incident regarding her best friend safety? How would her interactions with Lucas and Zay be and how this moving would change her? People change people, that's the secret of life. (This one was actually inspired by two other fics and one of them is The Art of Seduction from tiramisuspice which is the greatest author for Lucaya fanfic and I love it so please go and read that)

Written on your body.  - It was a simply deed: Your skin is a map to your soulmate- if you drew something on your skin it would dissipate and then appeared into your soulmates skin, but it was different with scars and bruises those would stay in both of you. Lucas already knew who his soulmate was, but how could he tell the blonde beauty that he was hers? (I just began this one)

Arranged. - Lucas and Maya are heir and heiress, each one from their respective rich family. Nonetheless Maya's family ends up making a deal with Lucas' family in order to save the family business: an arranged marriage between Lucas and Maya. Nonetheless they hate each other at the beginning, could that change with the pass of time?

The Wake-Up Call.  - Now that they are in High School the triangle mess hasn't been solved and neither Lucas or Riley are doing anything to change that. But now Maya is tired from it, she wants change, she wants to move on and that is when she meets Jordan. Will Jordan be able to be the wake-up call that Lucas needed to realize that he loved Maya?

We found love. - A series of one-shots, prompts, etc. That I will post here and on Lucaya FanFiction on tumblr. All genres, I hope and Lucaya.

Senior Year.  - Senior Year it's here- The hive five are about to enter the last year of High School and there's nothing better. Lucas and Maya through time have develop an awesome relationship until the point that she has considered seeing Lucas like something else than just a friend. Would they be able to pass this year against all the obstacles?

Losing you. - "I will never speak to you again." Maya said clear as water, she began to feel tears pooling in her eyes and she walked away, she couldn't see this, he made his choice and she made hers. The moment where Lucas began to lose her.

Your world, My world.  -Riley and Maya hadn't been themselves in a while, the tension between them had grown, each one wanted to gain Lucas' heart and it reached the point where neither were thinking about the other like they always had. Call it universe, magic or destiny but it decided to fix Riley's and Maya's broken relationship in not such a traditional way. Each one would have to live and see the world from the others point of view.

It never stopped.  -Riley and Lucas are getting married, everyone is happy and everyone think it's meant to be, they are going to be the next Cory and Topanga. But the love that Lucas and Maya had never stopped, will Maya step aside again?

Thank you with all my heart if you end up reading them and leaving your reviews! 

[a-timeless-love]

Girl Meets World 3x21: Girl Meets Goodbye

It’s Farkle’s dream come true! It’s time to learn about Belgium 1831!

Belgium 1831. The Netherlands was a group of friendly states who thought they’d stay together forever, until Belgium made the decision it was time to go. It was decided that Belgium would no longer be part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, but instead its own independent country. Belgium was free. At that point, Belgium was no longer part of a group, but its own sovereign nation ready to meet the world on its own terms. After Belgium left, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands fell completely apart. Belgium 1831 is Riley and her friends.

Farkle always wanted to learn about Belgium 1831 so he could warn his friends about what they’re up against. “It’s Farkle who’s always loved us and tried to protect us,”  Maya says. To thank him, Maya kisses Farkle! Farkle being Farkle, in love with Maya since the first grade, faints!

Cory originally planned Belgium 1831 to be about his students’ freedom when they graduated. But, with Riley potentially moving away because her mom, his wife, Topanga, got a job offer in London, the time is now.

Really, Riley is most afraid her friends will forget her. Riley and Maya used to have a third best friend, Kerri Abelson. But as soon as Kerri moved across the street they completely forgot she existed, even though they were still in the same class.

London is 3,459 miles away from New York! Riley and Maya are already too far away from each other while standing right in front of each other! Is this the end of Riley and Maya?

Everyone is so sad.  As Smackle informs them, “If anything changes, then we’re simply not who we were. We are actually different. If you leave us we will actually be different.” Without Riley, will they fall completely apart?

Certain Topanga will choose to move, Riley and friends say their goodbyes.

Farkle appears to be downright depressed because the love of his life is moving away.

He promises Riley he’ll always love her.

He tells her, “I’ve loved you since the first grade. I always will, wherever you are.”

Riarkle will always love each other.

Riarkle…

Maya won’t say goodbye to Riley because she doesn’t believe Riley is really leaving. She doesn’t think life is done with them yet. She says, “Life knows there’s no replacement for her because nobody cares about me as much as she does.”

That is until her lifelong crush, Uncle Josh “Boing” Matthews, walks in and pulls up a seat right next to her.

She tells Riley, “Life is trying to replace you.” Looking back at who life is replacing Riley with, Maya adds, “Life moves fast. Life does a good job.” Maya gets her long game faster than she expected!

Zay swears he’ll take care of Lucas. He tells Riley, “I’ll make sure Lucas is okay. I’ll walk him and feed him and make sure he never forgets about you.” Lucas says he’ll never forget about Riley and Zay calls him a “good boy,” like he’s a puppy dog.

In return, Riley tells Zay, “Our circle of friends was never complete until you showed up.”

Lucas wants to say his goodbye in private, so he walks Riley outside and they sit on the steps. He tells her, “No matter what happens to me in my whole life, you will always be my first girlfriend. Years from now, whenever anybody asks me, ‘who was your first girlfriend?’ I will always answer ‘Riley Matthews.’”

She tells him, “And I will always answer ‘Lucas Friar.’”

Riley hopes his secret dream of being a veterinarian comes true someday and he hopes that wherever she is she gets to keep being Riley.

Girl Meets World started with Maya pushing Riley into Lucas’ lap on the subway and, now, their relationship is ending.

Auggie says goodbye to Ava.

Ava wanted to go to England with Auggie. She even learned how to be posh! But her mom wants to keep her with her, so Ava and Auggie have to say their goodbyes.

Ava tells Auggie, “I’m Mrs. Auggie Doggie Matthews wherever you are,” and Auggie says, “And I will always be Mr. Ava Morgenstern.”

Auggie and Ava will always be married, no matter where they are.

To help her make this big decision, Topanga seeks out the advice of her closest friends and family - Shawn, Katy, Amy, Alan, Feeny, Turner, Morgan, Eric, Josh, Minkus, and Harley.

As much as Shawn would hate it if his lifelong best friends went anywhere, he has to admit that leaving Philadelphia for New York worked out. He says, “If we didn’t do that… I wouldn’t be happy.” If he hadn’t left Philly, he never would’ve met Katy and Maya, his wife and step-daughter.

Or is it daughter? Shawn presents Maya with adoption forms! He wants to adopt her, officially making her Maya Hunter!

Maya excitedly accepts Shawn’s proposal and starts calling him dad/daddy immediately!

She says, “Hey, dad? I’m sorry for everything I’m gonna do. Oh, and I’m going to London with them.”

In their first [on-screen] reunion since Turner’s motorcycle accident 20 years ago, that left him presumed dead, Turner admits he always regretted never adopting Shawn.

Later that night, Topanga’s family finds her hiding in the dark at Topanga’s, her quiet place. She’s come to a decision. She tells her family, “There are a lot of exciting reasons to go: A new place. A new adventure. My promotion. There are whole bunch of reasons to go.” She has only one reason to stay. “Every time I watch you girls in the bay window, I remember how much we wanted a place like it of our own. A place where important decisions are made and the best next steps of your life are planned and considered. We would do great in England. We would do great anywhere in the world. I could run the London office. Maybe someday I’ll get to run the New York office. But the place I love running is this place that we’re in right now. Where your friends come in and you plan the best next steps of your life, like we’re doing right now. This is my bay window and I’m not leaving it…. We’re not going anywhere.”

Topanga is not parting with her long sought after “nook.” (Boy Meets World taught me that word!)

Belgium 1831 taught Farkle there comes a time when the right thing to do is to leave the friends you know, see what’s out there, and face a new world, but… “Not yet,” he says, erasing it off the board.

Riley and Maya’s parents finish introducing them to the world.

Echoing the Boy Meets World series finale, they say, “You’re gonna learn from it every day. Gonna make mistakes. You’re gonna make good friends too. And even though it’ll seem like the world goes out of its way to teach you hard lessons, it’s the same world that gave you your friends and your family. You’ll come to believe the world is gonna protect you, too.” “Girl Meets World,” says Riley. “Now I get it,” adds Maya.

If it’s Riley’s world, the first person she wants in it, now and for always, is Maya. “People are gonna come in and out of our lives. Who knows where we’re all gonna end up. Who knows if the decisions we’re gonna make are right or wrong. Promise me this? Time and distance have no power over us. You and I are together for as long as we live,” she says.

Thunder. Lightning. Done.

Riley and Maya are forever no matter where they are.

Everybody was happy, forever. The End.

Best Lines:

Riley (to Maya): Don’t you think you’ll hear as soon as I’ve heard?

Farkle: Ask important questions! He erases it if you ask important questions!

Farkle: What ever happened to Kerri? Riley: She moved a-. Farkle: I don’t care. She’s gone.

Cory: Sometimes things happen in life earlier than they’re supposed to.

Cory: We do our best, like we’ve always done. We leave a good mark and we hope that people remember us fondly.

Riley: I did my best. I hope that you remember me fondly.

Cory: Is it tougher to leave something you love or stay when you could be missing an opportunity? Zay: That depends on what you’re leaving behind.

Ava (in a British accent): I know all about my new British mates. I know about Posh and Becks and all three Harrys: Styles, Potter, and, my first husband, the Prince.

Ava (in a British accent): Momma needs a crown.

Ava (in a British accent): If we’re all gonna reside in merry ol’ England, I thought I should know about my new home.

Ava: I’m going. I spoke to my mom and she said I could go. Auggie: Really?! Topanga: Don’t answer! I’m afraid of the actual answer.

Cory: I know her decision will be the right one. Riley: No matter what it is? Cory: No matter what it is, we go with her.

Eric: I’m not talking to you! Feeny: And I’m not talking to you. Eric: Fine. Feeny: Double fine. Eric: I taught you that. Feeny: And I taught you everything else. Eric: Then why I don’t know anything?!

Shawn: We wouldn’t have Maya. Maya: Oh, guys, I’m not actually your daughter… Katy: I’ll never forget when we first saw you in the hospital delivery room.

Maya: Wow, I’d really love to rewrite history but…

Cory: History is history.

Turner: Let ‘em write what they want to.

Turner: Hey, Shawn’s wife. Boy, it makes me happy saying that. Hey, Shawn’s wife!

Turner: I’ll never forget the time I saw him (Shawn) in that hospital delivery room…

Cory: My parents tried to adopt Shawn, but he preferred to stay a street urchin.

Riley: You can’t just make life how you want it.

Shawn: Can you hold your little Topanga horses?

Riley: Let her! You won’t miss her! You just got her!

Amy: You leave. You leave for college. You leave for New York. And now you’re gonna fly across the ocean and take away my grandchildren?

Auggie: Is there gonna be another me?!

Morgan: In order to be the best person you can be, sometimes it’s good to stay and sometimes you gotta go.

Morgan: Being the youngest is really important. You’re the one they hold onto…. or not.

Topanga: You’re telling us to go? Feeny: I told you to go to Yale too. Why didn’t you?

Feeny (to Topanga): You were always the best test-taker.

Riley: Mom got a job offer in England. Eric: What?! Who’s gonna play Topanga?! Wait a second, I can play Topanga!

Eric: Listen to your heart. Your heart is what’s gonna tell you what to do. And then go and find your favorite quiet place. Mine is under the ocean. Topanga: *leaves* Eric: Don’t take my spot!

Smackle: I was feeling sadness… I was crying. I don’t cry. But now I know it was because nothing has ever made me sad enough before. I just wanted to say thank you for these feelings, Riley.

Zay: Smackle, I’m feeling somethin’. Smackle: Sadness! …I’m good at emotions now.

Cory: I told you she’d make the right decision.

Cory: After you’ve met the world for a while, the best thing that happens is to find out just where it is you belong.

Riley: Big world. Maya: Ours now.

Why does this have to be the end?!

I don’t feel alright, but I’m still gonna take on the world!

Thanks for everything Girl Meets World. Hopefully I’ll see new episodes of you sometime in the future. If not…

[luxuryhomesenpa-blog]

Enjoy a Luxurious Life in Malibu Homes

This collection is really a primer for home-buyers interested in the Los Angeles'luxurious property industry who may have just heard about the the popular communities like Hollywood, Beverly Hills, or Malibu that they are contemplating creating their new home. Asking rates have dropped somewhat since last year and Global interest in these superb attributes is raising when again. This next report in the series can be an breakdown of the exemplary properties and estates for sale in Los Angeles'beach cities malibu luxury homes .

Most of Los Angeles'good estates are within or close to the Hollywood Hills, from Griffith Park to the ocean, a location which include Beverly Mountains, Bel Air and many grand previous Hollywood estates.

However, the coastal hills of Malibu and Santa Monica Mountains at the north conclusion of Santa Monica Bay are becoming home to a new brand of rural estates, vast beach ranches, and dramatic shoreline mansions within the last thirty years. Malibu alone today has more superstars per sq foot compared to Cannes Picture Festival and there is an unbelievable variety of possibilities for pretty much thirty miles over the Pacific Coast Highway for extraordinary sea see houses from Ventura County Point to Topanga Canyon.

Malibu and the Santa Monica Hills provide the best prospect in Los Angeles to move away from everything without making town.

The sole different true property qualities in L.A.' s seaside towns are located on the Palos Verdes Peninsula which becomes the southern end of Santa Monica Bay. Apparent from Malibu to Downtown and beyond, the peninsula is really a huge promontory with older estates, custom houses and villages on the sea-bluffs and at decrease elevations in the hills completely about it on the key road. Newer properties and exceptional houses are found larger up the slope and could offer incredible jet-liner opinions of the coast and Channel Islands.

The rest of Los Angeles'high-end, metropolitan seaside qualities between Palos Verdes and Topanga can be split into the L.A. City shores to the north of L.A. International Airport, and the independent seaside municipalities of South Bay.

South Bay is comprised of Ny, Hermosa, and Redondo Shores, three classic Southern California search neighborhoods south of LAX which still have lots of small area appeal, despite being much more densely populated than they after were. Beachfront properties with sweeping views point South Bay's famous'String'from the airport to Palos Verdes. Because all three of these cities have low coastal hills, you can find always plenty of great luxurious view houses (& condominiums) accessible as well.

The seaside cities to the north of LAX are generally older and more different in character. Venice and Marina del Rey equally offer a variety of beachfront homes similar as to the you will find in South Bay including piers, large, white shores, and plenty of sun. But Marina del Rey can also be the greatest small vessel marina on the west shore and is home a number of important new high-rise residences.

Venice, on one other give, is commonly funkier, more urban and more hugely modern than L.A.' s other coastal communities. This can be equally a deficiency and suggestion, depending on your perspective. Venice also functions the popular canals (the reduced,) the hugely popular Abbot Kinney company section, and notorious boardwalk which has mostly industrial and high-density development.

Santa Monica has the only major downtown section on the bay. It sits on a top bluff around looking the ocean lined by older high-rise house buildings. High occurrence residences also predominate the beaches at the southern end of the town by Venice.

Ultimately, the north conclusion Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades start to resemble the sort of homes and estates found elsewhere in the hills. Palisades specifically has numerous rural sensation homes and estates, both new and previous, on the slope factors overlooking the Pacific.

Look for an examination of life style, characteristics, and architectural types in a few of a number of Los Angeles'many famous towns in the forthcoming 3rd report in that series.