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Realistic or Modern Sweet Tea & Kisses
- Thread starter DisneyGirl
- Start date
Sasil
May the Dread Wolf take you.
Nicknames: Theo, Ted
Age: 18
Backstory:
Theodore has a classy name. Something a upper class gentlemen would have or perhaps a butler. It fits in two worlds. The hard working middle citizen and the upperclassmen that drinks tee and eats crumpets. That is how Theo would explain his life.
Theo's mom is country girl. Sarah was born and raised in Huckleberry Creek she grew up helping her parents on a farm filled with cattle, sheep and horses. While it was mostly a ranch, they grew a lot of vegetables and hay for the animals. Her family ran it together and she was expected to do the same thing. that was until Theo's father came around. A businessman that sweeped her off her feet said the sweet nothings and knocked her up. After a lot of arguments with her family she left on bad terms.
It never got better Sarah and Jace got married after Theo's older brother was born. It wasn't a good marriage, one that seemed to be only to keep the family together because a baby was involved. Sarah always felt like she left her family, her past behind her. She wanted to return back to her roots, where she belonged to help her parents with the life that they had.
It never happened though and soon she had Theo two years later and they grew up with an annoyed dad who hardly was ever in his life and a mother who tried her best to raise her two children the best she could. Theo's life was filled with headphones and and video games finding peace in the made up world of video games. A place where he was in charge and the screaming never took over his life. His brother Tyler was a lot like his mother and took to being the helpful one. The days where arguing with dad about everything. More of a reason for Theo to not get involved.
Soon at the age of 11 Sarah had enough. She left, without a word without a sound. The three of the men woke up to a note explaining that she was done trying to be who she wasn't and she moved back to her hometown. Theo's dad wasn't devastated but he did find it an inconvenience to have to raise two sons on his own. But that didn't change much, Tyler followed his mother not a year later begging to be with him instead of with their father.
Theo never had the chance to follow after his older brother though he might have if it wasn't for his dislike for his mother and her ability to just abandon him without a second thought.
Theo found himself on his own a lot, his dad working long hours and going out on dates celebrating his new found freedom.
He tried not to think to much about his mother to much, he went to high school. Start college right away. He started to get his engineering ticket but before long a letter in the mail, more of an invitation ruined everything. An invitation to a wedding, Tyler's in the middle of dick all. Asking him to be the best man. How the hell did he get the balls to ask him when they hadn't spoken in at least 5 years?
Well, he didn't get back to him actually throwing the invitation into the garbage, going about his daily life preparing for the Summer.
It was then he got the call he was dreading, hoping desperately that he wouldn't call.
'What the hell do you want." Theo said angerly, no hello nothing. He left him with his dad, not even offering to come with him. Maybe he wanted a different life. Nothing.
"That really the way to talk to yer older brother?" Awkward chuckle. Theo guessed he was running a hand through his sandy brown hair, his sigh was a clear indication for the awkward conversation that was to follow.
"When the older brother in question left without much of a word, says Merry Christmas five years ago then fucking sends a wedding invitation. Yeah, I think there may be a better word but I won't give you the satisfaction of it." Theo growled clutching the phone desperately in his hand. "What do you want Tyler, I have to catch the bus."
"Look, I just..I didn't get you response and I was hoping it was because of it being lost in the mail or something. Clearly that isn't the case. Look I really want you here. We need to get reconnect, we are brothers. You'd like Natasha. She's sweet, book smart like you." Tyler explained. Theo said nothing. "I want my little brother at my wedding. Its a whole town affair, you'll like here. Believe me it's got beautiful scenery, gorgeous women--or guys whatever you are into." He awkwardly laughed Theo rolled his eyes.
"I like girls Tyler."
"Hey it's been five years, what do I know?" he laughed again.
"Nothing apparently."
Silence between the two of them, why did Theo just hang up.
"You could stay for a bit, the farm life is pretty good. Mom has a little farm. Cows, horses a vegetable garden. It's relaxing might be good for you." Tyler finally broke the silence but it did nothing but ignite his anger.
"Why the hell would I care about moms farm? She left me here. With our God awful father. I just finally got away from one parents why would I go back?" He was yelling now on the bus but ignored the looks from the other passengers.
"Because I need you. Mom's sick, shes bed ridden, unable to do anything. This farm is her life. After I'mm married though I have to leave for a year. I can't help her, I can't take are of her. You're her son, I'm begging you Theo. Stop being a selfish prick and do something else for the family. I tried to get in contact with you. You're the one who won't let go." He was growling back, in a way it felt good to be yelled at by an older figure. A brother but Theo wasn't wanting it.
"No, I'll come to the wedding but that's it. I have school Tyler, I'm going to make something of myself I can't just throw that away. Mom didn't care about me why should I care about her?"
"She never went a day without regretting not taking you with her. She's made mistakes. I've made mistakes. You have made mistakes. Should she loose everything because of something from the past?" Tyler softly spoke, his voice was a whisper know. He knew he was losing this conversation, this argument.
There was silence again.
Theo went over everything in his head. He didn't want to be that son. But he was angry, hurt still. He didn't want to help. But he was better then this wasn't he? But his schooling-everything. He swallowed. He didn't have the money for school, he could pay of some loans perhaps this would work.
But living in the country?
He knew next to nothing about that kind of living.
Not to mention he was deadly afraid of all animals that could trample him.
"I hate the outdoors." Was all he said finally getting off the bus.
"Is that a yes?" The hope in Tylers voice had Theo feeling a little powerful, but he was a good guy. Could he really be that asshole? He really wished he could be that asshole.
"Fine. But you better be paying me."
"Hell yeah. Not a lot but something, You are doing me a huge favor Theo. I owe you one. I'll give you the details more when you come down next week for the wedding. Bring anything you need. I can't wait to see you little bro." Tyler was happy. DId Theo really need to feel obligated to help his brother? He should be. What the hell was he thinking.
"yeah, let's just hope I don't change my mind." he grumbled.
"You can't mans oath. You said you would and I'm holding you to it. See you soon, I'm looking foreword to it." Tyler finally said then the line went dead before Theo had any chance to change his mind.
"What the hell is wrong with me."
Personality:
Adaptive || Clever/Intelligent || Independent || Proud || Clumsy || Argumentative || Paranoid || Low self-esteem
Theo is a happy kid, he smiles and tries to care about what others are feeling. An overall kind of guy you could like even if he is the geeky guy you only really talk to when you need help with your homework or when something is wrong with your phone, he will help if he can. In most cases he can, since he has read up on almost all of the latest gadgets phones. While he will help he will judge you a bit on your type of technology, and will call your things a piece of shit or garbage to your face. He can be a bit blunt when it comes to things that he knows more about then other
When he was a younger kid, he always tried to make friends and did things for people even when he didn't want too. He was a doormat, still is mostly. But that was because he would do anything to have a friend. Now he still does all those things but when people try and really be friends with him he keeps them at arms length. Tires to hide his hurt that he doesn't trust people, knowing full well that he isn't actually a friend just another body that they think they can use once again.
While he doesn't have many close friends it doesn't truly bother Theo to much to have time alone. He is an independent young man who thrives on solving problems on his computer or kicking back with a video game he can spend hours trying to master. He finds video games to be his escape from the chaos that is his life. He's good too, with his quick thinking most games he has beaten within a few days if he doesn't do his school work. A problem his parents are trying to get him to stop.
He's smart, but he can be lazy when its his education. He doesn't want to do what the teachers want him too and would rather do his own thing, even know he knows how. He aces the tests but assignments can be put under the table from time to time.
If Theo knows he is right he will make it well known. He doesn't back down and can argue a bit with a bit of spirit. Has gotten himself into trouble before. He has gotten into a fight. He lost. Got a nice blue eye because of his stubbornness.
Likes
Technology: Theo is one smart cookie. As a kid he found it amusing to go online and learn how to hack, he enjoys researching the best technological advances around the world and sometime tries to duplicate them in his own bedroom. He has had the highest end phone he could afford, adding stuff to make it preform better.
Video Games: If he owns the system, which lets face it he probably does, Theo has played it. He thrives on staying in his room for hours on end and besting his high scores on whatever game he gets his hot little hands on. He finds the games an escape when his parents would fight as a kid. He doesn't have a favorite game but he grew up with a Nintendo 64 playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time so he has a attachment to the game but rarely admits it to many people.
Coffee: He likes his fancy caramel latte with espresso--Don't judge him. He grew up in a large city where everyone would drink fancy drinks that no one could pronounce.
School: Loves to learn new things, and while school is the best place he knows very well that his room is just as good. And there he can wear whatever he wants.
Dislikes:
Bitter Coffee: Why would you drink something like that? Just seems like a waste of time.
Hard Physical Labor: Theo is a small, geeky guy that has the strength of a small mouse. While he has a powerful mind he neglected to work on his physical form. When it comes to having to go out and doing grunt work Theo will complain. After getting yelled at by his mom about such matters he worked hard at doing it under his breath. But he still hates it.
Fears Large Animals: As a young boy, Theo's mother brought him to a little fair that had cows, horses and bulls. Short story, he got bucked off a little pony and nearly trampled over. Now he has a fear of anything that he can't pick up in his arms. Actually, animals don't like him in general. They probably smell his fear more likely.
School: It's to easy most of the time not to mention a lot of people there. He likes to learn new things but hates that he has to do it to the terms of the teachers. He learns better on his own. Trial and error.
His Mom: She left him alone, not the best mom in the world. But know she has to pretend he likes her. Not the best idea.
Glasses: He hates his glasses a lot, always seems to loose them or forgetting them. A lot of the time they are on his head. He is pretty blind without them.
Face Claim: Lukas Ziegele
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Sasil
May the Dread Wolf take you.
Nickname: Gab, Gabby
Age: 22 1/2
Backstory:
The youngest of the Capursi's, Gabby was her mother's last attempt to have a girl. With two rowdy older brothers, ones who put all things on the line whenever they go out to party, drink or work, their mother wanted someone to follow after her.
Then Gabby was born and she could not be happier. The moment that Gabby could walk her mother put her in a little pink tutu. In the beginning it was the best thing. A princess. That was what Gabrielle was. A little princess and the world was pure, clean. Nothing could go wrong.
That was until it suddenly became aware to the people around them that Gabby had a gift. A talent that exceeded her peers. Grace, movement--the dances came naturally to her. Her feet knew the movements and her arms fluttered to the music. The essence of grace.
A dream appeared before them, before Gabby’s mother. She could see Gabby’s future. Fame, fortune; it was all going to come together. She just had to help her daughter exceed in the world of dance. Most importantly it could be something the two of them could do together. Mother and Daughter. The greatest gift.
But the pressure soon came, and the fun was stripped when she lost her first few tryouts. Didn't get the best roles--the work got harder, tougher. The fun was sucked and she wasn't able to keep in contact with her friends. Her parents meant well, they wanted a future for her--but they didn't realize that they would strip Gabby of her childhood. Her mother never knew the pressure she was playing on her daughter, what he been just for fun and bonding had become something her daughter started to dread every single day.
Gabby envied her brothers, they got to play in the dirt, have foul language and be who they wanted to be. Gabby didn't.
Soon Gabby started to resent her parents; her mother particularly for pressuring her into something that may have been a dream back when she was small, but perhaps wasn’t what she wanted in the future. Gabby wished to be a normal teenager, wished to be able to go out and hang with her friends, drink, socialize--have a boyfriend that wouldn’t get bombarded by her overprotective brothers.
She rebelled, or tried too. Silently she did. But soon silent rebellion became loud and blew up in her mother's face. It all came out, in a gush of words spoken without thought, just emotion. Tears, yelling. Both sides went at it like a cat fight to the death.
It hit the family hard, a car accident that took her from them forever. She had been coming home from a hard day at work, thinking about all that had been spoken between Gabby and herself. The anger, in her little girls sweet features. Had she caused this?
Her mother hung around only for a matter of hours. Gabby saw her. Frail, broken and bruised. In that moment Gabby blamed herself. Blamed her mother's death solely on what she said. The worst part was, all Gabby thought about that day was wanting to ask for forgiveness for what she said to her mother. Now she would never get that forgiveness.
‘I never want to see or hear you again. I wish I had a different mother!’
The last words ever spoken to her mother, in anger. It was her fault. Gabby knew it was.
After her mother's death, Gabby pushed her resentment towards her dancing down. It was her mother's dream to be a ballerina. But it was also to be close to her, the days they danced together the mistakes the happy moments. The laughs. It was a good life. She was a good mother.
She knew that know, and with her gone it was a way to feel close to her, like she never left. It was a way to try and make amends. It was more painful this way.
Her brothers went about normal life. They drank more but they never let anyone know how it hurt them either. They got jobs as construction workers, grunt men in the town. They worked on ranches and in the town. There father fell into despair but tried to hold it together.
After High school Gabby left the small town to go to school on a dancing scholarship that she had been working towards. With the passing of her mother, Gabby sometimes wondered if it was a pity win but like her father always said: ‘Never kick a gift horse in the butt.’ and took the money. But deep down, it felt like Gabby didn’t deserve it.
She’s dead because of you.
University is expensive and the scholarship she worked so hard to earn disappears within the second year thanks to an injury that leaves her unable to keep up with the other dancers. Her dream of a being a beautiful ballerina shattered into broken glass.
Much like the broken glass of her mother's car, and her broken heart.
From there it's a blur, Gabby remembers falling into a bad crowd doing things she’s not proud of: Drugs drinking too much anything to numb her pain. Becoming an exotic dancer hadn’t been what Gabby wanted in life. She hadn’t woken up one day, thinking to herself ‘Fuck let’s shake what my momma gave me’. No, it was a job. She was good at it, it didn’t hurt as much to dance. But at the same time, every time the lights appeared above her the pole between her legs, it killed her inside.
No. That wasn’t what she wanted. Hell if her brothers ever caught her. But she was in the city, who would know? So in a dark place, Gabby did just that. What she was good at, dancing.
For a year and a half she danced, clearly selling her soul to the people who ran the bars she worked at. At least though, one day after a fight broke out in a bar injuring her to the point of going to the hospital Gabby woke up.
It was time to leave, with a wedding of an old friend this was the best chance to leave.
With only the clothes and few bucks in her torn pants, Gabby hurried back to her small town moving into a small apartment before getting a job at the bar. There were whispers, but hopefully this could be a better start then what she had before.
Personality:
Creative || Honest || Quiet || Reserved || Oblivious to others feelings || Graceful || Hard Working || Obedient to a point but also rebellious
Quiet like a swan, graceful, elegant. That is the kind of person Gabrielle is around her parents. The perfect daughter with a future that will be just that: Perfect. She will have the future that they want for her. Nothing but good things. It will be hard, troubling but she will pursue and become the best Ballerina anyone has every seen.
She will make the family name proud.
The pressure to be perfect is like a heavy downpour of rain never ending and drowning her. But you will never hear Gabby complain. She works at her craft, she gets up, jogs for an hour every morning, goes to work out at her rehearsal gigs every Tuesday-Saturday and then off to her part time job as a waitress at the local bar. A job her parents do not approve of but it gets her the cash she needs and out of the house. Even though she is underage the place is pretty small, she doesn't normally serve alcohol unless they need the hands. (Happens more often then she ever tells her parents)
When her parents are not around Gabby likes to turn a different leaf, swears and can be a bit of a punk. She still is quiet but working in the business she does she needs to have a quick tongue and be ready for anything. She doesn't talk a lot but when she does people normally listen. It can be a snide remark or a word of advice. Working at a bar you have to be just that.
One day when she was in high school her parents had more of a stick up their butts then normal and Gabby went and did something even more crazy then normal. She got a tattoo, a small skull with a black cat on the back of her neck. She covers it up with make up every day so no one sees it--no agency would ever higher someone with a tattoo not in this business. But she got it and it was freeing.
Gabby can come off as kind of a grumpy person but really she likes to listen to people and think her answers over before speaking, she loves to have a good time with friends that she holds dear. People who worm there way into her heart have a way of become very important to her.
Likes
Dance: Dancing makes her feel powerful, in control. She can express all the feelings she is unable to tell others or have been bottling up deep inside through her movements. If you pay attention to her movements they are speaking what she feels. But dancing is also fun, gets her hyped and one of the only times she smiles of pure joy is when she is on the stage dancing her heart out.
Hip Hop Dancing: Unknowing to her parents, Gabby has been practicing her dancing in the more 'lewd' form. She enjoys the high energy that hip hop and contemporary dancing gives. Makes her sweet and express herself more then just Ballet. She loves Ballet, but sometimes wishes she could go after more then just that.
Cats: Loves cats, and cats love her. The grumpiest cat can mellow around her and when she is on her own she feeds the strays or farm cats in the town. Many people don't know this but she collects cat stuff. Anything cats, she will buy it.
Jogging: When she is unable to dance or practice, Gabby likes to go for a jog clear her mind with some tunes and the nature around her.
Herbal Tea: Nothing better then a morning drinking some tea.
Early Mornings: Unlike most teens, Gabby likes to get up early and watch the sun set. She used to hate it as a kid but after years of getting up and training it has been ingrained in her mind. Mornings are good.
Sunflowers: Her favorite flower and also her favorite colour.
Swearing: The expression on peoples face when she drops the 'fuck' into a conversation causally can make her insides warm and tingly.
Dislikes
Ballet: Gabby has a love/hate relationship with her ballerina gig. On one hand she loves it, its a graceful dance and with every small movement you can express so much. You must be strong but also elegant. But after years and years of trying to please her parents its almost to the point the fun has been taken away.
Loud People: People like her brothers, loud obnoxious and almost to blunt. Don't be fooled Gabby is the same way but she is more on the quiet side. She loves her brothers but they go out of there way to be the center of attention and make sure everyone knows that she is THEIR sister. Hands off fellows.
Country Music: Can't stand it finds herself shivering at just the sound of it, but thanks to living in a small town country is the music of the people. She suffers but won't listen to it.
Traveling: Makes her sick and she has to travel in the front seat otherwise she will throw up.
Face claim: Sasha Kichigina
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Little
lil trash-heaping goblin
Name: Jonathan Wesley Reed
Age: Nineteen
Backstory:
[ It was Mother’s Day and everyone else was making cards with flowers on them, and he was the only kid in class who wasn’t. And that’s when he understood that everyone else had something that he didn’t. ]
Clayton Reed hadn’t been looking for love when he first saw her. He’d given up on that a long time ago. He’d tried dating before─and he could only have his heart trampled and broken and crushed so many times before he began to believe that love just wasn’t something for him. He had the ranch, his friends, and himself to keep him company. Not a woman that would, in the end, steal his heart away just like the others had. So Clayton slept through the years following his vow to never let a woman break his heart like that anymore, to never let a woman break him. Never again, he had told himself. Little did he know that in the wake of that vow being broken, new vows would be forged and exchanged in the name of love─for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do them apart.
And death would do them apart.
But not before Clayton had the best years of his life behind his back, filled with memories of awkward dates and conversations under the starry night sky that would have his heart turning. Memories of the way she’d look at him, the skin around her eyes wrinkling as she laughed at something stupid he said─memories of them talking about the future like it was already theirs. Baby names and growing old together. That had been what they talked about, thought about─not the possibility that one of them wouldn’t be around five years after their marriage. Not the possibility that no one was safe from death’s grasp─not even them. They were young, dumb and happily married─death hadn’t been apart of their plan. Death had been the thing they would worry about when they were old and already had had their best years behind them with a few kids littered across the country, maybe a litter of grandkids that visited and reminded them of old times, too.
But none of that would happen, because no one was safe from death’s grasp.
Not even her.
By the time police had found the car wrapped around a tree, it had been too late. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Clayton had never been given the chance to say goodbye. She’d just been… gone. The last thing she’d said to him had been in a voicemail because he’d been too busy to answer, reminding him that she’d left the apple pie in the oven that he’d need to take out in a half an hour and that Jonathan needed to take a bath and be in bed before eight. She had told him that she’d see him in a few hours, just in time to eat the pie together. Even if they needed to reheat it just a bit.
But she hadn’t returned by a few hours, leaving Clayton to eat the pie by himself with a wailing three year old in his room, probably agitated that he was left alone in a dark room after his usual afternoon nap─probably wanting his mama and a bubble bath.
She had died while Clayton had been eating a slice of pie, now cold and soggy after waiting and waiting and waiting for her to come home, unknowing that she’d never come home again.
That had been the last time he’d ever eat pie. Or miss a phone call.
So Jonathan grew up without ever knowing about his mother, about the woman that had taken his father’s heart and locked it away─apparently burying the key with her in the wake of her death, never to be found again. Not even by little Jonathan who had been cuter than a button at three when it had all happened. No, Jonathan would never find the key to his father’s heart─no one would the way his mother apparently had. He didn’t have to know much about her to know that she’d been the one that had come along and turned his whole world upside down, and changed his heart for the better. Jonathan didn’t have to know much to know that after she passed, his father was never the same again.
They never talked about her. Just like Jonathan didn’t ask anything about her─the one time he had, his father locked himself away in his room for two days, only coming out to use the bathroom and grab something to eat─and Clayton didn’t so much as acknowledge that she had ever been alive. Something Jonathan would probably never understand, but just another thing he would silently accept. It was just something he would have to learn to live with, not knowing who his mother really had been, not knowing what a normal life, a normal family, was. He just knew that it had never been something for him─these were the cards he’d been dealt with. It would always be his burden, and his alone, to carry. That burden of having grown up and lived in a silent house for nineteen years, that burden of not knowing what a momma was, that burden of being alone and afraid at night when his father didn’t come home sometimes.
Jonathan never spent much time around kids his own age outside of school. Even in school, Jonathan found himself out of place, sitting from the sidelines at lunch as kids ran and played and laughed, living a life of luxury and ease─they had two parents to come home to every night, that showered hugs and kisses on them as they tucked them in bed, read them a story, and whispered sweet nothings as they shut their door behind them. Jonathan didn’t have any of that─he instead got to work on the farm all afternoon, listening to his father silently struggle trying to get the damned tractor started up again after the third time that month, too stubborn to ask for help but then too lonely to ask Jonathan to leave. So he never really connected with other kids the way he should have. He learned to keep to himself, and be the good boy teachers always distantly loved but never quite understood. Like he was too far away.
Always too far away.
Personality: Serious. Compassionate. Observant. Man of few words. Burdened. Carries an anger around with him. Does everything himself; doesn’t like to accept help. Hardworking. Very in control of himself. Emotionally steady─in the sense that he almost never loses control. Obedient. Doesn’t know how to think for himself─isn’t sure of who he is as an individual. Loyal. Honest. Doesn’t know what he wants, or who he is. Lost. Mysterious. Disappears from crowds often. Pushes things aside instead of dealing with them; bottles up emotions. Too willing to give pieces of himself away. Actively seeks approval and affection. Doesn’t really know how to connect with people. Keeps his head down. Realist.
Likes: Time to be alone, running, dogs, early mornings, fall, blues and classic rock, physical labor, getting his hands dirty.
Dislikes: Smartphones, belittling jokes/comments, talkative people, insensitivity, small talk, cats, kids.
Misc. Information:
- Isn’t sure if he believes in God; Jonathan just knows that if God does exist, God would want nothing to do with him.
- Is color blind.
- Befriended a stray dog that he sees on his way home from school everyday. Feeds it and hangs out with it for a while. Doesn’t take it home because he knows his father would kick it out.
- Jonathan is a bit of a technophobe since he never really grew up with a television or a phone (other than the landline his father still owns and uses). He’s embarrassed about it and won’t admit that he hates technology only because he lacks the knowledge to use it.
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Polaris.
Creator Of My Own Twisted World
Landon Jase “LJ” Keenan
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Polaris.
Creator Of My Own Twisted World
Allison 'Allie' Blair Presley
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DisneyGirl
it was fun, peace out.
MILDRED "MILLIE" MEDINA
Age: 23
Backstory:
1994: A fifteen year old girl, Isa Medina, gives birth to a baby girl in the backseat of her boyfriend's pick up truck in Summer Salt's parking lot at 2:03am in the middle of the pouring rain. That baby girl is Mildred, named after the sixty something year old waitress who helped bring her into the world when her father, Danny, was too busy stuffing his face with a cheeseburger to care about bringing his daughter into this messed up world. After being transfered to the hospital by ambulence and being given a clean bill of health, mother and baby are finally free to go home.
Daddy is nowhere to be found, but Millie's grandparents are.
1995: Despite being a mother, Isa Medina continues to live like a wild child and party her life away in order to get over the pain of the father of her child leaving her for Candice the captain of the cheer squad. She's more interested in getting wasted with a new boy every night than changing diapers and starts heading toward a path of alcoholism and drug addiction.
1996: Despite having an absent mother, Millie finds happiness with her grandmother and grandfather. She's too young to understand the teenage girl who comes home in the middle of the night drunk and screaming.
1997: Millie starts to understand that this teenage girl is her mother and craves, more than anything in the world, this crazy young girl's love. She does not receive this love.
1998: After crashing her car into a neighbor's house during a drunk night of cruising with a guy, Isa is sent to jail. When she gets out, her parents tell her to go rehab or get the hell out of the house. She goes to rehab and Millie cries herself to sleep every night.
1999: Isa gets kicked out of rehab after getting into a nasty fist fight with one of the other female patients and goes back to stay with her parents. She promises her parents she won't go back to her old ways, though, but she starts using again. For Millie's safety, Millie's grandparents kick Isa out of the house. Millie starts her first year of kindergarten where she meets Jonathan, Landon and Dylan.
2000: Isa comes back home to try and take Millie, but does not succeed. She loses custody of her daughter. Millie's grandparents are now her guardians. They welcome Isa to be a part of Millie's life and visit her anytime. Millie pines for her mother's love and lives for the days when mommy comes to visit with toys and other presents. It doesn't even matter to Millie that mommy brings a new boyfriend over every other month. But Millie does start to wonder where her father is and if any of these guys are him.
2001: Isa's visits are starting getting to be fewer and fewer, but Millie's friends are there to distract her from the pain. Millie starts wondering if the rumors are true: is the mayor's son, Danny Harrison, really her father?
2002: Millie's grandparents sign her up for the children's choir at church, where she discovers her love of singing and all things music. She develops her first real crush on Dylan, but it doesn't last for long because she soon realizes she likes Dylan better as a friend. Isa stops visiting Millie and goes to rehab again. Millie slowly starts to stop caring about Isa. Or she tries to, at least.
2003: Thanks to her Sunday School teacher, Miss Lovey, Millie discovers country music and falls in love. She starts teaching herself how to play guitar and write songs like her idols. She writes a lot of sad songs for a nine year old.
2004: Isa visits Millie again for the first time in two years and is now married…to Bill, a forty year old guy she met in rehab who already had a wife and kids before he left them for Isa. She tries to have a relationship with Millie again, but Millie wants nothing to do with her. Millie's grandparents, though not thrilled with their daughter's choices, convince Millie to give Isa another chance. Isa and her new husband end up going to jail again for DUI and drug possession.
2005: Millie starts realizing her feelings for Jonathan. Due to his distance, she keeps herself from expressing those feelings. She instead spends a lot of time writing songs about him. Isa divorces her husband. She goes to jail again, this time for shoplifting. She gets out. She goes back in jail that same week for buying drugs from an undercover cop.
2006: Millie continues to immerse herself in music…and boys. She gets her first kiss from a fifteen year old boy and continues to kiss more boys. She really wants to kiss Jonathan though. Isa has a new boyfriend. She met this one in jail. His name's Rick and he's an addict, too. Isa announces she's pregnant again, and is 45% sure that Rick is the father. Maybe. She and Rick get married in Vegas.
2007: Hayley is born and after becoming homeless, Isa dumps Hayley off at her parents' home. Millie starts helping her grandparents raise the baby while Danny, Millie's father, marries Candice the cheerleader he left Isa for all those years. The happy couple welcome their first child together, Cole, into the world.
2008: Millie forgets about Jonathan for a while and falls in love with Travis, a sixteen year old boy on the football team. Travis is the first boy Millie sleeps with. She writes gushy songs about him until she catches him in bed with another girl. She gets into a pretty violent fight with him and the other girl, then spends the rest of the year staying home crying and writing angry and sorrowful breakup songs.
2009: Millie continues to lead a pretty wild life until her boyfriend of the moment, Brian, gets behind the wheel intoxicated and gets into an accident that causes his car to not only flip over, but leave him and Millie in the hospital. She quits her wild lifestyle after that and focuses on helping raise Hayley. Danny and Candice welcome their twin daughters, Ashley and Ally, into the world. Danny also follows in his father's footsteps: he runs for town mayor and wins.
2010: As the rumors spread about Danny's past and make their way to Millie, Millie confronts her grandparents about who her father is. They confirm that the rumors are true. Danny is Millie's father. Millie goes to confront the father who left her all those years, but chickens out when a pregnant Candice answers.
2011: Danny and Candice bring yet another kid into the world and they name him Jason. Millie wonders if her father and his wife know what the hell birth control is. Millie faces her own pregnancy scare after hooking up with a stranger at a frat party, but it's a false alarm. After a bad fall, Grandpa has to retire from his truck driving job which means Millie becomes the breadwinner of the family. She gets three jobs and barely graduates high school.
2012: Millie skips college and has almost no time to even focus on her music because she's always working.
2013: Hayley is diagnosed with lupus. Millie has to work harder to help pay for the medical bills. Millie continues hooking up with random guys to distract her from her troubles. She starts getting a reputation of being a slut.
2014: Millie is exhausted and falling apart. She works day and night in order to care for her sick sister but it's no use. She tries to get a hold of Isa but Isa is nowhere to be found. Millie starts working at the Summer Salt and continues hooking up with random guys in order to escape her problems. People still think she's a slut and she figures they're probably right, but she doesn't have the time to be in a relationship when she has her family to take care of.
2015: Isa tries to come back into Millie and Hayley's life, claiming to be a clean and changed woman. Millie's heart soars with hope but after she catches Isa using drugs in the home, Millie realizes that nothing has changed and all her mother wanted was a place to stay. She kicks Isa out for Hayley's safety, and soon after, finds out that Hayley is going to need a kidney transplant. Seeing how hopeless Millie is, Millie's boss Jeffrey Salt gets her to open up to him about her problems and offers a solution: he'll help pay for the family expenses…if Millie starts sleeping with him. Desperate to take care of her grandparents and sick sister, Millie agrees. She also starts hooking up with Landon.
2016: Things start looking up for Millie and her family, but she's still sleeping with Jeffrey and hates having to hide it from his daughter, Summer, even if she is a bitch. She breaks down and confesses to Jonathan and Landon about it; and because she doesn't want to be that kind of person, she breaks things off with her boss and starts thinking she should quit singing in bars and go back to school to get a real career. She starts taking classes while still working odd jobs but has to drop out after landing in the hospital due to exhaustion. She's still hooking up with Landon.
2017: The worst year for Millie. Her health starts declining even more; she starts drinking as a way to cope with her shitty life, and she wonders if things are ever going to get better for her or if she'll remain broke and hungry for the rest of her life. She starts working as an assisant for a music store owner, making pretty good money; but gets arrested when she's caught (unknowingly) picking up drugs for him. She gets out of it, though.
2018: Out of financial desperation, Millie gives into Jeffrey and starts sleeping with him again but only when she's really in trouble and needs money for her family. She also finds herself developing feelings for Landon, but after all these years, she's still in love with her best friend Jonathan. Despite all the guys' she's been with, her heart beats just for him, and somehow, she believes that maybe just maybe they could be just what each other needs.
Damn you, love.
Personality:
Millie is a go-getter. No matter how rough the road may seem, or how confusing and hopeless life gets, if it's going to help her family then she will find a way out of no way even if it means it's gonna hurt her ego, her dignity. She's used to having a hard life; doesn't trust many to help her out, and won't stay knocked down for long.
She doesn't put up with crap either. Fuck with her and she may ignore you if you're lucky but fuck with anyone she loves and you better believe she'll mess up your face. She may go to bed with you if you're cute enough and she's extra lonely and stressed out that particular night, but that doesn't mean you get to treat her like trash either. As bad her temper can be sometimes, she knows which battles to fight and which to let go of. Usually.
Above it all, Millie just wants her family to be happy and taken care of. She is seriously starting to get tired of being broke as hell and wants life to get better but the bills just keep on piling up no matter how hard she works, no matter how much she sacrifices. The only thing that keeps her sane is channeling her emotions into her songs and letting country music be her escape. Music seems like a faraway dream for her, however. Just another fairytale that will never come true. At least not for her.
Likes:
|| Country music.
|| Songwriting.
|| Guitars.
|| Seeing her sister smile.
|| Long conversations with her grandma.
|| Boys.
|| Kissing strangers.
|| Sleeping around.
|| Drinking a cold beer by herself.
|| Cigs.
|| Partying.
|| Cussing like a sailor.
|| Eating like a trucker.
|| Getting into fist fights with anyone who messes with her loved ones.
Dislikes:
|| Autotuned music.
|| Salads.
|| High heels.
|| Older male customers at the diner who hit on her.
|| The idea of plastic surgery.
|| Most city people.
|| Social media and the gossip it starts.
|| People who chew with their mouths open.
|| Her mother.
DYLAN ELIAS ROGERS
Age: 23
Backstory:
1994: Pastor Mike Roger's beloved wife Ellie Rogers' water breaks in the middle of the Sunday morning sermon, causing quite the excitement and chaos. And twelve excruciating hours later, Dylan Rogers becomes the fourth child to be born to the sweetest family in town.
1995: Dylan is one of the lucky ones. Surrounded by love, he is the adored by his five year old twin brothers, Adam and Aaron, and three year old sister, Taylor. He's quite the celebrity of the town. Everyone even shows up to his 1st birthday party!
1996: Dylan starts talking, and he can talk a lot. His first words being "amen" and "hallelujah", although he pronounces the latter "haloola". Every time his father says any of these words during a Sunday morning sermon, Dylan will yell it out over and over again and the congregation thinks it's just the cutest thing ever.
1997: Dylan starts showing signs of becoming a preacher. He starts running around with a Bible, yelling, "Repent!" and "Glory to God!" like a mini Pastor Mike. His brothers and sister think he sounds like a stupid little parrot, but the rest of the congregation is convinced that Dylan is destined to becoming the next generation's pastor of the family church.
1998: ....and then Jessica Rogers is born and Dylan is no longer the apple of everybody's eye. Upset over his parents paying more attention to the little curly haired blonde baby more than him, he climbs into his new baby sister's crib and pees on her. Pastor Mike catches him and, after spanking his son, makes him repent and ask for forgiveness. "I'm sorry for peeing on my new baby sister, Jesus," are words that his older siblings' will never let him live down.
1999: Dylan and his siblings start going to public school after much prayer from his parents. They believe that, while going to a Christian school is certainly beneficial, going to a public school would be a great ministry training ground for their children. Dylan tries to convert the other kindergarteners to Christianity on his first day, but fails. On the bright side, he makes friends with Millie, Landon and Jonathan.
2000: Despite having three friends at school, Dylan doesn't have much success with the other kids. He randomly quotes Bible verses and asks kids if they want to be saved from the fiery pits of a hell, so he's a bit too awkward for most. Millie helps him navigate his way through school without getting beat up.
2001: Dylan starts calming down a bit and being less of an awkward Bible boy, but he still has a hard time fitting in and desperately wants to convert someone.
This is around the time he starts developing feelings for Millie.
2002: Dylan and Millie start singing in church choir together and get even closer. His feelings for her grow, as she starts develop feelings for him of her own. He tells his parents that when he grows up, he's going to marry Millie and make her a preacher's wife. He tells Millie this, too, and she tells him she doesn't want to be a preacher's wife and asks him if he's crazy. She tells him she prefers if they just stay friends and that's the end of that. Dylan gets another sister. His parents name her Ruth.
2003: Dylan starts to notice girls even more and has a new crush on another girl almost every other week. One week he'll be falling for the little girl next door to him; the next he'll be in love with his twenty year old Sunday school teacher and be bringing her a bouquet of roses that his dad bought for his mother.
2004: Another baby girl is born into the Rogers' family. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers name her Emmie. Dylan is starting to get sick of little sisters and wonders when he'll get a little brother.
2005: Dylan still has a hard time fitting in with other kids at school, but things start to turn around when his crush, Julie, invites him to her birthday party. He plays Seven Minutes In Heaven for the first time and ends up getting tricked into thinking that it's Julie who's in the pitch dark closet with him.
It's not; it's her family's pitbull, Monster, and things do not end well after Dylan goes in for the kiss.
After this humiliating event, Dylan goes to Bible camp for summer and comes back to find out that his mom is, yet again, pregnant.
2006: ...but that's cool, because he finally gets a baby brother and the family decides to name him Billy. Billy and Dylan start hanging out a lot, especially since Dylan and his friends start growing apart due to their social circles at school taking them down different paths.
2007: Dylan goes through some angsty teenage stuff and even goes through a sort of emo phase. His parents don't allow him to dye his hair black or wear any Hot Topic apparel but that doesn't stop him from listening to Christian screamo and refusing make any conversation at the dinner table. He's extremely lonely and it's killing him inside.
2008: Seeing how miserable their son is, Dylan's parents get him more involved in the church and encourage friendships with kids within the church. Dylan starts a Bible club at his school and finds his place in the social atmosphere of high school.
2009: Dylan starts getting bullied and badly. He gets beat up by the jocks, and Millie will stand up for him even though it's usually her boyfriend Brian who does most of the bullying. Millie still isn't able to stop Brian from flushing Dylan's head down the school toilets.
2010: Dylan tries to befriend Brian and invite him to church when he sees the jock injured, alone and depressed from his crazy car crash and Brian actually takes him up on the offer. The two boys start going to church together; Brian joins the Bible club and the guys become the best of friends...that is, until Brian gets better, gets his friends back and goes back to bullying Dylan.
2011: Dylan starts courting a girl from church. The relationship is totally awkward, though, because they are never allowed to kiss, hold hands (nor make any skin contact at all), and they only hang out at church and family events.
2012: Dylan decides to break up with his "girlfriend" only to find out that she's already dumped him for a boy she met at another church. Dylan shrugs it off and leaves for college.
2013: Dylan's been going to Bible college, but he's not really all that into it and starts wondering if he made the wrong choice.
2014: Dylan knows for sure that he's made the wrong career choice because his heart is not in preaching. But, because he's considered such a gifted preacher and because he wants to make his family proud, he continues his education.
2015: Dylan officially has his degree. He is also officially unemployed.
2016: After spending a year at home with his parents feeling hopeless and lost, he begins getting back into the one thing he loves: helping people. He does a volunteer work at church and will do errands and chores for his neighbors.
2017: Still unemployed, Dylan decides to give in and become a youth pastor at his family's church. He likes it well enough. During this time he starts "courting" girls again, but he just can't seem to find the girl for him.
2018: Life sucks for Dylan. He's not at all happy in the job he's in, and he's the only one out of his church friends who hasn't gotten married yet. Should he just become the church pastor, pick a wife already and be content with what he has like his father says to? Or Will Dylan ever find happiness and love if he just searches a little more? Is this the best his life is ever going to get?
Personality:
Dylan is a goody goody. The kind of guy every mother wants her daughter to marry someday. He's got manners and is polite to a fault. Always willing to help others out though it makes him a doormat. He seems to radiate love and positivity, smiling whether rain or sunshine. He's a source of inspiration and hope for many and very admired. He seems to have it all together.
But, he's incredibly insecure; he struggles with his faith a lot, and he feels like such an outsider. He doesn't want to be everyone's favorite Christian boy. He wants to be loved and accepted with his flaws and doubts and all, but being a preacher's kid makes that impossible it seems.
There's part of him that wants to rebel and break out of that perfection. Part of him that wants to be wild. Crazy. Have a beer or two and maybe---hell, maybe even date a girl his parents wouldn't set him up with for once nor even approve of. If he had the courage to, at least. But he's too much of a sweetheart, too much of an innocent who trusts everyone he meets and would never dream of hurting a fly. He's tired of being a goody goody, but could never be the type of person who didn't give a shit and just had fun for once in his life.
Until he meets Gabrielle.
Likes:
|| Church.
|| Singing to the Lord.
|| Southern food.
|| Going to the movies.
|| Gospel music.
|| Reciting Bible verses.
|| Praying.
|| Farm animals. Dogs.
|| Romantic movies.
|| Waking up early.
|| Children.
|| Slow dancing.
|| Rainbows and sunshine right after the rain.
Dislikes:
|| Country music.
|| The smell of cigarettes.
|| Spicy food.
|| Girls showing too much skin.
|| Cussing.
|| Strong perfume.
|| Vegetables.
|| Parties or any crowded and loud places.
Little
Polaris.
Sasil
Little
lil trash-heaping goblin
Name: Carmen Barnes
Age: Twenty
Backstory:
Tonya Barnes had led a simple, but happy enough life. Coming from a rough, violent background set deep in the heart of Detroit, Tonya had set out to the country at twenty-three in search of a better life after having finally been fed up with the city, the past. And it was there in the country that she found where she had belonged all along─and it was there in that small town that she fell in love with the sheriff’s boy. It wasn’t too long until Tonya found herself married to her best friend and soulmate in life, living in a cute little cottage house on top of a hill, living the life she had always dreamed of having. But it wasn’t until after having four handsome little boys later that Tonya realized that her dream had died, had gone out quietly in the night without her knowing. Tonya was no longer the fit twenty-something athlete with her whole life ahead of her─she was a mother now. A wife. And slowly was the day she’d only be that; and not the athlete she had always been. So for a long time, Tonya despaired and wept for the life lost; the future lost. Ever since she had been a little girl, she had dreamed of making it to the big leagues, of making her passion a full time job. But now that was all gone.
Tonya hadn’t planned it like this. She hadn’t escaped to the country thinking she’d be there forever; it had been a short-term plan. Something meant to clear her head, give her time to heal from the years of turmoil and heartache her upbringing had brought. But it didn’t seem to matter where her plans laid, because she fell in love. But what was she supposed to do? Leave? So she had stayed. And unknowingly given up her dream, tucking it in a neat box to be stored away, to be forgotten until years later, Tonya gave birth to her first baby girl. Carmen. It was then a new dream was sparked, ignited in the mind of Tonya, pulling her out of the depression that she’d been drowning in ever since she’d realized the death of her dream. Because it was with Carmen’s birth and existence that Tonya realized that she didn’t have to simply watch her children grow while sitting from the sidelines everyday, waiting for her husband to come home from work, waiting for the day her children would leave and make her existence dependent on her husband’s. No. She discovered upon Carmen’s birth that her dream was made possible through her children─and in particular, Carmen. Tonya would be damned if she let what happened to her happen to Carmen. She knew, then, that her job was to now guide Carmen’s life into a life worth living for. A life Tonya never got to live.
So from the time Carmen was able to walk and talk and think, Tonya acted as her coach. She was careful not to impress her own desires upon the child, but was adamant that she guide Carmen to wherever she dreamed of going. Tonya became obsessed with finding out what Carmen’s passions were, what Carmen’s deepest secrets and dreams held─she couldn’t let her baby waste her life, her dream, her potential away. So when it became known that Carmen, too, was drawn to sports (particularly soccer and track), Tonya became her personal coach, and her mother second. Tonya did everything she could to ensure her baby girl would get to pursue a career in sports─even if it meant Tonya had to be hard on Carmen. Especially hard. And all out of love. It was always out of love, she would remind Carmen at night. Everything she did, was for Carmen’s benefit, and not her own.
So Carmen grew up training under her mother instead of going out and making friends, practicing until eight at night instead of doing homework, ultimately leading Carmen suffering in school, both academically and socially, for about most of her life. But she never let that or anything else get in the way of training and practice─she had grown up and had been raised to prioritize her own dreams, her own goals above anything else. So she did, and has for practically her whole life. Carmen, like her mother, loved sports more than anything. They meant everything to her. So well throughout her middle and high school years, Carmen poured everything into her soccer team, her track team. Even if it meant Carmen was anxious and on edge all the time, lonely and depressed when her team lost a game, and resented her mother to some degree for pushing her so hard all the time.
Now, Carmen is in college on a sports scholarship, and is team captain of the small town’s college soccer team. Carmen is constantly struggling to keep up with grades, bills, and rent, but she does what she can during the week when she’s not at practice or at the gym. She currently has a part-time job she uses solely for rent money, and doesn’t have very many friends other than a few childhood friends. Of course, childhood friends is a rather loose term on Carmen’s end since her mother never let her go outside and play much when there was so much training and practice to do─the childhood friends were just mostly kids on her soccer or track team, and the occasional friend she hung out with at school.
Personality: Blunt. Insensitive. Intense. Hardened. Strong. Impulsive. Supportive. Loyal. Occasionally cold. Spontaneous. Quick to judge. Easily threatened and provoked to jealousy. Defensive. Very extroverted. More than anything hates feeling confined or controlled. Confident. Self-assured. Perfectionist. Has a hard time accepting things for the way they are. Stubborn. Can’t hold grudges for very long. Very protective of the people she loves. Has no filter. Determined. Ambitious. Doesn’t like being reminded of her weaknesses; doesn’t like being told she can’t do something.
Likes: waking up early, going for morning jogs, puppies, working out, watching guilty pleasure rom-coms, dark chocolate, watching sports.
Dislikes: lazy people, being alone/feeling lonely, junk food, silence, showing weakness, liars, controlling/manipulative people, being told what to do
Misc. Information:
None at the moment.
D DisneyGirl
Sasil
Polaris.
So sorry for the long wait. Finally finished after rewriting her backstory only a bizillion times. xD Hope it's at least decent.DisneyGirl
it was fun, peace out.
MILLIE;
Mille Medina had never been much of an early riser. If she had it her way, she'd sleep till noon and often did if she had a bad hangover like she did right now. However, she was responsible and loyal, especially to those she loved; and if she had to go to work at seven am half drunk from the night before in order to pay the bills or play off her lack of soberness in order to make sure her sister had breakfast in the morning, she'd do it. No questions asked.
This morning was a little different.
This morning, one of her old friends was getting married.
Like a lot of mornings, though, she woke up in Landon's bed. The first thing her eyes were met with was that same familiar face she'd woken up to so many times in the past few years. He looked like an angel when he slept, peaceful and sweet. Innocent. Just like when he was younger. The sight always brought a smile to Millie's face and as she watched him, she wondered what Landon Keenan was dreaming about. What was going on behind those closed eyelids?
Millie got on her knees and leaned over him before stopping herself.
Don't kiss him. Then it would feel like you were a couple.
And Millie Medina and Landon Keenan were not a couple.
They were best friends.
Best friends who spent a hell of a lot of time under the sheets together, but best friends. That was it. Not because they didn't like each other or anything, they did; but Millie just didn't do relationships. Relationships were complicated. Messy.
And oh-so-dramatic.
Millie didn't need that. She had enough drama to deal with, enough heartache and pain to last her an entire lifetime. But easy conversation and drunk makeout sessions and sleeping together for the fun of it? She could handle that. She didn't need flowers or dinner dates or a ring. She didn't need a boyfriend. Millie was grateful enough to have a best friend who understood her and supported her and she was happy to do the same. So what if that best friend came with benefits?
"Rise and shine, pretty boy," she whispered in his ear. "We got a wedding to attend. A marriage to celebrate."
A marriage that—if statistics and the odds won out— would end in divorce eventually but whatever. Marriages never really seemed to last and if they did usually the couple was downright miserable and stayed in it just to keep their names out of small town gossip because if there was anybody who could gossip, it was southern people. The only married couple in this town who seemed genuinely happy were Dylan Rogers' parents but they were fucking weird and too happy to be human so they technically didn't count.
Weddings were stupid, but Millie loved her friends enough to give into their dumb traditions. Thank goodness there would be booze at this shitfest.
"Come on, sleepy head," Millie said, gently shoving Landon's shoulder. "You and I got a tux and dress to put on before Jonathan wakes up and finds out where you have me sleeping all night."
DYLAN;
Dylan didn't really enjoy parties but he loved weddings. Everything about them. From the lavish decorations and the delicious food and cakes to reuniting with family and old friends and watching dads and uncles embarrass their kids with their dance moves. He even loved to see the bride throw the bouquet and hear the girls squeal whenever one of their friends ended up being the lucky lady to catch it. Everyone just seemed so joyful at them, and of course they did! What was there not to be joyful about especially when someone you cared about found love? It wasn't something you found everyday.
Being the hopeless romantic he was, Dylan's favorite part was naturally the vows. Now that's what made the whole thing special. Two people promising to be with each other, forever and forever. Through thick and thin. No matter how hard things got. No matter how impossible it all seemed. Whether it was pretty or ugly, you could rely on someone to be by your side and accept you for who you truly are.
What could be more beautiful than that? What in this life was more amazing than being seen and heard and fully loved?
"You're dreaming if you think that stuff is real," people would sometimes tell him. "You're an idiot," they'd say if they were less polite. But Dylan knew love was real, he'd seen it in his parents. It wasn't glamorous or fancy or anything like in those Hollywood movies. It was much simpler. Love was how his mama would look at his father like nobody else was in the room; love was the way his father would tell the kids to keep it down because their mother was taking a nap. Simple, but powerful. It was real, it was out there. It had found his mom and dad and his brothers and sisters—
It just hadn't found him yet.
He was the only single one left in his family.
"She's out there somewhere, son," Dylan's father would tell him. "Just trust God and have faith. He'll bring her to ya."
"Have you met Molly so-and-so? Why don't you ask Kacey such-and-such to dinner? You know the Millers have a daughter around your age that you should talk to…" his mama would say.
And he followed his parents' advice, for the most part. But Dylan just couldn't find a girl he connected with, a girl he could see himself marrying and spending the rest of his life with.
"You're too picky," his sisters would tell him.
"Are you sure he's just not gay?" One of his brothers would joke.
Well, Dylan definitely was not gay, but was he too picky? Everyone around him seemed to be getting married. Everyone except for him. This would be the fifth wedding he attended this year alone.
"You're up early," Mama said, walking into his room. That was another thing. He still lived with his parents. Not out of necessity, but by choice. It was something his brothers told him was a total turn-off for girls. Was that true? Dylan just didn't see the point in moving into a tiny apartment by himself when he could be with his parents, especially when his mama needed so much help around the house and someone to take more care of her in her old age. Besides, he couldn't cook to save his life and mama always made the best meals. Dylan may have been a mama's boy but he was proud of it.
"You know me," Dylan said with a chuckle, as he tried to adjust his crooked bowtie in the mirror. "I love a good wedding."
"Here, let me fix it," Mama said, straightening the tie for him. Then, she stood still.
"What is it, mama?" Dylan asked softly, concerned at how sad her face looked. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing, baby," she told him in a weak voice, holding tears back. "I just…I just can't wait until it's your turn," she said with a smile.
Dylan grinned. "Me too, mama. Me too."
Little
Polaris.
Sasil
Mille Medina had never been much of an early riser. If she had it her way, she'd sleep till noon and often did if she had a bad hangover like she did right now. However, she was responsible and loyal, especially to those she loved; and if she had to go to work at seven am half drunk from the night before in order to pay the bills or play off her lack of soberness in order to make sure her sister had breakfast in the morning, she'd do it. No questions asked.
This morning was a little different.
This morning, one of her old friends was getting married.
Like a lot of mornings, though, she woke up in Landon's bed. The first thing her eyes were met with was that same familiar face she'd woken up to so many times in the past few years. He looked like an angel when he slept, peaceful and sweet. Innocent. Just like when he was younger. The sight always brought a smile to Millie's face and as she watched him, she wondered what Landon Keenan was dreaming about. What was going on behind those closed eyelids?
Millie got on her knees and leaned over him before stopping herself.
Don't kiss him. Then it would feel like you were a couple.
And Millie Medina and Landon Keenan were not a couple.
They were best friends.
Best friends who spent a hell of a lot of time under the sheets together, but best friends. That was it. Not because they didn't like each other or anything, they did; but Millie just didn't do relationships. Relationships were complicated. Messy.
And oh-so-dramatic.
Millie didn't need that. She had enough drama to deal with, enough heartache and pain to last her an entire lifetime. But easy conversation and drunk makeout sessions and sleeping together for the fun of it? She could handle that. She didn't need flowers or dinner dates or a ring. She didn't need a boyfriend. Millie was grateful enough to have a best friend who understood her and supported her and she was happy to do the same. So what if that best friend came with benefits?
"Rise and shine, pretty boy," she whispered in his ear. "We got a wedding to attend. A marriage to celebrate."
A marriage that—if statistics and the odds won out— would end in divorce eventually but whatever. Marriages never really seemed to last and if they did usually the couple was downright miserable and stayed in it just to keep their names out of small town gossip because if there was anybody who could gossip, it was southern people. The only married couple in this town who seemed genuinely happy were Dylan Rogers' parents but they were fucking weird and too happy to be human so they technically didn't count.
Weddings were stupid, but Millie loved her friends enough to give into their dumb traditions. Thank goodness there would be booze at this shitfest.
"Come on, sleepy head," Millie said, gently shoving Landon's shoulder. "You and I got a tux and dress to put on before Jonathan wakes up and finds out where you have me sleeping all night."
DYLAN;
Dylan didn't really enjoy parties but he loved weddings. Everything about them. From the lavish decorations and the delicious food and cakes to reuniting with family and old friends and watching dads and uncles embarrass their kids with their dance moves. He even loved to see the bride throw the bouquet and hear the girls squeal whenever one of their friends ended up being the lucky lady to catch it. Everyone just seemed so joyful at them, and of course they did! What was there not to be joyful about especially when someone you cared about found love? It wasn't something you found everyday.
Being the hopeless romantic he was, Dylan's favorite part was naturally the vows. Now that's what made the whole thing special. Two people promising to be with each other, forever and forever. Through thick and thin. No matter how hard things got. No matter how impossible it all seemed. Whether it was pretty or ugly, you could rely on someone to be by your side and accept you for who you truly are.
What could be more beautiful than that? What in this life was more amazing than being seen and heard and fully loved?
"You're dreaming if you think that stuff is real," people would sometimes tell him. "You're an idiot," they'd say if they were less polite. But Dylan knew love was real, he'd seen it in his parents. It wasn't glamorous or fancy or anything like in those Hollywood movies. It was much simpler. Love was how his mama would look at his father like nobody else was in the room; love was the way his father would tell the kids to keep it down because their mother was taking a nap. Simple, but powerful. It was real, it was out there. It had found his mom and dad and his brothers and sisters—
It just hadn't found him yet.
He was the only single one left in his family.
"She's out there somewhere, son," Dylan's father would tell him. "Just trust God and have faith. He'll bring her to ya."
"Have you met Molly so-and-so? Why don't you ask Kacey such-and-such to dinner? You know the Millers have a daughter around your age that you should talk to…" his mama would say.
And he followed his parents' advice, for the most part. But Dylan just couldn't find a girl he connected with, a girl he could see himself marrying and spending the rest of his life with.
"You're too picky," his sisters would tell him.
"Are you sure he's just not gay?" One of his brothers would joke.
Well, Dylan definitely was not gay, but was he too picky? Everyone around him seemed to be getting married. Everyone except for him. This would be the fifth wedding he attended this year alone.
"You're up early," Mama said, walking into his room. That was another thing. He still lived with his parents. Not out of necessity, but by choice. It was something his brothers told him was a total turn-off for girls. Was that true? Dylan just didn't see the point in moving into a tiny apartment by himself when he could be with his parents, especially when his mama needed so much help around the house and someone to take more care of her in her old age. Besides, he couldn't cook to save his life and mama always made the best meals. Dylan may have been a mama's boy but he was proud of it.
"You know me," Dylan said with a chuckle, as he tried to adjust his crooked bowtie in the mirror. "I love a good wedding."
"Here, let me fix it," Mama said, straightening the tie for him. Then, she stood still.
"What is it, mama?" Dylan asked softly, concerned at how sad her face looked. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing, baby," she told him in a weak voice, holding tears back. "I just…I just can't wait until it's your turn," she said with a smile.
Dylan grinned. "Me too, mama. Me too."
Little
Polaris.
Sasil
Little
lil trash-heaping goblin
Jonathan W. Reed
Beep. Beep. Beep.Jonathan jolted awake, feeling his heart slam and thunder against his chest as he was slammed back into reality.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Rolling over, Jonathan grunted with closed eyes as he fumbled blindly in the dark, swearing and cursing until his fingers finally found and grazed the cold, hard surface of his alarm clock. Of course, the battle never ended there─the damn thing seemed to have a mind of its own most mornings, finding it cheeky to continue blaring even after he slapped the button. But no matter how many times Jonathan complained about it to Landon, swearing on his mother’s grave that he’d get rid of the piece of shit and get a new, better one before the next morning, he never could bring himself to do it. As much as he claimed to have resented the little black rectangle, there was something about its resilience, its cheeky rebellion that made Jonathan keep it. There was just something about startling awake every morning, not knowing if the damned thing would go off the first slap or the tenth, that made Jonathan’s miserably predictable life a little bit more bearable, more unpredictable.
Even if it meant he woke up swearing and cursing the world before he was even out of bed.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
All tangled up in the sheets, Jonathan stumbled his way over the bed, onto his feet until his toes were planted on the ground, with blankets still clinging stubbornly around his ankles as he looked again to find the clock, shut the thing off. Instead, he tripped and lunged forward, his forehead nearly having smashed against the edge of the night stand before he caught himself, coincidentally knocking the alarm clock over in the process.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
“Piece of shit,” he grunted, voice hoarse from sleep, before carefully crouching down to untangle himself. Once free, Jonathan strode towards where the alarm clock had fallen, and picked up the small black box. Once the alarm was shut off─it took three slaps this time─he gently placed it back where it had been, and turned his bedroom light on, squinting against the abrupt flood of blinding light. It was 6:07 a.m. on the day of a wedding Jonathan would be, regrettably, attending on account of Landon “not wanting to fly solo,” and how Jonathan “can’t leave a bro hanging.” Of course, in the end, Landon had only managed to convince Jonathan to go with the promise of booze.
Lots of booze.
Because, God help him, he would need a lot of booze to make it through the whole wedding.
Glancing again at the clock and time, Jonathan heaved out a sigh as he collapsed backwards onto his bed, having slowly convinced himself that he deserved another hour of sleep. He’d been busting his ass all week, and now had a damn wedding to go to that he hadn’t even wanted to go to in the first place. So hell yeah, he would sleep in the extra hour before getting up and getting down to business.
But even as he closed his eyes for the second time that morning, the overwhelming to-do list that formed in his mind burned in the back of his eyelids as he mulled, tiredly, over everything he had yet to do. For one, he needed to iron and press the clothes he was going to wear to the wedding─something he wasn’t entirely sure how to do, and something he most likely would have to ask Landon help for and be teased over for the rest of the week. Polish and wipe the dust off of the pair of dress shoes he hadn’t touched in literal years; they were in the back of the closet that neither Landon or Jonathan touched at all. Shower. Try on all the clothes, make sure they didn’t look completely ridiculous on him (they would, he knew; and Landon would endlessly mock and tease him for that, too). Eat breakfast while only half-listening to whatever Landon liked to babble on about in the mornings, offering only an occasional distracted nod or muffled “mhmm” in between mouthfuls of Cocoa Puffs.
And then he’d be off to the wedding, pretending to be more miserable and grouchy than he actually was if only to piss Landon off for dragging him along to this thing in the first place.
But before any of that would happen, Jonathan would sleep some more.
Carefully climbing back into bed after picking up the blankets scattered all over on the floor from his previous awakening, Jonathan curled up underneath the covers, set his alarm for 7:10 a.m., and let the world fade away as his eyes slowly fluttered shut.
D DisneyGirl
Polaris.
Sasil
Sasil
May the Dread Wolf take you.
The world was always in such a rush. Going from one place to another. Never stop to smell the roses, take the time to smile, send a good feelings too complete strangers. Me. Me. Me. That was the world, that was how Gabby saw the world. Nothing mattered to her but herself. Her addictions made her life go around. Money for rent would be put on hold, work, parties, drugs. That was what she focused on for years. How many? Gabby honestly couldn’t remember. She didn’t want too. It hurt to think about how her life had come crashing down so easily.
Her future had been so bright, so filled with promise. That was what she had worked so hard for. But one accident, one injury took it all away. Perhaps it could have been fixed, if she had had the money but know? Her days as a ballerina were over. Her connection to her mother; gone. What she was left with was a bum knee and hurt pride.
Perhaps it was a blessing having her mother pass away when she did, Gabby would never want her mother to see what she had become. Stripping her clothes for strangers, dancing on a pole for men to gawk and drool over her. She hated it. Every moment on that stage her chest wanted to erupt with mixed feelings. But that was inside never did she show it to the world around her.
Now though?
The suns rays seemed warmer on the couch of her brothers home. The smell of dust and mildew lingered in her nostrils. It wasn’t a bad smell, honestly it was comforting. The stench of vomit lingered with a strong smell of alcohol was what she normally woke up too. Strangers would be littered across the floors or with her in bed. At the moment she was alone, the suns rays her only comfort.
Shifting on the couch she brought the blanket that Gabby recognized from her childhood, mostly blue but with a large picture of a cartoon character her brother liked as a kid. Sometimes she wondered if Mathew ever got rid of things, but she enjoyed its weight on her tired body.
Letting out a sigh Gabby finally sat up running a hand through her tangled mane of hair. What time was it? Had she missed the wedding? Part of her wanted to miss it. Facing her hometown wasn’t exactly what she wanted to do. They had to know, there had to be whispers right? This town was terrible for gossip. The ballerina who turned to a world of stripping and pole dancing. That would be the story for months.
Perhaps something bad would go on at the wedding that she would be forgotten.
Gabby scoffed shaking her head. Yeah, right.
“So you're awake.” Mathew’s low voice cut her own thoughts he stood in the door frame leaning against it slightly his arms crossed and brown shaggy hair fell over his eyes. Gabby said nothing but watched him before staring at the coffee table. He sighed walking towards her. “You slept pretty restless last night I could hear you in my room.” he spoke moving towards the kitchen expecting her to follow him.
Again, Gabby said nothing and did not follow.
Matthew returned frowning this time, his eyes shifted from one spot to another trying to find the right words to talk to his young sister. His baby sister; one he had not heard from in at least a year until she appeared on his apartment door asking to sleep on his couch.
“You don’t want to talk, I get it. But Gab come on, don’t I get some kind of explanation. What have you been doing?” Matthew asked swallowing. He knew what she had been doing, the rumors were around but he wanted to hear it from his sisters mouth. Perhaps it was all lies like he wanted it to be. She took Mom's death the worst after all.
“I’m moving back.” Gabby said finally meeting his gaze. “You don’t have any clothes I could wear do you? I don’t have much that I can...wear to a wedding.”
It wasn’t the words he wanted to hear, but at least she spoke to him. “Why you would think I would have clothes is beyond me but Amy might have left something you can wear.” Matt said slapping his knees and standing to his feet.
“Amy?” Gabby asked, a small smirk appeared on Matts lips.
“Girlfriend, she stays here from time to time. You’re about her size. I’ll get you something after you eat something you look like you haven’t had a decent meal in weeks! I’ll make your favourite.” A large hand on her shoulder, the comfort of her older brother. Gabby almost wanted to cry, but she wouldn’t Following him now they left to the kitchen so he could cook for her. Perhaps she wouldn’t open up.
Matt could only hope.
What a tiny little...hick town.
That was Theo’s first thoughts. It was tiny, he could walk across it end to end in less then a few minutes. He could count the stores on his hands and don’t get him started on the weird characters he had already found in this town. It was true what they said about little towns. They had to stand out, had to have cute street names--whatever made people come during the holiday times and spend money.
Why would his mom come here of all places?
What wasn’t town was farmland. That was where he would be spending his time. Just thinking about taking care of his mother's animals, crops for a whole year caused his chest to tighten. He knew that this wasn’t going to be an easier year but he hadn’t expected this had he?
He sighed shaking his head looking out the window of the lodge that he would be calling home for a bit. The suit he would be wearing in the ceremony laid on the bed waiting for him to put it on. The colors of the wedding pastel theme. Pinks, blues and some yellow. It was very beautiful. In its own homely kind of way Theo supposed.
Thinking about it, Homely was a good way of describing the town.
Theo sighed again leaning over to grab his coffee from the side table taking a sip grunted at the taste. “I hate black coffee.” He grumbled already missing his coffee from back home.
This was for a good cause though, he had to keep thinking about that. Course helping his mother, the same mother who took his brother over him. Leaving him with the asshole of a father--how could someone do that to their own child? He should have just left this, let her loose everything. Like he did.
The bitterness in Theo’s heart was true but the good broke through it. He wasn’t the bad guy, he wanted to help and this would be a break from his life. What did he have to do? After all he wasn’t enjoying school like he had been before. And the week before he came to this little hole of a town he had actually enjoyed reading up on the farming, planting and the work that went into running a farm.
But that was it. Reading it, he wasn’t ready to get his hands dirty. He was even more afraid of failing and letting them down. While it wasn’t any skin off his own nose it was still not something he wanted to do. Theo liked to succeed. Failing was not an option.
Thus, he he would need to get some kind of help. Perhaps one of the locals would give him a hand. He grimaced at the thought. That would mean talking to the people more, which would prove to be some kind of a problem. He could come off as some kind of stuck up kind of asshole. That wouldn’t prove to be useful at all.
Add that to the list of things that he needed to do. Learn to not be an asshole. Or at least to not come off like it.
“Theo! How’s it going! We gotta get going if we don’t want to be late!” Tyler’s voice cut through Theo’s thoughts. He set the cup of what had no right to be called coffee before turning to the door.
‘I’ll be right there just need to get my suit on.” He called hearing his brothers steps leave his door. With one last glance out the window Theo hurried to get ready. This was his brothers wedding, he should be excited. Yet he didn’t know his brother at all, it felt like some kind of strangers wedding. Once at the wedding he would be the new guy, would people talk to him? He would have to talk, be interesting.
He shivered at the thought. It wasn’t going to be a good day. He just needed to survive it, get through it one day at a time.
D DisneyGirl
Little
Polaris.Attachments
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Polaris.
Creator Of My Own Twisted World
Windowpanes were left open allowing breezes of wind of flutter in, blowing the soft caramel curtains back and forth. Flickers of sunshine were the only source of light emitting his naturally dark room. Often, his usual rule rang true, no girls allowed in his bed. He always went to them and that was the end of it. But like many storybooks, Landon had exceptions and Millie was his. Their rendezvous usually ended at her place, and sometimes at his as long as Jonathan was kept in the dark. It was their little secret. He didn’t know when it started, how it started, but it didn’t matter, what they had was good. It suited her needs and he was fine with switching back between being friends and having sex. What more could he ask for? It was the best of both worlds.
Landon was fast asleep, his muscles tensed, twitching underneath the shifting weight of his friend. He groaned lightly at her prodding, the hot breath whispering in his ears and in return, he cracked a small smile. Dimples creased the paled cheeks as his cerulean eyes opened, half lidded. “No,” he wanted to say, “stay. Just a little longer.” His free arm wanted to wrapped around her waist, pulling her down and close to his chest. But no, he knew it was morning talking. It was the tequila from last night talking. The words hugged his throat, tightening his vocal cords and the male said nothing. Any movement on his side meant they were more than friends and Landon couldn’t afford love. He was a serial dater, destroying hearts and laying waste whenever he thought he was serious. Not apparently not serious enough to maintain relationships or go after anyone. He wasn’t going to damage whatever he had with Millie, what they had is good; he had to maintain the personal space between them. If Millie knew him well by now, Landon’s small yet broken smile said everything.
“I’m getting up Millie,” the hoarseness of his morning voice made it deeper than usual. He made no signs to get up until she shoved his shoulders playfully. “Jonathan is working a night shift or something, he’s probably fighting off a customer right now, grunting or cursing at me like the usual,” Landon finally made an attempt to get up. He yawned the moment he sat up, his arms climbed skyward out to stretch. Landon obviously didn’t hear the incessant blaring of alarms in the morning because if he did, he would have been ushering Millie to get ready instead of taking his sweet time. If he knew, he would have done everything so they didn’t have to answer to Jonathan. But he didn’t.
“What do you say, we ditch the wedding? Hit the beach or something,” Landon joked. He didn’t like weddings per say, not because he didn’t believe it in, but because they take forever to say their vows and the alcohol does not come fast enough for him to wait that long. He ran a hand through his tousled hair, undoing the tangled short curls. Opening his closet, he tossed on a dress shirt, fixed his tie, and put on his dress pants. He adjusted his cuffs before grabbing the black suit jacket. The jacket was tossed over his shoulders. He meandered to the bathroom but just before he entered, Landon turned around to see Millie lounging on the bed.
“And you? Are you changing or do you need help? If so, I can be of service.” he winked at her, giving a little bow. “...Or we can stay in bed a little bit more,” a playful smile crossed his face. “Just say the word, Millie, and the rest will be history,” Landon started coming towards her, like a predator stalking their prey. Because honestly? Fuck this wedding.
Polaris.
Creator Of My Own Twisted World
Home is like walking on tightrope, you’ll never know when you’ll fall or if anyone will catch you in the end. There was no one but yourself to depend on. Allison knew that better than anyone. Keeping her major a secret was killing her inside, the blonde has never been very good at lying. She struggles maintaining a poker face and constantly changes the subject whenever her dad asked her about the diploma. Swallowing, she would shift her eyes to the ground, she knew if she looked at him straight on, Allison would break.
“They must have forgotten to send it out, haha, sorry papa, I’ll email them again.”
“It’s been three months, Allie, why haven’t they sent it out?”
“Oh they did! But I think it got misplaced in the mail or something. I’ll call them again, don’t worry, daddy,” she reassured her father, her hand on his shoulder to placate the rising anger. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could do this, Allie was about to call SOS and hide at Landon’s place for a month or two…if only he didn’t have his grumpy roommate around. Of course everyone knew who Landon Keenan lived with and Jonathan was the town’s favorite bachelor or well, that’s what Allie told her friends anyways. The brunet made the blonde help a brother out, or whatever it was called, and turned the girl into a wingwoman. She failed miserably of course, only managed to spread some rumors before escaping town to attend an university in the West Coast.
“So Allie, did your diploma arrive yet?” her mom inquired and being the horrible liar she was, her brain shut down and she stuttered.
“The cat ate it.”
“We don’t have cats! Allison. Blair. Presley. What are you hiding from me? Say it now or forever hold your peace!”
I plead the fifth! As if that'd work on two stubborn southerners.
“Miss Hall across the street has like twenty nine cats, momma. I swear, I had it in my hands but I dropped it and they just snatched it up and ran away. It was crazy! Like a miracle, it was god's miracle. For sure, for sure."
Her excuses were getting more ridiculous by the moment but a couple months later, her parents stopped mentioning it and as of right now?
Now they were pretty excited for what’s to come.
A wedding! Allison loves wedding, she adores the romantic atmosphere, how one person would look into another’s eyes and know that he or she was the one. Oh! It was just so dreamy. Plus, it was a great place to scavenge for ideas for her book. And most importantly, it was where she could pig out and not get judged by people. What kind of girl doesn’t love free food?
But the huge downer about attending a wedding? Dressing up. She hated dolling up and her mother enjoyed it when Allison looked more like a girl and less like a street bum they picked up on Sunday after church. The blonde was force to wear a strapless midnight blue mermaid gown, making it difficult to walk, not mention breath. Who the hell invented these dumb things?
"Allison! Are you ready?" Her mother opened the door, finding Allie lazing in bed with a book in her hands.
"No wait, I'm getting to the good part. He's about to find out that he's her adopted brother and it's crazy because they're now siblings but in love and it's all taboo-"
"Tut tut, that's enough out of you, young lady. We have a wedding to attend, you'll mess up your hair like that. Get up, I have to fix it again."
"But-"
"No but. Hurry, we are wasting daylight."
One day, she swore she was going to get out of this house and find a place of her own to call home.
DisneyGirl
it was fun, peace out.
Millie
A part of Millie wished that Landon would be the one to take her into his arms and kiss her, even though she'd always yell at him whenever he started acting too boyfriendy. For a moment there, she thought he was gonna wrap his arms around her but he didn't and she found herself disappointed. What is wrong with you? Millie scolded herself. You were the one who told him that you guys are not a couple and not to act like you are, so why are you pouting when the guy's just obeying your wishes? Stupid ass.
That small smile of his comforted her. No feelings, no broken hearts. This was their way of taking care of each other. Protecting one another from the storm that would no doubt occur if they got too carried away. Landon may have been a player, but to Millie, he was better than any dream boyfriend. He was honest about his shortcomings and didn't claim to be anybody's Prince Charming. There were no promises except that they'd be friends forever.
And it wasn't like it bothered her or anything that he slept with other girls because she was sleeping with other guys. True, she got annoyed if she, Jonathan and Landon went to the bar or the diner and some girl would be all over Landon; but it wasn't because she knew Landon would be going to her place for the night, or because he would return to Jonathan and his apartment the next morning with lipstick on his cheek and messy hair. She just didn't want those girls thinking they had a chance of having anything beyond a fling with him because she didn't want Landon to risk heartbreak. Hypocritical much considering she'd flirt and go home with guys right in Landon's face? Maybe, but Landon had to know that he didn't need to worry about her getting her emotions involved and losing herself in the process. Millie was way too smart and bitter for that.
When Landon mentioned ditching the wedding, Millie chuckled. If only. She couldn't argue though, not able to drag herself out of bed quite yet. Landon noticed. She should have jumped out of bed that moment but that wink and playful smile got her. "Landon!" Millie squealed but instantly melted in his arms, letting out a girly giggle that would have been embarrassing if not for the fact that he was her best friend. "Okay, but only for ten minutes. Okay, maybe twenty. Before Jonathan—" Her laughter and words were silenced with some good ol' kissing, however. No matter how much they did this, she was always left craving more.
Dylan
Being the polite Southern family they were with excellent manners, the Rogers were one of the first guests to show up at the celebration. Dylan and his siblings weren't the only PKs (aka pastor's kids) to show up, however. There were a couple of other preachers from other small towns, near and far, who showed up for the event with their own families. Distant cousins of the bride or old friends of the groom's parents and all that. And they wasted no time in introducing their beloved children to each other.
"Dylan, have you met Mary-Anne?" Dylan's father asked, as he caught up with a buddy from Bible college. This was how it always started, and Dylan braced himself for it. He was polite, knowing his parents only meant well but sometimes Dylan wished he had the guts to tell his mom and dad to let it go. Mary-Anne seemed really sweet, though, and he didn't mind getting to hang out with her. "I just adore weddings," she gushed to Dylan's folks, flipping her blonde curls to the side like a model in a hair commercial. "I can't wait until the Lord brings me my own husband to cherish and love. I feel like my calling is to be a wife and a mother. When I'm not going on mission trips to Africa of course." She said with a giggle, impressing the parents with her sweet personality and Christian values.
To his delightful surprise, Dylan was starting to really like this girl and wanted to continue the conversation while the parents and PKs separated into their own social circles. "So you want to do mission work in Africa?" He asked her, his eyes lighting up. "That's really cool that the Lord has put that on your heart, Mary-Anne."
Mary-Anne snorted and rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that, I hate that stupid name," she replied, "and hell fucking no. You actually believed that crock of shit?"
Mary-Anne went from Mother Teresa to Regina George in the snap of a finger and it honestly terrified Dylan.
"Damn, it's so exhausting to pretend to be something you're not," she continued, "to be this wholesome and bubbly pastor's daughter and act like I just looove weddings and don't dare drink alcohol and am not sleeping with the youth pastor."
"Or the Sunday school teacher, who's married to the youth pastor," one of the other PKs—Jordan—replied. "Let me tell you, that shit gets complicated."
"Ha," Michael—another PK—said. "You think that's hard? Try being gay and sneaking around with one of the choir boys without getting caught."
Dylan must have look horrified because the next thing he knew, the three of them were laughing at him.
"Oh my God," Michael said, after they all caught their breath. "He's actually one of them. A real goody two shoes pastor's kid."
"I didn't think those existed anymore," Mary-Anne said, grinning at Dylan in a way that he didn't find so cute anymore. This was gonna be a long day.
Little
Polaris.
Sasil
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Sasil
May the Dread Wolf take you.
Gabrielle wanted to run back to her brothers comfortable couch. She didn’t care if it smelt like man, if the his apartment was messy, at least it was comfortable and the best part, secluded. That was what she liked most about it. But here she was standing with Matt ready to enter the church in a yellow summer dress, with lacy parts to the bottom and sleeves that she felt that didn’t deserve to be at a wedding. Like it was perhaps to fancy, or maybe showing to much skin. Of course this was all in Gabby’s head.
That was probably the problem. After all showing to skin was part of her problem but nothing else looked or fit of Amy’s clothes. Matt had sworn on their mother's grave that it looked nice on Gabby, that it brought the colour of her skin and eyes. Not trampy at all.
Gabby wasn’t sure she believed him. Dresses just weren’t her thing anymore. Pants covered everything. She sighed heavily running a hand through her freshly washed hair, clutching her arms around her chest. Avoiding people was her first priority. But telling herself she was here for her friend kept her going. After all she had gone to school with the bride and groom. This was their happy day and she wasn’t about to spoil it for them.
Even if she desperately didn’t want to be there.
“Relax Gab. This is a happy occasion!” Matt said placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. He hadn’t gotten her to talk as much about the past year as he had hopped. But she ate the breakfast he had made her and they found something for her to wear to the wedding. It took a bit, while Matt had thought Amy and Gabby had been close to the same size he was off by a lot.
Luckily Amy had a dress he had never seen her wear that she must have just pushed so far back in his closet for the past few months that he forgot about it. Didn’t matter Gabby had gotten ready and know they could face the world head on. That was the part he could help her with. At least a little bit, he had to help with the wedding a bit being muscles he promised to move chairs and aid whenever he could. That was Matt he was always willing to help. Sure he liked to cause trouble but he had grown up in the past few years.
At least for the most part.
“I don’t like dresses.” Gabby grumbled a bit scanning the room, they were pretty early. It seemed like most of the guests weren’t even here yet. “Why are we so early?” She asked crossing her arms over her chest.
“Well I said I would help with set up and what not. Don’t worry just go mingle, no one's going to bother you.” Matt tried to give a reassuring smile but Gabby saw right through it. “If you need anything I’ll just be around okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll be fine. Go do what you need too.” She sighed letting her arms flop to her sides. She walked into the church know trying to decide what side she would sit on. What would be the side she could blend in the most with. That was the real question. Luckily it seemed like most of the young adults who had come early had broken into cliques, they wouldn’t bother her.
Gabby hoped not anyways.
“You clean up really good.” Tyler said his dark eyes doing a full take of Theo in a suit. Theo sighed shifting his weight nervously. He really hated this, ever since he arrived from the city his brother had been very ‘buddy buddy’ which bothered Theo to no end. After all, he was left with the abusive father. He hadn’t even gotten to talk to his mom yet. But perhaps that was a good thing.
Theo wasn’t sure what he would want to talk to her about at this point. He wanted to forgive her, and he was helping keep her farm alive for a year but he still felt like this bitter knot in his chest that couldn’t. He went through hell just because he left him behind. What kind of mother does that?
“I always clean up good. I was wearing clean clothes when I arrived.” Theo grumbled looking to Tyler. He seemed to be ready for the wedding. His smile could brighten up the whole room to the point of causing blindness. It was slightly nauseating honestly. “I don’t get to meet the bride before the ceremony do I.” Theo asked looking to Tyler.
“No, sorry they have a lot to get ready for. She woke up at at least 6 this morning to start getting ready for the ceremony. Even as it stands they probably will be late.” Tyler admitted shrugging like it didn’t bother him. Honestly, Theo figured it didn’t. Theo was a punctual kind of guy. Geeky, nerdy but he hated to be late.
“No matter I guess.” Theo sighed shoving his hands into his pockets.
“So what you think of the town?” Tyler asked trying to spark conversation.
“It’s...quaint.” Theo said rubbing the back of his neck looking over to Tyler. “Feeling nervous at all for the wedding? No cold feet right?”
Tyler laughed loudly patting his brother on the shoulder, bringing him to a tight embrase. “You kidding? I have been wanting and waiting to marry Steph for years. Things just kept getting in the way...We almost cancelled but with you coming to help it works perfect. We are doing it and nothing can get in the way.” he explained with a large smile.
“Whatever, glad your happy and I could help I suppose.” Theo tried to smile fixing his glasses.
“Good know I want to introduce you to the rest of the groomsmen. You’ll love them. I promise.”
Theo doubted it.
D DisneyGirl
Polaris.
Little
Little
lil trash-heaping goblin
Jonathan W. Reed
“Landon?” Jonathan poked his head out of the doorway, rearing around the corner with his head of damp hair titled down as he fiddled stubbornly and vainly with his cuffs, grumbling in frustration under his breath before slowly edging his way down the small hall separating their equally small bedrooms and living spaces, almost running into the wall in the process. “Landon?” he called out again, his voice increasingly annoyed. He’d even told Landon that he wanted him up early so they could try on their outfits, make sure neither one of them looked stupid─even though Landon always looked stupid, Jonathan thought with a snicker. It’d been one of Jonathan’s many conditions for going; and as much as the silent, often grumpy brute would never admit it, the real reason he hadn’t wanted to go was because he was insecure about how out of place he’d look and feel in a wedding. Jonathan didn’t belong in a crowd of Sunday dresses and suits─and he sure as hell had no business to step inside a church, of all places.
So he hadn’t even wanted to go─he’d admittedly never even fathomed why in the world he’d even be invited to such an event, let alone actually carry through. That had all been before he’d met Landon, of course. Before Landon had drunkenly asked Jonathan one night if he’d go with him, be his wingman, and─at Jonathan’s knee-jerk reaction of hell fucking no─-begged him him to pretty please go, to which Jonathan eventually caved and reluctantly agreed to go. And only on a few conditions, and the adamant reassurance that there’d be booze. Before and after, and lots of it. And now that reluctant agreement brought Jonathan to today. To right now.
When Jonathan came to Landon’s bedroom door─which was oddly cracked open─he paused, leaning his ear against the cool, thin wood, smiling in spite of himself at the thought of having to wake Landon up. Consider it karma, you lazy bastard, Jonathan thought with a snicker before deciding to edge his way into the otherwise silent room. Wincing at the creaking floorboards giving way to his soft footfalls, Jonathan grinned even wider as he passed the door frame and threshold of the bedroom, already bright with the morning sunlight pouring in through the bedroom windows, their curtains neatly drawn back, with pillows and clothing articles and shoes messily thrown about the floor, scattered the closer one got to the bed. Wait a minute─
And it was then Jonathan found his childhood best friend, and long-time crush, sucking his roommate of two years’ face.
They were both intertwined with each other, the sheets tangled all around their arms and legs, the morning light making her skin glow and hair shine as her mouth silently found Landon’s, like this was nothing new, like she’d done this thousands of times already, with neither one of them even remotely aware of anyone or anything else in the world that didn’t involve the other. And all at once, the ground beneath Jonathan churned as his stomach twisted, nauseating and disorienting him as the room began to spin around him, her hair and his face swimming in his vision as he fought the urge to vomit, the urge to crumble down to the floor and stay there, never open his eyes, never look at either of them ever again. Feeling suddenly dizzy as a wave of vertigo smothered him, Jonathan slowly backed away as his fingers shakingly thumbed for the wall, the door, something to lean on for support. I think I’m gonna be fucking sick.
Of course, Jonathan’s hands weren’t met with the wall or the door or something else─but instead, his fingers found the vase that had been sitting on top of Landon’s dresser and collecting dust for the whole two years he and Jonathan have been living together, and knocked it over. The vase toppled, and before Jonathan could do anything─his heart jumped into his throat, knocking the breath out of him as he vainly reached out to catch the vase─the vase tumbled out of grasp and clattered thunderously against the bedroom floor with a sharp, abrupt clang, rattling back and forth─the damn thing was plastic, of course, with Landon being the cheap bastard that he was─before slowly coming to a stop.
It was all Jonathan could see. Her and him. Wrapped up in the sheets he’d helped Landon find, in the bed he’d helped move in. In the apartment he’d called home for two years. Two years. Two years, and he’s only now caught them? How long have they…? Why did they never tell him? Was he the last to know? Of course you’d be the last to know, you pathetic, steaming pile of shit. Of COURSE she never liked you. Why would she when she has him? It all made sense now. Even if it made him sick, now he knows. Now he could have closure for something that had been eating away at him, something he’d wasted years of his pathetic life wondering about, thinking about. For something that wouldn’t happen now. And perhaps never would. Maybe he never had a chance. What guy like him ever had a chance?
Paralyzed, Jonathan opened his mouth but said nothing. With his heart still pounding, drumming against his chest as he broke out into a cold sick, his face pale and sunken, Jonathan quickly stumbled and staggered his way backwards, and, with shaking hands, fumbled with the door before disappearing.
He’d only wanted to get his damn cuffs fixed. That was all. But now he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think as he stumbled his way down the hall, hands still fumbling as he quickly made his way into the bathroom, slamming the door shut before locking it, sliding down the door, again hit with another wave of nausea as he fought to gain his bearings. Jonathan stared at the floor as he sat still, knees pulled to his chest with his hands gripping his shins. Her and him, with her mouth over his. Like they’d done this a thousand times before. He squeezed his eyes shut as he was washed over with shame and embarrassment for ever thinking he’d have a chance. For never having known what was going on in his own damn home. Immediately, Jonathan thought back to all the times Landon had opted to stay home for the night instead of joining him for a night out at the bar. Had they been fucking then, too? Or how about that time Jonathan had gone to the movies, alone for what could have been the hundredth time because Landon supposedly had to cover someone at work? So stupid. How could I have been so fucking stupid?
Nothing made sense, but all of it did. It explained the way Millie would look at Landon in the middle of a movie night, thinking Jonathan was engrossed with whatever dumb romcom they’d put on. Or the way Landon sometimes picked up flowers on his way home from work to put in a bottle on the kitchen counter─they must have been her favorite. Or the way Jonathan would come home sometimes and find Landon’s bedroom light still on.
Jonathan couldn’t breathe. He gripped his head in his hands as he focused on breathing, just breathing. “FUCK!” he yelled, pounding his fist against the wall.
D DisneyGirl
Sasil
Polaris.
Polaris.
Creator Of My Own Twisted World
She kept him grounded, she made him happy, and being with her was something Landon took for granted. Never would he assume that one day, Millie wouldn’t be the one he woke up to. But life was full of the unexpected and curveballs of emotions. Right now, god has thrown him another one. Rarely was Landon so careless, but this morning, after round two, he tucked the loose strands of hair behind her ears. A kiss to the forehead before a huge grin broke out, “Round three?” he whispered, forehead against forehead, his body hovering lightly above hers. They really should have stopped at the first one but they also had no problem indulging one another.
“Alright, alright,” he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, “we really should change.” With his arms resting on the bed, encapsulating her underneath him, he should have heard his name. But their flirting and laughter drowned out the questioning voice outside his door. He leaned down for one last kiss, his hand lazily running through her hair, his eyes closed in peaceful happiness until a crash made all his muscles rigid and he broke the kiss with furrowed brows. There was no fucking way… He looked at her and he knew they were relaying the same thoughts.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Why of all the days, he chose today not to close the door? They've done this often enough that they both have gotten sloppy. His heart rammed against his ribcage, his pulse thundering in shock and absolute horror. His face paled at the acknowledgement that this was no longer their little secret. He didn’t know why but they’ve always tiptoed around Jonathan. Maybe secretly he knew he was somewhat betraying his best friend. Part of him saw the brief longing glances, the smiles Jonathan had whenever she walked into the room, the begrudging look when Landon couldn’t convince him to go to a bar but he had to go because Millie was there. Landon chose to believe differently because Jonathan had never voiced his feelings but even so, it was a defense mechanism to make sure he never broke his friend’s heart.
He rolled off her, hands rubbing his face tiredly. He royally screwed up and now he had to go figure out how to mend the pieces back together. “I’m sorry Millie,” Landon said softly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “I’ll go talk to him.” But boy, Landon, like most men, sucked at talking things out. He was a better listener. He needed a drink after this.
He got off his bed, quickly changed into his slacks. He haphazardly buttoned up his white dress shirt, barely fixing the collar as he left running to Jonathan’s room. He hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to say or where to start. His breathing was short and rapid, he was at a loss for words and he was sorry but Landon wasn’t just sure what he was sorry. Was it because he never told Jonathan because he sure as hell wasn’t sorry that he was sleeping with Millie. They were both adults who can make and live with their own decisions. Landon knocked but just after a second, impatience kicked in and he opened the door, looking at his slumped over best friend.
“Hey man,” Landon closed the door behind him. Instinct told him to ask if Jonathan was okay but that was the dumbest question ever. The dude was definitely almost on the verge of hyperventilating. “Look dude, I’m really sorry we never told you. I-I just didn’t want your opinion of us to change. But you’re my best friend, I should have said something sooner.”
He sat down across from him, legs crossed. He was sure Jonathan was going to kill him. He could play out this conversation in his head but he remained mute until Jonathan was ready to talk or punch him.
Polaris.
Creator Of My Own Twisted World
They arrived to the wedding early because the Presleys were never late. She was hardly breathing in this dress, how was she to eat? Allison swallowed her sighs. Think optimistically! She could totally check out some cuties and find inspiration for her stories. She was feeling incredibly stagnant, blocked, and freaking stressed about her father and his where’s your diploma? She needed to hire someone with great photoshop skills because this girl needed a fake diploma.
“Oh my god, is that you Allison?” Brie, Allison’s old high school classmate, squealed in her high pitch tone just as Allison entered the wedding venue. She held up dress, stopping it from sliding across the floor.
“Yes, it’s me, I’m back from college,” Allie grinned. “How are you Brie? I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Girl! Why didn’t you tell me you were back in town?”
“Haha, I just got back,” Allison answered, her smile staying strong. Just seeing everyone again was kind of shocking, especially how they were exactly how they were four years ago. This town was just so dull with pointless gossips and dominating parents. She desired more excitement in her life, that’s why she left and now there was nowhere to go but back home. With a town so small, people talked about the same thing, liked the same guys, went after the same girls --
“Oh my gosh, is that champagne?” Allison dashed over to the waiter placing champagne down the tables with Brie behind her. “Can I have,” your entire tray, “just one, please?”
He nodded, “Of course, here you go ma’am.”
“Thanks.”
“So, Allison, I didn’t know you drink. Are you…like an alcoholic?” Brie gasped, her eyes darting around as if she was looking out for Allison’s parents. It was well-known how strict they are, even comparable to a pastor’s household.
Woman, I haven’t even taken a sip. The hell. Time to switch subjects. “Oh Brie, look, isn’t that Dylan?” Even after four years, she still knew every little secret in town though the fact that Brie liked Dylan was pretty publicized. Sorry Dylan, please, take one for the team.
The other blonde sighed dreamily, “Yes. Just look at him. He has such beautiful eyes.”
“Uh huh, looking,” Allison took a large gulp of the alcohol. “Oh! Wow, so dreamy,” she tried to subdue the dryness in her tone. Luck was on her side, Brie nodded in agreement.
“Gosh, who’s he’s with? Is that Mary-Anne? Ugh, she’s such a two face bitch. Did you know what she did last summer? Dylan deserves better. Oh I should go talk to him, we don’t really see each other besides church. You can be my wing woman! Let’s go,” Brie snatched Allison by the wrist and tugged her along. The girl waved her other hand trying to get Dylan’s attention.
“Dylannnn! Hey Dylan, guess who’s back from college?”
God help her. But on the bright side, this is gonna be good. Time to take some notes.
DisneyGirl
it was fun, peace out.
Millie;
How many years had they been doing this? Two? Three? Maybe four? No, definitely less than four. But almost three. Or two. Oh, who gave a shit. All Millie knew was just like that, her and Landon's secret was out. One moment she was tasting those sweet as honeysuckle lips of his and not having a care in the world and the next, she was begging Jonathan to let her explain and feeling like her whole world was falling apart.
"Jonathan?" Millie gasped. He looked like a kid who had just walked in on his mother having an affair with the milk man while dad was away at work. He stared back at her, hurt and upset and sick to his stomach. She knew it because she could feel it, his pain. She was so in tune with that boy. Whatever he felt, she felt. Like they were the same person. "Jonathan, it's okay…" she repeated, but it wasn't and they all knew that. Sensing his next move, she jumped up to go after him but stopped before she even leave the bed to clutch her stomach. Millie wanted to throw up, especially when she heard Jonathan yell “FUCK!” as he pounded his fist against the wall.
That's when breathing became unbearable.
Why was this happening? Millie and Landon weren't doing anything wrong. They weren't lying to anyone. True, they hadn't told anyone, which, depending on who you asked, could be considered the same thing but it wasn't anybody's business. It's not like they were hurting anyone. Anyone, except Jonathan that is. If it wasn't such a big deal, why hadn't they told anyone? At least Jonathan? Admitting to having a friend with benefits was embarrassing but, hell, lots of people did it, especially in this town. Ain't like Millie and Landon were gonna get stoned for it; but even if they didn't want to let their secret out, why not at least tell their best friend? Would it really ruin their friendship? Why was it such a big deal?
Truth was, Millie didn't want Jonathan to know because she loved him and part of her knew he loved her, too. She just didn't know that she loved him—or rather was in denial about it—and didn't want to think about the possibility that he loved her too even though she certainly suspected it...or at least hoped. If Jonathan knew about Landon and Millie, then Millie might find out how Jonathan felt about her based on his reaction and if Millie knew how Jonathan felt…
But no, it just couldn't ever happen between them. Love never worked out and Millie couldn't risk losing Jonathan because she was stupid enough to think it could. She could have been sleeping with him instead, sure, but she loved Jonathan too much to play with his heart like that. So she slept with Landon instead, because Landon was like her. He didn't see her that way and even if he somehow did, he wouldn't ask for more, or dare hope for better. He was like her in that way, and if they stopped sleeping together tomorrow, neither of 'em would be heart broken.
Millie wanted to follow Landon as he went to talk to Jonathan but she knew getting involved would only make things worse. Her phone buzzed with texts from her other friends. They were already at the wedding, wondering where the hell she and the boys were. The last thing she wanted to do right now was go to a stupid wedding and celebrate love when all love did was create problems and tear friends apart. Would the three of them even go now?
Millie finally gave in and went to check up on Landon and Jonathan, praying to God that they wouldn't start beating the crap out of each other the way boys did when a girl was the reason for their troubles. When she got to the door, she crouched down and put her ear up against it and listened in, tears running down her face as she nervously ran her hand through the hair that Landon had ran his hands through this morning and last night.
Please don't hate me, Jonathan…please forgive me. Forgive Landon. Let him explain. Please don't shut us out.
Dylan;
You'd never think a guy so popular—so loved—could be so…lonely. But Dylan was. Nobody would believe it, though. Take a look at his social media pages and he had tons of followers and breathtaking photos of mission trips and fun church events. Bring his name up in conversation and you'd witness people's faces light up and say his name with such adoration and admiration. "Dylannnn! My man, Dylan! Gotta LOVE Dylan!" And a lot of girls—well, they were obsessed with him no matter how oblivious he was was about it. Ironic considering how much of a geek he was growing up—but like a lot of geeks, he grew up; became hot, got a nice car, and things just changed.
Yet Dylan always seemed to feel alone in a crowded room. He was noticed, but he wasn't seen. Heard, but nobody was truly listening. They knew him, but not the real him. Everyone knew the pastor's kid with a constant smile stuck on his face, the one who opened doors for others and helped the elderly cross the street. The Dylan who read Bible stories to the Sunday School kids and used "ma'am" and "sir" whenever speaking with someone his mama or daddy's age.
They, however, didn't know the Dylan who lay awake staring at the ceiling until the sun came up, or thrashed around in his bed due to nightmares that haunted his sleep. This town didn't know the Dylan who violently threw up in the bathroom right before he had to preach or give a speech, who thought about what it'd be like to go to a bar and get drunk and take a girl home for once like all the other guys his age do. And they definitely did not know the Dylan who sometimes struggled with his beliefs and felt resentful for having his path in life chosen for him at such a young age; robbing him of normalcy. How he wanted to just be normal, to for once not be known as the Perfect Pastor's Son but to be known for just being…himself. Having a reputation in this town was everything and he was glad to have a good one, but it got to be tiring. One little mistake could destroy it all and he had to be careful not to do anything that would harm his family's image.
"Oh my God, is that Jillian Thompson?" Mary-Anne gasped as a girl in a white button down dress that fit her a little too—okay, way too—tightly entered the church with her husband and kids. The dress looked like it was ready to rip, the straps digging into the girl's skin and the buttons ready to burst.
"Oh, honey no." Michael said. "Damn, not only is she wearing white at someone else's wedding but homegirl let herself go after she married Kyle and had those three boys, didn't she?" He continued, pursing his lips and shaking his head. "I mean, like Elsa, that girl let it goooo. What a loser."
The little clique of PKs roared with laughter, but Dylan just winced. Five years ago and Jillian had been the hottest and most popular cheerleader in this town, and now she was considered such a loser that even dorky and sheltered church kids laughed at her. See? Things really did change. Dylan was about to tell the PKs to knock it off when someone called out to him.
“Dylannnn! Hey Dylan, guess who’s back from college?”
"Speaking of losers," Mary-Anne muttered, as Brie approached dragging Allison along with her. "Look who's coming. Ugh, Brie is such a two faced bitch. Do you know what she did last spring break?"
And then suddenly with a plastic smile, Mary-Anne said in a high-pitched voice, "Brieee! Allisonnn! Oh my gawwwd! Hiiii. Long time no seeee!" Hug, hug. Kiss kiss.
Okay, even Dylan had to roll his eyes at that level of fakeness. He smiled at the two girls, though. "Hi, Brie. Hi, Allison," he said, and gave them each a hug. In a matter of seconds, Brie and Mary-Anne were catching up and giggling like two best friends, like Mary-Anne wasn't talking behind Brie's back moments before. Meanwhile poor Brie had no idea. Dylan tried to talk to Allison but Brie then quickly set her attention on him, nudging Allison to the side. She batted her eyelashes and twirled her hair as she started babbling about how much she loooved his sermon last Sunday. It was all too much for Dylan.
That's when he saw her.
Her hair was the first thing he noticed. Long and curly, almost wild. Messy, but in a good way. Her eyes piercing and sad. No, more than sad. Haunted. It hurt to look at her, but he liked it. Even then, Dylan could tell she didn't belong in a place like this, which is maybe why he was so drawn to her in the first place. Call it cliche, but she was different. She was also alone, and he wanted practically nothing more than to change that and be by her side.
"And I just felt so convicted, ya know? Like the Holy Spirit was totally upon me…"
"Who's that?" Dylan asked, not taking his eyes off of this beautiful stranger.
"Who's who?" Brie asked, scrunching her tiny little pointy nose. She obviously was not very happy with Dylan having his eyes on another girl while she was in the middle of trying to impress him with how spiritual she was.
Little
Polaris.
Sasil
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Sasil
May the Dread Wolf take you.
A silent shiver spread across Gabby’s shoulders, a shudder escaping her composure as her attention was taken from the door towards the group of girls who arrived for the wedding. They cried loudly each others names--perhaps squealed would be the better term-and embraced one another. A fake friendship if she ever saw one. That was exactly how Gabby had been with a few people she worked with. The memory caused her throat to go dry. Pushing the thoughts aside, silently she watched the group. Trying to figure out if she could recognize the lot of them. After all, the majority of the people coming to this wedding, bedies the older people who knew the bride and groom, would be from her Grad class.
Her eyes trailed over them a moment placing them in the memories she hardly ever confronted. High school, that wasn’t exactly what she liked to remember. Time was better then, at least before the accident. It had been easier, know though? Everything was a mess.
Gabby turned her back to the group instead trying to find some place to hide. A few older couples came into the church talking chatting, when they saw her through the clammed up. Seeing her and shaking their heads. Gabby looked away again A hand flying to her forehead. Keep it together, Gabby whispered to herself trying desperately to calm her heart.
‘It’s Gabrielle Capursi. You remember the ballerina. Well, she was.” the mutters to one another where hardly quiet enough for Gabby to not hear. Was. Gabby was a Ballerina, but it felt like a lifetime ago.
“Shit…” Gabby whispered retreating to a seat in the corner finally just sitting down. If she hadn’t found a place to sit soon she was going to fail in her promise, and flee from this place. Perhaps this had been a bad idea, it seemed like it was going to be just that a bad idea.
As Gabby thought to herself, fighting the demons that never seemed to leave Gabby felt the eyes of someone on her. It was a different stare though, not one of judging but...just watching. She wasn’t sure if that description was real but she turned looking towards the stare catching the blue eyes who watched her intensely. She locked eyes with him a moment before she looked away quickly, playing with her dress.
A clean shaven man with kind eyes, blonde hair placed in a specific fashion. Someone who you could tell who had no right to watch her. But he was handsome, something about him screamed pure. Gabby wasn’t sure why he watched her, and she quickly looked up catching the scrunched expression of the girl beside her. Brie. That girl she remembered, Allison also seemed to be part of the little clique. It had been ages since she talked to these people.
What did they think of her?
Better yet, why was the Paster's son staring. Dylan, if she remembered his name right. Probably praying for her soul that had to be in. Perhaps they thought she would combust sitting in a holy place. Gabby had thought about that when she entered but it wasn’t like she was some kind of witch so that fear was set aside.
Still. Gabby stole one more look before listening to the conversation, they weren’t exactly quiet.
“Oh. My. God,,” Brie exclaimed looking to the other parts of the group. “Guys, look it’s Gabrielle. Did you hear what happened to her?” Brie said a slight smirk appearing on her lips. Like hell she was going to allow her to steal Dylan’s attention. Once he knew what she did, what she was, his goo-goo eyes would be stolen and replaced with a look of disgust.
“Gabby? Really, showing her face around here? I heard she stripped in the big city. Lost her talent as a ballerina--apparently she has a knack for taking her clothes off.. And her pole dancing.” Michelle chortled thinking about it. “I had a friend go and see her once. Since no one believed it--it's true though. Should see the pictures on social media…”
Gabby swallowed staring ahead pretending she couldn’t hear them. But each word had her heart going deeper and deeper into her chest. Every word was a dagger into it. Gabby enjoyed the pole dancing, not what people saw, what people wanted but it had been a fun job. But...things went downhill. The drugs, the sex.
“If you are going to talk about me you could at least pretend to be subtle.” Gabby wanted to say out loud but she couldn’t. Instead she pretended to not hear them, starting to dig in her small side bag, pretending to be busy.
Little
Polaris.
D
DisneyGirl
Polaris.
Creator Of My Own Twisted World
Allison.
Blair.
Presley.
In other words, the social butterfly, or well, a female who tries to play it by the social standards. The goody two shoes, the one who never does anything wrong. Known for being friends with everyone, the girl who people has nothing but sweet things to say about her. Her image and reputation followed her since kindergarten when she went around blessing people whenever she heard a sneeze. Blessing only one person is discrimination, her 4 years old self was going to bless anyone and everyone in the vicinity of the sneezer so god would protect them all. If anything, people would say how she and Dylan match up so well. Their social standing were in line, they were both “nice” and “sweet” except the problem was they were never really into each other. Don’t get her wrong, Dylan is probably the sweetest and the most Christian-like male she ever met but they were just friends. Sort of. So she ended up using him as an excuse whenever she wanted to change subject or divert attention. Oh geez! Is that Dylan? Oh my god! Brie look! It worked a 100 percent of the time. Bless his soul, he probably had no idea.
Today was a day of happiness, for god’s sake, it’s a freaking wedding but exactly the moment Gabrielle stepped in, gossip sharpened her claws and began to make her mark. Ballerina? Just kidding, no longer ballerina. Stripper? Pole dancer? Peeling off clothes for old hungry geezers? Dirty money? Where was this conversation going? She has been out of town for four years and now, a sudden onslaught of news caught her off guard. Allison was absorbing all of the drama, casting it aside in compartments of her brain. Crazy girl who likes the Dylan, who as people would say, “hella metamorphosize over the years”? Check. Dylan, gobsmacked and awestruck by a new incoming girl? Check, check. Incoming chick who used to be Allison’s best friend but somehow drifted apart when phone calls or text messages were never read? Triple check. She had enough material to write a trilogy.
Where’s the buffet table? She needed to slide away from the drama fiasco that was about to unfold. Thank you for the unnecessary drama but no thank you, Allison Presley had a fake diploma to figure out. Before she could find where she could stuff herself silly and pretend to be occupied by cakes and likes, Brie grabbed her by the elbow.
Oh no. Allison’s face fell for a moment until her eyes darted nervously at Dylan and back to Gabrielle. Oh no, indeed. They were definitely going to drag her into this.
“Why were you ever even friends with that slut?” Brie sneered causing gasps all around. Allison fisted her hands, she needed to be calm about this. This was none of her business. Don’t get involved.
“That’s a bad word, Brie. She may be a slut but we shouldn’t fall anywhere to her standards,” another chirped. Was that Michelle?
They went back and forth until, “Ugh, how many people do you think she had sex with?”
“Ew gross Brie, she probably has STD,” Michelle laughed gleefully.
“Why would anyone even want to touch her now? She’s — like, so used. Right Dylan? We should stay away from people like that. God wouldn’t want us anywhere near her,” Mary-Anne said, sounding convinced and disgusted all at the same time. The condescending tone dripped with utter repugnance didn’t escape anyone in that room.
This was going too far, Allison had kept quiet but these girls got social destruction on their agenda and Allison was not going to be apart of this. Any unsupportive words from her and she’ll become an outcast as well. That she knew but…
“Hey, enough,” Allison yanked her hand away from Brie. The words flew out of her mouth before she could filter them. ”Look, let’s just be nice and not say such mean things to each other. We’re all friends and family here. Sister and brother in Christ. Bless your unholy soul.” Her father would've expected her to say. After all, Allison, the blesser, still had to upkeep the Presley image.
Yet instead, she spitted out, “Just because you losers can’t find anyone willing to fuck you doesn’t give you the prerogative to talk smack about other people behind their back. If you’re all so brave and mighty, why don’t you tell her that to her face. Look, she’s sitting right there.” Allison gave Brie and Michelle a push towards Gabrielle’s direction. More gasps escaped all the PK’s mouths, most were gaping like goldfishes.
“Go, tell her what you have to say. What? Cat got your tongue?” Landon would have been so proud if he was here except he was elsewhere, trying to untangle the drama he weaved on his own.
“What’s gotten into her?” whispers went around. “She’s crazy. She lost it. Is she possessed?”
Cue, Allison, the new social outcast.
She definitely has been texting LJ for too long, his obscene cursing has made its way to her vocabulary. Her father would be shocked. Scratch that, he was going to kill her. In the past, Allison would have sat next to Gabrielle and gone, “hallelujah, solidarity sister” except now? Now, they felt like reunited strangers and even so, she still felt like the need to have her old friend's back.
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Little
lil trash-heaping goblin
Jonathan W. Reed
“Look dude, I’m really sorry we never told you. I-I just didn’t want your opinion of us to change. But you’re my best friend, I should have said something sooner.”
Jonathan only glanced at him for a long moment, but said nothing as he looked away.
What did Landon want him to say? What could possibly be said that wasn’t already obvious? That he’d been in love with the girl that Landon had been sleeping with behind his back, in his own home without him knowing about it? That instead of putting an merciful end to his silent longing, his silent heartache for the girl he’d been in love with from the start, he’d kept everything from Jonathan, selfishly? And because what? Because he was afraid his opinion of them would change?
That was where they were both wrong.
If they’d told him from the start, Jonathan wouldn’t be here, locked up in the bathroom because he felt like he couldn’t breathe, felt like his whole world was coming crashing down on him, making him want to throw up. Making him want to cry for something that had never been a possibility.
Finally, after Jonathan recollected himself enough, he spoke.
“You know it hurts, right?” Looking up, he looked at Landon in the eyes for the first time briefly, and looked away again.
“I just thought…” His breath caught, painfully squeezing his lungs as his train of thought froze and derailed, leaving him breathless and panicked.
You can breathe. Just breathe, Jonathan. Just breathe.
“I just thought you trusted me,” he lamely finished, still sounding out of breath as his guarded eyes bounced back and forth between the floor and his hands. He didn’t know how to say anything more than that, or if he even could without starting to cry out of the frustration and anger he felt for himself for ever having thought that he and Millie could ever be more than what they already were, the heartache and grief he felt knowing that the love he had for her, would die a silent death inside of him that no one would ever know about.
And he already felt it dying, fading into nothing more than a memory now. It’d been nothing but a dream; and one that could and would never be.
Unsure of where he could go from here, Jonathan glanced at Landon before extending his uncuffed wrists out towards him, palms up. After a short pause, he explained, defeated like a child upset and distraught that they needed to ask for help after all, “I couldn’t get them cuffed by myself.”
Jonathan didn’t want to talk about this. He wanted to forget about all of this, pretend nothing had ever happened so he could go on living without the pain he felt weighing down his heart now, making it so very very hard to breathe, to think.
So things could go back to normal, to the way they had been before.
But they couldn’t ever go back to normal now with the cat out of the bag, could they?
What was normal, anyway? Him pining for Millie from the sidelines, waiting for the perfect moment to tell her everything he’d kept locked away for all these years, the perfect moment that he knew would never come? Meanwhile her and Landon had been screwing behind his back, putting on a facade only when he was around? Was that what he wanted to return to?
All he’d had were them. The people he called friends. The people who were supposed to be honest with him. The people he was supposed to trust the most.
But now? He had nothing. He had baggage and secrets he didn’t want to share with anyone anymore. That was what he had. And perhaps the saddest truth in all of this? They lose nothing in this. They still have each other. They still get to go to bed with each other each night, while he’ll get to go to bed wondering if he should just go back, move back home where there he at least had something. Where he at least had the ranch, something to do with his hands. Not whatever this shit was, working a job he hated and now living with a roommate he didn’t really know, like he’d thought.
So why was he here?
Jonathan needed to think. He needed to be able to breathe.
Standing up abruptly, Jonathan glanced at Landon who still sat cross legged on the floor, feeling his breath painfully catch again as he froze, and then stammered. “I need to─I think I’m gonna change into the other shirt because I...”
Just breathe, he reminded himself as the panic rose inside his chest, as the need to get the hell out before the walls came closing in on him rose, suffocating him completely as his thoughts swirled and spiralled.
“I think this blue might be too much.” He knows as well as you do that you’re colorblind and can’t see whether or not the blue is too much, fucking dumbass. “I mean─I, fuck.” Breathe. “I just need a minute to try the other one again,try to see which one looks less stupid.” He gave a weak, false smile, trying to keep the shattered pieces of himself together long enough as he attempted his usual humor─and if only because a part of him still didn’t want this to change anything, and still longed for things to go back to normal.
Even if things could never be normal again, ever. Not knowing what he knew, not when he had to stare at the elephant in the room every time he even thought about Landon or Millie. About this morning.
So with that, Jonathan was gone. He disappeared for the second time that morning, only on his way out, he ran into Millie. Quite literally. His shoulder knocked into her as he tried to exit quickly, quickly so Landon wouldn’t say anything and so he wouldn’t have to hear what he said. The pain of it, the pain of seeing her, knocked the breath out of his lungs and made his heart thunder with horror, pumping panic into his veins as he stared, wide eyed and confused and hurt and all of the things he’d been hiding and guarding from Landon. From himself.
Suddenly dry mouthed, Jonathan opened his mouth to say sorry, but found himself frozen as he stared. Horrified with the realization that she’d been listening in, Jonathan felt his heart plummet as he forced himself to tear his eyes away, and walk away.
It was only once he was safe, with his bedroom door shut and locked behind him, that he allowed himself to cry.
D DisneyGirl
Polaris.
Sasil
DisneyGirl
it was fun, peace out.
Seconds passed feeling like hours as Millie waited for Jonathan to respond to Landon. She shut her eyes tight, bit her lip and dug her nails into the palm of her hands so hard she thought they would start to bleed. She was ready to barge in there in case a fight erupted, though why would it? It's not like Jonathan had walked in on Landon sleeping with his girlfriend or something.
“You know it hurts, right?”
Millie's eyes popped open.
“I just thought…”
Thought what? What did he think?
“I just thought you trusted me,” Jonathan answered, sounding exhausted. Millie should have been relieved at his words, but she wasn't. She wanted him to say something else. She wanted him to…feel something, besides exhausted, but she didn't want him to be upset either; she wanted…she wanted—
Jonathan changed the subject then, quickly recovering as best as he could in these awkward circumstances and asking for Landon's help with his cuffs. Millie got up from the floor, crossing her arms like the gesture could protect from the feelings that attacked her. She wanted Jonathan to be jealous. She wanted him to yell and throw shit at the wall and grab her and kiss her furiously and desperately and say, "No, dammit, you're mine! Not his. Mine!"
And she'd tell him, "The hell I am, Jonathan. I don't belong to anyone!" because Millie was the girl you shared drunk nights with, not your whole life with. She'd wear your t-shirt and basketball shorts, but she'd never wear your ring and mama's old wedding dress. And yet, she secretly wished Jonathan would be the man who'd changed her mind, who would have the auditicity to prove her wrong. She hoped he'd see her fear and understand and fight like hell to get her to believe. To believe in love, to believe in them.
But Jonathan was better than that, deserved better than that. Only those stupid asses in those romantic comedies did that shit. Ain't nobody was gonna profess his love and kiss her in the rain. Who did she think they were? Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams? If she'd been a more decent person, she would just tell him how she felt and not be sleeping with his best friend. Oh, but that would make things so weird… she had thought. It could totally ruin their friendship. Was their friendship ruined now?
Millie hadn't left her position and soon she was face to face with Jonathan who could barely look at her—except with horror—much less talk to her, bumping into her and quickly getting away from her as if he was the one who ought to be ashamed of himself. Or perhaps he wasn't ashamed of himself, but ashamed of her.
An hour later, and all Millie wanted was to hit the bar; but this was a church, so she was going to have to find other ways to get her alcohol. Whatever happened today, she was going to be drunk for most of it. Millie, like always, stood out from the crowd. Was it that short strapless teal dress that showed a little too much skin that caused others to stare at her? Or maybe it was her habit of hanging out in boys' beds. Whatever it was, Millie brushed it off and just smiled and laughed as she caught up with friends and pretended like she hadn't spent the morning crying all her mascara off her face. She tried not to let it get to her that she had, at one point in her life, slept with half of the guys here.
"Millie, hey!" Somebody said from behind her and Millie turned around to find herself facing the one and only Chase Brogan. Chase the customer from the diner who'd she spent a romantic summer with a few years ago when he stayed in town to visit his grandparents and who wrote to her constantly when he got back home but whom she never wrote back to.
Millie wanted to die.
"Oh my gosh, hi!" Millie said, grinning way too enthusiastically not be to painful.
"Andrea, this is an…old friend," he continued, speaking to an extremely pregnant blonde standing next to him. Millie wanted to laugh. They very good friends back in his motel room a few summers ago. "Millie, this is my wife." Wow. Chase had gotten married and was having a kid; and the way he and Andrea looked at each other, so in love. She'd find it cute if it didn't make her nauseous.
"It's so nice to meet you!" Andrea said, going in for a hug.
Millie chuckled nervously before saying, "Excuse me, I gotta go find some vodka or something."
She left the two lovebirds behind, but didn't go far before Gunner Atkins leaned into her ear and said, "Heard you needed some help." He discreetly pulled out a flask from the inside of his pocket from his jacket. "Got some more in my truck." Millie wasted no time in taking up his offer, figuring that if she was going to die alone she might as well die with a drink in hand.
Gabrielle. Dylan liked that name. Liked how it sounded. Like an angel's name. In fact, it was an angel's name. The female version of it anyway. But, according to town gossip, this girl was no angel. A stripper. That word caused Dylan to snap back to their conversation and turn to Brie for confirmation that he heard right. She noticed his taken back expression and smiled. Perfect. She had him right where she wanted him, attention back on good girls. Better girls. Girls with clean reputations and no fucked up pasts. Girls like her.
Or so Brie thought.
Back in the early days, Dylan's papa had been known to be quite the brimstone and fire kind of preacher. The man loved to talk about hell and judgment day and couldn't resist yet another sermon on how sinful human beings were. Unlike a lot of pastors 'round these parts, Papa's passion came from a good place. He wasn't interested in stealing folks' money with all that "the end times are near and if you give me your whole bank account then you'll be spared from eternal torment" nonsense; and even though he used to stare at gay couples like they were from another planet, he'd treat 'em the same as anyone else. Which meant he asked them if they were interested in accepting Jesus Christ as their saviour and would invite them to church. And then something happened to Papa around the time that Dylan went from being a child to a teenager: he got tired. Tired of yelling, criticizing, guilt-tripping.
"Don't ever look down on anyone, son," Papa told Dylan one night as they sat on the front porch, drinking mama's sweet tea and staring at the stars like they always liked to. "No matter how much better off you may think you are, you ain't. We're all just broken human beings in need of love. Love is where it's at. It'll change everything."
Hearing the cruel words spoken about Gabrielle, Dylan opened his mouth to give his own view, but Allison beat him to it with some harsh words of her own. Not wanting the situation to get any worse but instead wanting to keep the peace—especially at a wedding for goodness sakes—he put his hand on his friend's shoulder and said, "It's alright, Allison. They don't have to talk to her. I will."
The other girls' jaws dropped.
Taking in a deep breath and running his hands through his dark blonde hair, Dylan walked on over to Gabrielle with the nerves of a teenage boy about to ask a cute girl for her number. He could feel eyes watching him, whispers being exchanged around the room like a game of telephone. Plopping down next to the beautiful stranger, he waited a few seconds before he looked over at her and said with a teasing smile, "Well, hey there, darlin'. What're you doin' sitting here all by yourself?" Coming from any other guy, it might have sounded like a cheesy pick up-line. Something some moron at a bar would say. He wanted to cringe at his choice of words, but coming from Dylan, there was nothing pretentious about it. No interior motives. Okay, yeah. He thought she was cute and wanted to get to know her, but he wasn't trying to "win" her like some prize. Not trying to show off or play some game. He just wanted to know her. Not the girl everyone thought she was, but to actually know her. Gabrielle. Not wanting to scare her off, Dylan grinned and held out a hand. "Name's Dylan." An awkward pause and then he said, with such kindness as if he was almost talking to a small child, "I like your dress. I don't like wearing fancy stuff either. Much more of a jeans and t-shirt kinda guy myself, but that's a very pretty color on you." And he meant it. It may have sounded lame, but he couldn't help but tell her that. Man, was his heart beating fast looking into those beautiful eyes.
"A pig looks pretty in a dress, too, but it's still a pig," Brie mumbled, causing the other girls to laugh. Dylan lifted his head, his eyes piercing Brie's. "What was that?" He called out to her.
Brie's face went white as a ghost and the laughing stopped. "It's just…" she started, growing irritated. "well. You know her kind, Dylan. Are you just going to pretend like she's not…you know, what she is?"
"Oh," Dylan said, nodding. As if he just understood now what the big deal was. "Right, right. Okay." Letting out a defeated sigh, he added, "Whoever wants to start throwing, go ahead."
"What?" Michelle asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Stoning," Dylan replied, matter of factly. "You know, like in the Bible. You get stones and throw them at the bad people? The sinners? Well, go on ahead, now. Don't be shy." Taking off his jacket, he continued, "Whoever ain't a sinner can start throwing when they're ready—oh, but just know that if you start throwing at her, you're gonna have to hit me first."
A small crowd began to form, watching in stunned silence. Dylan just closed his eyes and waited for a few moments before opening his eyes and saying, "No? No one wants to start throwing?" He asked. "Huh, I guess there's no perfect people at this little celebration." he added, scratching his head and frowning. "Phew. That's a relief." He chuckled, putting his jacket back on. With a more stern voice, he finished with, "Now I suggest ya'll leave my new friend alone—as well as Allison—otherwise, we're gonna have a problem. Understood?" Nobody argued with that. Once everyone scrammed, Dylan smiled at Allison; then he winked at Gabrielle and squeezed her hand. When he realized he was making skin to skin contact with a girl—and a very cute girl at that—he jumped and laughed nervously. Hands running through hair once more. Confidence gone and back to his dorky self again.
Little
Polaris.
Sasil
Sasil
May the Dread Wolf take you.
Gabrielle stared down into her purse counting the number of dust bunnies that lingered inside. That was pretty much the contents of it, like her life she was empty. No money, the clothes on her back and a small bag she left at her brothers place. For years of living and she had nothing to show for it but the pieces of her life left in each club, each bed she had lingered in just a little to long.
The words cut her open with every comment. A tidal wave of emotions washed over her body. Anger, sadness but mostly shame. They were right. She was just that, she was what they said she was. No one had a right to talk to her, specially not Allison. Her best friend of years, even if she was an annoying person who had wormed her way into her good graces--Gabrielle missed her for those years.
The contact severed when her mother died, when the accident with her knee and how she turned to drugs and sex for comfort. Like it would help her in some way. Even know she still itched for those things, she wanted them. Desperately, it would cut the edge off. Take away this meek person that her old school mates saw, return the strong, independent ballerina that jogged every morning, worked on her appearance--smiled. Instead she was sitting here listening to the poison spill from the PK, ironically the good kids of town.
With the news of who she was, what she was, the handsome stranger was going to turn his back, she expected to hear him chime in along but instead she heard Allison's comment. It had her freeze for a moment. Had she spoken up for her? Why? Looking up know, her heart beating ever so quicker in her chest she listened.
“Just because you losers can’t find anyone willing to fuck you doesn’t give you the prerogative to talk smack about other people behind their back. If you’re all so brave and mighty, why don’t you tell her that to her face. Look, she’s sitting right there.”
The words rung through her mind, Allison you idiot. You’ll be thrown under the bus with me.
Her choice of words colourful just like her. Allison had always been good with her words. They danced off the page like Gabrielle used to on the dance floor. Graceful but they packed a punch. If she hadn’t been so struck by it she would have smiled.
But there had been no time for anything while Gabrielle had been thinking about her old friend she had not heard the footsteps beside her causing her to jump in fear and flinched. Gabrielle didn’t let people sneak up on her, it was her coping. If she hadn’t been so struck by his ability she would have hit him in the face causing any amount of pain she could. Instead he started to talk to her.
His voice reminded her of the sun. Warm, and sweet with a hint of honey. Like a summer day with the gentle breath taken from an ocean. Everything that described..comfort. Why the hell was he talking to her?
He talked, she listened unable to find the words to speak back. Her voice lost to the moment. His compliment, cheesy and something she rolled her eyes slightly but took it and stored deep inside herself. It had been awhile since someone had said something that wasn’t about her chest, her butt.
‘Ho damn girl dat ass is fiiiine.’
Not exactly the compliment you wanted to hear over and over again. It was the compliment said before you were bent over a kitchen table--not meant and they never called again after.
“Thanks...it’s my brothers girlfriends…” Gabrielle said quietly seeing his hand out to her she stared at it then to his piercing blue eyes. A summer day; clear and crisp. Again, she thought to herself, why was he talking to her?
That was the thought that repeated in her mind over and over again.
Brei’s comment had her sighing shaking her head. A pig, like that was original. If the women wanted this guy so badly she wasn’t doing a good job. Gabrielle wanted to speak up once more but Dylan spoke up his words struck the girl without hesitation. The crowd that was starting to surround them was unbearable. Trying to blend in, that had been her one job. But here she was sitting with the Pastor's son, as he preached about sinning. But it wasn’t a bad way--it was a display of full honesty. No stones, he got them to shut up and leave.
Leave completely. The murmurs where still hearing from afar but they left them alone. She gripped the closest thing in her left hand, a strong hand she had not realized she had or him had taken. He took it away then when he realized what he had done. The confidence he had gone and that little cheesy smile came back. The one that gave her the bad pick up line.
Folding her hand back on her lap she shifted in her desk looking towards him then towards Allison. Her mouth went dry, words lingered on her tongue but the beating of her heart was deafening. What was she to say in this situation?
“Gabrielle.” She started figuring introducing herself would be the best. “Though..from the comments I’m guessing you knew that.” clearing her throat she looked down to the floor searching for something else to say. Anything.
“Thanks..You didn’t have to though. I’m used to it.” Playing it off, that was what she could do right? That was what people did in situations like this. “With your strong words I’m guessing you're the Pastor around these parts?” she asked starting a little bit of conversation. “You going to pray for my soul now?” she frowned slightly unsure why she said that but it was already out there.
Realizing she shouldn’t have said that she looked to Allison who was just a bit away from the two of them. Her best friend in high school, what to say to her? Again, the words couldn't be found.
“Hey...Allison. I-It’s….Thanks.” She cleared her throat catching all other words she meant to say. Nope, she wasn’t good at this. Time to retreat and leave the wedding. Wasn’t like she was that close to either the bride or groom. She only came back because she had nowhere else to go.
Gabrielle stood to her feet then trying to find some way to say she had to leave but her eyes caught Matt who was on the other side of the room giving her a double thumbs up. Like things had been going well. A glare sent his way when he motioned her to talk to people, her mouthing ‘mingle. Talk.’ to her over and over again.
A word came to mind but she decided that wasn’t exactly the most church like thing to say. But she thought it.
“How...do you know the bride and groom?” Gabrielle finally said shifting her weight on her other foot tucking her hands around her waist holding onto her sides for dear life. This was all she could do. Make conversation, try and be civil.
Little
D
DisneyGirl
Polaris.
