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[authorxxxxxx]

Taste of you . | Gunner Jensen x fem!reader

Title : Taste of you

Pairing : Gunner Jensen x fem!short!shy!reader

Summary : This time you left him and his place for good . It was difficult to locate your older brother's location . As long as you can remember , Barney always had you in arms length . Always . But this time you needed someone who could protect you and save you . And that person was your older brother Barney . You wanted to feel free , but instead you found him . Cold , brutal but helpless . In desperate need for somebody to love him .

Tw : abusive ex partner , mentions of rape , substance abuse , psychological problems , drug use , Gunner is unstable , crying (a lot), big age gap , wet dreams , extreme sexual tension between Gunner and the reader , some touching , dry hamping , big size difference , manhandling , Gunner takes the reader for a ride on his motorcycle , love at first sight , fluff .

Note : I still haven't proofread this , so there are going to be some mistakes ( so sorry about that ) , also remember that English isn't my first language so just bare with me ( so sorry for that too ) . I'm going to write for the character of Ivan Drago from Rocky IV so don't worry about that , because new content is coming .

Songs : Ari Abdul - Taste & You

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" Fuck America . Fuck the American dream . Bunch a load of bullshit." You screamed while driving .

Tears stained your face .

Beaten up face .

You were trying to drive from Philadelphia to New Orleans. 18 hour drive .

You were exhausted .

" Damn you Barney Ross . " You said quietly thinking about your brother .

" Why New Orleans ? Why don't go and live someplace else ? " At this point you were going crazy . Talking to yourself . He made you crazy .

You were travelling for nearly 3 days now , making stops in Alabama , Nashville , Kentucky and Tennessee .

You were more than exhausted .

You haven't seen you brother in ages . Although he always kept you in arms length he was protective of you . But right know , you needed help and protection .

You had to be somewhere where he couldn't find you .

" Barney's gonna freak out when he sees me and the bruises . " You thought to yourself .

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" Another one huh ? Again ? You practically have no skin left there Barney . " Tool said to him with a smile .

' Get to work Toll . " Barney answered him laughing to his friend .

After a couple of hours the place was packed with the rest of the team .

Toll and Lee were arguing about knives again .

Caesar was watching Tv and Yin was watching Ross getting another tattoo .

Gunner was on the couch drinking a bear with no alcohol just watching them all .

He was nearly half a year sober . He hasn't touched drugs in over a year now . He was getting better everyday or so he thought .

Everything seemed normal . It was just a normal day for all of them . Just peace and quiet .

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You had difficulty parking your Land Cruiser . So many motorcycles .

" This is for sure Barney's place . " You said while exiting your car locking it and making your way over the open place . It looked like a huge garage that had floors . More like a hangar .

You didn't have enough time to cover your bruises after getting out of the bathroom .

Your sweatpants covered the ones you had on your legs , but your shirt wasn't so much of a help .

Barney had just finished with his tattoo and was putting on his shirt when a quiet voice called out for him .

" Barney ? "

The whole crew has gone quiet over your sudden appearance . A woman with dark brown hair and light blue eyes was calling over to their boss .

Barney turned around seeing his little sister's face .

Her neck and collarbone beaten up . Bruises could be seen in all over her face too .

Your hands shacking . And not from happiness for seeing your brother after so many years . Barney new that look .

Fear .

Fear for your life .

" Y/N ? "

You burst into tears while Barney made his way over to you embracing you in a big hug .

Barney's heart broke in a million little pieces from the way you grabbed him . Your now fresh tears staining his shirt .

" Your okay . Your safe now . Come on Y/N , come on honey , please . What happened ? Tell me honey . I'm here . " Barney said to you while gently holding your head .

He wiped your tears trying to sooth all your fears away .

He placed your face in his hands closely observing your bruises .

" Who ? Tell me who did this . Who did this to you honey ? Who was it hm ? "

" James . " You said in a whisper after you had finally calmed down .

James . Your ever first boyfriend and now apparently ex . Barney was furious . Scared that he may followed you all the way here he ordered the rest of the team .

" Search the area . " Barney said to the rest of them . " I want this place to be monitored and safe 24/7 from now on . Be back in 5' we have work to do . " And with that the 5 men stood up ready to follow Barney's order's .

" Gunner , grab your stuff . If anything happens ... I want him dead . "

And for only a moment you locked your eyes with him .

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You could feel his gaze watching you closely this whole time . After the team made sure that your ex isn't nowhere near you , they closed the hangar for the first time in broad daylight .

"Here you go sweetheart, hope you're doing a little bit better. " Toll the tattoo artist said to you while passing over to you a hot cup of tea.

" Thank you so much , I feel a lot better . " You answered to him .

You could see that he was a genuine man that loves you already as much as he loves your brother .

Barney had been asking you questions all this time about your ex .

Lee was searching him up and Yin was making small talk with you trying to get you to smile .

' So do you have a degree or anything like that ? " Yin asked you .

" I have a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Criminal Psychology and now I want to get a PhD in Forensic . " You answered him and Barney chucked proudly .

" Oh . I thought that you worded as a model or something . " Caesar said to you with a chuckle .

Gunner was beyond mad .

" Oh shut up you big idiot . " Lee said to him obviously tensing your awkwardness and standing up for you .

" She has the beauty and the brains . " Barney said .

You smiled .

And Gunner fucking lost it .

He was head over heals for you already .

He would burn this world for you .

He would tear it apart just to get to you .

You caught him looking at you .

You were finally experiencing what love at first sight meant .

What true love is like .

" Christmas is there anything else that we need to know about ? Y/N?" Barney asked , but before you could even answer Lee said "No". And with that Barney stood up from the couch.

" I'm so sorry Y/N " . Lee Christmas said to you while closing his laptop .

He had read your police file report , all of it .

He said quietly for no one to here . Except he heard .

Gunner watched you as your eyes filled with tears .

Then he finally understood .

You were raped .

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Gunner was beyond mad with himself . He was furious . Everytime you were in the same room he you get hard as a rock . Every.Single.Time.

And it was fucking cruel .

Every day he found himself extremely eager to return back to his house .

Sitting on the couch , with his hand on his croch and then his dick fucking his fist .

On the bathroom, on his bedroom , hell even in the hangars bathroom .

He couldn't even get a good night's sleep in these paste few months. Every single night he would experience a couple of wet dreams were he would eat you out for hours . Orgasm upon orgasm . Images of your sweat moans when he licked at you puffy clit .

And everyday it was getting even worse .

He was cumming his pants everytime you would caught him looking at you . How easily you got flustered, your face becoming light pink .

But this time was the worst one .

You were all at the hangar . Toll was fixing Barney's tattoo , Caesar was cleaning some of his knives while watching TV and Lee and Ying were chatting about something .

Gunnar was sitting in his usual spot on the couch drinking his 0% bear , manspreading .

Looking at you .

You were trying to read your book , but you were stuck for what seemed like endless minutes on the same paragraph .

He could see your nipples getting as hard as his dick .

And then he did the impossible .

He placed on of his enormous palms on top of his crotch . Veins popping . Your clit was begging to be touched .

Unfortunately Lee and Yin had caught upon this and told Ceasar .

" Hey Y/N were done , want to see ? " Toll asked you .

" Thank God . " You said and got off the couch while the boys made their way over to Gunner .

" We knew that you were crazy , but are you out of your god damn mind ? " Lee said .

" Yes , he's right , she'e Barney's little sister and plus your way older than her." Caesar added .

" And Barney want's to make you her bodyguard . " Yin said and with that a smirk formed on Gunner's face .

" You are torturing the pure girl . " Lee said .

" Fuck tell that to my dick . Do you think that she wants me back ? " He asked them .

" Dude are you freaking serious right now ? Go for it . " Yin said to him.

" So who's coming to the bar ? " Barney asked the rest of the team .

" Why do I ever bother asking ? " He said to himself knowing fully well that since Y/N was coming they had to be there .

But as everyone was getting ready to leave " Y/N your gonna ride with Gunner . He's your bodyguard from now on . Keep you safe . You know what I mean ? Gunner take the safest road . " Barney said .

" Huh ? What bodyguard ? Barney ! "

This is bad . This is really bad .

Gunner stood up walking towards you . Your face on his chest .

Good Lord.

He was 6'5 nothing compared to your 5'2 frame . He was huge .

He is huge .

He is a large man .

" Come on sugar . " He said leaving you speechless .

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The one and only reason why you were coming with them at bar , was because you would finally meet Lee's girlfriend , Lacy . She was just a couple of years older than you and she had been into an abusive relationship in the past . But Lee was there for her .

" I'm so glad that you're here . I can finally come to the bar with the boys and chat with you and actually have fun . " Lacy said to you , passing you a cold bear . Upon the first sip you immediately realised that it had alcohol in it .

You had a wonderful night with all of them , but you got to say that you and Lacy were a little bit wasted . Laughing uncontrollably when she smacked Lee's bald head and when you made Barney think you were going to smoke pot .

Gunner's eyes haven't left your body in the entire night. He just couldn't stop thinking about your first ride on his motorcycle .

" If you don't wrap your arms around me , you'll fall. " Gunnar had explained to you , hoping to feel your arms around him . " Fine , we'll have it done your way." You spat back doing exactly what he said .

Good God .

You couldn't even reach your hands from how big Gunnar was . But you could feel his abs and his toned chest .

The ride was amazing , even though it was a slightly cold night , the lights of the city were perfect . You were cold and you hadn't realized that you were now glued to Gunner so you could get some of his warmth . Chin rested on top of his right shoulder , your hair dancing with the wind .

Gunner was in absolute bliss from your beauty . Your blue eyes changing colors with the lights of the city , your hair all messy from the wind , your face so close to his nech that he could feel yout wark breath , your hands darted across his torso .

He was glad that he took the bog road to the bar .

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The ride back at the hangar was nice for everyone except for Gunner .

You and Lacy were a little bit drunk , so when it was time to head back home Barney took you with him on his motorcycle , even though Gunner said to him that he would be more then happy to give you a ride back home .

While the boys hang out on the couch , you and Lacy where resting on your bet at the top floor.The place did not have the best soundproof. So when Lacy open up a special conversation with you , everything could be heard from the boys downstairs .

" You know I too had an abusive past relationship , so I know what you've been through . " Lacy said to you , " Yeah , but you had Lee with you . He helped you get out and away from it . You were not alone and afraid . " Lee and the rest of the time sighed happily but their smiled vanishe away right after .

" Y/N what happened ? What did he do to you ? " Lacy asked you with concern to her eyes .

You took a deep and loud breath and with that prepared for hearing the worst .

" He was my first boyfriend since the start of University . There was this fake love at first but then he made his true self known . That's when the abuse started . He yould come back to our shared studio apartment , drunk every single day , with syringe's on his hand , indicating that he had start using cocaine . The beatings came soon after that , he would hit me just because I would try to help him . But that is not even the worst part . " You said and with that you started crying . The whole team was listening carefully .

" That night he came back drunk and high on some drugs . He came in the kitchen with two syringes on his hand . I tried to fight back Lacy , I really did , but he was stronger than me . The next thing I know ? I wake up with the worst possible migraine , my eyes red and my nose bleeding uncontrollably . My lips basted , my whole entire body in pain , scratches on my arms and legs like someone tried holding them down , blood between my legs and two syringes in my left arm . " You told her while crying non stop .

" I am so so sorry honey , What happened next ? " Lacy said while giving you a hug .

" I called an ambulance and I went to the General . I was hospitalised for 3 whole weaks . That bastard had raped me and then tried to kill me . He injected me with both cocaine and meth . " You said and with that Gunner felt the ground shake . His eyes closed in fear , remembering of his dark past but ther her chuckle made him instantly forget about it . He got a couple worried glances from the rest of the team but said nothing . He was okay .

" But I'm trying to leave this in the past . I'm here with you and the guys and I fell more than just safe . I feel loved . I had missed my brother so much . " You said smiling , Lacy agreeing with you .

" So let's just change the subject . " You said in hope of letting go the other thing . " So how is everything with Lee ? You guys love each other so much , you make me happy . " You said to her smiling once again .

" Everything is great . I love him so much . But something is going on with you and someone huh ? " Lacy said to you and in an instant Barney and Gunner were all ears while the others waited for the bomb to drop .

" No , nothings going on with me . Everything is fine . " You said trying to get done with this conversation as well . " Oh come on now I've seen the way Gunner is looking at you . " Lacy said and Hell broke loose .

" What ? " Barney whispered at Gunner and instantly the whole team stood up ready for everything .

" I have feelings for him too , but I'm to afraid you know ? Besides Barney he's gonna have a heart attach at this age . " You said and both laughed not knowing the silent war downstairs .

" I am 100 % absolutely sure that Gunner has the same feelings that you have for him , just wait for the right moment . I'm gonna go now , we both need a bath and a good night's sleep . " And immediately the boys were down at their seats acting like they hadn't been listening their conversation .

" Hey Lacy - leaving so early - ? ? " Different voices could be heard trying to break the akward silence .

" Good night to you too boys , Lee we're leaving . " Lacy said . " See ' ya ! " Lee said leaving quickly .

And then all you could hear was instant shouting between the rest of the team . You grabbed your things and headed downstairs to take a shower and to see what was this all about . The moment you were into their sight , everything stoped .

" I'll just take a shower and then head to bed , so goodnight y'all . I'll see you tomorrow . Had fun today . " You said to them making your way into shower .

" I will give you my permission to date my sister , only because I know that she deserves the best treatment after everything she went through " Barney said to Gunner " But if anything happens to her , I will kill you in an instant . " This could be your last chance Gunner , don't let it leave . " Barney said to his old friend and then slowly rose up from the couch . " That doesn't mean that your free . You still are her bodyguard so from tomorrow on I want you in here 24/7 "

" Of course Boss . And Barney ? Thank you ! " Gunner said to his best friend , now both smiling .

After Barney left Gunner was left to face Ceasar and Ying .

" See that is why I told you to go for it . You are her boyfriend and her bodyguard . " Yin said happily .

" What the Hell was that ? " Ceasar asked confused from the whole thing making Gunner and Yin laugh while the left the hangar .

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To say that you were frustrated with Gunner was an understatement .

It had been a couple of months since you had this conversation with Lacy and nearly half a year with the team . You grew to love them all , but Gunner ...

The sexual tension was becoming increasingly difficult and on top of it ? He was your bodyguard . Meaning ? He was behind you , observing and closesly watching your every step . Your every move .

Plus you had this new problem . Wet dreams . You would see him in your sleep doing unspeakable things . " Taking a shower sugar ? " He asked you in a flirty tone while sitting in the couch drinking a bear and watching TV . " Do you have a problem Gunner , again ? " You spat back , his flirtatious tone driving you mad .

His chuckles made it even worse so you made your way upstairs , sat on your bed reading your new book , leaving him to his own little funny world , doing nothing about this thing ( if you could even call it a thing ) that obviously exists between you .

______________________________________________________________

" What are you doing ? " You asked Gunner while he started to make his way towards your brothers bed . " Barney is gonna be out of town for a couple of days , so we'll be stuck together for a while . " He answered you . Stuck together ? That did not sound so good . Did he not want to spend 2 days alone with you ?

You thought that you both knew that you had the same feelings for each other but you were waiting for one of you to make the first move?

You gathered all of your courage and asked him . " What do you mean by stuck together ? Have I said or did anything to make you uncomfortable ? I mean I know I can be a little harsh sometimes , but I - i ... really did not meant it that way . I'm so so sorry , I talk to much . I just wanted you to know that I really like you and that - " You rambled but he suddenly cut you off . " You really like me huh ? Do you ? In what way ? " He asked you cutting you off guard .

" Well if you like me in what way do you like me ? " You asked him , trying to sound of pretty cool about this whole interaction .

" In the same way that you do actually . " Gunner answers to you smiling . Oh he was enjoying this . You saw him quietly laughing to himself and a felling of rage washed upon you . You spread out of your bed making your way over his , without noticing that you were in just a shirt and your panties .

" How do you know in what way I like you ? You never even came to me so we could talk about it , only sitting in the couch looking at me with your hands on your pockets and drinking bears . How can you possibly know - " Gunner was so out of this , looking at your breasts and not listening to what you have to say .

Once you stopped talking and realized that he was more intrigued in your nipples , you hide them with your crossed arms . He then looked at you with dark eyes and his hands found their way on yout right hip and at the back of your head . Gunner have had enough . He slammed his lips on top of yours .

After a few seconds you kissed him back . Wanting to taste more of you his hands both slide and grabbed your ass making your mouth to open just a little bit so he could slide in his tongue . You grabbed the back of his neck jumping , him holding you up like you weighted nothing .

The size difference made it even more cruel .

He sat down with you on top of him , placed both of his palms on your hips and started to guiding you on how to move . You slowly started to move back and forth . The clothed riding . You could feel his dick being hard as a rock , and you were sure that you were so wet that you left a pach on top of his groin .

Still kissing you started to ride him a little more fast trying to reach your high. He grabbed your ass rutting against you , the need to cum was just so strong , trying to get more friction . He tried to get you as close as possible , grabbing you so hard , manhandling you , trying to make you reach your high .

Your sweet moans driving him crazy , how much he wanted to feel you , but he knew that was something that you should both talk over first .

Sliding your hands on his hair , his mouth sucked on your neck and collarbones leaving a trail of kisses .

Suddenly your breath hiched and without a second he kept grinding until he felt you cum . The feeling made him cum in his pants not long after , leaving both a mess .

" I want to experience more than just this with you . " You said to quietly to him between the after kisses .

" You're mine . I want you . No I need you . From the moment that I first saw you I knew that you were the one for me . " Gunner said to you looking deep into your eyes and then kissing you .

" I'm gonna be here next to you , waiting for you to get back from missions " - Gunner kissed you again .

But this time it felt caring , it was jentle , indicating love .

But then Gunner felt your body freeze .

" What happened baby ? " He asked you with a worry .

" I can't believe that I just humped my brother's oldest friend on top of his bed ! Oh my God Gunner we almost had sex on top of my brother's bed . " You said to him while laughing .

" That's nothing . We have to catch up for all these months . " Gunnar said as he flipped you over , in need for more .

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Tags : @unimportantbabymilksharkte

[https-harlow]

Single Hearts Part 3- Play Dates That Turn To Real Dates

Summary - Sage and Jack have a play date for their kids, Charlotte and Melody, and during the play date, Jack asks Sage on an actual date.

As much as Jack and Sage wanted Charlotte and Melody’s play date to be that weekend, Sage had already made plans to go to Lexington, Kentucky for the weekend with Charlotte to visit family. Luckily, they were both free the next weekend, and Jack ended up renting out a nearby children’s arcade for a couple of hours.

Jack and Sage pulled into the arcade’s parking lot at the same time, helping their kids out of the car before Charlotte and Melody ran to hug each other. They had recess together at school and ever since they learned about their play date they had been best friends. Jack and Sage followed closely behind their daughters.

��Hey, how are you?” Jack asked as he approached Sage.

“I’m good, how are you?” Sage asked.

“I’m great, Melody has been talking non-stop about this play date,” Jack said and Sage laughed softly.

“So has Charlotte. Are we here early?” Sage asked, since the usually full parking lot was empty.

“No, I uh, I rented out the arcade for a few hours. Since I’m in the music industry, sometimes people recognize me, and I didn’t want you or Charlotte to have to deal with that. Melody and I are used to it, but it can be weird at first.”

“You didn’t have to do that, but thank you. Can I pay you back for half?” Sage asked and Jack immediately shook his head.

“No, don’t worry about it.”

“Daddy, can we go in now?” Melody asked, pulling on Jack’s arm.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Jack said as Melody and Charlotte cheered, running to the door. 

Once they were inside, Jack confirmed their reservation, getting both kids their bands. They let the kids run around, playing whatever games they wanted, as they sat on a nearby bench so they could supervise.

“So, if I remember right, you said you were from Nashville?” Jack asked and Sage nodded.

“Yeah, I grew up there, my parents moved to Lexington when I was 19, and I stayed behind but ended up moving to Lexington shortly after I had Charlotte, then a couple of years later I’m living here now.”

“You know, I can totally hear a slight Tennessee accent when you talk,” Jack said, and Sage laughed.

“That’s so funny that you pointed it out because everyone else says I’ve lost my accent over time.”

“It’s slight, but it’s there.”

“So, you say you’re in the music industry, what exactly do you do?” Sage asked, bringing the topic off of herself.

“Uh, I’m a rapper,” Jack said. He wasn’t planning on telling Sage exactly what he did until she got to know him better. “It’s not a big deal or anything though.”

“That’s so cool, though, what’s the thing you’re most proud of? Or like your biggest achievement?” Sage asked.

“Off of the top of my head? Probably my Grammy nominations.”

“Wait, that’s so exciting and a huge deal Jack. Don’t underestimate yourself like that.”

“I just don’t want to, I don’t know, sometimes it’s hard to meet people when you’re famous.”

“Yeah, I understand that, but you still don’t have to downplay yourself. You’re allowed to brag about your accomplishments.”

Melody and Charlotte came running over to where Jack and Sage were sitting.

“Mommy, come play with us!” Charlotte said, pulling on Sage’s arm.

“Yeah, Daddy, help us with the basketball game,” Melody said. Jack and Sage got up, following their daughters. Once they reached the game the girls wanted to play, Jack picked up Melody so she was tall enough to throw the ball into the hoop.

“Mommy, pick me up too!” Charlotte said and Sage picked her up. As soon as the game started counting down, the girls started throwing the basketballs. They both got one in.

“Mommy and Melody’s daddy’s turn!” Charlotte said.

“You can call me Jack,” Jack told Charlotte, and she nodded.

“Mommy and Jack’s turn,” Charlotte said. 

“Yeah!!” Melody agreed. Jack and Sage set their daughters down. 

“Just so you know, I’m a pretty good basketball player,” Jack said, teasingly.

“I haven’t played basketball since elementary school when we were forced to,” Sage said, both her and Jack laughing.

They started the game, both of their daughters cheering for them to win. Jack purposely missed a couple shots, letting Sage win. Charlotte cheered excitedly, celebrating with Sage, before the girls ran off to play another game.

“You let me win, didn’t you?” Sage asked Jack.

“I couldn’t let you lose in front of your daughter,” Jack said, pushing her shoulder jokingly. Sage leaned against the arcade machine.

“Yeah, or you’re not as good of a basketball player as you claim to be,” She teased.

“Okay, okay, now that’s going too far,” Jack joked.

“I’ll apologize when I see proof otherwise,” Sage joked.

“To be fair, I’m better at soccer, but I’ll prove it to you one day.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“And I’ll be waiting for you to let me take you on a date. A proper date, without the kids.” Jack said, and Sage looked at him confused.

“Aren’t you and Penelope married, or dating, something?” Sage asked, and Jack laughed softly, shaking his head.

“No, we used to be married, but we got divorced about five years ago when Melody was two,” Jack explained.

“Oh, I just assumed since you two seem so, I don’t know the word, you just don’t seem divorced.”

“A lot of people think that at first, but nothing really happened between us, we just both realized we weren’t right for each other, I mean, it was awkward for a little while of course, but we’ve gotten over that now.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll go on a date with you.”

“How about tomorrow night? If Charlotte’s dad can’t watch her, or anyone else, since it's so last minute, Penelope offered to watch her, if you’re comfortable with that.”

“Yeah, if she’s okay with it, I think that would be best. Her dad’s not involved and all my family is in 

Lexington, I’m sure one of my friends would watch her, but Melody and her seem to be enjoying their time together, so I’m sure they’d love another play date.”

“Her dad isn’t in the picture at all? Sorry, that’s inappropriate of me to ask, forget I even said anything.”

“No, I don’t mind talking about it. Char’s dad and I broke up shortly after I found out I was pregnant, he had cheated on me. He stayed involved for most of my pregnancy, until maybe a month or so before I had her. He chose to not be involved since. I’ve given him several opportunities, I let him know when I was in labor, when she was born, everything, but I can’t force him to be involved. I still give him opportunities to this day to be involved, but he always chooses not to be, so I just don’t tell her about it.”

“I’m so sorry, I can’t even imagine doing that to someone and just living my life like my own child doesn’t exist.”

“I don’t get it either, but I can only do so much, and I guess it’s better that he’s not involved rather than being in and out so she doesn’t know about it.”

“Yeah, and I can already tell you are an amazing mom, neither you nor Charlotte need someone like him anyway.”

Before Sage could respond, Melody and Charlotte ran up to their parents.

“You ask.” Melody said to Charlotte.

“No, you. You’re older.” Charlotte argued and Melody sighed.

“Can we get ice cream?”

“Yeah, we can.” Jack agreed before looking over at you, you pulled out your phone to look at the time.

“Yeah, we have time to get ice cream,” Sage said, and the girls cheered.

“Want to go now? You can keep playing, but we only have about 10 more minutes here.”

“Now!” Both girls said excitedly. Jack and Sage nodded as Charlotte and Melody ran to the door. Jack held the door open for them and as Sage walked out the door, her hand brushed Jack’s, both of their hearts fluttering as they pretended not to notice.

Tag list @jackharloww @harlowcomehome @nattinatalia @hoodharlow @itsyagirljaz @heavyhitterheaux @harlowsbby @awhore4moree @harlowslefttoe @twerkforambrose @jackmans-poison @ilovenudy @taniapri @killatravtramp @easternparkway @macey234 @toocriticalharlow @lightsoutstyles @rachxc13 @iknowdatsrightbih @idktbh101 @blossomluvv @middlechild404 @hufflewhore128 @christinabae

[thrill-kill-kult]

This post is like so overdue seeing as I went here back in March, but I found out recently that Sam Butcher passed away in May and I am absolutely heartbroken about it. So, without further ado, please enjoy a little ramble about the

👼Precious Moments Chapel👼

I have to start out with the utmost thanks to the lovely Reverend Jen from Fundie Fridays, whose amazing video essay was what led me to find out about the chapel. I really highly recommend watching it, she put a great deal of research and love into her discussion of Precious Moments.

Literally as soon as I saw that video I knew I had to go see the chapel for myself. I love all things religious art, especially churches, and I think it’s really cool to see some of the really unique churches we have in the US, especially because I feel like people don’t really think of us when they think of places with really beautiful and unique church architecture.

The Precious Moments Chapel is absolutely one of the coolest churches I have ever been to. Like this place is up there with the Cattedrale di San Pietro in Bologna (which is my favorite church of all time).

It’s in Carthage, Missouri, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere. My trip was originally going to just be to the chapel, but we ended up deciding to make it a stop on our way to Dollywood in Tennessee. I had never been to Missouri before, and I was really enthralled by how beautiful and green the landscape was. I also had never seen an armadillo before I saw one dead on the side of the highway. I was the only person on the trip who could drive (until we met up with my roommate’s mother in Nashville) so I was glad for a change of scenery after flat, boring Kansas.

The chapel is located a short drive from the highway, in an area mostly populated by farms. We came on a weekday and were one of the only cars in the parking lot.

They had this adorable little camper in the parking lot, and you could see actual camper stuff like a little folding table through the window.

We went in to the visitor’s center, and I absolutely had to go to the penny press because there is no way I was not going to get one of their darling designs on a penny. They had all these cute little displays in there that almost felt like the build-a-bear statues.

My roommate took this adorable picture of me in front of this giant goose statue :,)

Once we left the visitor’s center, we went to a little walkway outside to the chapel itself. The Sam Butcher museum was unfortunately closed (don’t worry, I fully plan on going back someday) so we weren’t able to see that, but we got to see all the really cool outdoor fixtures.

One of the most interesting things that I was really drawn to about the chapel is the relationship it has with death. There are bricks along the walkways engraved with names of loved ones who’ve passed. Sam Butcher had his gravestone made while he was alive, and it sat in front of the chapel, waiting for him.

The outside of the chapel is really stunning because of the carved wooden doors. The photos I took really don’t do them justice in even the slightest.

I didn’t take any pictures inside the chapel; it felt like too solemn of a place. I’m not at all religious (or Christian, for that matter) but churches have this sort of splendor about them that I feel demands respect. This does mean you’ll have to take me at my word, though, or go visit yourself (which I highly recommend).

The walls and ceiling is painted so that the main room has an expansive, larger than life feeling. The whole room feels light and heavenly, like the chapel is built from clouds. Beside the pews are massive paintings of rich landscapes populated by angelic characters in the classic Precious Moments style. To one side, they reenact classic Bible scenes. To the other, they depict children around the world in worship. Behind the altar is a massive, floor-to-ceiling painting of heaven, filled with golden winged angels and throngs of wide-eyed children.

Under the golden light and peaceful paintings is that undercurrent of loss, but it doesn’t feel bitter or dark. It feels kind of factual: this is part of life and it sucks, but it feels hopeful: we’ve been there too.

I’ll come back to that thought, but I first want to talk about the stained glass. I have always been fascinated by stained glass, and in my opinion, the coolest part of the whole chapel was its stained glass. Sam Butcher drew out the panels, then numbered the different colors of glass available from his distributor, and selected the colors for the windows like he was making a paint-by-numbers.

The two hallways on either side of the chapel are filled with these gorgeous stained glass pieces. I actually found out that a photo of one of the panels is in the Library of Congress. I really enjoyed looking at the stained glass. I really don’t think pictures do it justice either. It’s something you need to see in person.

Around the main chapel are displays containing a massive landscape painting done by Sam Butcher (if I have not said it already, he is an extremely talented landscape artist), some of his other art for the chapel, and every single precious moments figurine.

This is also the location of a much smaller room dedicated to Butcher’s son, Phillip, who died very young. This room and the one behind it have shelves filled with books of visitors’ dedications to loved ones they have lost.

I think in part I came with a mission to acknowledge my grandmother’s death. We grew apart in her final years, as I failed to become the marriage-ready young woman she’d expected. I was asked not to come to her funeral. I think she would have hated me for acknowledging her in the guestbook, and I don’t care, because it gave me the closure I’d been seeking since she passed.

Going to the chapel was a cathartic experience. It was also a purely joyful one, where I got to see some fantastic religious art and ooh and aah over cute porcelain figurines.

Of course, I couldn’t end my visit without going to the gift shop. I got an adorable print of a cowboy and cowgirl in the precious moments style (which I’m waiting to put up until I can properly frame it) and a really cool postcard with a picture of Sam Butcher painting the chapel with his huge pallet of oil paints in his hand.

I also got this darling shirt which is one of my favorite pieces in my closet (it’s the same one that Jen from Fundie Fridays got lol). I’m wearing it on the roof of a Honky Tonk in Nashville in this picture :)

The best thing I got by far, though, was a gift from my roommate. I have a little collection of bibles that I mostly use to make art (those guys on campus just hand them out for free!) and my friends often give me bibles as gifts. I also steal every hotel Bible I can get my hands on. So you can imagine how ecstatic I was when my roommate got me a Precious Moments Bible.

It’s got all these adorable color pages inside full of drawings of sad babies, and it’s just so dang cute. I use it any time I reference the Bible in a paper or my fiction writing (which happens way more often than you would think).

I’ve said it already, but I need to mention again how much I admire Mr. Butcher as an artist. He is so talented with color and light, and I think the fact that he can seamlessly blend really complex high-level artistry with his cute, cartoony style really speaks to his mastery of his craft. I also have a lot of respect for his tenacity. He had a lot of very difficult things going on in his life while he made the chapel, and he struggled with depression and lacking motivation, and he not only built that chapel and filled it with stunning artwork, but he left a piece of the ceiling unpainted and promised that he would never truly be finished creating. I have mad respect for that.

Really, I’m grateful for what this whole vacation meant to me. I started with a ‘hey, what if we went to this cute little chapel over spring break?’ And ended up having some of the most fun I’d ever had with some of my favorite people. It was definitely a challenging experience- I drove more than 40 hours with an injured wrist, we spent a very long time trying to convince Hotwire that my roommate’s father had died and we needed a refund for the bedbug-infested hotel she’d booked, we were way too high at the world’s most terrifying Indian restaurant, and we stayed at the Wichita, KS Red Roof Inn (which is a story for another time)- and it was one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

I know someday when I’m telling stories about my life, I’ll think back to driving through Missouri with my roommates, eating beef jerky and shouting out all the weird billboards and Jesus signs we saw.

Thank you, Sam Butcher, for bringing joy and love to my life.

[terrainofheartfelt]

FOR THE BIG MUSIC ASK GAME LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO 🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸

Artists: Joni Mitchell, Taylor Swift, Queen, Frank Turner

Albums: Pretty. Odd, evermore, Nebraska, Blonde on Blonde

this ask feels like a homework essay question but like, in a subject I'm passionate about. so it's okay. daunting, but.

Joni:

Do I know them already?: yes | no

Favourite Song: A Case of You, it has to be!!!!

(okay but also there's a recording of her playing Chelsea Morning live at Carnegie Hall and it is ~magical~)

Least Favourite Song: I mean there isn't a song by her that I dislike, but maybe one I know that I listen to the least....Big Yellow Taxi. because it makes me sad. she warned us about paving paradise and we didn't listen!!!!!!

Favourite Album: Blue 💙💙💙💙💙

Least Favourite Album: idk a lot of her discography (Blue the album of my heart) but uhhhhh the orchestral funky Both Sides Now (I just like her better when it's just her and her dulcimer <3)

Song that got me into them: oh geez my mother's always loved her. so maybe...my mom singing Both Sides Now in the car?

Seen Live?: i WISH (gimme a time machine and I will just take it to the '70s to see bands & artists play in their prime)

Rate: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Taylor:

Do I know them already?: yes | no 

Favourite Song: legally I am required to say "ivy"

Least Favourite Song: Dancing with Our Hands Tied (because it was popular when I worked retail so I heard it wayyyyyyyyy too much and now I can't stand it. is it a good song? idk. because I have too much retail trauma to determine that.)

Favourite Album: right now, it's Reputation

Least Favourite Album: Speak Now, probably? It missed me, and I haven't sought it out on streaming bc Girl's pre-1989 singing voice just...doesn't do it for me.

Song that got me into them: pfffft probably "Our Song" in the year of our lord 2006. I remember logging onto the Yahoo music website in Internet Explorer to look up her music videos, because that's the only way I could listen to her music (without buying the cds, my allowance was designated to higher musical priorities back then.) but I didn't really consider myself a Fan until the Bad Blood music video.

Seen Live?: nope. I don't really want to either. I like her best in studio. or, ideal scenario, hearing her live in Long Pond Studio, but that seems a bit of a long shot

Rate: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 her songwriting is a ten her vocals are a 5

Queen:

Do I know them already?: yes | no 

Favourite Song: Somebody to Love!

Least Favourite Song: thee ummm. the bicycle one. ah damn, now it's in my head.

Favourite Album: okay so the thing about many of these bands that I grew up listening to is that I have like, a very limited concept of which albums are which, because I just absorbed them riding in the car with my dad or my mom. I'll say A Night at the Opera bc it's a great title :)

Least Favourite Album: uhhhhh anything they released after Freddie?

Song that got me into them: probably The Muppets music video of Bohemian Rhapsody?

Seen Live?: no, alas, but I have seen P!ATD cover Bohemian Rhapsody live

Rate: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 

Frank Turner:

Do I know them already?: yes | no 

Favourite Song: not a fair question. uhm mmmmmm...The Way I Tend to Be, Broken Piano, Isabel, Poetry of the Deed, To Take You Home, Josephine....I could go on

Least Favourite Song: motherfucker truly has soooo many songs and I know a lot of them but there are many I've haven't heard. maybe Common Ground. or Little Changes.

Favourite Album: England Keep My Bones

Least Favourite Album: Be More Kind

Song that got me into them: my big brother put Nashville Tennessee on a mix cd he made for my birthday when I was...13? and I've only become more and more obsessed.

Seen Live?: HELL YES. in college my brother and my x-tian sorority big (we're both atheists now lmao) and me roadtripped 3 hours to Dallas to see him on his tour for Tape Deck Heart. One of the best live shows I've seen. He just...comes ALIVE onstage. and we met him at stage door and I took a picture with him <3 I think (hope) I still have it somewhere. I was a music major and wanted to tell him how much his music meant to me but I think I was too starstruck to say anything other than "hiiiii" and "thank you!" also thee zaniest opening act I have ever seen I'll never forget it

Rate: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 

Pretty. Odd. it isn't my favorite album of theirs, but it is a masterpiece.

Opinion on cover design: LOVE. I really enjoy the old-timey circus van vibe, evocative of Magical Mystery Tour, which seems a heavy inspiration.

Favourite song: That Green Gentleman

Least favourite song: narrowwww question because I have a pretty equal fondness for all the songs. maybe, The Piano Knows Something I Don't

Underrated track: When the Day Met the Night & Folkin' Around

Overrated track: Nine in the Afternoon (even though I adore it but it gets much more hype than any other track)

Rate: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 

evermore undoubtedly her magnum opus. the best music she's ever written

Opinion on cover design: simple, effective, lovely, sets the mood and the tone of the album. and she has such a habit of...overdoing visuals? her last half dozen music videos or so have been like, baroque in how over the top their visual design. like, willow the video does not match how the song or the rest of the album feels. idk. the simplicity here works for me, but I think sometimes she can't let something Be.

Favourite song: I already said ivy above so....no body no crime

Least favourite song: cowboy like me (it's otherwise a great song, but i so dislike the opening stanza 'dancing is a dangerous game' mam. you can do better than that. you've a whole album of evidence.)

Underrated track: closure (a Banger)

Overrated track: champagne problems (not that it's not a good song but the way it's gotten so much love as the best song on the album when happiness is like literally right there) (happiness.mp3 & peace.mp3 supremacy)

Rate: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

Nebraska

Opinion on cover design: as someone who's driven through nebraska, it's very accurate. it looks how nebraska feels. like, you're only there when you're on your way to someplace else. if liminal space was a US state it'd be Nebraska

Favourite song: oh fuck Reason to Believe

Least favourite song: Highway Patrolman

Underrated track: I mean the whole thing is underrated tbh.

Overrated track: see above. <3

Rate: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 

Blonde on Blonde

Opinion on cover design: those pursed lips....so Serious. I love a scarf moment. that look really is my aesthetic

Favourite song: RAINY DAY WOMEN but I also have a soft spot for OH. MAMA. can this really be the end? to be Stuck? inside? a Mobile? with the MEMPHIS BLUES again??? and Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat <3

Least favourite song: Visions of johanna. he can go ON about a bitch. I love him tho

Underrated track: I Want You, & You Go Your Way I Go Mine

Overrated track: is it possible to overrated a track on this album???

Rate: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 

[guyinireland]

I’ve been going for a lot of walks lately.

Today, I walk in the late-day sun with a handful of cherry tomatoes picked from the garden that my dad and I grow in the front yard. The air is cool, for August, in the mid 70s; much more pleasant than usual for this time of year.

The city I’m from, Knoxville, exists in a strange limbo. As you wander through it, it seems as though you weave in and out of the South. There’s a man with chewing tobacco in his mouth using a Mountain Dew bottle as a spitoon, a stand on the side of the road selling boiled peanuts. You can’t hear your thoughts for the cicadas. The roots of Appalachia spread under us, too, though we’re nestled in the valley; we aren’t quite hill people ourselves, but they’re our neighbors. Many people who live here have Appalachian blood, you can tell by the way their grandmothers read Tarot and make spell jars in the name of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes, it seems like Knoxville just wants to be Nashville. For every baccy-spittin’ old man, there’s a 27-year-old in cowboy boots and Carhartt who’s never so much as mowed a lawn. He passes you, and he doesn’t smile or nod, and you think, he must be one of those newcomers from California. But, for all you know, he could have been born and raised here. Just not in Karns, or Halls, or even Bearden.

I didn’t think I belonged here, growing up. It’s strange to see people desperately posing as a culture you tried to rid yourself of for most of your life. But I do get it, now. The appeal of the working-class southern aesthetic. Only, it isn’t something you can adopt intentionally. You can wear a cowboy hat, but cowboys aren’t from Tennessee. Being a Southerner, or Appalachian, whichever I am, seems to just happen upon you, even if you don’t want it to. You simply wake up one day and find that your cupboard is full of mismatched mason jars and tupperware with spaghetti stains, and walk outside to see that the fender of your car has been duct taped back on. You start to like the way that the words tumble out of your mouth with a twang sometimes, and smiling at strangers doesn’t seem so weird anymore. You eat grits and greens and chicken fried steak and think, wow, why doesn’t the rest of the world drink sweet tea?

And then, if you’re me, you leave.

I’m leaving for Ireland in six days. I’ll be going to school there. I’ll come home for Christmas and summer, but, for most of the year, I’ll be away.

I think it’s why I’ve been taking so many walks. I need to remember the sound of cicadas, feel the hot asphalt on the soles of my feet. It isn’t like I’ll never be back, but I’m terrified to leave the place that I only just started seeing as home. I keep asking myself why I would leave, how I was meant to ever find myself fitting in somewhere else. I don’t know. But I find a little bit of comfort in carrying Tennessee with me, knowing that people will hear my accent and clock me immediately as foreign. I can have both homes at once, maybe. I hope so.

I walk back inside and up to my kitchen, where my mother is standing in her denim shorts, trying to get a worm out of a hole in a tomato. Another one from the garden. I always miss the tomatoes when summer ends.

[wutbju]

Kim McIntosh Melton of Lititz, PA went home to glory suddenly December 17, 2023. He is missed by his wife of 37 years and his three daughters: Jenna Paige Melton of Lititz; Jordan Ashley Birch (David) of Lancaster; and Morgan Elizabeth Kuch (Micah) of Ephrata. He is preceded home by and is now united with his parents Bryan Uriah and Maude Laurel "Roddy" Melton of Chattanooga, Tennessee. His life has many joys and triumphs, but he held his family as the greatest.

Kim was born and raised on Missionary Ridge overlooking Chattanooga, TN, where he spent many summers pushing lawn mowers uphill both ways along South Crest Road or working at his fathers Heating & Cooling company. He and his mother had a fondness for Pigeon Forge, TN and took the opportunity to work a couple summers there at a sock mill. Kim regularly took his parents and children back to vacation at cabins in the Smoky Mountains innumerable times, enjoying hot cakes, southern BBQ, and the bluegrass music.

While in high school, he found a fondness for photography. He completed a senior project on light reflection in photographs and how they created mood. This hobby continued throughout his life, readily taking pictures of scenery he enjoyed and family moments. After graduating from a Christian high school on the ridge, he and his brother both went off to Bob Jones University, where Kim earned a BS in accounting. More importantly, he also met his wife Dorenda.

Dorenda and Kim, with several of their BJU classmates, ventured up to Virginia Tech where he earned a masters degree in tax and became a CPA. When his career began, it took him to Nashville to join Touche Ross. He and Dorenda continued to date, flying back and forth every other weekend.

Eventually, he and Dorenda married in September of 1986, moved to Richmond where Kim worked as an accountant for Best Products, and Jenna was born. Kim and Dorenda made a hobby of investing in real estate, buying, DIY repairing and flipping houses on the weekend. Which is how one of Kim's suits went from black to yellow-splashed paint one evening in a Home Depot parking lot.

A few years later, continuing the march of Northern expansion, Kim took a job at Crown Petroleum in Baltimore, where Jordan was born. He spent many Saturday mornings taking his young daughters to pick up bagels and chase seagulls around the parking lot in his small gold Toyota pickup. Flying kites on top of Fort McHenry was another cherished pastime, as was sitting on the bench front porch swing quizzing his daughters on their school work.

Ultimately, he landed at QVC in West Chester, Pa, as the VP of Tax where his youngest daughter, Morgan, was born. Soon after the whole family moved to Lancaster, Pa so his daughters could be closer to school. He joined Westminster Presbyterian Church, served on the board at Veritas Academy, and became actively involved in supporting the rich community of biblical arts, christian culture and several local ministries.

His children have fond memories of learning to use tools, building models together on Saturday mornings at Home Depot, and “helping” him build them a treehouse in the backyard. They celebrated when he would bring home chocolate milk - one of his favorites. The children also grew up hearing from him about how their mother made cinnamon rolls (another of his favorites) so much more often before they got married. He, himself, was not much of a cook, but would make green eggs and ham for the girls. Kim was quick to start a snowball fight or a wrestling match, and would always join in playing with remote control cars. He always encouraged his daughters to do their best, live out their faith, work hard, and expand their comfort zones.

Kim was an avid reader, and had a large book collection. A new book for Christmas was a desired gift. He loved history and theology and enjoyed sharing the things he learned with others. After he retired, he taught at Lancaster Bible College and Montreat College.

He loved riding his motorcycles along winding back roads on warm days. Later in life, he enjoyed RV trips with Dorenda to the Grand Canyon, West Virginia’s foliage routes, and the National Storytelling Festivals in Tennessee. North Myrtle Beach was a favorite destination for watching waves and eating scallops and meeting friends. Traveling was one of his favorite things to do with his family in his retired years.

He will be missed, our God is good.

The family requests that gifts of love be sent to Kim's most recent passion project, the Widow(er)s Ministry at St. Stephen Reformed Church in New Holland, PA. Kim was also a long-time supporter of the Chalcedon Foundation in Southern California.

A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, December 23, at 11:00 A.M. at St. Stephen's Reformed Church, New Holland, PA . Friends may greet the family on Saturday from 10:00 A.M. until the time of the service.

[starrwulfe]

Good news everyone! Georgia has federal passenger train study funding!

In combination with some great news about funding a lot of sorely needed railroad projects and studies at the federal level, Georgia’s U.S. Senators Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock announced new grants to explore three new Georgia passenger rail corridors, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The new rail routes would connect major economic centers in Georgia and neighboring states, providing additional public transit options, increased mobility, and a sustainable, clean-energy future.

Starting from Atlanta, the routes being studied are:

A route heading northward with stops likely in Marietta, Cartersville, Dalton and points north into Tennessee that would connect with Chattanooga and efforts in that state to create a line from there to Nashville.

Extending south and eastward, a route that would likely have intermediate stations in McDonough, Macon and end in Savannah with a connection to the Amtrak route linking Florida and DC on the east coast. There’s also the potential to create a branch that would go due south out of Macon, through Valdosta and link with Tampa or Orlando. It would be nice to get some two-state talks going with Florida on doing something together since Brightline is already plying the rails down there and its now a known quantity.

Perhaps the most interesting and likely first to get going is a high-speed line between Atlanta and Charlotte. The in-state routing on this one is not known, but it’d be very strange if Athens was missed. The growing South Carolina towns of Greenville/Spartanburg definitely and perhaps Anderson/Clemson would get stops depending on routing.

Another point of discussion is where exactly in Atlanta would these routes be emanating from; ATL’s current train station for Amtrak service on the thrice weekly Crescent service from DC to New Orleans is basically a glorified waiting room with rails and stairs that lead to Peachtree Rd just north of Midtown. There were some efforts to build a new multimodal station Downtown right across from the Five Points MARTA station, right where a bunch of railroad tracks pass through a trench. While we do need a world-class rail terminal for a world-class city like Atlanta (especially to help get a commuter rail service off the ground — more on that later,) let’s not ignore our 900-pound gorilla lying 8 miles south: Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

Literally the World’s Busiest Airport for 20+ years definitely needs to be tied into any long-distance (and commuter!) rail options here. The catchment area of passengers includes not just the entire state but anything that would beat a car ride from an area of about 200 miles in diameter around us. Every time I’ve been in one of Hartsfield’s parking garages, I’ve seen cars with South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee tags that are definitely not rentals. With frequent enough service, it could be very possible to simply leave the car and take the train to the airport and catch a flight. Most Americans can’t realize this convenience right now but take it from me after living in Japan for almost 20 years, being able to just hop a train even in the most remote parts of the area and get to Haneda, Narita, Kansai and Nagoya Centrair airports without worrying about long-term parking or begging for a ride from friends is a great thing.

According to Axios, how much of the $8.2 billion will wind up in Georgia for its rail project — or the timeline for the project’s start and completion is a big question mark. One thing I’d like to know is does some of this money help look into a regional rail solution here around Atlanta that’s desperately needed. Just like NYC, LA and Chicago, whatever helps the commuter rail network, would ultimately be good for the longer distance trains as well since they could share the tracks. That ATL Trains idea is still the best idea I’ve ever seen and really, REALLY needs to be formally studied with this money. Check out the 146-page prospectus yourself, it’s that good!

Just like the Eisenhower Interstate Highway projects of the 1960s, the US really needs a rail renaissance in order to help face this brave new world of climate change, population and demographic shifts into sunbelt cities that didn’t keep up infrastructure-wise (building another lane isn’t cutting it Chief!) and the simple paradigm shift of decentralization in our metro areas in general– How many people do you know BEFORE the pandemic that worked “downtown?” OK, now how many people actually even go to an office every day? Our transportation network needs to be more dynamic and flexible to account for these shifts and overlaying a decent rail network, both nationally and locally, is paramount. This is in addition to dealing with improving road and air travel; those need to be sorted as well.

[halseybellaclementine]

i linked my account since halsey does tumblr as well! so i’m back :) i love my job it’s really great money so doing well there. i bought myself a car in december - a honda which i really love ! my son is almost 17 now and he has a job as a cook and i couldn’t be more proud of him!! we have a new dog (Finn- he’s actually my sons dog) we got 2 years ago when Sparky passed away. that was a sad time. also Bella, my most beautiful baby girl- my best friend in the entire universe, passed in September. it’s been so hard without her here. but she gives me strength every day. having her was a complete blessing because she got me through the most difficult times of my life!

lately i’ve been traveling to Nashville, Atlanta, and recently to Fort Lauderdale for concerts (halsey twice) and to visit my family in Tennessee. last year i saw halsey and i was in the pit at the stage and let me tell you it was insane and so amazing!! unfortunately i caught covid after that! but it wasn’t as bad as others have experienced thankfully and i didn’t pass it to my family cause i’m a germaphobe lol. before that concert i had surgery on my right wrist because i ruptured all of my ligaments & dislocated my midcarpal joint. sadly it was from abusive relationships that i was in, and it wore down my ligaments and what-not down so far, that when i got my job with amazon, it was just a disaster and sadly had to leave that place cause i can’t use my wrist the same way anymore. constant pain so it sucks but it’s okay. i learned to deal with it. i went to occupational therapy which was nice cause i had muscle atrophy so that was wild.

i’m also very thankful i ditched all of the toxic people & things that i had in my life. i lost a lot of good people due to that whom i miss dearly and think about all of the time. i hope they’re okay but hey i know it was my fault because i let others dictate me and my life. i was too scared to stand up for myself & i paid the consequences.

in 2020 i was hospitalized once again but they diagnosed me with borderline personality disorder & it really just made everything make sense. i had to go through numerous therapy classes like s*xual assault, EMDR, DBT, grief therapy, etc. it took a long time to get on the right track but i’m finally here. it’s crazy looking back on my old posts because i honestly never thought i’d be here- i never thought that i could get to a happy place. of course life isn’t perfect, as nothing is, but i’ve learned how to cope and manage. i feel like a completely different and new person now.

anyways june 23 i flew to fort lauderdale to see halsey with a live string ensemble! it was a really awesome show! i was on the floor section in row 7 and i just so glad to have been able to see her again. the hard rock hotel and casino down there was so huge in my opinion! it was soooo amazing! the weather was extremely hot and i vowed to accept the hot weather up where i live (which wasn’t as hot as down there) but when i came back we have been under a heat wave from texas and the temperatures have been scorching hot! way worse than south florida haha! can’t wait to see halsey again!!

soon i’ll be picking up my son from work & then heading to bed! by the way i love my new bed i bought last year! so comfy 😆

wow i still can’t believe how far i’ve come. my daddy and Bella would be so proud!! anyways i should get off here. there’s so much good that has happened i’m sure i’ll post more soon.

sorry for the long post and thank you to those who took the time to read :)

[daniellefen]

OKAY so first we have to go back to the early days of the Civil War. So when the states were all voting on and filing their articles of secession, a lot of states didn't exactly pass them unanimously. this is how we ended up with West Virginia, which is a really interesting story on its own, but we're actually looking at east Tennessee for this story. while west and central Tennessee were filled with farmland and plantations, and thus had economies held up by slave labor, the Appalachian eastern portion of the state has very few, if any, slaves and also were heavily patriotic and hated the idea of seceding from the US. so when war broke out, the people of eastern Tennessee carried out a campaign of guerilla warfare against the Confederates. Lincoln actually tried repeatedly to get his generals to move in to aid them, but none of them were willing to do it, so the rebellion within the rebellion ended up getting suppressed eventually.

however, they did successfully destroy several rail bridges and cut rain lines that took a long time to repair, slowing down troop movements and supplies moving between Georgia and Virginia. this was noticed by a Union scout (basically a spy) named James J Andrews, and it gave him an idea.

So in 1862, the Union was moving from Nashville down the Chattanooga, but the problem with trying to take Chattanooga is that it's surrounded on three sides by mountains, and on the southern side of a river. Very hard to take outright, and a direct rail line going down to Atlanta meant a siege would have little to no effect. So Andrews thought if they could replicate damaging the rail line, and timed it with an attack on the city, Chattanooga would fall, giving the Union a path to Atlanta, eventually cutting the Confederacy in half. So Andrews got together a group consisting of a few other scouts and a handful of Union troops with the plan to steal a train north of Atlanta, and take it up the railroad while destroying bridges, tearing up tracks, and cutting telegraph lines on the way.

Their initial plan was delayed by rainy weather because it was April, so of course it's going to be wet and miserable in North Georgia, and a couple of the soldiers ended up not making the rendezvous in Marietta the night before. So they get on a train in the morning headed north, pulled by a locomotive named The General.

The train stops at the small station of Big Shanty and the crew and passengers get off to have breakfast. Andrews' Raiders take this opportunity to detach the passenger cars and steal the locomotive and a handful of boxcars and start heading north at about 15-20 miles an hour. Big Shanty got its name from the shantytown that was constructed when they were building the railroad, it was originally called the big grade shantytown, and parts of the name were eventually dropped until Big Shanty was left. it was called the big grade because the next five or so miles of track were basically uphill the whole way. I think I'm rambling tho, so back to the story!

the train's conductor, William Fuller sees his train leaving the station and starts running after it with the engineer and one of the firemen until they find a pushcar (the ones with the handles that you see in cartoons). now at the end of the grade, after crossing the Etowah river, Andrews passes by a work train on a branch line leading to an ironworks up the river. they consider stopping to sabotage it, but decide there's too many crew members, so they keep going. Fuller comes up on this train, called the Yonah, and commandeers it to chase after the General.

a few miles north, the General stops in the town of Kingston because two military trains are heading south moving unessential equipment out of Chattanooga because the Union has started their attack on the city. the General is stopped for about two hours before they're able to move forward. at this point, they've successfully torn up some of the tracks, and have been cutting telegraph wires, but the bridges are all too wet to burn down as planned. the Yonah reaches Kingston about 20 minutes after the General leaves, but broken tracks and other trains make it impossible to keep going. however, there's a freight train passing through from Rome to Atlanta, called the Texas, that they commandeer and start driving it in reverse after the General. they also pick up a telegraph operator who replaces the engineer.

so the Texas eventually catches up to the General, and Andrews' Raiders have to stop tearing up tracks and cutting telegraph wires around Dalton, where the telegraph op gets off the Texas and sends a message north warning about the train robbery. the General runs out of fuel after passing through Tunnel Hill just north of Ringgold Gap, a few miles south of Chattanooga. the raiders ditch the engine and flee, but are eventually captured and imprisoned. the soldiers end up being part of a prisoner exchange later in the war, but the civilians, including James Andrews, were executed for espionage. the soldiers among Andrews' Raiders would later be among the first to receive the Medal of Honor when it was created shortly after the Civil War ended.

both the General and the Texas have been restored and the General can be seen at the Southern Museum of Railroad and Civil War History in Kennesaw Georgia, built just across the street from where Big Shanty station used to be, and the Texas is on display at the Atlanta History Society.

I might get flak for this, but girls who like trains are really cute.

[study-coffee-chicago]

Country College (A Halstead Brothers + Halstead Sister Imagine; Part of AU-gust)

A/N: Thank you for reading! Remember to like/reblog and comment! I'm also donating all the proceeds that from my buy me a coffee account to Save The Children to help the children of Afghanistan. Buy me a coffee link here.

Also, here's the playlist of songs I listened to while writing this and some of these songs are actually mentioned in the imagine in case you guys wanted to listen while reading: Country College AU playlist.

I went on vacation and I swear, this entire imagine was based on stuff I did in Tennessee and country songs I listened to while there.

Anyway, enjoy!

"You got everything?" Jay asked you at six in the morning.

"For the last damn time, Jay, yes, I have everything," you answered as you jumped in the passenger seat of his truck and put your backpack at your feet and your tumbler of coffee in a cup holder.

"Jesus. I was just asking because I will not be turning this truck around," he said as he moved around the basket of snacks in the backseat so that the two of you could reach them easier. "Someone's cranky."

"Yes. When I finally got to sleep at 12:30 last night and had to wake up at 4:30, I'm gonna be cranky. Please tell me we're stopping for coffee."

"You already have coffee," Will said as he walked up to the truck. "Why do you need more?"

"Shut up. I know for a fact you drink way more coffee than I do, Mr. Med Student."

"Jesus, Jay. You sure you're gonna be able to put up with her for eight and a half hours?" Will asked.

"I dunno, man. Maybe I'll make her ride with you," he joked.

"Yeah, no way in hell that's happening," Will said.

"In all seriousness," Jay started, "stop for coffee in about an hour and a half?"

"Sounds good to me," you agreed.

"Same here. I only have to ditch you guys when we get like eight hours in," Will said.

"Gonna be weird not having you on the drive down, man," Jay mused.

"Yeah, but at least we can meet up at the rest stops and we'll  be in the same state."

"Are we gonna go?" you asked. "If you two were just gonna talk, I could've slept for an extra ten minutes."

"Holy shit," Jay muttered. He turned to Will. "Guess we should get going then."

"Yeah, see you in an hour and a half. Don't piss off the driver too much, Y/N."

You rolled your eyes. "Goodbye, Will."

Will got in his car and Jay got in the driver's side of his truck.

"Eight and a half hour drive plus traffic," Jay started as you both pulled out of the driveway, "so how do want to split it up?"

"I'm tired and I wanna sleep and I don't want to drive through Knoxville because I have no idea where to go," you answered as you pulled your headphones out of your backpack.

"Okay, Miss Sassy Pants. You can drive in the middle, through Kentucky. Might hit traffic, but we'll hit traffic in Tennessee, too, so we'll both have to drive through it. Just please, do not crash my truck."

"Relax. I know how to drive. Just make sure Will stays on your ass the entire time so we don't lose each other."

***

"And, we're officially in Kentucky!" Jay announced. "Time to change the music. At the next rest stop, we'll pull over and go to the bathroom and grab some lunch."

"Jay! You can't be on your phone while you're driving!" you yelled as he reached for his phone in the cup holder, which was also acting as the GPS...even though Jay claimed he could get there without it.

"Y/N, I'm fine. I've done this for three years now. I think I know what I'm doing."

"If you say so."

He turned on a song you didn't know.

"Got a truck, get it lifted," Jay started to sing.

"The hell is this?" you asked.

"Country music. Gets changed from pop to country the second we cross the border into Kentucky. Now, shh. This is a good song. You'll like it. It's upbeat."

Jay drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and sang quietly to Redneck Be Like by Thomas Rhett as he drove while you listened. He was right. It was a pretty good song.

"All day in the sun, always havin' fun, always gettin' stuck in that muddy river. Always got a buzz, always double cup..."

"You'll know the next one," Jay promised.

"And you know this how?" you asked.

"Because it's on Tiktok. When we get there, Adam and Hailey are gonna have to teach you some southern culture."

"So, I'm gonna need a definition of southern culture."

"You'll see when you get there. Now listen. I know you know this part."

Yeah we fancy like Applebee's...

Jay was right: you did know this song. It was Fancy Like by Walker Hayes.

"On a date night," you sang along. "Got that Bourbon street steak..." Jay joined in. "With the Oreo shake. Get some whipped cream on the top, too. Two straws, one check, girl I got you. Yeah we Bougie like Natty in the styrofoam..."

Five minutes later, you pulled off to a rest stop with a McDonald's nearby. Jay and Will filled up their vehicles while you ran inside to go to the bathroom. Once you were inside McDonald's and at a table eating, you asked Will if it was true that he and Jay always changed it to country music when they crossed the border into Kentucky. Will said yes, so you knew you were in for a long car ride. Then, you and Jay switched so that you were now the one driving and you were off again.

***

Hours later, Will took a different exit to get to Nashville and gave you and Jay a salute to tell you goodbye when he changed lanes and then took the exit.

"Not long now," Jay told you. "You excited?"

"Yeah, but a little nervous," you replied.

"Oh, don't be nervous. They're all really nice. And you've already met Hailey, so that helps."

"Yeah, she was nice. She had a cute little southern accent, too."

"One of the many reasons I fell in love with her in the first place."

Before Jay left for a weekend last summer to meet Hailey halfway and then stay in a hotel for a weekend to spend time with her, he finally told you the story of how he and Hailey met.

"Hey, we're goin' to the marketplace," Adam said on the first weekend of their junior year. "You and Will up for it?"

"Uh, Will's studying like normal. I'm up for it. Kim coming, too?" Jay asked.

"I promised her ice cream, so yeah, she's comin'. Baby, you ready?" he yelled down the hall.

"I'm coming, Adam!" Kim yelled back and then walked out of the bathroom.

"Let's go and make some bad decisions," Adam stated, causing Jay and Kim to laugh.

"We can't even buy alcohol yet, you dummy," Kim said.

"I may be a dummy, but you love me." Then, Adam gave Kim a kiss on the cheek.

"Please stop before I puke," Jay said and made a gagging face.

Adam rolled his eyes. "Let's get outta here."

***

Kim was laughing at a horrible joke Adam made while he had his arm slung around him. He had taken off his signature cowboy hat and had let Kim wear it because she forgot her sunglasses. Adam said he felt naked without it on.

They were walking towards Kilwin's when Jay spotted it: a homeless guy next to a blonde who couldn't be more than college age.

"Man, look," Jay pointed.

The three walked faster.

"No, this is for my friend back at the dorm," the girl explained.

"Lady, I'm hungry. Can I please just have your leftovers?" the guy asked.

"I'm sorry you're hungry, but this is for my friend."

The guy reached for the food.

"Hey, that girl sits behind me in my women and the law class," Kim stated.

Jay, Adam, and Kim took off on a run.

"Hey, baby," Jay said and slung an arm around the girl. He leaned in close to her. "Just go with it," he whispered in her ear. "You got Anna's food?"

"Yeah," the girl said hesitantly. But then, she realized that this guy was trying to help her out. And, he was pretty sure that the girl with him sat in front of her in her women and the law class. "Yeah, I've got her food."

Jay raised an eyebrow at the guy and then looked at Adam as if asking the man to try the two of them.

"Alright, well y'all have a good night now," he said and then turned around and walked away.

Once the man was a few shops down, Jay took his arm off of her. "Sorry about that. Just thought you might need some help," he said.

"Was greatly appreciated, thank you, uh..."

"Jay."

"Jay, well I'm Hailey. Nice to meet you."

He didn't miss her cute little southern accent and he loved it.

"You getting ice cream?" he asked.

"No, I uh was just textin' my roommate to tell her I'd be back soon."

"Well, I-- we'd feel much better if you came into Kilwin's with us. Just so that creeper doesn't come back."

Hailey smiled and agreed.

Kim and Hailey started talking about their class while Adam and Jay ordered their ice cream. Then Kim ordered.

"You want anything, Hailey?" Jay asked.

"Oh no, I'm fine, thank you, though."

Jay nodded, but then turned to the worker. "And can I also get a single scoop of chocolate in a waffle cone, please?"

"Sure thing." As she scooped it out, Hailey looked at Jay and he just shrugged.

When they got to the cashier, Hailey pulled out some money and tried to hand it to Jay.

"I've got it," he said.

"But--"

"Hailey, it's fine. I can pay for a little ice cream."

She loved the way her name rolled off his tongue.

"Okay." She took her ice cream cone.

"Hey, Hailey," Kim began when they walked out of Kilwin's. "Do you have friends you need to meet up with?"

"No, I was just gonna head back to my dorm," she replied.

"Oh, did you drive?"

"No, I walked. It's only like a twenty-minute walk from the sophomore dorms."

"Well, after all that, I'm pretty sure we'd all feel more comfortable if you rode home with us."

"I don't know..." Hailey trailed off.

"Those dorms are only like five minutes away from the house we stay at. And, it's on our way there anyway. Please, just come with us."

Hailey sighed. It would be a lot faster than walking. "Okay."

Then, they finished their walk to Adam's truck and the two girls got in the backseat and the two boys got in the front.

And that is how Jay Halstead met the sweet Georgia peach that is Hailey Anne Upton.

***

Jay, Adam, Will, Kim, and Hailey were all at a sports bar one Saturday night in October. It was loud, it was rowdy, everyone was going crazy over the football game on tv, and Hailey was totally over it. And Jay noticed.

"Hey," Jay whispered from his seat next to her. "You wanna get outta here?"

She turned and raised an eyebrow at him. "You'd wanna leave and not finish the game?"

In the past two months, Hailey had been spending a lot of time with Kim, and by default, she had been spending a lot of time with Adam, Jay, and Will. She will admit going over to their three-bedroom house they all rented together was a lot better than being stuck in her small dorm with her roommate. So, she went over there quite a bit to study with Kim. And, turns out she and Jay were both law studies majors, so they had a lot of the same classes, but they were in different sections, so they did a lot of studying together, too. And, she knew like most college boys, Jay loved his football. Not as much as Adam, but he watched it whenever one of his teams were playing. Which, was Chicago or Tennessee.

"Yeah," Jay started, "it's kinda loud in here anyway. And, it's just Tennessee playing. I'd be more likely to stay if the Bears were playing."

"Okay, let's get outta here. I know a great little diner we can go to for milkshakes. Pretty sure they're open until 11 and it's only 10, so we should be able to make it."

"Adam," Jay said over the game. Adam turned to face Jay. "Me and Hailey are gonna get out of here. I'll see you back at home."

"See you," Adam said and then turned back to his game.

"Guess we know where his loyalties lie," Hailey laughed.

The two of them stood up from their chairs at the table.

"You better get my friend home safe, Halstead!" Kim yelled.

"Yes ma'am," he said, borrowing a line from Adam. "You've got nothing to worry about."

Then, the two of them made their way out of the local sports bar and to Jay's truck.

***

"You've gotta be kiddin' me," Hailey said as the two of them walked up to the diner. "They're closed. Closed at 10 and not at 11. I'm really sorry, Jay."

"That's okay. Got anywhere else you wanna go? Or I can just take you back to your dorm if you want?" Jay suggested.

She sighed. "Just take me back I guess."

The two of them walked back to Jay's truck and got in. Hailey gasped at the song that was on the radio.

"What?" Jay asked, quickly turning to look at Hailey.

"This is my favorite song!"

Lights go down, wheels go around. I'm taking you home. Hoping for a slow song to come on the radio now.

Slow Dance in a Parking Lot by Jordan Davis continued to play through the speakers of Jay's truck.

"What's it about?" Jay asked.

"Slow dancing in a parking lot."

Jay listened to a few more lines and then decided to turn up the radio and jump out of the car.

"Jay, what are you--"

But he was already at her side of the car and pulled her door open.

"Dance with me?" he asked, sticking his hand out for her to take.

"What?" she laughed as a huge smile grew on her face.

"You said the song's about slow dancing in a parking lot and we're in an empty parking lot, so, why not recreate the song?"

Hailey laughed once more and shook her head and then grabbed Jay's hand. He helped her out of his truck and then she wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her waist and they swayed to the music.

"Slow dance with you. Spinning you round by the Walmart sign and moving our feet over the painted white lines. Getting close to you. Making the most of whatever we got, even if it's just slow dance in a parking lot," Hailey sang quietly.

"Spin," Jay said as he held his hand up.

"What?"

"Spinning you round just like the song says."

Hailey laughed and reached for his hand and did a spin.

"Beautiful," Jay complimented.

"Yeah, right. That's was probably the messiest spin known to man."

"Well, um, it was beautiful. You're beautiful, Hailey."

She was glad it was dark so that Jay couldn't see the heat that rose to her cheeks.

"You're somethin' else, but thank you." She rested her head on his chest as they swayed to the rhythm of the rest of the song.

The song ended and the broadcaster started talking.

"Can I kiss you?" Jay asked.

"What?" she pulled away from his chest.

"I asked if I could kiss you. Was that too much? You know what, just forget--"

"Yes, Jay, kiss me," Hailey smiled and then she and Jay both leaned in.

It was just a peck, but it was their first kiss and despite it being in a dark parking lot late at night, it was still magical.

"You know," Jay began once the quick kiss was over, "there's a Walmart across the street. What do you say we go grab pints of ice cream from there and then you can show me your favorite country songs?"

"I'd like that. Adam didn't show you enough?" she asked.

"I've only got like thirty I like. I need to expand my horizons."

"Okay, let's go."

They held hands in Walmart and then picked out their respective pints of ice cream. Then, they went back to the parking lot of the closed diner and Jay plugged in the aux, allowing Hailey to show him her favorite country songs while they ate their ice cream from the pint and even shared with each other.

Hailey knew nobody would have a first kiss story like that.

Then, at the beginning of the winter semester, Hailey's roommate decided not to live in the dorms anymore. Hailey couldn't afford to pay for a dorm all by herself, so Kim offered to let her stay with her, Jay, Adam, and Will. So, that's how she ended up living with her boyfriend and sharing a room with her best friend, Kim Burgess.

"We're here," Jay announced. "Well, actually, we're a few streets away, but that's one of the lecture halls on your right."

You looked out the window to see a big red and brown brick building with white pillars on the steps. There was also a white sign telling you what building this was.

"Wow," you said in awe. "It's like those old-fashioned colleges. I love it."

"Well, we'll give you a tour and help you find your classes sometime this weekend before classes start on Tuesday. That way, you aren't getting lost on the first day. But, we'll head to the house for now and get all unpacked."

"Sounds good to me."

Five minutes and a few back roads later, you pulled up to a simple two-story brick house.

"Alright, let's get our stuff out and get inside," Jay said.

You stepped out of the truck and started grabbing some stuff out of the back seat.

"I'll jump in the truck and hand you the suitcases. Think you can grab them when I hand them to you?"

You nodded.

"Halstead!" you heard someone shout and you and Jay both whipped your heads around to see Hailey and Adam walking out of the garage and toward the two of you. Adam, well who you assumed was Adam, was carrying two cowboy hats and he and Hailey each had one on themselves.

"Catch!" Adam said and threw one to Jay where he was standing in the box of the truck. Jay easily caught it and placed it on his head.

Adam walked over to you.  "And one for you, darlin'," he said as he placed the hat on your head.

"Thank you," you said. "But I thought Kim was darlin'," you said. It'd make sense because if this guy was in fact Adam, then he and Kim were dating.

"You didn't tell her?" Hailey asked Jay.

"Didn't think there'd be a need to." Jay shrugged.

"Tell me what?" you asked.

"Well, Adam calls every girl darlin'," Jay explained. "It's just normal for him. And, down here, you're gonna get a lot of huns, sweeties, and sweethearts. A lot of waiters and waitresses do that here."

"And what do they call you two?" you asked, motioning to Jay and Adam.

"Sir," they said in unison.

"Oh, and you'll occasionally get a ma'am," Hailey added. "But, that one's rare because we don't look old enough to be called ma'am."

"Okay. And, uh, not to be rude, but what's with the cowboy hats?" you asked.

"It's a tradition we just started last year," Adam explained. "We unpack, wear cowboy hats, and drink moonshine. Oh, I'm Adam by the way, darlin'."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Y/N."

Jay handed you a suitcase and you set it on the ground. Then, you did the same thing with two more suitcases.

You grabbed your backpack from the front seat, your duffle bag from the back, and your two suitcases.

"Here, I can take those two for you," Adam said.

"Oh, okay," you said and then allowed him to take the two suitcases from you. So this is what Jay meant by southern hospitality since Adam was from Tennessee and all.

"Jay, lemme take your suitcase," Hailey said.

"Baby, I've got it," Jay argued as he jumped out of the box of his truck and closed the tailgate.

"The hell you do," she argued. "I see all your other stuff in the backseat and that basket of snacks you gotta carry in, too. Just lemme take your one suitcase."

"Let 'er take the suitcase, Halstead. Best to listen to your lady," Adam said.

"I like Adam already," you laughed.

He let go of one of the suitcases and tipped his hat. "Thank you, darlin'."

This caused all four of you to laugh and then you all went inside carrying both yours and Jay's stuff in one trip between the four of you.

***

"Shine in the fridge?" Jay asked after you and he had brought all your stuff to your room.

"Shine, Jay? How southern do you get when you're here?" you asked.

"Oh, he gets pretty southern, hun," Hailey said.

"See?" Jay asked as he pointed to Hailey. "Told you you'd get called hun."

"So, Adam's thing is darlin' and Hailey's is hun?" Hailey nodded. "And it's because you're from Georgia and he's from Tennessee?"

"That's right, darlin'," Adam confirmed and then turned back to Jay. "Yeah, shine's in the fridge. And Kim just texted and said she's on the way back with pizza."

"You got apple pie flavored shine?" Jay asked.

"Hang on. I'm just gonna grab 'em."

The three of you sat down on the bar stools at the counter and waited for Adam to pull them out.

"Alright," Adam started after he put the bottles of moonshine with sip lids on the counter. "We have peach for Miss Georgia Peach." He passed the peach bottle of moonshine to Hailey. "We've got apple pie shine for me and Jay. We've got strawberries and creme for Kim because that's her favorite." He turned to you. "And for you, I got you blackberry because it's not that high of a proof, so it's not that strong." He slid the jar to you.

"Nuh uh," Jay said quickly and grabbed the bottle.

"What the hell, Jay? Give it back! Adam said it's for me, not you!" you argued.

"Last I checked, you're only eighteen."

"Last I checked, Dad's not here. And I know for a fact you drank before you were 21, so pass me the blackberry shine, please."

"I'll take the first sip and then you can have it." He made sure the straw part was open and then he took a sip. "Adam, that shit's like a chaser compared to the apple pie one."

"I know. That's why I got 'er that one," Adam said.

You heard a door shut.

"Pizza's here!" Kim announced.

She walked into the kitchen with three boxes of pizza.

"I got us three pies," she said as she set them down on the counter. "We got one pepperoni and green olive, one supreme, and one meat lovers." She turned to you. "And you must be Y/N. I'm Kim. I see Adam already got you started on that Tennessee moonshine."

"Nice to meet you," you said. "You're from New York, right?"

"Yup, not New York City, though. More upstate."

"Of course she's from New York, Y/N!" Jay exclaimed. "Who else would call pizza a pie except for a true New Yorker?"

"I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks, Jay."

Jay raised his bottle of apple pie moonshine in a fake cheers and then took a sip.

"Now that's the strong shit I need to start off this semester right," he announced and then set the bottle down.

"Oh, and if your brother didn't tell you yet, he turns into a borderline alcoholic when he's at school," Kim told you.

You laughed. "He didn't tell me that, no."

"Better than being a caffeine addict like Kim and Hailey here," Jay argued.

"Shut up," Hailey said. "You know you're a caffeine addict during finals week just the rest of us."

"I was a caffeine addict in high school, so we'll see what happens," you shrugged.

Kim grabbed a stack of paper plates and set them on one of the pizza boxes. "Dig in. Oh, Y/N, did Adam get you the blackberry flavored moonshine?"

"He did. Haven't tried it yet because Jay has yet to give it back to me."

Kim quickly reached down and grabbed the jar of moonshine.

"Hey, Kim! She's only 18!" Jay protested.

"So? I know you drank an insane amount during your freshman year. So shut it." Kim popped open the sipping lid. "Taste."

You took a sip. It did taste like blackberry, but it was also sort of strong, but it didn't burn your throat that bad like you had read in books that alcohol did.

"This is actually pretty good."

"I know, right? And, me and Hailey will let you try ours when we help you unpack," Kim said. "But, do not try the kind the boys have because it's nasty."

"Baby, I don't know what you have against apple pie moonshine, but it's good," Adam said and then took a sip of his moonshine. Kim rolled her eyes. Adam leaned across the counter. "The New York in her is coming out, darlin'."

"Oh, shut up," Kim said and reached over to steal Adam's cowboy hat off his head.

"Baby, now I feel naked without it," Adam argued and tried to reach for the hat.

"Sucks for you. Now eat your pizza before it gets cold."

***

"Morning," Jay said when you walked into the kitchen the next morning. "How'd you sleep?"

"Good. it's nice not having to share a room with anyone like you and Adam, and then Hailey and Kim have to. It was fun having them help me unpack last night, though," you said.

Last night, Kim and Hailey had helped you unpack and when you mentioned that you didn't really know any country music, Hailey pulled up all of her favorite country songs to play for you. You especially liked Girl in a Country Song by Maddie and Tae. They showed you the music video for that song and it was about how, in most country music videos, girls had to dress up in little skimpy outfits and have the boys just stare at them all day. So, in their music video, they changed the roles, and the guys had to dress in skimpy clothing in the music video. It was pretty funny and the song was catchy.

"Let me guess," Jay began, "Hailey showed you some good country music?"

"Yup. The songs she showed me were pretty good, pretty upbeat. Didn't sound like a cat being put in a blender like old-fashioned country, so I guess that's good."

"What do you have against old-fashioned country, darlin'?" Adam asked as he walked into the kitchen.

"I dunno." You shrugged. "Too slow for me and I just don't like the voices I guess."

"You know what we ought to do, Jay?" Adam asked and Jay raised his eyebrows, silently telling adam to continue. "We should show her all the songs that are mentioned in What's Your Country Song."

"Wait, wait. I think I know that one. I think Hailey played it for me last night. Is it the one that mentions Chatta- Chatta..."

"Chattahoochee?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, that funny word. What even is that anyway?"

"It's a river that runs through Georgia," Jay answered. "Pretty sure Hailey used to go tubing down it like we're gonna do today."

You furrowed your eyebrows. "We're going tubing? Like behind a boat?"

Adam laughed. "Christ, Jay! Do you tell her anything?"

"He doesn't," you answered. "So, explain, one of you."

"Alright, I'll do it," Jay said as he poured milk on top of a bowl of Raisin Bran. You looked at him intently. "What we do is, the first Saturday that we're all together before school starts, we go on tubes and float down the Tennessee River. We bring a cooler full of snacks, sandwiches, booze, and water, and a waterproof speaker and we just have a fun time. Oh, and this year, you're the DD."

"Me?" you asked as you pointed to yourself. Jay nodded. "But I don't know where to go! I haven't even been in Tennessee for a full 24 hours yet!"

"Kim's like the mom of the group," Adam supplied. "So she'll still be pretty lucid and could probably drive if she needs to. But, she'll at least be able to give you directions on how to get back here."

You sighed. "Good. That makes me feel a lot better."

"Where are the other two girls anyway?" Adam asked. "They're usually up a lot earlier than we are when we go on the river."

"I think they were a little buzzed last night," you said. "Might still be sleeping."

While you were unpacking, you took a few sips of your jar of blackberry moonshine, but not a lot. You'd never really drank before, much less drank moonshine and you didn't really feel like puking from being drunk or having a killer headache from a hangover...at least, that's what you thought happened from what you had read in books and seen in movies and tv shows. But, Kim and Hailey had each finished like a quarter of their jar, so they had been buzzed last night. They weren't drunk because they could still walk in a straight line and knew what they were talking about, but they did have little dopey smiles on their faces while they helped you unpack.

"She's right," Kim said as she and Hailey walked into the kitchen. Hailey's hair was wrapped in a towel, alerting you that she had just taken a shower. "Adam, can you grab me an Advil?" She took a seat on a stool and put her head in her hands. "My head is fucking killing me. I didn't even think I drank that much."

Adam laughed. "You do this every semester, baby. First shine of the year and you always drink a little too much." He handed her the pills and a cup of water and Kim quickly washed the pills down.

"I just need some coffee," Hailey announced.

"We know, you don't get hangover headaches," Kim groaned.

"Yeah, but I feel exhausted all day. Everyone goin' for coffee? I'll make a bigger pot if that's the case."

Everyone said yes and Hailey started on the coffee.

***

"Okay, we got the tubes, the speaker, swimsuits are on, we have the towels, cooler," Jay rattled off as the five of you sat in his truck. "Anyone double-check the cooler?"

"I did," Hailey said. "We got water, the same shine from last night, some white claws, the sandwiches me and Kim made for everyone, chips, and a few other snacks."

"And I threw in a little first aid kit with bandaids, alcohol swabs, Neosporin, and other stuff. And I've got the sunscreen, too," Kim said.

"See, what'd I tell you, darlin'?" Adam asked as he turned around from his spot in the passenger seat. "Kim's the mom of the group."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Kim said. "It means I'm responsible and prepared."

"Those two would get so damn sunburned and dehydrated if it weren't for Kim," Hailey said as she pointed to Jay and Adam in the two front seats.

"Thanks, Hails," Jay replied sarcastically. "Real nice."

"You're welcome," she said with a smile.

You leaned your head against the window. You were supposed to get stuck in the middle, but seeing as you got car sick easily, Kim said she'd switch spots with you.

"You okay?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, just, Jay really needs to turn on the AC before I throw up from motion sickness and how damn hot it is in here."

"Least you got that cowboy hat to puke in if you need to," Jay laughed as he reached for the AC. "You better not puke in my tuck or you will be walking home."

Adam smacked him upside the head.

"Ow!" Jay exclaimed and took one hand off the wheel and rubbed the back of his head. "The hell was that for?"

"Dude, be nice! Look at her!" Adam exclaimed.

Jay looked in the rearview mirror and saw you leaning your head against the window with your eyes closed and pinching your nose. You groaned.

"Here," Jay said and tossed you a blue bottle of Gatorade from his cup holder. "Drink this. Get you some hydration and electrolytes."

You took a few sips and then handed the bottle back to him. "Thanks."

"Mhm."

Kim moved the vents so that the AC was blowing on you more. "That help?"

"Little bit, thanks."

"Think you'll be good to go down the river?" Jay asked.

"Yeah, because then I won't be trapped in a hot box going sixty down the road!"

"She's right about that," Adam agreed. "You'll be lucky if you go five miles per hour, darlin'."

"Alright, so the motion sickness should stop. Thank God."

"Just rest your head against the window and listen to some country music," Jay said. "Speaking of that, who's controlling the music on the river?"

"I got it," Adam volunteered. "Everyone give me a song and I'll get the queue started."

***

You had been going down the river for about half an hour now and had finished a bottle of water and eaten a banana, too. You felt fine now. Adam was right, you were going slow enough that you didn't get sick, and you also weren't in the backseat of a truck.

"Hey, Kim," you started, "can you pass me my moonshine?"

"Mhm," she said. You guys had tied a cooler to a tube, which was then tied to Kim's tube. Because, the boys figured that between the five of you, she was the most responsible. They toyed with tying it to your tube because you probably wouldn't get shitfaced (like the boys most likely would) since you were underage, but you had never gone tubing down the Tennessee River before, so they decided on Kim. "Here, Hailey, hold my white claw."

She passed Hailey her drink and then maneuvered the cooler towards her, opened it, and handed you your moonshine.

"Thank you," you said and popped open the sip lid and took a sip. "Ahhh."

"Hey, drink it slow," Adam warned, turning towards you and practically yelling over the music. He and Jay were in front of the three of you girls so they could tell you if there were a ton of rocks coming or if it was super shallow coming up. "Heat makes getting drunk a lot easier because you keep drinking it because you're so thirsty."

"I don't think that's how it works, man, but whatever you say," Jay laughed.

Another song started.

"Hey!" you yelled. "I know this song!"

"Yeah, because it's old as hell," Jay laughed.

"Shut up! I like it!"

Baby you a song you make me wanna roll my windows down and cruise. Down a back road, blowin' stop signs through the middle every little farm town with you.

"And this brand new Chevy with a lift kit, would look a hell of a lot better with you up in it. Baby you a song, you make me wanna roll my windows down and cruise," the five of you sang Cruise by Florida Georgia Line while holding your drinks in pure happiness.

Because of this, you didn't notice Jay drifting off to the side toward the trees.

Jay let out a sinister laugh as he got closer. "C'mere, buddy, c'mere." The black snake stuck his tongue out and hissed. "Yeah, I know, you wanna scare Y/N, too." Jay held his hand out toward the snake. "I'm nice, I promise." The snake slithered and went up on Jay's hand and started up his arm. He turned once most of the snake was on him. He started using his other hand to paddle himself back toward the group. "Y/N!"

You turned and looked at him. You saw the snake on his arm and tears pricked your eyes. "No! No!" you shouted.

Snakes were your biggest fear and knowing that they were in the river that you were in right now was absolutely terrifying to you. And, with each paddle, Jay and the snake were coming closer and closer to you.

"Jay, please, please!"

Adam turned and looked at Jay and then back to you. "She scared of snakes?" You quickly nodded as tears ran down your face. "Jay! Stop! She's terrified!"

Jay laughed. "No!"

He was coming closer and closer to you.

Adam quickly paddled over to you and went in front of you. "I won't let it go near you, darlin', don't you worry."

"Uh huh," you said and grabbed onto Adam's arm in complete and utter terror.

Unknown to Jay, Hailey was making her way to him. But, she was behind him, so Jay couldn't see his girlfriend coming up behind him with her empty bottle of white claw raised high in the air.

He felt it before he heard her.

"Don't." Smack on the head with the empty can. "You." Another smack on the head with the empty can. "Do." Another smack on the head with the empty can. "That." Last smack on the head with the empty can.

"Ow!" Jay yelled. "Hails, stop!"

"Put the fuckin' snake back and stop scarin' the daylights outta your little sister or I will keep smackin' you, Jay!" Hailey told him.

"Fine, I'll put it back," he groaned.

"Hailey, keep that can raised above his head. If he tries to come back here, hit 'im again!" Adam yelled.

"You got it!" Hailey said. "Hear that baby? Your head is gonna come in contact with this 'ere empty white claw can again if you don't get a move on."

"I'm going, I'm going," Jay grumbled.

"Good, then you won't get smacked again."

"Just for all that," Adam started, "you wanna pick the next song, darlin'?"

"Can you play Better Dig Two by The Band Perry?" you asked. "That counts as country right?"

"Sure does, darlin'." He started messing with his phone. "Comin' right up."

"I told you on the day we wed, I was gonna love you 'til I's dead," you started to sing. "Made you wait 'til our weddin' night, that's the first and the last time I wear white."

"Snake's gone! Made sure he put it down and I even watched it slither away!" Hailey announced. "Put me in the ground, put me six foot down," Hailey joined in after she had finished yelling over part of the first verse.

"And, as for you, Jay," Adam started over the music and all of you singing. "You don't get to pick a song for the next hour."

"Son of a bitch," Jay muttered.

"Hey, you brought this one on yourself, buddy. So just sit back, relax, listen to our music choices, and enjoy your shine."

***

One week later

"And we're here!" Adam announced as the five of you pulled onto a long dirt driveway. "You ready to ride some horses, Y/N?"

"I dunno," you said. "I've never ridden a horse before."

"Oh, Adam'll make sure you're super safe," Kim reassured you.

"Okay, so whatever horse I ride won't buck me off?"

"Oh no," Adam said quickly, "we'll put Jay on Buck."

"Like hell you will!" Jay argued from the backseat.

Despite the studying the five of you had to do, you were at Adam's childhood home. Adam's parents had rented a cabin in North Carolina for the weekend since it was Labor Day weekend and needed someone to watch the five horses they owned.

His parents used to own a riding place with multiple horses, but since their kids got older, they stopped doing it because they were getting older and couldn't give the tours anymore. So, they sold most of their horses, left five so that their kids could ride them with their friends, but still kept the house and the land. Whenever Adam's parents went out of town, either he or his sister would come and stay over at their childhood home and take care of the horses. Seeing as his sister was married and just gave birth to a daughter, this left Adam. And, luckily for him, his parents were fine with some friends coming over to help Adam out.

"Relax, man," Adam began, "I'll ride Buck."

"Wait, is he called Buck because he bucks people off?" you asked.

"You would be completely right, darlin'. Which, would be the reason I'm riding him and neither of you four will be doing that."

Adam put the truck in park and you got out of the passenger seat. Yes, you had ridden in the front because Adam said you could because of your motion sickness. Jay wasn't too happy, but it was Adam's car, so therefore it was Adam's rules.

You got inside the house and it had two extra bedrooms, one of which was Adam's childhood room and had an extra twin bed in it for when his friends wanted to sleepover (Because, in Adam's words, it was only girls who shared beds at sleepovers and he said guys didn't do that, so that's why there was the extra bed). In his older sister's childhood room, there was a full-sized bed, so Hailey and Kim would share the bed and the boys said they'd move a couch into that same room for you to sleep on.

Adam opened the fridge once all of you had put your stuff in the rooms that would be yours for the weekend. "Ooooh, y'all, my mama left us some food!"

"Oh, he southern southern now," Kim laughed and walked over to the fridge. "What'd she make?"

"Let's see. We got fried chicken, mashed potatoes, cornbread, gravy, biscuits, grits, tater salad, peaches that she canned herself, and apple pie. She must really miss me if she cooked this much!" Adam laughed after he rattled off the food his mom made for all of you.

"Mama's cookin', paper plate, and tater tater salad," you said, quoting a song Jay had played on the way down here that you had taken a liking to and had added it to a playlist and been listening to it a lot the past week.

"Did you just..." Adam trailed off.

"She did!" Jay exclaimed.

"Is it that hard to believe that I know more than two country songs, y'all?" you asked.

All four of them gasped.

"She's southern! She's southern, y'all!" Hailey yelled.

"What?" you asked as you looked around at your brother, his girlfriend, and his two friends in confusion.

"That was yer first y'all, hun!" Hailey told you and pulled you into a hug. "Yer a regular southern belle now."

"Next thing you know, girl's gonna be fallin' for cowboys," Adam said.

"Aw, hell nah," Jay said. "Ain't no way she's datin' a cowboy. No way."

"Shit, Jay just went southern southern, too," Adam laughed.

"What can I say, when my girl goes hella Georgia, I go hella Tennessee," Jay said.

"That made zero sense, baby, but okay," Hailey said. She turned to Adam. "When we ridin'?"

"We can go right now if you want. Everyone good with that?"

You all nodded and then Adam told all of you to put on your cowboy hats.

***

"This 'ere's Maddy," Adam said before he helped you onto the horse. You put your feet in the stirrups. "They feel good? You can reach 'em well?" he asked.

"Yeah," you told him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, darlin'." He turned to Jay, Hailey, and Kim. "You three remember how to get on the horses since we rode so much last year?"

"We're good," Jay said.

"Hey, baby?" Hailey asked and turned to Jay. He turned to look at her. "You think you can help me on 'im? Pretty sure Diablo's gotten a lot bigger since I rode 'im last."

"Yeah, sweetheart, I got that."

"Did he just..." you trailed off and looked at Kim.

"He did," she confirmed. "She turns into sweetheart around this time every year. Jay gets really southern after only being here a week. Might also have something to do with Adam calling me sweetheart sometimes and he just picks up on it."

Jay helped Hailey onto the huge horse named Diablo and then got on his horse. You were riding Maddy, Adam was riding Buck, Jay was riding Sinbad, Hailey was riding Diablo, and Kim was riding Atta'Boy.

"All y'all need to watch me now," Adam announced from the front. All four of you gave Adam all your attention. "Well, mostly Y/N because she's never ridden before." He paused. "To make your horse stop, just give the reins a little tug. To turn, hold the reins on your right side, and pull towards your right hip, like this." He demonstrated and pulled the reins like he told you and Buck's head turned to the right. "And turn left, do the same thing on the left side. To make them go, just flick the reins a little bit, but they're pretty well-trained, so you shouldn't need to do that. But, if they still won't go, give 'em a little kick. I promise you won't hurt 'em. But, most of all, keep at least one hand on the reins at all times. Oh, and they will try to eat on the trails, but they ain't supposed to, so try and get them to stop by pulling up on the reins if you can.

"Any questions? Everyone sure their stirrups and saddles are good?" Adam finished.

Everyone answered with a chorus of "yeses" and then the five of you were off...that was until Maddy decided she was hungry about a quarter-mile (400 meters) in.

And, to make matters worse, you were in the mountains (because everyone is in the mountains here) and Maddy was bringing you closer and closer to a small ravine.

You did not want to have the experience of trying to control your horse and deciding whether or not to jump off or not and possibly being rushed to the hospital.

"Maddy!" you yelled and tugged up on the reins. Nothing. "Maddy!"

"Pull hard!" Jay yelled from behind you.

"I am pulling, Jay!" you yelled back. "Come on, Maddy!"

Shit, she was still moving towards the edge and trying to eat more.

"Pull to the left!" Jay yelled. You pulled. Nothing. "All the way around! To your left hip!"

You did so and she moved. Finally.

"Now straighten out the reins," Jay told you. You did. "And give her a kick to move."

You did and she continued walking...this time with a huge branch and leaves hanging out of her mouth because she had gotten herself a nice little snack.

"What's with all the yellin'?" Adam asked as he turned his head around and had Buck slow down a little bit. Then, he saw Maddy. "Maddy stop to eat? She acts likes she's starvin', but I promise you she's not."

You kept going and then you started going down a hill.

"Lean forward when going down a hill," Adam yelled back to all of you, "and lean back when going up a hill."

You started going down the hill and kept trying to maneuver yourself so you were in the middle of the saddle. You felt like you were leaning too much to the right, so you kept trying to fix it, but with Maddy still walking, it was kind of hard.

You clenched your stomach muscles to try and pull yourself back to center, but it wasn't working. You tried to push up with your left foot because you were leaning to the right, but that wouldn't work either.

"Just hold on tight, Y/N," Jay told you. "Adam!" Jay yelled as you kept leaning to the right and pulled the reins a little harder to make sure that Maddy would stop.

"What?" Adam yelled back.

"We need a little help back here!"

Adam turned Buck around and he got halfway to you and stopped next to Hailey and Diablo.

"She's fallin' off, you big dummy! You gotta go!" Adam yelled. He flicked his reins. "C'mon, go!"

It was like Buck knew what was going on because the minute he lifted his head up and saw you trying to stay in the saddle, he started coming towards you.

"Buck, stay," Adam said sternly and jumped off him. He walked to your right side. "Now, I'm gonna push your saddle to the left and I need you to lean the same way, okay?"

"Lean to the left?" you asked.

"Yup," he confirmed. "One...two...three."

He pushed up and you leaned to the left, which allowed the saddle and you to be re-centered.

"Can you reach the stirrups okay, darlin'?" he asked. "Or do you need 'em a bit higher?"

"I think I need them a bit higher," you answered. "I thought they were fine, but I guess not."

"That's okay. That's what I'm here for. Take your right foot out."

You did as he said and then he adjusted the stirrups and helped you get your foot back in. Then, he did the same for the left foot.

While Adam was adjusting your left stirrup, Maddy was curious about what was in his first aid bag that was attached to Buck's saddle.

"I ain't got no treats in there, you fatty." He put his hand on Maddy's head. "There's nothin' in there for you. Get out." She started chewing on a drawstring that was on the bag. "Okay, I guess you can chew on that."

"So, to get her to turn, do I just pull like this?" you asked and showed Adam.

"Yes, but put your hand further down the reins when you do that. Works better like that."

"Okay, thanks."

"And, if she keeps tryin' to eat, pull up hard--but not too hard and far that you make her walk backward--and if that doesn't work, give her a quick kick. I promise you won't hurt this little fatty right here."

"Okay, awesome."

"You good?"

"I'm good," you confirmed.

"Okay, so if you ever need to adjust yourself, just grab this 'ere saddle horn." He put his hand on the stub on the front of the saddle. "And put two hands on it...unlike me, and then just push down with your foot on which side you want the saddle to go. Pretty simple."

"Okay, got it," you said.

Then, Adam jumped back on Buck and you were off again.

***

You and Kim were sitting up on the bed in Adam's older sister's childhood room that you were staying in and watching a dumb comedy when Adam poked his head into the room.

"Both you up?" he asked.

"Yeah," Kim answered. "Why?"

"Well, I want to go to the rope swing, and Jay and Hailey both fell asleep spooning while watching some shitty movie in the living room, so do you two wanna go? I'm bringing alcohol."

"Adam, it's like 11 o'clock at night!" Kim laughed. "We won't even be able to see the water!"

"Honey," Adam laughed. "I'll leave the headlights of my truck on! I'm not that stupid to have us jump in blind!" He paused. "You two in?"

"Sure," Kim agreed and then turned to you. "Y/N?"

"Why the hell not? I'm in college, let's go!"

"Alright, I'll let you two get changed and I'll grab the towels and the booze," Adam said.

"Adam, if you're the one driving, you cannot drink a ton!" Kim told him.

"I know! I'll just take like two shots and use moonshine as a chaser."

"You got more moonshine?" you asked.

"Holy hell, Adam," Kim agreed.

"Where do you two think I was the past hour? I went into town and grabbed a few flavors. and, I got both your flavors, too. So, y'all can't yell at me. Now, get changed so we can go before Jay and Hailey wake up and decide they want in on this, too."

***

"You good to sit in the back, Miss Car Sick?" Adam asked you.

"Yeah, you said it's only like a five minute drive, so I'll be fine. Thanks for asking, though," you answered.

"No problem, darlin'."

Then, the three of you were off to this rope swing to jump into a river in the middle of the night.

Five minutes later, Adam threw his car in park and left the radio and headlights on. The three of you got out and Adam grabbed the booze and shot glasses and then you followed him around to the back of his truck. He handed the stuff off to you and Kim to hold while he flipped his tailgate down. Then, he used the flashlight app of his phone to see as he poured each of you a shot of gummy bear flavored vodka.

"Cheers to late night decisions and possibly bad decisions!" Adam toasted.

The three of you clinked your shot glasses together and then took the shots.

"Shit. That was strong," you coughed.

"Chaser, chaser," Adam said as he flipped open the sip cap on the blackberry moonshine.

He handed it to you and you took a few sips.

"Compared to that shot, this moonshine tastes like nothin'," you said.

"See? Told you it had a low proof!" Adam exclaimed. "Now, do you two want me to go first so I can show you how it's done?"

"That might be a good idea, yeah," Kim agreed. "You've only brought me here during the day and it's been over a year, so yeah, you go first, cowboy."

"Oh, that reminds me." He took his signature cowboy hat off. "Hold this for me, will you, sweetheart?" He held the hat out to Kim and she took it from him. "Thank you. Now, watch and learn, ladies, watch and learn."

Kim laughed. "Whatever you say, babe, whatever you say."

Adam walked up to the edge of the river and waded in the water to grab the rope. You and Kim stood on the edge of the river and watched as Adam dragged the rope with him as he stood on a rock, which was right below the tree that the rope was tied to. Then, he cinched the rope between his feet and jumped up and swung forward.

"Yeehaw!" Adam yelled.

Then, after a few seconds, he let go of the rope and fell into the river.

The rope dangled back and forth until Adam grabbed it and dragged it in with him.

"Who's next?" he asked as he held the rope out.

"You wanna go, Kim?" you asked.

"You sure you don't wanna go before me?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Go ahead," you said.

"You nervous, darlin'?" Adam asked you as he took his hat back from Kim and placed it on his head.

"A bit." You looked down at your feet. "Are there snakes in there?" you practically mumbled.

"Oh, darlin'," Adam said with a wave of his hand. "I can promise you that there's no snakes in there. You've never seen a snake in there have you, baby?" he asked Kim.

"Nope, no snakes. I promise. Now, I'll go, and then you gotta go because it's so much fun!"

Kim grabbed the rope and then made her way up onto the rock. She did the same thing that Adam did and soon it was your turn.

"I'm stealing your aux, babe," Kim said as she walked toward Adam's truck.

Adam raised an eyebrow. "I don't know why you can't just listen to the radio like we've been doing, but go ahead, baby."

Kim walked over to the truck and changed the input to aux and then quickly pulled up Spotify. From there, she pulled up the song Like A Lady by Lady A, formerly known as Lady Antebellum. She turned the volume all the way up on her phone, plugged it into the aux, and hit play.

"Lady!" came out of the speakers as well as the opening chords.

You gasped as Kim came running back to you and Adam.

"How'd you know this one of my favorite songs?" you asked.

Ever since Hailey had played it for you on your first night in Tennessee when you were unpacking and sippin' on moonshine, you loved this song. It was all about feeling like a lady while wearing jeans and drinking and being comfortable with yourself and not needing a man.

"Y/N, I follow you on Spotify. I can see what you listen to. Now, go get to it, lady!" Kim cheered.

You smiled and turned around. You walked to the rock and climbed up on it just before the chorus. You grabbed onto the rope.

"'Cause I feel like a lady," you sang loudly to the music. "Sippin' on tequila with my Levis on."

You clamped your feet around the rope and jumped.

You felt weightless for just about one second and then you let go of the rope and fell into the water with a splash.

The water wasn't freezing, it was a little cold, but it was still decently comfortable. You started swimming back to the shore and grabbed the rope when it swung back toward you.

"Hell yeah!" Adam yelled as he ran up to you and took the rope so you could pull yourself up onto the river bank. "You did awesome! Did you like it?"

"I loved it! Let's do it again!" you yelled.

"See?" Kim said. "I told you that you'd love it!"

"I propose a celebratory shot for Y/N's first time jumping off the rope swing!" Adam said and the three of you headed back to his truck to have more booze.

And that is how you learned that you didn't get hangover headaches like Kim, but got hella tired the next day just like Hailey. But, a little hangover (despite not being old enough to legally drink) was all worth it because of how much fun you, Kim, and Adam had.

***

Months later

"Welcome to Chocolate Moose, everybody!" Adam announced and fumbled with the lockbox to get the key.

Since it was exam season, there was a tradition that started during the winter semester of their sophomore year that was where they'd all go up to a cabin (each cabin had a name and yours was Chocolate Moose) in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, which was an hour away from school, to go study without the temptation of parties and the libraries that were packed as hell and barely had any seats open because everyone and their mama had decided to study there.

He unlocked the door and opened it.

You walked in and were in awe. When you walked in, you saw a small kitchen complete with a stove, oven, microwave, and pots, pans, plates, bowls, cups, mugs, and silverware stored in cabinets and drawers. There was also a small pantry to your right the minute you walked inside.

Off of the small kitchen were the living room and the dining area. There was a circular wooden table with six chairs and there was a tv and a couch that folded out into a bed. Right next to that was a bedroom with a bathroom, which also had its own tv in it.

And, if you walked to the end of the living room, there was a door that led to the first-floor deck that overlooked the Smoky Mountains. On the deck was a wooden table that matched the wood of the deck and six stools, so it would be a nice place to study or eat breakfast or sip coffee in the morning.

The stairs to go to the second floor were above the table (so the table was tucked beneath the second set of stairs). When you got up there, there was a pool table, a bubble hockey table, another couch that folded out into a bed, and a coffee table in front of said couch.

To the right of the couch and coffee table was a California king-sized bed with a trunk in front of it which held the bedding for the pull-out couches. Then, there was a dresser with a mirror to the side of the bed and a closet. There was also a full bathroom with a washer and dryer and a dressing table (so tons of counter space and two mirrors) upstairs as well.

And, there was another deck on the second floor. This one didn't have a full-sized table, but it did have two chairs with a small table between, and a small couch complete with a bunch of throw pillows on one end of the deck. This deck too overlooked the beauty that was the Smoky Mountains.

"Who's that?" you asked fifteen minutes later after you had finished touring the cabin and figuring out sleeping arrangements.

It had been decided that Adam and Kim would take the first-floor bedroom and that you'd take the pull-out couch on their floor. Hailey and Jay would sleep upstairs and you wondered why you couldn't take the upstairs couch like you wanted to because Jay was quick to tell you no.

You knew they weren't gonna try to do the nasty up there since there was no door shutting the upstairs off from the downstairs, so you had no idea why he wouldn't let you sleep on the pull-out couch upstairs.

"Who's that?" you asked again while looking out the kitchen window.

Then, you saw a head of red hair in the driver's seat and rushed out the door to where the person parked their car.

"Will!" you shouted as he got out of the car. "I missed you!" You wrinkled your nose at what he was wearing: a pair of blue scrubs.

"I drove here right after I got off a twelve-hour ED rotation," Will told you. "Hence the scrubs."

"I would give you a hug, but who knows what kinda bodily fluids have been on those."

"Good choice. We'll postpone the hug until after I take a quick shower and change."

Adam, Kim, and Jay came outside and said their hellos to Will, and Jay took Will's backpack, making a joke saying that it felt like he stuffed a ton of rocks in there.

So, now you knew why you couldn't sleep on the pull-out couch upstairs: Will was sleeping there.

***

"Fuck!" you yelled as you felt a bee sting you on the upper part of your left inner thigh.

"What?" Adam asked.

You, Adam, and Kim were outside at the table on the first-floor deck studying while Will was upstairs studying and Jay and Hailey were studying one of their law studies classes at the kitchen table together.

"The fuckin' bee stung me!"

"Well, you were swattin' at him, darlin'," Adam said, which earned him a smack to the arm from Kim.

"Because he was between my legs!" you argued. "What was I supposed to do? Let him fly up my shorts and sting me there? Oh hell no!"

You got up and walked inside.

"Will!" you shouted the minute you closed the door to the deck.

"Y/N! Keep it down!" Jay scolded. "We're trying to study!"

You had made it up the first set of stairs and leaned over the railing. "Well, I just strung by fuckin' bee, so I think I can yell a bit, Jay! Will!"

"What?" he said and ripped out his headphones when you got all the way upstairs. "Med school's no joke, you know!"

"Well, what do I put on a bee sting?" you huffed.

Will sighed. "Hold on. They asked me to be the one who brought the first aid kit and I'm glad I did."

He got up and then came back with a bottle of lotion.

"Put this on it. Should cool down the stinging. Tell me if it gets worse or starts itching."

"Okay, thanks."

You put it on and hoped it would be better soon.

***

Okay, so this bee sting wasn't getting better. It was actually getting worse.

It had been itchy all day and you were currently shaving your legs in your shower. You felt the place where the bee had stung you and it was swollen as if someone had shoved a disk the size of an Oreo in your leg at the place the bee had stung you.

You got out of the shower, got changed, and walked out of the bathroom where country music was blasting and Jay and Adam were playing a friendly (okay, so maybe not so friendly) game of pool.

"Hailey, is my bee sting supposed to be super itchy?" you asked as you sat down on the couch next to her.

She and everyone else was drinking one of their two allotted white claws. Yes, during finals week you had all decided there needed to be a daily cut-off for alcohol so that you could all get your shit done. And, it helped keep everyone accountable since everyone in the cabin was only having two per day...and you weren't spending a ton of money this weekend on alcohol.

"Um, none of mine have ever been," she said. "Will!" He turned to look at her from where he was sitting and intently watching the pool game...mostly to make sure neither Adam nor Jay cheated. "Her bee sting supposed to itch?"

"Not unless she's allergic to bees...and she's not." He stood up. "Go lay on the bed and let me take a look."

"Oh, fuck no! I am not letting my brother look there!"

"Y/N, I'm a med student. I've seen a helluva lot more than a bee sting on your inner thigh. You can even go put on some short spandex if that would make you more comfortable."

You currently had on loose-fitting shorts that you knew would fall back to expose what underwear you were wearing if you let Will take a look. "Actually, I think I'll go do that," you said.

You quickly grabbed a pair of spandex from your suitcase and went back into the bathroom and changed into them.

"Y'all check for a stinger?" Adam asked.

Will must've filled him in when you were changing your shorts.

"Shit," Will cursed. "I knew there was something I forgot to do."

"What kinda fuckin' doctor are you if you forget to check something like that?" you asked Will rhetorically. "Hailey, I'm gonna need that empty white claw bottle to smack Will over the head with like you did to Jay on the river."

"Sorry, hun," Hailey apologized. "I ain't finished with this 'ere can yet."

"I'll hit him!" Jay yelled, putting down his pool stick and grabbing his empty can.

He hit Will on the arm with the empty white claw can as hard as he possibly could.

"The fuck?" Will yelled. "Why'd you do that?"

"I dunno." Jay turned to Adam. "Why were we hitting Will, again?"

"Holy shit," Adam muttered to himself. "Because he forgot to check Y/N's bee sting to see if the stinger was still there."

"Oh, okay. That was stupid, Will."

You laid on the bed and let Will look at the spot the bee stung you. Then, he put on a pair of gloves and pulled out a pair of tweezers.

"Hailey?" he called. She looked up expectantly. "Can you come over here and hold up a flashlight? I think I found the stinger."

Hailey got up and turned on the flashlight on her phone and crouched down next to Will.

"That good?" she asked as she finished positioning the phone so the phone's flashlight was pointing directly at your bee sting.

"Yup." He looked up at you. "Now, I'm gonna put one of my hands above the bee sting, that way you won't be able to see the tweezers go in. Sound good?"

"Mhm. At least this is better than when Jay tried to attack me with a snake!"

Will laughed. "I bet."

Five minutes later, the stinger was out and Will told you to put Neosporin and a bandaid over it just so you didn't keep itching it because he told you the itchiness wouldn't go away immediately.

"I need a drink," you said after you were all done.

Hailey handed you a raspberry white claw from the mini-fridge next to the couch and you popped it open.

"Thanks," you said.

"You're welcome."

"Everyone shut up!" Adam yelled. "This is Jay and Hailey's song...well, they didn't exactly meet at a bar and Hailey wasn't drinking a white claw, but it was a Saturday and those two did ditch us. So, dance you two!"

They tried to object, but Adam dragged Jay over to Hailey and Kim pushed Hailey up off the couch and towards Jay.

"Sittin' over there in the corner, baby, I saw pretty red lips workin' on a white claw," you all sang along to Single Saturday Night by Cole Swindell. And, you'd be lying if you said that this song didn't remind you of the story that Jay had told you about the first time he took Hailey out when she was bored one Saturday night in a sports bar. "Shakin' to a little Shook Me All Night Long. And I thought, man, what a beautiful sight."

You smiled. Four months ago, there'd be no way you'd know this song. But, thanks to your brother's friends and his girlfriend, you knew so many more country songs. But, most of all, if your first semester of freshman year was any indication, you were going to have the time of your life going to college here in Tennessee.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading! Again, please remember to like/reblog and comment because I love reading all your comments and seeing that you voted because that means you enjoyed reading the imagine! As always, if you want to be added to my taglist, just tell me and I’ll add you! Again, I am donating all my proceeds on buy me a coffee until the end of AU-gust to Save The Children to help the children in Afghanistan. Buy me a coffee here.

Taglist: @theambracer88 @virtualreader @kelelas-life @celyndavies @brookerz122493 @musicismyescape27 @anotherfan07 @thexplosivegirl@dreamingwithlens @xoxmariaxox @onechicago18 @iamasimpingh0e @i-like-sparkly-things @herecomesthewriterwitch @liampayne88

[https-harlow]

Single Hearts- Play Dates That Turn Into Real Dates

Series Masterlist

Summary- Jack and Sage finally get together for their kids to have a playdate, during which Jack finally gets the courage to ask Sage out on a date.

As much as Jack and Sage wanted Charlotte and Melody’s play date to be that weekend, Sage had already made plans to go to Lexington, Kentucky for the weekend with Charlotte to visit family. Luckily, they were both free the next weekend, and Jack ended up renting out a nearby children’s arcade for a couple of hours.

Jack and Sage pulled into the arcade’s parking lot at the same time, helping their kids out of the car before Charlotte and Melody ran to hug each other. They had recess together at school and ever since they learned about their play date they had been best friends. Jack and Sage followed closely behind their daughters.

“Hey, how are you?” Jack asked as he approached Sage.

“I’m good, how are you?” Sage asked.

“I’m great, Melody has been talking non-stop about this play date,” Jack said and Sage laughed softly.

“So has Charlotte. Are we here early?” Sage asked, since the usually full parking lot was empty.

“No, I uh, I rented out the arcade for a few hours. Since I’m in the music industry, sometimes people recognize me, and I didn’t want you or Charlotte to have to deal with that. Melody and I are used to it, but it can be weird at first.”

“You didn’t have to do that, but thank you. Can I pay you back for half?” Sage asked and Jack immediately shook his head.

“No, don’t worry about it.”

“Daddy, can we go in now?” Melody asked, pulling on Jack’s arm.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Jack said as Melody and Charlotte cheered, running to the door. 

Once they were inside, Jack confirmed their reservation, getting both kids their bands. They let the kids run around, playing whatever games they wanted, as they sat on a nearby bench so they could supervise.

“So, if I remember right, you said you were from Nashville?” Jack asked and Sage nodded.

“Yeah, I grew up there, my parents moved to Lexington when I was 19, and I stayed behind but ended up moving to Lexington shortly after I had Charlotte, then a couple of years later I’m living here now.”

“You know, I can totally hear a slight Tennessee accent when you talk,” Jack said, and Sage laughed.

“That’s so funny that you pointed it out because everyone else says I’ve lost my accent over time.”

“It’s slight, but it’s there.”

“So, you say you’re in the music industry, what exactly do you do?” Sage asked, bringing the topic off of herself.

“Uh, I’m a rapper,” Jack said. He wasn’t planning on telling Sage exactly what he did until she got to know him better. “It’s not a big deal or anything though.”

“That’s so cool, though, what’s the thing you’re most proud of? Or like your biggest achievement?” Sage asked.

“Off of the top of my head? Probably my Grammy nominations.”

“Wait, that’s so exciting and a huge deal Jack. Don’t underestimate yourself like that.”

“I just don’t want to, I don’t know, sometimes it’s hard to meet people when you’re famous.”

“Yeah, I understand that, but you still don’t have to downplay yourself. You’re allowed to brag about your accomplishments.”

Melody and Charlotte came running over to where Jack and Sage were sitting.

“Mommy, come play with us!” Charlotte said, pulling on Sage’s arm.

“Yeah, Daddy, help us with the basketball game,” Melody said. Jack and Sage got up, following their daughters. Once they reached the game the girls wanted to play, Jack picked up Melody so she was tall enough to throw the ball into the hoop.

“Mommy, pick me up too!” Charlotte said and Sage picked her up. As soon as the game started counting down, the girls started throwing the basketballs. They both got one in.

“Mommy and Melody’s daddy’s turn!” Charlotte said.

“You can call me Jack,” Jack told Charlotte, and she nodded.

“Mommy and Jack’s turn,” Charlotte said. 

“Yeah!!” Melody agreed. Jack and Sage set their daughters down. 

“Just so you know, I’m a pretty good basketball player,” Jack said, teasingly.

“I haven’t played basketball since elementary school when we were forced to,” Sage said, both her and Jack laughing.

They started the game, both of their daughters cheering for them to win. Jack purposely missed a couple shots, letting Sage win. Charlotte cheered excitedly, celebrating with Sage, before the girls ran off to play another game.

“You let me win, didn’t you?” Sage asked Jack.

“I couldn’t let you lose in front of your daughter,” Jack said, pushing her shoulder jokingly. Sage leaned against the arcade machine.

“Yeah, or you’re not as good of a basketball player as you claim to be,” She teased.

“Okay, okay, now that’s going too far,” Jack joked.

“I’ll apologize when I see proof otherwise,” Sage joked.

“To be fair, I’m better at soccer, but I’ll prove it to you one day.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

“And I’ll be waiting for you to let me take you on a date. A proper date, without the kids.” Jack said, and Sage looked at him confused.

“Aren’t you and Penelope married, or dating, something?” Sage asked, and Jack laughed softly, shaking his head.

“No, we used to be married, but we got divorced about five years ago when Melody was two,” Jack explained.

“Oh, I just assumed since you two seem so, I don’t know the word, you just don’t seem divorced.”

“A lot of people think that at first, but nothing really happened between us, we just both realized we weren’t right for each other, I mean, it was awkward for a little while of course, but we’ve gotten over that now.”

“Well, in that case, I’ll go on a date with you.”

“How about next weekend? If Charlotte’s dad can’t watch her, or anyone else, Penelope offered to watch her, if you’re comfortable with that.”

“Yeah, if she’s okay with it, I think that would be best. Her dad’s not involved and all my family is in Lexington, I’m sure one of my friends would watch her, but Melody and her seem to be enjoying their time together, so I’m sure they’d love another play date.”

“Her dad isn’t in the picture at all? Sorry, that’s inappropriate of me to ask, forget I even said anything.”

“No, I don’t mind talking about it. Char’s dad and I broke up shortly after I found out I was pregnant, he had cheated on me. He stayed involved for most of my pregnancy, until maybe a month or so before I had her. He chose to not be involved since. I’ve given him several opportunities, I let him know when I was in labor, when she was born, everything, but I can’t force him to be involved. I still give him opportunities to this day to be involved, but he always chooses not to be, so I just don’t tell her about it.”

“I’m so sorry, I can’t even imagine doing that to someone and just living my life like my own child doesn’t exist.”

“I don’t get it either, but I can only do so much, and I guess it’s better that he’s not involved rather than being in and out so she doesn’t know about it.”

“Yeah, and I can already tell you are an amazing mom, neither you nor Charlotte need someone like him anyway.”

Before Sage could respond, Melody and Charlotte ran up to their parents.

“You ask.” Melody said to Charlotte.

“No, you. You’re older.” Charlotte argued and Melody sighed.

“Can we get ice cream?”

“Yeah, we can.” Jack agreed before looking over at you, you pulled out your phone to look at the time.

“Yeah, we have time to get ice cream,” Sage said, and the girls cheered.

“Want to go now? You can keep playing, but we only have about 10 more minutes here.”

“Now!” Both girls said excitedly. Jack and Sage nodded as Charlotte and Melody ran to the door. Jack held the door open for them and as Sage walked out the door, her hand brushed Jack’s, both of their hearts fluttering as they pretended not to notice.

“Actually, there’s an ice cream shop right around the corner, we could walk if you want,” Jack suggested and Sage nodded.

“Walking is fine, Char, you’ll have to hold my hand, okay?” Sage asked and Charlotte shook her head.

“No.”

“Charlotte,” Sage warned.

“How about you hold Melody’s hand?” Jack asked Charlotte and Charlotte nodded, Melody and Charlotte holding hands immediately. Charlotte was going through a phase where because she was a big girl now, she didn’t need help or to hold her mom’s hand walking on the sidewalk anymore. Sage looked at Jack, mouthing thank you, and he smiled in response.

“I don’t miss that phase,” Jack joked, Sage laughing softly. All four of them walking down the sidewalk, Jack walking on the outside, the kids a step in front of them. 

“So you’re telling me it gets easier?” Sage asked.

“It gets so much easier when they don’t want to say no to everything,” Jack said, his hand hovering Sage’s lower back, his other holding Melody’s hand as they crossed the street. 

Once they walked into the ice cream shop, both Melody and Charlotte ran to the counter to see what they had. 

“Mommy!! Can I get sprinkles?” Charlotte asked and Sage nodded.

“Yes you can get sprinkles, do you want chocolate?”

“Yeah! It’s my favorite!”

Sage ordered a small chocolate ice cream cone with rainbow sprinkles in a bowl, and a scoop of cookie dough ice cream for herself. Melody got cotton candy flavored ice cream in a cone, and Jack got a scoop of his favorite flavor.

The four of them sat at a booth, luckily the ice cream shop was empty, so Jack wasn’t recognized by fans. While he loved meeting fans, he didn’t want to throw Sage into that lifestyle yet.

Once they finished their ice cream, it was time for Jack to leave to drop Melody off with Penelope.

“I think it’s time for you to go to your mom’s now,” Jack told Melody, “Can I walk you two back to your car?” Jack asked and Sage nodded, grabbing her bag from the seat, the four of them walked back to the arcade parking lot.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jack smiled softly at Sage, “I’ll text you what time I’ll pick you up, but it will probably be around 6ish.” 

“Okay, I’ll see you then,” Sage smiled back, Jack desperately wanted to kiss Sage, but he wanted to wait, “Have a good night,” Sage said.

“You too,” Jack waited for Sage and Charlotte to get into their car and drive away before he and Melody did the same.

Tag list @jackharloww @harlowcomehome @nattinatalia @hoodharlow @itsyagirljaz @heavyhitterheaux @harlowsbby @awhore4moree @harlowslefttoe @twerkforambrose @jackmans-poison @ilovenudy @taniapri @killatravtramp @easternparkway @macey234 @toocriticalharlow @lightsoutstyles @rachxc13 @iknowdatsrightbih @idktbh101 @blossomluvv @middlechild404 @hufflewhore128 @christinabae @lafavoritaangel

[emeraldiis]

Cross Country Love Affair // Tennessee (3)

A/N: why did this part kick my ass so fast wtf

CCLA Masterlist

AO3 Link 

Tag List (send an ask to be added!): @mantarini-i

Pairing: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 2.8k

Summary:  Bucky makes your blood boil like no other man can. In a twisted turn of events, the two of you are stuck on a road trip from hell. This fic follows Bucky and the reader from Florida all the way to Washington state. Nothing like being trapped in a car for fifty hours to break the ice. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Or something like that.

Warnings:  canon typical violence, enemies to lovers, eventual smut, alcohol use

“Can we please stop in Nashville for the night?” You begged. Counting the trip from New York to Florida, you had spent nearly two full days in the car, and were ready for a break.

Bucky sucked his teeth in irritation. “With what money? We just barely have enough for gas and food. And credit cards are a no-go.”

Ah, of course. You squinted your eyes and wracked your brain for an idea. “How about we stop at a bar?’

“Did you not hear what I said about money?”

“Yeah, but listen,” you started, getting excited over your plan. “I’m like, a god at pool. I can hustle somebody and get us the money for a motel room.”

Bucky side-eyed you. “That’s a terrible idea.”

“No it’s not! It’s Friday evening, there’s gonna be so many people at the bars. Especially Nashville.”

With a groan, Bucky relented. “Okay, but if someone wants to beat your ass, I’m filming it.”

A giddy laugh erupted from your throat. Hustling pool had been a habit of yours in your younger years, and though it had earned you a few black eyes, it was an excellent way to hone your combat skills while making a bit of cash. You’d found that drunk college age guys made the best targets; their egos made it almost impossible for them to turn down most bets. Add that to a little bit of daddy’s money, and you could rack up quite a bit of winnings until they caught on.

The sun sank lower and lower in the sky as you got closer to the city. Neon lights glowed on the horizon and you found yourself fidgeting in your seat, excited to get out and stretch your legs.

“Stop that,” Bucky snapped.

You froze, mid-squirm. “Excuse me?”

“Stop squeaking the leather on the chair.”

Offended, you huffed and gave Bucky an irritated glare. “My ass is numb, so unless you’d like to rub it, let me get comfortable.”

Bucky inhaled a sharp breath, and you could almost see a faint blush underneath his stubble. Still, he fired back without much hesitation. “You haven’t showered in like, three days. There’s no way I’m touching your ass.”

“Neither have you, dumbfuck. I bet you’re growing mold on your dick.”

“Yeah? How about you suck it off for me?”

You gagged dramatically. “Fuck, man! That’s nasty.”

Bucky shrugged. “You’re the one talking about my dick. Most girls only do that if they want it.”

The noise that came out of your mouth was inhuman. “Pervert,” you said, using your very sophisticated spy training to mask how flustered you were. It failed spectacularly, given how Bucky was currently snickering under his breath. The horror only grew when you realized that all this talk about dick and ass was going straight to your lower stomach, pooling into a lake of hot arousal. You pressed your thighs together subconsciously.

Thankfully, you were given an out, as Bucky had just turned onto a road that hosted several promising looking bars. Clearing your throat, you pulled out your phone to google the names and find out which ones had pool tables and cheap liquor. It was the perfect combination for your plan.

“That one,” you said, putting your phone away and pointing to a dive bar on the street corner. “There’s a parking lot just up there.”

Bucky grunted in acknowledgement and threw on his blinker, then pulled into the lot. “You’re gonna hustle pool in that?” He asked once he parked, turning to eye your outfit dubiously. 

You looked down at your clothes. Black skinny jeans, with black boots, and a black long sleeve shirt. It looked like you were headed to a funeral, for fuck’s sake. “I can just say I’m goth?” You said uncertainly. “This shirt is skin tight, and so are these jeans. I can probably flirt my way into a game.”

“Yeah, they sure are,” Bucky said, and when you looked back up at him, he was grinning and raking his eyes over your body. 

“This is why I don’t like you,” you grumbled, feeling the need to cover up with how Bucky was undressing you with his eyes.

His smile only grew wider. “Feeling’s mutual, sweet cheeks. But I can appreciate a good view when I see one.”

He’s just fucking with you, you told yourself. A strange part of you sighed in disappointment at that, and you were left feeling confused and insecure. What if I don’t want him to be kidding? Whoa, too far. You shook your head, trying to clear the unwelcome thoughts from your mind. “You can be quiet now.” You snapped.

With that, you got out of the car and stretched your arms into the air, groaning. Blood rushed back into your butt and legs and stung the muscles there, but actually being able to move around felt amazing. Gravel crunched as Bucky got out as well and started off towards the bar. As he walked by, his vibranium hand shot out to smack your ass, sending you a good few inches into the air in fright.

“Ow, asshole,” you said. It hadn’t actually hurt. Instead, it had sent blood to...other parts of yourself, and you ducked your head to conceal the blush forming on your cheeks. You hurried to catch up with Bucky, but not before stealing a glance at his backside. You had no idea what people were talking about; Steve had nothing on Bucky in terms of ass. That thing was tight.

The bar was dim, crowded with people of all ages. College kids, thirty-somethings who just needed a night off, and even older patrons looking to relive their hay days. Bucky looked around and spotted a few empty stools at the counter, which you two made a beeline for before they were taken. Here came the part that was more art than science; getting tipsy enough to realistically lose at pool, but staying sober enough to crush someone when the time came.

Bucky screwed up his face in a frown as you waved down the bartender. Of course, the supersolider serum prevented him from getting any sort of buzz without spending an unreasonable amount of money. You snickered to yourself when you realized that he was going to have to play designated driver.

After a brief moment of consideration, you ordered a long island iced tea, while Bucky stuck with water. When your drink arrived in front of you, you nearly salivated with anticipation. “Don’t bust a nut over there, it’s just a drink,” Bucky said.

“Who the hell taught you that?” You were pretty sure that phrase hadn’t been around in the 40s.

“Memes, mostly.”

Oh, my god. Shaking your head, you grabbed your glass and tipped it back. The cool liquid felt like heaven running across your tongue, and you took a far longer sip than you probably needed to. The effects were immediate; despite it’s cold temperature, the alcohol felt like fire making its way into your stomach. A content sigh left your lips. You were already feeling more relaxed just from holding the damn cup.

“Hurry up,” Bucky urged. “We don’t have all night.” He was glancing over his shoulder, paranoid that your cover would be blown. Well, more his cover than yours. You weren’t really an Avenger, and his face had been on the news more times than you could count. Someone recognizing him could really throw a wrench in your plans.

“Alright, alright,” you relented and did your best to chug the drink. It went down smoothly, and when you were done you belched loudly and wiped at your mouth with the back of your hand.

“Very lady-like,” Bucky said.

You chose not to respond to that one. Instead, you set your sights on a few dude-bros in the back corner of the bar, gathered around a table and were very obviously decently intoxicated. “Wait here,” you told Bucky. “I’m about to get us a place to stay.”

You sauntered up to the table with the best pouty look you could muster, giving the guys a slight smile when they eyed you up and down hungrily. “My boyfriend over there won’t play pool with me, any of you boys up for a round?” 

The guy who seemed to be the ringleader stepped forward and gave you a drunken grin. “Well, that’s no way to treat your girl.” He was slurring his words, but you had to admit that the Tennessee accent was really doing something for you. “I’m Matthew.” 

You batted your eyes and tried to suppress a gag as the smell of cheap beer wafted from his breath. “Nice to meet you, Matthew.” You could tell the exact moment that you had him hooked: his eyes dropped to your skin tight pants and drifted up to your shirt, not even trying to hide his staring. Hook, line, and sinker. We got him, boys.

The first game went just as planned. Matthew insisted that he be on your team, and the two of you played doubles against his other two friends. You could feel the effects of chugging your drink quite heavily, and leaned into the tipsy feeling in order to really sell your act. And the flirting you were doing was absolutely shameless. With every pocket you missed, you would pout and lean up against Matthew, whining, “I’m sorry, those pretty green eyes of yours distracted me.”

That wasn’t the real reason you were distracted, though. Despite not even sparing him a glance, you could feel Bucky’s stare boring into your back like a cattle prod. You were positive that he had that brooding look on his face, and could barely hide a giggle every time you thought about it. Maybe it was just the alcohol, but the mental image of him sitting there glowering at you like an overprotective boyfriend sent chills of excitement down your spine.

Matthew insisted on buying you a drink, and after failing to think of a decent enough excuse, you relented. Two drinks on a mostly empty stomach wasn’t your finest idea, but you’d definitely made worse decisions. By the time game three rolled around, you were unsteady on your feet and had the boys convinced that you were some dumb college girl that spent more time holding makeup brushes than pool sticks. 

Seeing your opportunity, you took it without hesitation. “Matt, I bet you, um.” You paused, pretending to think for a moment. “I bet you twenty bucks that I can beat you!” 

Matthew raised a doubtful eyebrow at you. “Are you sure, honey?” 

You repressed a gag at the pet name. “Positive.”

With a wolfish smile to his friends, Matthew waved them off. “If you say so.”

You lost spectacularly. It wasn’t hard, given that the floor kept tilting back and forth like a carnival ride. Still, your confidence hadn’t faltered. Drunk pool was a cakewalk compared to taking down Hydra agents; you could do it in your sleep. “Come on,” you insisted with a pouty look on your face. “Double or nothing.”

Matthew threw a heavy arm around your shoulder while you cringed ever so slightly. “Nah, I feel bad sweeping you like that. I got some other ideas on what we could do, though.” The hungry twinkle in his eye made you sick, but you grinned through the nausea.

“How about triple or nothing? If you win, I’ll let you take me home.” The words tasted sour rolling off of your tongue, and you swore that you felt Bucky cussing you from across the bar. You paid it no mind, there was no way he could hear you over the music from where he was sitting. 

The look in Matthew’s eyes grew stronger. “You sure know how to persuade a guy,” he drawled, racking up the balls for another round. Oh, he was going to be so pissed.

As the eight ball sank into the pocket, you let out an excited cheer, jumping around like a wasted sorority girl. “I can’t believe it, I won,” you squealed. 

“What the hell,” Matthew said, rubbing at the back of his neck in embarrassment. “You got lucky.”

“I guess so,” you replied. “That was fun, I think I’m getting the hang of this!” You were laying it on thick, but your gut told you that Matthew had a thing for dumb chicks. You needed to play to his weaknesses if you wanted to seal the deal. 

Grumbling something about ‘beginners luck,’ Matthew dug into his pocket for a few crumpled twenties. You couldn’t help but smirk when he handed them over. “One more time? Taking me home is still on the table,” you said.

Matthew pressed his lips together and cast a glance towards his friends, who had long since forgotten about him. You knew how college guys worked; they’d give him hell if he left this bar alone tonight, especially after ditching them to hang out with some random girl. “You’re on,” he finally said. “We’re keeping the stakes at sixty. I want my money back, too, when I crush you.”

“Okay,” you said, pretending to be disappointed. He was making this too easy. 

Of course, things went exactly as you expected. You purposefully botched a few shots, just in case Matthew was getting suspicious. It did wonders for his confidence, which made it all the sweeter when you finally pulled the winning strike out of thin air. You played the dumb, drunk girl act again, pretending to be more surprised than Matthew that you had actually won. 

“I win again,” you said, giggling. “I think somebody owes me something.”

Matthew frowned at you and shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t think so. How about we just call it a draw?”

This was not part of your scheme. But, you were no stranger to people resisting once they suspected they’d been conned. “But I won fair and square.” You let your excited expression drop into something more distraught. 

“Sweetie, how about I just pay you back in something a little more fun than cash.” Matthew took a step toward you, reaching his hand out to stroke your arm.

You let him do it. “Aw, please? Don’t be a sore loser.” There was no way you were letting this money go. Truthfully, you were getting a bit greedy, but sixty bucks wouldn’t get you very far in Nashville. The prospect of doubling that was too sweet to turn down.

“The only sore thing is going to be you when I’m finished with you.” Oh, that took a turn. All pretenses dropped as Matthew’s hand fell away from your arm, only to reach around and grab a handful of your ass. Fury reared up in your stomach; that was way too far.

Your hand clenched into a fist at your side, and you were just about to sock this douchebag in the jaw when a metal hand shot out from behind you and clenched around Matthew’s wrist. He yelped in pain and tried to twist away, but Bucky stepped closer to him. Bucky towered over this kid, painting the perfect picture of predator and prey. Your mouth went dry as you imagined Bucky in his Winter Soldier days, instilling fear into his targets as they realized they were no match for this brick wall of a man.

Vibranium creaked as Bucky’s grip tightened, and you swore you heard bones crack. “Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to touch things that aren’t yours?” Bucky said, voice low and menacing. You looked past him to see Matthew’s friends, staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed as their buddy writhed in pain. You half-expected them to run to his aid, but weren’t surprised when they opted not to intervene. Pretty much the entire bar was staring now. A few people had phones out, and you cursed under your breath. So much for not blowing your cover.

“Bucky,” you hissed. His icy blue gaze was still pinning Matthew in place, who had taken to begging for his life. You fought an eye roll; guess he wasn’t as tough as he acted. Despite your satisfaction at Matthew’s blubbering, this needed to end. You took hold of Bucky’s flesh arm and gave one strong tug. He didn’t budge. “Jesus, you fucking statue,” you exclaimed. “Will you unclench so we can get the hell out of here?”

“Not until he apologizes.”

Oh, for the love of god. You didn’t come to this bar to be caught in the middle of some weird alpha male bullshit. “I don’t care, let it go,” you demanded.

To your surprise, Matthew obeyed Bucky without a second thought. “I’m sorry,” he wailed, going limp in Bucky’s grasp. “I was just being an asshole, I won’t touch your girlfriend again.”

You began to protest that you weren’t his girlfriend, but Bucky released Matthew before you could get the words out. He cast a glance at the many bar patrons who had gotten most of the confrontation on video, and ducked his head before storming out of the bar. You were quick to scurry behind him, the bet money long forgotten. As sirens began to start up in the distance, you briefly mourned the prospect of getting a hotel anytime soon. No, you definitely needed to skip town before this blew up in your faces.

Leave it to testosterone to fuck things up.

[dawntheduckrb]

Continuing on:

There was a pair of ducks that showed up in the pool in the morning. They're friends 🥹🥹

I didn't get it, but I saw this at a small place we went to and I thought the concept was adorable (the cute little demonstration pictures on the side omg🥹)

Hopped a ride onto a public tram to get to some kind of tourist plaza. It was kind of like a Margaritaville type place, I think? They had a Ferris wheel and we really wanted to try it out

:O also there was a cockatoo

Went out to eat one last time, ate too much though

Got all fancied up to catch a movie, we watched the Spiderverse movie which was really really good, but I'm sure you've heard that already (the tickets were only $6 which is insane because they're always double the price where I live). That was the last thing we planned on doing, and we were hella tired by time the movie was over so we just went back to the hotel and went to bed. Coziest sleep I've ever had :)

The ducks showed up again the next morning, which leads me to believe that they do this every morning. I hope that the chlorine doesn't like, deteriorate their coat or something, but otherwise that's so cute 🥹

We went home the next day, and then immediately prepared to leave the next day. It was my gramma's birthday and we planned a surprise party for her. My mom and all of her siblings planned to pull up to her driveway simultaneously, which meant a bit of extra traveling since we all live dispersed between four different states (Tennessee, where I live, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, where my gramma is at)

My sister's bf wanted to go with us, which meant we had to take two cars, which meant I had to drive this time around, so I spent the larger portion of the day just resting.

I fell asleep before I plugged in my phone the night before which meant I didn't have a lot of battery for pictures, but we did stop in a city called Metropolis whose whole schtick is being the Superman City, and they had a huge statue of him in their town square. Thankfully I had enough battery at the end of the day to snag a few pictures

We got to pass through Nashville at night on the way home, which is always really pretty. I wish I could visit there more often

Dw I wasn't driving, I had temporally traded off my keys. Sorry I couldn't get a better picture though :')

And that's that :D there's more pictures still but I'm hungry so I'll leave it at that and try to get back to my regularly planned art

:O I worked so hard to get these pictures and somehow completely forgot to post them.

My family went on a trip recently to the Smokies :D we planned on going to an amusement park around there, but unfortunately it was nearly pouring rain every single day we went. We've already made plans to reschedule our original idea, but we had already rented a cabin for three days and we weren't just gonna let that go to waste soooo we decided to just find something else to do there.

I took a bit over 200 pictures so I can't post them all, buuut...

We had an extra passenger with us the whole way

It was hilarious watching my family's indifference to him slowly warp into "hey wait you need to get your teddy bear in the picture hold on"

[woodsteingirl]

okay here’s the much awaited (at least for me) first chapter of my multi chapter fic, where we go from here! it will be below the cut but i’m also uploading it to ao3 here

It was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill ghoul hunt. They’d be back in a day at most. But it had been more than a day and Jack was getting worried. Normally he wouldn't be this on edge, but Sam was off the grid with Eileen and wouldn't be in range for a few days. Dean and Cas had gone to Tennessee three days ago to deal with a call from a concerned local authority who got their number after another hunter had stopped by the town to deal with a vampire nest. They’d promised Jack they would call him if they really needed him, but they hadn't been picking up his calls or listening to any of his voicemails. So he did the only thing someone with the innermost thoughts of a four-year-old would. He contacted the first person he could think of that Dean and Cas cared about, minus Sam.

Claire was doing the normal thing to be doing at one in the morning on a Tuesday. Sleeping. She was understandably alarmed when someone knocked on the door at that hour. She opened the door, marine-grade knife in hand (a birthday present from Dean), to a kid no older than herself.

“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing at my house at two in the morning,” she questioned.

“Hi! I’m Jack.” He raised his hand and did a little wave.

“Okay, Jack, still doesn’t explain why you’re here.”

“I’m sort of your little brother? Did Dean and Cas not tell you?”

Dean and Cas? Huh. They had mentioned a kid, but she had expected a toddler not a teenage boy. “The god kid?”

“Yeah!”

“Huh. Okay then, so why aren’t you with Dean and Cas right now? They kick you out or something?”

“No, they’ve been on a hunting trip. They haven’t been home or answered any of my calls in a few days,” he shifted his weight from one leg to the other, “I came here to see if you’d help me look for them.”

Claire could see how worried the kid was and if anything she was no stranger to absent parents and she’d stop anyone going through that if she could. Plus it’s not like she had anything better to do these days.

“Okay but you have to let me get the rest of my night’s sleep. I’ll pack a bag and we’ll hit the road tomorrow morning.”

Jack was pretty much beaming at her now, it was evident that he looked up to Claire from what Dean and Cas had told him about her. Kaia, who he regularly talked to, also told him a lot about Claire. She was like the sibling he never had!

Claire already had a bag packed. It was her ‘drop everything, something bad has happened and I need to haul ass’ bag, so far she hadn’t had to use it aside from one time she just didn’t feel like packing a real bag. She didn’t think she ever would have to, but here she was. The stakes of the whole ordeal hadn’t set in her mind until now. If they didn’t find them or get there in time, Dean and Cas could be dead. They could be dead right now. She put those thoughts out of her mind, in favor of the more optimistic outlook of Jack’s probably just paranoid. She still couldn’t sleep very well that night.

Jack was still sitting on the couch in the living room. Claire still lived with Jody and the other girls so he couldn’t do much else without waking someone up. He eventually fell asleep on the couch. He woke up when Claire came into the room.

“You ready to go or what?” She asked.

“Yeah yeah im ready,” he mumbled back, still half asleep.

“Do you want me to drive?” Claire asked.

“I don’t have a car,” Jack said, with a look like it was the most obvious thing in the world that he wouldn’t have a car.

“How the hell did you get here then?”

“I can teleport.”

“I guess I’m driving then.”

Claire put her bag in the back seat and Jack took the passenger seat of Claire’s old Subaru. And they were off.

“So where are we going”

“Dean said they were going to Tennessee for a ghoul hunt. Someone in a small town called them, I’m not sure what town though.”

“Well, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, then.”

They did have a lot of ground to cover. The seventeen-hour drive from South Dakota to Tennessee was a lot in and of itself, but to try and find Dean and Cas without having a clue where to look was another story.

“Do you want to look in the news for somewhere to start?” Claire asked, not looking away from the road. “Maybe if you found something in our lane we could take care of that and see if they knew anything about Dean and Cas.”

“Good idea.” Jack seemed to be happy just being out of the bunker and having something to do. He pulled out his phone to look at any news, he looked at all the major cities first. There weren’t that many. Nothing in Nashville or Knoxville.

“Heres something! A public works director in Chattanooga ran over the city treasurer with a car.”

“That just sounds like regular murder. Probably for money or something, maybe they wanted the position.”

“Yeah but there have been an increasing number of murder cases there, way more than normal, all in the past two weeks. It’s worth a shot, isn’t it? If it’s not our thing then we can just move on.”

“Chattanooga here we come, I guess,” Claire said. It wasn’t exactly the place she had thought of when thinking of the trip, she’d imagined a lot more action and less investigating a murder in Tennessee. But hey, it’s not for her sake. If it gets Dean and Cas back safe it’s worth it in her eyes.

About another hour passed in relative silence. It was going to get awkward if they were like this for another 12 hours.

“So do you listen to music?” Claire asked, just to break the silence.

“Yeah, I do. Mostly whatever Dean listens to.”

“Well do you want to play something?”

“Sure!” He seemed oddly excited about something as ordinary as picking the music, but he mostly rode in the car with Dean which means other people seldom got their say in what they listened to. Claire’s car had an aux cable which was also more than one could say about Baby. Jack really didn’t listen to much, he would listen to Disney soundtracks on occasion, but those are a sort of ‘listen to it once then it gets annoying’ thing.

“What are your thoughts on lo-fi hip hop beats to chill/study/sleep to,” Jack asked in a way that didn’t really sound like a question.

“There is really nothing else you can think of. In your super powerful angel kid brain, all you can think of is lo-fi beats to chill/study/sleep to.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

Truth be told Claire would rather listen to anything but lo-fi beats at the moment, but when put on the spot like that it’s hard to come up with an idea.

“We could just take turns playing songs for a while.”

It was a flat stretch of land for a good amount of miles up ahead so Claire didn’t need to focus so much energy on watching the road.

They went back and forth, Jack played Rainbow Connection from the Muppets and Claire played Celebrity Skin by Hole, so on and so forth. They went on like this for a while, Jack really liked Abba apparently. They eventually agreed on one of the premade “road trip” playlists on spotify. It was mostly dad rock.

“You still need to eat and stuff, right?”

“Yes, I may be part angel but I still have human DNA and organs.”

“Do you want to stop soon? It might be nice to stay overnight somewhere and just get there in the afternoon.”

“Sure. Saint Lewis isn’t too far away from here.”

They stopped at a shitty fast food restaurant and then went to try and find a motel. Instead of stopping directly in Saint Lewis, they decided to go nearer to Mark Twain National Park, as they figured they would find better luck finding somewhere available without a reservation. And they did. A shabby-looking motel almost directly off the one-lane road. They headed inside and sure enough, there were more than enough rooms. It was by no means the most pleasant place either of them had stayed, but it would do for the night. They’d be out early tomorrow morning. They checked in, the woman working at the desk couldn’t have been more than in her early twenties, which wasn’t what you would think of when you walked in, but they’d seen more suspicious things. Claire dumped her bag at the end of the bed closest to the door.

[iwanthermidnightz]

*As usual, below I’m sharing excerpts from this article that are noteworthy*

What may come as a surprise to the band’s fans is the news that T.J., 36, is gay. This isn’t a recent revelation for him; he’s known since he was young, and he’s been out to family and friends in his tight-knit Nashville community for years. In some respects, he says, coming out publicly is no big deal. “I’m very comfortable being gay,” he says later, in a quiet room at the office of his management company. “I find myself being guarded for not wanting to talk about something that I personally don’t have a problem with. That feels so strange.”

But his reservations are understandable, given that country music remains a bastion of mainstream conservatism in American arts and culture. If liberal Hollywood is notorious for pushing a progressive agenda, country has historically been its counterpoint—a safe haven for traditional “family values.” Never mind that many country artists, like Nashville as a city, lean blue: They know that their primary market, like the state of Tennessee itself, skews red. The country music business is lucrative, generating $5.5 billion to Nashville’s economy alone, according to RIAA; if artists speak out, they run the risk of alienating listeners, particularly in an era when even anodyne statements of support for a cause can be misconstrued. The tale of the Chicks, formerly the Dixie Chicks, who were exiled after criticizing the Iraq War, looms large over country music. Taylor Swift even cited the band’s ouster as a reason she remained publicly apolitical for so long: “You’re always one comment away from being done,” she told Variety in a 2020 interview.

With this news, T.J. becomes the only openly gay artist signed to a major country label—a historic moment for the genre. He’s had predecessors, of course: Other openly queer artists, from Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile to masked cowboy Orville Peck to viral hitmaker Lil Nas X, have found success by integrating country influences into their genre-defying music, and country artists including Chely Wright and Billy Gilman have passionate fanbases. But T.J. may be the first to come out with his feet so firmly planted in both the sound and machinery of mainstream country, in the full bloom of his career.

He is worried that coming out will look opportunistic, or attention-seeking. “People will ask, ‘Why does this even need to be talked about?’ and personally, I agree with that,” he says. “But for me to show up at an awards show with a man would be jaw-dropping to people. It wouldn’t be like, ‘Oh, cool!”

What happens next remains to be seen. “I don���t think I’m going to get run off the stage in Chicago,” he says. “But in a rural town playing a county fair? I’m curious how this will go.” The professional risks he’s taking in coming out feel worth it, both for his own happiness and because, well, it’s time. Country music is about storytelling, and that means T.J.’s identity is inextricable from his music. Maybe, T.J. says, country isn’t the most popular genre among gay people. “But is that just because they’ve never had the opportunity to relate to it?”

But being closeted was painful. “It was so lonely and isolating,” T.J. says. “It made me resent people.” A first heartbreak in his early twenties crushed him all the more because he felt like he couldn’t tell anyone. “I was mad that no one knew why I was hurting,” he says. He channeled that anguish into his music. One song he wrote about that relationship, called “21 Summer,” has become a fan favorite, and you can see why: It’s a big, nostalgic singalong with lyrics about cutoff jeans and hair blowing in the breeze. It’s still tender for him—not just heartbreak, but how alone he was going through it. “There are so many times I’ve sung that song and wanted to cry,” he says. “People love that song, but the emotion of it is deeper than they even realize.”

As Brothers Osborne’s career grew, they made gestures toward inclusion, starting with the video for single “Stay a Little Longer,” which featured gay and interracial couples. For the most part, the response was overwhelmingly positive. “And then,” T.J. says, “there were people who were like, ‘Faggot lovers!’” This kind of reaction was especially discouraging for T.J., even amid the affirmation he had received from his family and friends. But staying publicly closeted was suffocating too—not only for him, but for the guys he dated. “Saying, ‘Hey, don’t hold my hand. Someone I know is in here, so can you wait in the car?’” he says. “Rightfully, they would feel unwanted by me.”

The months spent in lockdown due to the pandemic forced some introspection, and he realized the perfect moment to come out would never arrive; he had to create it for himself. “I want to get to the height of my career being completely who I am,” he says, then stops. “I mean, I am who I am, but I’ve kept a part of me muted, and it’s been stifling.”

But there’s also a chance that T.J.’s openness will widen the field for new fans to feel welcome. “Others will now feel invited to the country music party for the first time,” says T.J.’s close friend Kacey Musgraves, the singer-songwriter whose progressive-minded storytelling has helped earn her a mainstream fanbase. “Country music deserves a future even more honest than its past.”

When Ellen DeGeneres came out on the cover of this magazine in 1997, it was shocking to many—both the act of coming out, and how visible she made herself with it. Now, the tides have turned toward quieter declarations of identity, particularly as young people embrace more fluid expressions of sexuality and gender. For high-profile people, a high-profile coming-out has mostly fallen out of favor; a public figure might be as likely now to mention their queerness offhandedly on social media as they are to make a formal announcement. It’s a way of both controlling the message, and also, maybe, of minimizing it.

Even amid calls for greater inclusion, the homogeneity of the top artists in the genre is still striking. “Any steps that have been taken have been purposefully kept small enough to not ruffle feathers at country radio,” says Musgraves.

So I ask T.J. a question, which is: What if there is nothing to move on from? What if being gay is a gift, and your gayness is not something to be tolerated but something to be celebrated, and even if untangling the shame and confusion of growing up gay in a straight world takes a long time, it’s worth doing so you can use your voice, not only to sing songs about cutoff jeans and hair blowing in the breeze but to say, clearly and unapologetically, that this is who you are? What if there are a lot of gay boys in small towns who haven’t figured it out yet and feel overwhelmed by snarky TV sidekicks and glittery pop stars bellowing self-empowerment anthems, and what if those gay boys in small towns got to have an avatar of their own—if they knew that someone like them was singing that song about cutoff jeans and hair blowing in the breeze on the radio? Isn’t that why we spend so much time talking about representation, because as much as it’s a burden, it’s also the only antidote to the loneliness of being different? And—not to tell him how to feel, which is, of course, exactly what I’m doing—but isn’t this occasion, of owning who he is in a place where some people might prefer he didn’t exist, something to embrace instead of something to endure?