Realistic or Modern hollywood arts: main (open!!)

[hery]

MOOD: pathetic little bitch baby

OUTFIT: maid costume

LOCATION: the johannes mansion (ash's room)

basics

MENTIONS:
n/a
INT:
Winona (Jace)
mogy (Oates)

tags

TL;DR no

tl;dr

Callum Richards

Callum lazily looked up to see Jace off, nodding at his promise for a text knowing full well he wouldn't remember these words. His eyes followed the boy as he exited the room, and it wasn't until he was completely out of sight that Callum had realized he was supposed to thank Jace or something to that effect.

Bah, whatever. It wasn't in his nature to do so anyway.

The dazed boy's head and right arm dangled limply over the side of the bed. Callum had to strain his neck to lift it up and make eye contact with Oates, but even then his glassy eyes flitted trying to focus on anything other than the light entering his pupils. When would it end? When would someone heed his request and shut the damn light off? He was too exhausted to repeat himself and decided to just bear with the light rather than waste his energy getting irritated over it.

More than that, this was Callum's chance to get Oates alone and, despite the conditions, he fully intended to make use of it. "Thanks for coming, O," he said bashfully, making the penitent decision to drop eye contact and lower his gaze to the floor. As he was both highly intoxicated and laying on his back, it was difficult to maneuver his body properly. He feebly took the plastic cup from Oates then slowly, shakily brought it to his lips. The water went down in loud, choked gulps that only added to the weird tension in the room.

Except, really, it wasn't that tense at all. Callum didn't have the mind to care how awful he looked and Oates was plenty used to babysitting of all types given the compassionate empathy he distributed indiscriminately. Regardless of their personalities, the fact was that the two had shared an intimate bond for a long, long period of time. Nothing between them ever really felt weird or awkward, especially when Oates had seen him at his worst on numerous occasions.

It almost felt routine. Like something that would happen while they were... together. A pang of dejection resonated inside of Callum at the thought of what they once were. Oates was there simply to be a friend. Simply because he was a good guy. Callum didn't mind constantly being the subject of others' pity, but when it was Oates, it stung beyond proportion. It all felt so impersonal, as if Callum could just be any guy. Oates wasn't there with some ulterior motive like Callum was. He'd moved on far too quickly for that to ever be a reality.

"I fucked up, Oates, I fucked up," he repeated over and over, groaning as he spilled a little water on himself. His hand covered his squeezed-shut eyes, wrinkling his pale face illuminated by the harsh bedroom light. "I d-didn't want to bother you, but I really had to find you. Wh-where did you even go??"

He groaned once more, pouting his lips with frustration as his headache continued to throb inside his skull. "I'm so tired," he whined, blindly reaching out to touch Oates. His hands squeezed and grabbed at his costume, invasively searching all over him as far as he could reach in his position. "My head hurts so bad. And I need to get out of here. And..." Callum hiccupped, undoubtedly startling Oates, who was in too close of proximity to avoid any potential spit-up.

"Oat, I really, really, need you right now."

code by valen t.

 

[ditto]

[

I'm still young, wasting my youth
I'll grow up next summer

M O O D : regret

O U T F I T : ryder's clothes

L O C A T I O N : ryder's bougie fucking mansion —> on the road

M E N T I O N S : gen, liv, maddie, adriane, landon

I N T E R A C T I O N S : ryder

T A G S : sunshineysoul

​

“Bon appetit, jackass.”

The sharp rattling of the plate against the heavy, mahogany table beneath Mike’s face made him clench his jaw.

Did he have to be so damn loud with it?

Mike sighed deeply, leaning back in the seat and glaring up at Ryder. “Thanks,” he grumbled, watching with tired, irritated eyes as Ryder cut up his omelette. “Gimme that,” he said, swiftly leaning over and snatching the fork and knife from Ryder’s hands by their ends.

He hated being fucking babied. If Ryder was gonna do that shit, then why hadn’t he just shoved it in the blender with some titty milk and called it a day?

Mike was pretty much a grown ass man. He could cut his own damn breakfast.

And by he could cut up his own damn breakfast, he meant that he wasn’t going to cut it at all.

Real men didn’t need a fork and knife— they ate that shit with their bare hands, all in one bite.

Stabbing the larger piece of egg with his fork and holding the large, floppy chunk up to his mouth, Mike bit into his breakfast and ripped off a large chunk, tugging his neck back to assist in said ripping. He let out a soft “mmpf" at the pleasant taste of the fluffy breakfast, though his head throbbed at all of his sudden movements. Swallowing the big bite, he let out a long sigh.

Food was fucking great.

“Dude, what the hell happened last night?” Ryder asked, bringing him down from his small up moment. “You told me you fucked Gen, but is she that much of a bitch that she passed misery onto you like it’s a fucking STD?”

Good things came to a fucking end, huh?

Well, great. That good moment lasted all of…what, seven seconds? Psh, but who was counting, right? A few seconds didn’t mean much when whoever the hell was in charge of his life had it fucking out for him.

Hey, what the fuck did I do to deserve this, by the way? Can’t a slut catch a break?

Throw me a bone here, fucker.

And not in that way.

Or was he supposed to pray again?

Psh, his prayer didn’t work last time, but here went another attempt.

Hey, God—

Get your shit together. I get that you’re jealous of me, but that doesn’t mean you have to have it out for me.

Thanks.

Amen.

He glared over at Ryder. As much as he loved the dude, he sometimes wished that he would just shut the fuck up.

In a loving way.

“Fuck if I know,” Mike muttered, gnawing off another bite of his omelette. “I didn’t know what the hell was happening until it happened, and now I fucking…” He sighed deeply, swallowing his mouthful and going in for another bite. “Goddamn it. Look, all I can really say that happened was that I didn’t stick to my original plan— you know, the usual one of get fucked up and go fuck out— and that my change of plans was…”

A fuck in the ass.

Ryder would take that literally and give him hell for it.

“Fuck,” he sighed. “Yeah, she’s that much of a bitch.” He propped his elbow up on the table and leaned his cheek onto his palm as he continued the man tactic of devouring his morning meal. “You were gone for a bit, but you remember that girl I was fucking back in the summer?” He realized that that wasn’t specific, and he swallowed his chunk of masticated egg to masticate another chunk. “Not Maddie, but the other one? Liv? Yeah, that girl. You know the whole situation with her or whatever?”

You know, the whole “Gen left me, I’m drunk, fuck me” thing?

“Apparently Gen didn’t know about it. I figured that she would have figured out or whatever, but apparently she didn’t. Big fucking whoop, I know— oh, shit, Michael Reid fucked the girl I abandoned, but apparently, oh, shit, I was thinking about her oh so deep love for Liv when I banging her…?” He let out a sarcastic chuckle, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, because that was the way it went down. I came to Liv, and the first thing I said was ‘hey, love of Genevieve Johannes’ fucking life, would you be so kind as to dish me out your pussy to get revenge?’. That was my first thought, yeah. Sure as hell wasn’t my friend’s upset and needs some comfort, and I can offer it. Sure as hell was nothing like that.”

He ripped off another hunk of the egg with his teeth. “Gen came to me with her makeup all smudged, then tried to play it like I was the one who wanted to grovel and bitch and sob. Impressing her guilt onto me, you know how it goes. And I was just like...what a fucking bitch.” He drew in a king breath through his nose, sighing out of his mouth. “At least she was a hot bitch, but...fuck. I never thought I’d stoop so low as to fuck Gen Johannes in my fucking life, but here I am, a slutty sonuva bitch whose social net worth just went down, what, ten-thousand, would you say?”

He finished his last bite, sighing as he set back in his chair, groaning and rubbing his temples. “And now, it’s like I proved her point. It’s like I looked her in her face, arms open wide, grin on my face, and said ‘hell yeah, I’m guilty; hell yeah, you’re right; hell yeah, you can play me like a record; hell yeah, you can walk all over me’. So...I fucked up,” he grumbled. “Royally.”

He laid his elbows on the armrest, scooting his back against the back of the chair. “And it wasn’t even just that. Last night was just fucking hell. In general. I mean, first thing I did— and call me fucking dumb for this or whatever you wanna do, because I am fucking dumb for this, I get it— I tried to go and talk to...Landon.” He said the word with a scowl on his face. It felt disgusting to say the fucking bitch’s name. “That bit me in the ass— bastard pissed me off, whatever. I could deal with that— it’s a minor setback, but hey. At least I could’ve drank and fucked shit up and then went home with some sexy bod, yeah?”

He breathed out a long sigh. “So, you know, as a little appetizer, I went up to Flatass McGee— Adriane, that bitch. She’s shaped like a board, but she’s got a smart mouth, so I thought a bit of banter and drinking could be good for a nice appetizer, ya know. Something to get the ball rolling before I got the balls rolling. You know what that bitch did?” He closed his eyes, letting out an angry chuckle as his head throbbed the memory. “Brought up Alaina. I know the bitch didn’t know what she was doing— she was poor, innocent, oh so ignorant— but goddamn it if I ever let anyone get away with mentioning my crackwhore mom without saying something.” He let out another long sigh. “I wish I had a stake or something. I’d‘ve given that anemic bitch some iron.”

He opened his eyes, leaning forward again. “But...that was last night and all of its bullshit. Now you see why I needed that bathtub.”

With that, he stood, and he moved toward Ryder’s chair to hug him as best he could while he was sitting down.

“Thanks for breakfast, Mom,” he kidded again. “I’ll catch you later.”

Then, he walked right to and out of the front door and to his eyesore of a vehicle, giving its rusted, rough, dented hood a solid pat before tossing himself into the driver’s seat and pulling out of the driveway and onto the calm road of the expensive ass neighborhood, mind still stuck on all of last night’s regrets mistakes stupid fucking decisions.

MICHAEL K. REID

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ditto]

[

I am, I am trying
The best that I can

M O O D : ...so...rry.

O U T F I T : t-shirt & sweatpants

L O C A T I O N : the apartment

M E N T I O N S : n/a

I N T E R A C T I O N S : ash

T A G S : Winona

​

Something in Trevor hoped that Ash had given a nope and been done with it. At least then...he didn’t know what would have happened, but he wouldn’t have had to figure out what to say next.

Instead, her answer came: “Yeah, we can...yeah, we can talk.”

She wasn’t meeting his eyes. Her hands were fidgeting, and he stared at the as she continued.

"If it's about, like, last night, don't worry about it. Like, I'm not...I'm not mad at you or upset or whatever about what happened last night. I mean it's just like, I mean...it...it's...like, fine, and you were like...right and drunk and it's fine."

“Er...no.”

Trevor laughed slightly at the words that slipped from his mouth, his brows knitting.

“I’m, erm...” He brought a hand up to his hair, touching at the curls at the base of his neck. Words... “It’s not that.”

It was that.

That wasn’t how this was supposed to be going.

Then again, he didn’t have a plan from the start...

What was he doing again? Oh, look, he’d conveniently forgotten.

Ooh, a butterfly.

He looked away from her fidgeting hands, giving a soft sigh and a chuckle.

“I jus’...wanted to say that I...”

...am almost out of Axe. Want to run to Walmart?

...can’t do basic addition. Tutor me.

“...am, erm, uh...”

He looked over at her again. The weed prevented him from fidgeting about, but his heart still pattered in his throat.

Why was it so hard to...shite.

He swallowed hard, giving a laugh and steadying himself.

No, he could do this.

Just admit it:

I’m a massive prick.

“I’m...”

His throat caught up again.

It felt like...back at the fair on this couch. It was just as hard of a confession as that.

“I’m...feck, I, heh.” He ran his hand through his hair.

Just spit it out.

His eyes moved to her face. “No, yer not...las’ night, I...”

He breathed out a long sigh. He just couldn’t get it out.

“Ash, darlin’, I...it’s not about las’ night...in particular. It’s more...in general.”

As casually as he tried to deliver it, it came out stilted and awkward.

He cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly. “I mean...I jus’...we’re...”

Get your words out, damn it.

“We’re a week in. We’re a week in, and I want...us to last longer than two weeks,” he finally managed. “And I think that will take me tellin’ ya this...from the bottom of my heart...”

He let out a long breath, and then smiled softly.

“Las’ night, I said a lot of...I had my head up m’ arse, an’...”

Feck, there he went again.

“I’m...”

Fucking spit it out.

“I’m sorry.”

There it was.

“I’m sorry, and I...don’t want you ta tell me that I shouldn’t be jus’ yet, because...las’ night, you saw me at my wors’. An’ that’s not who I want ta be, an’ I can try an’ blame it on...everyone else or whatever, but at tha end’a tha day, it was me. It wasn’t Josie, it wasn’t Lucky...it wasn’t Charlie or Amy or you. It was jus’...me, an’ I wasn’t right.”

He let out a soft sigh, knowing that everything he said was true.

Being honest was devastating.

“I...damn near ruined us las’ night.” Now it was he who couldn’t look at her. “I was mad at you, an’ at the worl’, an’...I can apologize all I want ta.” He shook his head. “You don’t have ta accept it, jus’...I want ta get...better.” The word came out strained. “I want ta...talk more, an’ I want ta...stop fightin’, an’ I...”

He let out a long breath.

That was...right.

It hurt to admit that he was wrong, but...

“I want ta move on from las’ night. I...really like you, ya know, an’ I...don’t want ta fuck it up this early.”

He realized what he said, and then he let out a soft chuckle, closing his eyes for a moment to shake his head.

“I don’t want ta fuck it up, period.”

He looked over at her finally. “An’ I...wanted ta say that I’m sorry, whether ya wanted ta hear it or no. Sorry fer...bein’ an arse las’ night, an’ I’m sorry that yer night was shite.”

He shook his head again. “Sorry fer makin’ it shite. I jus’ wanna be able ta move on...an’ I’m sorry ya had ta see me that way.”

TREVOR CALLAGHAN

º º code by ditto º º

 

[sunshineysoul]

danielle howard

@beautyandthebeat has set their status to:
friendship !!!

@beautyandthebeat has set their outfit to:
hungOVER

@beautyandthebeat has set their location to:
bedroom

@beautyandthebeat has mentioned:
N/A

@beautyandthebeat has interacted with:
kelli

@beautyandthebeat has tagged:
ditto

@beautyandthebeat has written a tl;dr:
bondingggg

"new place, new people... you know,"

dani did know. one hundred percent. she understood the nerves and the anxiety of new people.

when her and her brother and cousins switched from the private school to a public school, she was terrified. every time someone called her name, she flinched; if someone asked for her number or found her instagram, she thought the worst. there was even one time when someone tried to give her a high five and she visibly coward away from them.

and schools think their stupid kitty poster saying "hang in there" helps anything

dani got better around new people, with a lot of time. she found that alcohol tended to help with those nerves, fortunately or unfortunately. back home, right before she came out to caifornia, dani was in the habit of having a few drinks before going to school, not to get drunk or anything, just to calm her nerves.

what? people do that all the time, right?

it explained why her grades did so poorly her last semester at home. everyone in her family was convinced that she wouldn't make it into HA. before her drinking habits, she was an amazing student. not straight As or anything, but she never got a C on anything. her parents knew that, and still weren't willing to make a case for her. the only person willing to fight for dani to come to HA?

cole, of course, who else would it be?

he was pissed when he told her about her grades and her drinking, but he never revealed any of that to the people he was negotiating with at HA. he sounded like a freaking lawyer to dani, being able to make and defend his cases for his sister to come to HA.

a very long winded way of saying dani drinks to not feel so nervous around new people.

she came close to offering that advice to kelli, but something told her that that wouldn't go over very well and probably cost her this new friendship, so she decided against it.

"i'm so glad to see you! thanks for helping!"

dani waved her hand in the air as she walked across her room, making her way to her desk.

"oh please it's nothing! if anything we're helping each other because i am completely clueless to everything at this school." as she sat on her desk chair, she nodded to kelli's question, motioning to the bed since it was kind of the only other thing in her room to sit on.

my family is fricken rich, you'd think cole would have a bigger place with bigger rooms so i could put more comfy sitting places in here... i don't even have a tv like back home...

dani turned her attention back to the small girl on her bed.

"so, you said you and your brother are new to HA? what made you guys come here?"

º º code by ditto º º

 

[jasmyn]

M O O D : "Breakfast is a good distraction from the awkwardness, right?"
https://64.media.tumblr.com/46ed22d.../11d4f0f3e838a09a7231d8a21064d0fee9400cdf.png
L O C A T I O N : Home.

I N T E R A C T I O N S : Corey. Adriane.

T A G S : natsukashii Winona ​

Madelaine's night had gone so far off the path of what she'd been expecting it to and she had no idea how she'd still ended on a decent note. As decent as it could get with your drunk ex-boyfriend sleeping on your couch anyway.

She'd refused to take Gus home only because she knew him well enough to know that he would have started drinking again once the loneliness kicked in and she didn't want that for him. He was better than that, he had to be. It was clear that in his spiral he'd managed to hit rock bottom again, or close enough to it that it was becoming dangerous and she wasn't gonna be the person who saw that and left him to deal with it alone.

So, as awkward as the apologies and short conversation on the ride had been, Maddie sucked it up and dealt with it. Even with the reminder of all his earlier words lingering in her mind, the hurt she had caused both of them, she had chosen to make sure the night didn't end on a sour note. They had instead gotten to her place and she stayed up with him, turning on one of his favorite shows as some sort of desperate attempt at an ice breaker.

It did seem to work though because before she knew it the tension was, well, not gone but lifted a little and they were exchanging light conversation and the occasional laugh here and there. The pair stayed up for a few hours before Gus finally curled up and passed out and Maddie quietly retreated to her room. Mission accomplished, right? Now all that was left was to get ahold of Adriane in the morning and get her to peel him off her couch. He'd mentioned they had plans to hang out or something anyway so she was sure she could Adri's help. Hopefully.

xxxxxx​

The next morning Maddie has decided to get up early, which wasn't uncommon for the girl, and make breakfast. It was a good way to cure Gus' inevitable hangover and if no one else appreciated it, she knew Corey would. Especially since usually he was the one cooking for her. Consider this her way of repaying him for being there for her after Javi's blow-up and her meltdown. That whole, just, mess of an interaction.

Look, despite the party being a complete bust, Corey had managed to make the night better. Then again, he always did. There wasn't another person that Maddie had ever met who knew her like he did. It wasn't just because he knew her favorite snack or show, which he definitely did, or that he remembered her middle name. It was more than the small things like that.

No. Corey Preston was a friend for the ages. He was the best friend of the century if you asked Maddie. He actually saw her. He didn't look at her and see just one side of her, such as the show she put on for her mother or the weak-minded, too sweet for her own good girl that she knew others saw. He had gotten a glimpse of every side imaginable, raw and unfiltered Madelaine Harlow sans the rose-colored glasses.

He knew every little thing about her from her goals to her biggest fears and everything in between. He was someone that she could spill every little secret to because she knew it would never go anywhere. Someone she could cry on the couch with one minute and burst into laughter at the smallest things with the next as if the tears had never even been there. Maddie could never show just how grateful for him she was but breakfast was a tiny gesture.

The front door to their apartment swung open to reveal Adriane who walked in just as she finished the bacon, not that her fellow model would even dare to eat a piece. When it came to carbs and food and image, Adriane was the poster girl for "model rules 101". Sometimes the girl reminded Maddie of her mother when it came to certain things. Pancakes are fattening. You're going to get cellulite. Blah blah blah. As if right on cue...

"Honestly, Maddie," she started, "do you have any idea how long it's going to take you to work off all these calories? Like do you want to look, like, Evie? All bloated so you have to resort to cheap fashion made from scraps of clothing?"

"Hey! I like-" she was thankfully interrupted when Corey emerged from his room rather loudly. One look in his direction was enough to tell her that he was clearly not expecting any other company because she knew that he'd have added a shirt to his ensemble if so. His eyes widened for a second and Maddie cracked a grin at his surprise, though in reality, she was oblivious to the true reason behind his look.

Yes, the brunette was completely in the dark about the fact that two of her closest friends even dated. Had she known, maybe Adriane wouldn't be here and the weird tension wouldn't be lingering in the air right now.

But, Maddie being...Maddie ignored the awkwardness that had presented itself, instead, flipping another pancake onto the plate she'd already been getting ready for Corey. After adding the toppings just as she knew he liked them she walked over to the counter and placed the plate in front of him.

"We need the energy if we are gonna be out all day," she smiled, turning her attention back to Adriane. "You sure I can't talk you into one pancake? I add syrup to the batter so it's even sweeter," she told the girl even though she knew the answer.

"What? Oh, I mean, you can. Are you in a hurry? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever and he's not up yet. Plus, it's not like Corey and I are in a rush or anything," she told her as she walked back over to make her own plate.

MADELAINE HARLOW

º º code by ditto º º

 

[mogy]

Oates Oates
" podcasts, amirite? "

@bigO has set their status to:
so callum is drunk because of me, isn't he...

@bigO has set their outfit to:
costume

@bigO has set their location to:
gen's house

@bigO has interacted with:
callum

mogy has mentioned:
hery

It was like walking through a kind of force field that kept all the melancholy inside; going outside for the first time after snuggling up in bed all weekend, except instead of the uncomfortable cold waiting—almost visible—was the ragged atmosphere that infiltrated even the smallest corners of the dimly lit room. Just like the cold, one couldn't feel it at first, but by the time they realize they're cold, it's already too late to go back inside to the warmth.

With Jace leaving the room and closing the door behind him, the scene was now characterized by only two boys, one lying in bed, the other standing and looking at him. Pity and misfortune were only barely showing on Oates's face, but nevertheless, they were real, and they were there, no matter how much Oates wished for Callum to have been fine with everything that was happening with the two of them. It was that optimistic outlook on life that sometimes made the boy seem rather dull, as any sane person would've concluded by now that Callum wasn't fine, but Oates still held hope. The more his hope was running out, however, was the more the comfort from his face faded and an expression of worry set in.

As Callum downed the cup of water Oates brought in, the curly-haired boy made his way to the bed and sat down on the covers, not really saying anything, but just looking at the pale boy and waiting for him to speak. It was obvious that whatever was going on had so much to do with Oates, but Oates didn't want to be what he brought out in Callum, and oppositely, he didn't want this pity to be the property of the person Callum brought out in him.

Spilling some water, Callum spoke, breaking the awkward silence, but making it worse. Oates didn't want to be here. He had to because it was his duty, but Callum's words just confirmed his own suspicions: he was what was causing all of the suffering that the boy in front of him felt, and he didn't know how to fix it, or if he even could.

The question was what hurt the most, however. Where did he even go? He promised he would've been back, he promised he would've been there, and then when he failed to keep his promise and wasn't, this happened. And it would've almost been forgivable if he wasn't in another room kissing a guy, knowing that Callum had been waiting for him. It was shameful, and however good the kiss might have felt, Oates felt that much worse at this moment, even if Callum didn't even have a clue about what had happened.

As you might have realized by now, Oates pretty much blamed himself for things when they went south because he could've stopped them if he just tried harder. He blamed himself right now, and the one tear rolling down his cheek was the proof of that, but he quickly wiped it as he listened to Callum who was obviously out of it.

How was he supposed to feel when one of the people closest to him, no matter the issue between the two of them, had been in pain?

How was he supposed to feel when one of the people closest to him had just said he needed him? Was he not supposed to feel like the worst person in the world for making them feel like this? Was he not supposed to feel obligated to help?

And while Callum grabbed for his costume, Oates just looked down at him, not even caring that Callum had spilled some water over him.

"I know." He sighed.

This was going to be a long night of tossing and turning, thinking and trying to figure out what to do. But before it is that, it was going to be a long night of trying to get Callum home, and then a long night of trying to get Callum to find his keys, and then a long night of whatever problem they might encounter on the way, but that was also not the current step of the mission to get Callum safely tucked away in bed—one that wasn't Ash's.

"But we need to go, Cal. You're in no state to be at a party right now, and I'm pretty tired as well." He tried to force on a smile, but it wasn't like Callum could even see the difference between a smile or whatever other facial expression in the state he was in. "Let's get you out of this bed and find your own..."

º º code by dildo º º

 

[ditto]

[

oh, ain't it lovely, ain't it sweet
to be staring at my feet, when i see you on the street

M O O D : friends!

O U T F I T : cute

L O C A T I O N : dani's (and cole's) apartment

M E N T I O N S : cole, kian

I N T E R A C T I O N S : dani

T A G S : sunshineysoul

​

Kelli smiled at Dani, giving a nod and a small “thanks” as she walked through the room and to the bed, laughing softly as she fidgeted with the buttons on her overalls. It was kind of a nervous habit of hers to mess with and twist any pieces of clothing that she had on.

The bed sunk as Kelli dropped onto it, and she let out a soft “wa-ah!” of surprise before laughing. She bounced slightly, patting beside her, her lips forming an o.

Woaaaaah. This was…the squishiest, heavenliest bed that she’d ever sat on. It was like…a cloud, but in a loaf form.

She looked at Dani, her eyes wide with amazement.

(It didn’t take much to impress little Miss Kellian Phelan, if that wasn’t obvious by now.)

“Seeeeriously, this bed? It’s doooope,” Kelli said, soft voice overwhelmed with awe. “It’s so comfy— I just wanna got to sleep on it right here!” she laughed, kicking her feet slightly and staring at her shoes.

There was a quick moment in which Kelli realized that she’d probably kind of made a weird comment, and she shrunk her shoulders a bit, letting out a soft laugh.

Sorry, she apologized inwardly, expecting Dani’s next words to be a scoffed “pfft, look at the little weirdo”.

“So, you said you and your brother are new to HA?” Dani asked. “What made you guys come here?”

She looked up at Dani from her shoes, brows knitting together for a moment. “Uhm?” Kelli asked, unsure that she’d caught her question exactly right.

And she didn’t laugh and mock her? This felt like the Twilight Zone…

She shook her head, laughing softly as she decided that she had heard the words correctly. “Oh, uhm— I’ve been here for a couple of months! I came at the start-ish of this year.” She flattened her hand and wiggled it back and forth in front of her, as if to say kinda, give or take a bit. “Kian just came last week because my parents wanted me to have someone there for me. I kinda think that they thought I was spending too much on getting people to drive me everywhere,” she laughed softly. “But I, uhm…one of my friends from back home in Healdsburg came here, so that’s how I found out about it. He and I used to dance together all of the time. You might know him; Oates?” She cocked her head slightly, smiling as she said his name. “He and I were close, and, when he came here, I told myself that I’d come here some day, and then I…uhm, kinda forgot.” She fiddled with her overall buttons again, laughing slightly. “And then, I begged my parents to come this year, and so they paid for me to come, and then they got worried for me and sent Kian for me.”

She shifted on the bed slightly. She was talking about herself a lot, and she was taking up too much of Dani’s time.

“So!” Kelli said, bringing her hands together to play with her pinky’s orange, twenty-five cent ring, bought from one of those quarter-paid twisty vending machines at the front of the Mexican restaurant a couple of blocks from the school. “How about you? How long have you and your brother been here, and what made you all want to come here?”

kellian phelan

º º code by ditto º º

 

[sunshineysoul]

ryder alistar

@rydeonme has set their status to:
i do be cookin tho

@rydeonme has set their outfit to:
casual weekend

@rydeonme has set their location to:
kitchen -> maggie's house

@rydeonme has mentioned:
gen, maggie

@rydeonme has interacted with:
mike

@rydeonme has tagged:
ditto
Kitsune2202

@rydeonme has written a tl;dr:
i'm a musician AND a chef, fight me

ryder flinched a bit as mike grabbed the plate as he was in mid-slice. his face was morphed into one that showed offense, but it slowly was turning to disgust as he watched his best friend eat his delicately crafted omelette like a cave-man.

"well you've been acting like a baby just because you got some ass last night, figured i could help you out, you know, what bros do,"

don't be mistaken, ryder alistar didn't hate mike reid by any stretch of the imagination. most people didn't think they were friends with how they acted, hell when they first met they didn't really get along. but one drunk party later and the two became inseparable. ryder just wasn't the best at showing emotion to his guy friends.

with his lady friends? it was easy. all he had to do was be honest with them, and whenever the conversation got too deep, he'd throw a little flirting in there and boom, everything was better. but with his guy friends? way harder. no way ryder would throw in a little flirting here and there with them.

so yea, ryder talked to his best friend like that, but ryder knew he could take it with how quick he was to throw it back at him.

he sat and listened to mike talk, explaining what on earth happened at the halloween party the night before. when mike got around to mentioning liv, he felt his eyes roll.

"god, i can't stand the hypocrisy of her. she's going to try and what, slut shame you? because you fucked her ex that she left while she fled the country just to bang another chick?" the blonde scoffed and leaned back in his chair, enough that only the back two legs were on the ground. his arms folded themselves across his chest and his eyes rolled again. "i mean seriously, this school might as well be called whore-ywood arts, we're all fucking each other, who the fuck cares if anyone did it with feelings or some shit. that's on gen, not you dude."

"And now, it’s like I proved her point. It’s like I looked her in her face, arms open wide, grin on my face, and said ‘hell yeah, I’m guilty; hell yeah, you’re right; hell yeah, you can play me like a record; hell yeah, you can walk all over me’. So...I fucked up,”

"oh come on mikey," he pulled out his least favorite nickname for mike, he knew how much it annoyed him, but he also knew how when he was annoyed, he was about to listen ten times more than before. "you're really going to let that bitch 'walk all over you'? she came to you, like you said. if anything, i bet that's what she was wanting the entire time. wanted to see what all the fuss was about from her ex."

ryder couldn't believe what he was witnessing, mike reid himself was crumbling into a pathetic whiny baby just because he fucked some bitch? okay sure, the bitch was gen and sure, everyone seemed to have been crucifying him when it came out on twitter, but come on! how could he turn away a disheveled girl who was throwing herself on him?

get it together, michael.

after some more ranting and raving, mike had finished his omelette, caveman style, and stood up. he walked over to where mike was still balancing on his chair's back two legs and bent down for a hug. ryder's face scrunched up in confusion again as he hugged him back, leaning forward so now his chair was on all four.

what the hell is the rush?

"yea man, let me know if you're coming back tonight." he called out to him as he walked out the door.

ugh, next time, i'm bringing mike with me on tour. what the hell did that bitch do to him?

ryder shook his head as he stood up and made his way back into the kitchen. dumbass forgot to bring his own omelette to the table to eat. he leaned against the counter as he began to eat his food, scrolling through twitter.

ah twitter, wasn't it always fun? more days than not, everyone was bitching at each other and most days, ryder didn't even know what for. all he knew? it was always more fun to poke the bear in the cage.

however, turns out that everyone was just talking about celebrating josie's birthday. which sounded like fun, but there wasn't any drama there. no, ryder was much more interested in a certain fellow musician who made her way into his dms.

maggie needed a cure for a hangover, and ryder was an expert at curing hangovers. hell, look at how quick mike was on his feet after ryder's five star treatment.

ryder didn't offer to cook many people breakfast, especially if they weren't mike, but maggie was a good friend. he loved how she backed him up on twitter, stirring up more drama on the timeline, she got some major brownie points for that. he had to pay her back, it also didn't hurt that they never seemed to stop flirting.

placing his plate and fork in his sink, he made his way back upstairs. no way ryder alistar would go over to any woman's house without a shirt. he preferred to take if off once he was there.

walking into his room, which was the master bedroom of the mansion, he looked at his reflection in his mirror. yea, nothing about himself was presentable right then and there. his hair was a mess, and he was only wearing his boxers and some sweats. definitely not presentable.

after brushing out his hair with his fingers, changing into some jeans and whatever tee-shirt he could find, he revisited his mirror. ah, much better. he nodded to himself in the mirror as he grabbed his keys off his dresser and went out to his car.

he sent maggie a text, letting her know he was on his way, and plugged in the address to his gps and made his way over.

~~

after a car ride of jamming out to whatever songs came on from his playlist, he pulled up to her house.

as much of a horny asshole ryder tended to be most days, he never went into someone's house expecting sex, unless it was a booty call. would he turn maggie down if she started kissing him? of course not. but all ryder was intending to do was help a friend out with a hangover.

ryder made his way up to the door and knocked three times.

"hey mags, hope you're still hungry!"

º º code by ditto º º

 

[hery]

MOOD: silent

OUTFIT: maid costume

LOCATION: the johannes mansion (outside)

basics

MENTIONS:
n/a
INT:
mogy (Oates)

tags

TL;DR no

tl;dr

Callum Richards

"I know, I know," Callum groaned as he heaved himself off of the bed, holding his head in his hands for a moment before standing completely upright. He waved his arm at Oates, insisting he could get up on his own. He patted himself for his keys before remembering he was dressed in a French maid costume that most definitely didn't have pockets. Well, practical pockets, at least.

His puffy eyes scanned the floor, pinpointing the location of the small, green messenger bag he'd brought containing his keys. He bent down to grab it, nearly falling forward on his face due to his horrid lack of balance. It was as though he was teetering on the edge of a cliff no matter what direction he walked. His heart beat like one all the same as his mind wandered to how Oates must have been looking down upon him.

He must have had that painfully familiar look of pity Callum had so often observed after one of their fights. He couldn't bear to look at him. It may have won him vital sympathy points from his ex, but even drunk Callum couldn't stand to feel so... naked. Like he was at Oates' emotional mercy, his broken heart resting precariously in the gentle boy's indecisive hands.

"I'm ready," he mumbled, stumbling out the door without a second glance at Oates. He waited outside the door for the boy, his eyes staring out of focus at the baseboard separating the floor from the wall. He wondered how many people passed through the hall while Callum was inside Ash's room without the faintest idea what was going on in there. Everyone was oblivious. Or, rather, didn't care enough to check.

That was an unreasonable thought given the fact that the door was closed and that usually came with specific connotations at a party. There was no reason for anyone to be curious enough to enter the room, but even so Callum felt a pang of hurt in his stomach to feel so ignored. Living in the dark, Callum knew very few were familiar with him at all. Those who were acquainted with him never received the most warm impression, which he didn't much care for until he met Oates.

Oates had seen past it. Or, at least, he cared more than the average person. Callum had never asked to be heard, seen, and cared about beyond the average person's threshold. Even now, Oates, who was no doubt in the most awkward position of all, still chose to remain by his side. Tied down by his promise to return to Callum at the party, he had to have been at least a little impatient with his behavior. If Oates was, he did a good job at hiding it. Not that Callum would notice at all; he didn't so much as flinch as a house fly perched itself on his index finger.

It shouldn't have hurt that Oates had come, but it did. The curly-haired boy had made it very clear he wanted friendship out of Callum and nothing more. If that was his intent, what was he doing here? Would he really do this for just anyone? Callum had never thought about it beyond surface level, but perhaps he'd just been the first charity case Oates had laid eyes upon. Their two-year union wasn't just coincidence. It felt meaningless, and the way Oates seemed to move on so quickly only affirmed his fears.

As Oates led him outside, Callum leaned on to the temporarily taller Oates. The scenery melted into a vat of colors melding and retracting, accompanied by whatever music Callum had easily tuned out. He could hardly feel himself moving, and it felt like just five seconds had passed between being in the hallway and being outside.

The cool night air enveloped Callum's body, refreshing him with the side effect of numbing, unpleasant coldness. He shuddered slightly, crossing his goosebump-covered legs together for some semblance of warmth. "It's cold..." the dark-haired boy murmured, but Oates already knew that. He'd dealt with the burning heat of his apartment A/C an infinite amount of times. Callum's complaining had to have been expected.

After all, it wasn't Callum that had changed.

It was hard to say anything at all next to Oates, all of the energy in his body and the words swirling around his mind expended earlier in the night. There were a million things he wanted to communicate with the boy, but only silence came out of him. It was a familiar silence, one that brought Callum a fraction of solace as he recalled the sound of nothing at his apartment, lying in bed before dawn beside a slumbering Oates.

It was peaceful. It wasn't serene, but it was peaceful. If his world was crashing down around him, it was doing a damn good job at remaining calm. Life seemed to move past Callum that way, and he always had to catch up double just to remain at the pace of a normal person. He pained for Oates, who had stood still waiting for him over and over as a good life passed him by. He was compassionate that way. But most of all, he was an idiot for it.

code by valen t.

 

[Winona]

Damien Slater
"When you see my face, hope it gives you hell."

@damien.slayter has set their status to:
drugs and friends -- perfect day

@damien.slayter has interacted with:
Felix, Javi

@damien.slayter has mentioned:
N/A

@damien.slayter has tagged:
ditto hery ​

Now, Slater wasn't the smoothest of individuals -- in case that wasn't obvious. It wasn't that he was necessarily unsmooth, like, Damien could certainly be smooth if he wanted to. He could lie through his teeth without blinking an eye (example: his previous statement to Felix regarding the stickiness of ants which Slater didn't realize was a true fact -- he'd really just been trying to fuck with the boy). Lying was something that came to him as easy as... breathing.

However, Damien didn't generally think about lying to save others. It was mostly to save his own ass. When it came to lying for others -- even someone who he'd considered a friend -- Slater generally fell short. Unless he gave a serious fuck, and well...

He didn't give a single fuck about Felix.

Well, maybe half a fuck.

"You've probably seen him around," Slater was saying as he pulled out a roll of cash from his back pocket. He started flipping through the bills like he was counting but really, Slater was just making a show out of it. As if he'd actually be fucking counting that shit -- it wasn't like it was his money. He'd just go home, ask for some more, and his stepdad would throw it at him to get Damien to shut up and fuck off.

"We go way back, yeah," he said, confirming Felix's sentence. "Childhood shit and then he knows where to get the good drugs." See? Damien Slater... not good at keeping quiet, at lying about shit that didn't affect him. It didn't occur to him that Felix might not want Javier to know about his uhh... "business." For Slater, it didn't even really occur to him until after he'd uttered the words, and then he realized that that might be an issue.

Well.

He let out a small snort of laughter and pulled a few bills off the wad, folding them up and sliding them back into his pocket before he held the rest out to Javi. "Kidding, 'course. Felix here isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, ya know," he said and looked towards Felix, pity in his gaze before he patted his friend gently on the shoulder and then looked back towards Javi. He brought one hand up to his mouth to cover it and leaned closer to Javier -- you know, in one of those oh the other person totally won't hear shit gestures. "See, he thinks we're friends 'cause our parents work together and wanted us to hangout. But really it's 'cause he got bullied a lot as a kid and they needed someone to keep an eye on him, so that's what I do. Outta the goodness of my heart, ya know." He let out a small chuckle, leaning away from Javier.

Damien held his hand out expectantly for the little baggy of drugs and, after Javi handed it over, he slid the bag super inconspicuously into the inside pocket of his jacket. A pleasant, lopsided smile now resided on his face. Look, Slater always felt better when his stash was replenished. Up until it was, there was always a certain amount of stress and anxiety weighing on his shoulders -- like, imagine if he was too late and had to go sober for a while.

Well, Slater was sober sometimes, alright? He wasn't high all the time. But imagine if he was sober against his will. Because he'd planned poorly or some shit instead of being sober because he wanted to be.

Hell. That'd be straight up hell.

"Thanks, man." He added after a moment. Slater was a polite fella, obviously.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Winona]

Zephyr Evermore
"Cheer up! 'Cause nothing really matters."

@zeph.evermore has set their status to:
hypeee

@zeph.evermore has interacted with:
Lin

@zeph.evermore has mentioned:
N/A

@zeph.evermore has tagged:
ditto ​

They were... they were...

They were going out...

In these...

Oh...

Oh what the fuck, no way. No fucking way. Lin had to be kidding, right? But as a little uncomfortable laugh escaped Zeph's lips and he looked at his friend, he realized that his friend was definitely not kidding. His friend was definitely dead serious about going out in these feather boas, and really, Zeph shouldn't have been surprised. After all, so far, Lin hadn't been kidding about anything. He had to be one of the most bluntly honest people that Zeph had yet to meet -- well... as in, he didn't say shit that he wasn't planning on doing. He was just... he was always just...

So deadly serious about it.

Another little laugh escaped Zeph's lips. He was kind of in that "oh shit, what have I gotten myself into" type of mindset already, but he tried to brush it off. Well, it wasn't like they were showing up to school in these. That helped ease his apprehension a bit. Way to spin a positive outlook on the entire situation there, Zeph buddy. As long as he wouldn't be bullied at school for it, well... he was fine with it.

Totally fine with it.

Lin tossed their popcorn in the microwave and then beckoned for Zeph to follow him. He let out a little exhale through his nose, and then trailed after his friend and the dog. He followed after Lin up the stairs, marveling at wow, actually a decent place, until they came into the bedroom which was just... just... a disaster. Zeph hesitated at the doorway, not wanting to step into the mess of toys.

It looked like an eight-year-old's room after Christmas day with the assortment of toys piled around and littering the floor. Now... this entire situation was a little... outside of Zeph's comfort zone. He wasn't a clean freak or anything by any means, but he didn't function well in situations like this -- you know, with extreme, gross messes. But he swallowed his disgust (hey, at least there wasn't food left out or something... at least not that he could see) and stepped into the room after Lin, picking his way carefully through the mess and doing his best to not step on any toys.

Zeph came to a stop beside Lin and looked at the hat rack, eyes widening in a mixture of awe and just what the hell type of energy.

The dude had a hat rack of goofy hats.

He couldn't decide if that was cool or not.

.... But Lin had it so it had to be cool.

Zeph watched (he seemed to do that a lot with Lin -- like a little kid or something that was just soaking in everything and learning how to live by watching the adults around them) as his buddy grabbed a hat off the rack and put it on his head. He turned towards Zeph, and...

“What do ya think?” he asked. “Badass, huh?”

He let out a guffaw of laughter. One of Zeph's arms went across his stomach to try and stop the laughter, and really, the whole thing wasn't that funny on its own -- but the combination of the feather boas with the hat was enough to make Zeph giggle nearly uncontrollably.

"Oh yeah," he said with a snort. "Super badass."

“Zephaniah Schmephaniah,” he said -- apparently that was his new name. “Bow,” he commanded.

He cocked one eyebrow at Lin in kind of a questioning manner, but then did as his friend bid and leaned forward.

"I now knight thee," Lin began and a grin cracked across Zeph's face. "Sir Zephaniah Schmephaniah theeee…seventieth." Bad ass knight name, though.

And then Lin produced a hat and placed it onto his head. Zeph straightened back up with another laugh.

"Thank you, Sir Lin... dsay."

He wasn't the most creative.

The microwave beeped and Lin the Energizer bunny was off again.

Zeph took the hat from his head, examining it for a moment. A bloody unicorn horn. Not half bad, if he did say so himself. As in like... it was actually kind of bad ass. Because, ya know... nothing was more badasser-ish than blood.

He placed the hat back on his head and ran off through the bedroom. Zeph forgot about the whole messy bedroom thing and ended up stepping on a toy car. He let out a small hiss and looked down to see a... broken car. Fuck. Glancing to make sure that Lin was out of the room, he kicked the broken car underneath a pile of other toys and sent it a quiet so sorry for murdering you prayer, and then much more carefully headed out of the bedroom.

Once he was free from the disaster zone that was Lin's room, Zeph went back to running until he caught up to Lin and Mitsubishi in the kitchen.

"Alright," he said, picking up one of the bags of popcorn and popping it open. Hot air burst out and he peeked down into the bag before deciding to wait a moment for it to cool before digging in. "So we look freaking badass," -- he was getting used to the idea of looking ridiculous -- "we got snacks, what now? Swordfight or are we going to the store now or something?" He asked.

It occurred to Zeph that he still didn't know what their swords were.

"And are we fighting with fake swords? Sticks? Cardboard tubes?" He let out a chuckle.

Hopefully not real swords.

Hahaha...

Seriously.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[sunshineysoul]

augustus jace

@pretty.boy.gus has set their status to:
light... bad... ugh

@pretty.boy.gus has set their outfit to:
"i know"

@pretty.boy.gus has set their location to:
maddie and corey's place

@pretty.boy.gus has mentioned:
maddie and corey

@pretty.boy.gus has interacted with:
maddie, corey and adri

@pretty.boy.gus has tagged:
jasmyn
natsukashii
Winona

@pretty.boy.gus has written a tl;dr:
as awkward as awkward gets

the rest of gus' halloween night was the last thing he expected. to be fair, most of his night was the last thing he expected. he never expected to be alone in a room with maddie, he never expected for him to say the things he said, he never expected any of his dark feelings to seep through the alcohol and drugs to effect them as much as they did, and he absolutely never expected that maddie would come to his rescue.

but he'd be lying if he said it surprised him.

somehow, maddie was always there to rescue him. maybe not immediately, maybe not in any kind of obvious way, and maybe when gus didn't even know he needed to be rescued, but he was always there.

and if gus was being honest?

he hated it.

he hated how he could never just forget about maddie, he hated how she couldn't just be some girl he once dated, he hated how she would never leave his life, he hated how he couldn't forget their history.

he hated that no matter how hard he tried, he still had feelings for maddie.

how could he not? it's not like once she broke up with him, she became a completely unbearable bitch. it's not like she was being a bitch to him. nope, gus was burdening that role all on his own. he became the ass, he became the douche. she was still as sweet and kind hearted as the day he met her, he knew she was.

because even after all the crap he said to her, after all the months of gus avoiding her at all costs, she still cared about him.

so when maddie started driving the painfully familiar route to her house, he tried to protest. he tried to get her to take him back to his own house, he tried to say that he was going to be fine and he just wanted to sleep in his bed.

but this was maddie harlow we were talking about,

she knew him better than that.

they ended up on her couch, gus never having been in her and corey's apartment before. he took in all the sights of everything, from the color of paint on the walls to the pictures and trinkets all around. it was very corey and maddie.

corey preston

now there was a name that hadn't crossed gus' mind in a long time. why would it?

even when maddie and gus were dating and everything was going great, gus knew corey didn't like him. he couldn't quite figure out why, he had only ever tried to make nice with him. yea okay, it might've been because corey and maddie have been best friends since as long as gus knew either of them, but it wasn't just because of maddie's friendship with corey. gus had a history of self sabotage, befriending awful people just because they gave him drugs or alcohol or sex, and maddie had shown gus all the ways that it had ruined him. so when it was gus and maddie, gus figured corey wasn't one of those people, someone that would ruin him.

but. of course, once maddie dumped gus, any non-ruining friendships were thrown out the window, including corey.

so yea, gus felt weird about being in his apartment.

the rest of the night was pretty fucking awkward, but it got better. after a few moments of silence on maddie's couch, she clicked on the tv, of course remembering his favorite tv show. it was one of the only tv shows on at that time of night.

it didn't completely rid the atmosphere of the awkward tension, but it definitely helped. the two had light conversation that popped up here and there, even some laughter from the show. there was just an inkling of how it used to be.

~~

gus had no idea when he went to sleep, all he remembers is waking up with a massive, pounding headache.

maybe maddie's onto something with the whole, not getting black out drunk thing

it took him a good few minutes before he realized he wasn't in his own bed. a few memories came back to him, as he had started sobering up when maddie picked him up from the pool.

but the rest of the night? hell if he remembered. there was a reason he got drunk, because he wanted to remember as little as possible, except he was pretty sure his brain blocked out the fun parts of the night and only allowed him to remember the not so fun parts.

gus kept his eyes closed, trying to adjust to the light of the apartment before fully waking up. the longer he was awake, the more he started to pick up on. the smell of pancakes and bacon, more of gus' favorite, and voices.

maddie, corey and adri.

he slowly and quietly rolled over to peak his eyes over the couch, observing the situation. corey and adri sitting on the counter while maddie made breakfast.

fuck, adri and i were supposed to hang out. guess maddie told her i was here. fuck.

was there any way he could sneak out of the place without anyone realizing?

probably not.

man this fucking sucks.

gus took in a big, deep, breath, and let it out as he began to sit up. there was going to be an awkward encounter whether gus wanted there to be or not, might as well get it over with so he could get out of there as soon as he could.

he stood up, oops, too fast. he held his hands out, grabbing the arm of the couch to keep his balance as his head spun. hangovers were his least favorite part about getting drunk or high or anything. if there was a way that you could enjoy the pleasures of alcohol without the splitting headaches the morning after, please let him know.

he slowly but surely made his way into the kitchen, trying to avoid eye contact with everyone.

"mornin' everyone," he leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. he definitely didn't feel welcome to sit at the table and try to start any kind of conversation.

how wonderful of a morning this had been. not only were gus and maddie each other's exes, but now he had brought adri into this, having to interact with her ex.

gus really wanted to just, poof out of existence at this point.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Winona]

Ashton West
"I heard that you've been having some trouble finding your place in the world."

@Fire&Ash has set their status to:
nonono

@Fire&Ash has interacted with:
Trevor

@Fire&Ash has mentioned:
N/A

@Fire&Ash has tagged:
ditto ​

She had figured if she just... cut him off and apologized and, like, dismissed all of last night, that they could just... move on and everything would be alright. Ash had figured that that would be enough to get them to some kind of point where all of last night's events didn't come hurtling back in their faces, but it just... seemed like... Trevor was rather adamant about bringing the entire thing back up.

Ash winced, bracing for impact. Her eyes, still focused on her fidgeting hands, squeezed shut when keeping them open started giving her a headache. Her fingers stopped twitching, instead gripping the hem of her jacket. Her teeth dug into her bottom lip.

And she waited for him to snap again.

“It’s not that.” He said.

Great. So it was something else that was unrelated to last night. Maybe something to do with the fair? Maybe like, the issue was deeper than what she was thinking -- it wasn't just last night's events, but it was... maybe it was Trevor not wanting to stay secret.

Which, yeah, her messages with Dorian had kind of made her realize how much she'd hurt him, and part of her didn't want to hurt Trevor in the same way.

... But if that happened, then she'd be obligated to tell Gen and Evie every time Trevor told her "fuck off" or about every fight and this and that, and then she wouldn't have a boyfriend because Ash was, like, pretty sure they were only partially kidding about murdering people.

Her heart stilled, and then started to pound more rapidly when he started stuttering through his words. Ash just wanted him to get it done and over with -- because she knew how this went. She had experience with this, after all.

He'd yell at her, she'd cry, apologize, and if she was lucky, he'd accept her apology and everything would be fine and return to normal.

That's how it was supposed to go, anyway.

“Ash, darlin’, I...it’s not about las’ night...in particular. It’s more...in general.”

She shifted in the seat, leaning back and pushing farther away from Trevor until she was leaned against the armrest. Here it came, yeah? Yelling or... something. Yelling or maybe a breakup -- Ash wouldn't blame him if it was a breakup. Like it'd been a week and this relationship already felt like it was on fire, and like... he wasn't even the relationship type, right? And she was like not a good girlfriend.

So... she wouldn't blame him.

“We’re a week in. We’re a week in, and I want...us to last longer than two weeks,” he finally managed. “And I think that will take me tellin’ ya this...from the bottom of my heart...”

Yep, here it came. Definitely a breakup, or one of her fears were somehow going to be realized. He'd stumbled off after Josie to get high and then maybe the reason he'd messaged her later super upset was because he cheated. Yeah, and this was his attempt to try and tell her. He'd tell her that he cheated, and he'd come up with some excuse as to why he had, and she would--

Forgive him, but that was beside the point.

“Las’ night, I said a lot of...I had my head up m’ arse, an’...”

She didn't care. She wanted him to shut up.

What if's were throwing themselves at her -- a million what if's of how she could've avoided this moment.

“I’m sorry.”

Her eyes fluttered open. They met her knuckles, still clinging to her jacket tight enough that they'd started to turn white. Carefully, slowly, she released her grip on the hem of her jacket, but then she didn't know what to do with her hands, so she folded them across her stomach. Her teeth still chewed into her bottom lip, but she let her gaze trail up to look at him, but he wasn't looking at her now.

That was fine, though. Ash wasn't sure she could meet his gaze if he had been.

“I’m sorry, and I...don’t want you ta tell me that I shouldn’t be jus’ yet, because...las’ night, you saw me at my wors’. An’ that’s not who I want ta be, an’ I can try an’ blame it on...everyone else or whatever, but at tha end’a tha day, it was me. It wasn’t Josie, it wasn’t Lucky...it wasn’t Charlie or Amy or you. It was jus’...me, an’ I wasn’t right.”

She wanted to reassure him or something, but her mouth felt dry. And she was pretty sure that if she did speak, Trevor would just snap at her.

But hey, if that had been worst, well... Ash could handle that. He hadn't even, like, been that bad last night. Like, sure, he'd been kind of a dick to her but he hadn't been the worst to her, and he'd apologized -- and now he was apologizing again. But he hadn't like... walked away from her... or cheated on her... or thrown anything or, like, punched a wall, so she considered him to be pretty damn good.

(Damn, her standards really were in the garbage).

He'd kept speaking and she listened, her gaze studying his face.

“I want ta move on from las’ night. I...really like you, ya know, an’ I...don’t want ta fuck it up this early.”

She didn't catch the end -- instead, her lips twitched into a slight smile before falling again. Look, it was nice to hear that he did still like her, and he didn't... want... to fuck anything up. He wanted to stay with her.

A deep breath inhaled into her lungs. Ash hadn't realized how shallow and labored her breathing had been until now.

But like, now she felt as if she could breathe.

He finally looked at her, and she gave a small smile. “An’ I...wanted ta say that I’m sorry, whether ya wanted ta hear it or no. Sorry fer...bein’ an arse las’ night, an’ I’m sorry that yer night was shite. “Sorry fer makin’ it shite. I jus’ wanna be able ta move on...an’ I’m sorry ya had ta see me that way.”

Silence followed the end of his words for a moment before Ash realized that she should probably talk or do something to fill the space. But she didn't entirely know what to say, and she didn't entirely know what to do. Her lips parted to speak, but then closed again. Her eyebrows wrinkled together and she gave a slight shake of her head, trying to get her mind to figure out what to say.

"It's... fine," Ash replied again, her voice quiet as she spoke. She shook her head because that wasn't what she'd meant. "I mean, it's... I forgive you for, like..." she hesitated, her mouth still parted, as she just shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "It's fine, Trevor, I'm not mad at you. I just want to move on, too, and I'd... like that. Like, talking more."

Her lips turned up into a small, wavering smile. Her body relaxed, her arms falling away from their crossed position over her stomach. She felt... generally... better, because hey, there hadn't been any yelling or sharp words.

"You... didn't ruin my night, anyway," she added, picking and choosing her words carefully, because Ash almost felt like she was walking on a minefield or something -- any wrong step, any wrong word, and he'd blow up. "I..." her gaze turned down, away from his face as she spoke. "I ruined my own night -- or, well, like... other people ruined it. You were still like... one of the better parts of the whole night."

Wow, her night really had sucked if that was true.

She met his gaze again. "Are you like... okay? You weren't when Amy got you from my room last night. Like, you kept threatening to bang your head against the wall." Look, Ash wanted to know what the hell had gotten him to that point.

Unless it had... literally just been his argument with Charlie, in which case... wow.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[hery]

MOOD: exchangin

OUTFIT: clothes

LOCATION: park

basics

MENTIONS:
Gen, Lucky

INT:
Winona (Damien)
ditto (Felix)

tags

TL;DR no

tl;dr

Javier Cervantes

"In person"...?

Javi hesitated, losing focus on the two boys' faces as he pondered Felix's strange word choice. His usually firm grip on the handshake loosened briefly, but he quickly covered for it with an even tighter squeeze of the hand. "Is that so?" he responded amicably, unable to fully suppress the hint of doubt lingering in his tone. He wasn't so much accusing Felix of anything underhanded, but there was undoubtedly something Javi was missing.

Had they... texted? That seemed to make the most sense given the "in person" comment, and it did ring a bell. It had to have been recent. The more Javi thought about it with his limited time frame, the more easily he was able to narrow it down to Halloween.

And that was his dead end.

There wasn't a chance Javier would ever remember the specifics of his interactions on Twitter that night given how insignificant they were compared to everything else. He was already in deep shit with Gen and, consequently, Lucky due to his hideously poor ability to moderate his drinking, which affected his memory in its own respect.

Yet Javi most definitely recognized this Felix character and, if he wasn't mistaken, their conversation had been weird, vague, and slightly disconcerting. Of course that was if this was the right guy and Javi hadn't misremembered based off a lone Twitter handle and profile picture.

"Well, isn't that cute," Javi remarked, offering a smile for the two boys and their quaint childhood but directing his eyes to the money resting in Damien's hands. That was a heavy wad of cash; Javi knew right away he'd hardly have to count it to know he was getting a bargain here. Bemused, he turned his attention to Felix at the mention of "the good drugs". "Interesting," he purred, challenging the blonde with an intense meeting of the eyes, "Didn't peg you as the type, Blondie."

He dropped the firm gaze when Damien corrected himself, then laughed boisterously along with him. "Hah! You almost had me there, Slutter," he admitted between laughs, looking over to Felix to gauge his reaction. Javi was rash, thoughtless, and a bit of an idiot, but he wasn't entirely oblivious. They'd texted last night. And something was up. Could that something have been drugs? Maybe... Javi seemed to distinctly recall discussing cars or something to that effect.

At any rate, it had rubbed him the wrong way. That's what he knew.

"Sorry to hear that, man," he offered, pursing his lips, "We could all use a friend to fuck up the assholes trying to fuck us over. I don't know what I'd do without all mine." He grinned wickedly at Felix, grabbing him by the shoulder. "Don't take shit from nobody. That's what I live by."

"You got a rich dad too, huh? What's he do?" Perfect. Another filthy rich asshole. And, with luck, he was a filthy rich sap too. Javi's pockets weren't nearly as filled as he'd liked, especially if he was going to party his way through the rest of this year. If all he had was his own product, he'd end up bankrupt in no time.

Javi looked both left and right, then covertly swapped the cash for the bunched-up baggie in his pocket, keeping their hands at waist level. "Pleasure doing business, my man. Don't use it all in one place, yeah?"

Use it as fast as possible. Papi wants a brand new Mercedes. And a hot girlfriend. Or three.

code by valen t.

 

[ditto]

[

TAKE ME TO YOUR BEST FRIEND'S HOUSE
ROLL AROUND THIS ROUNDABOUT, OH YEAH

M O O D : popcornnnnnnnnnn

O U T F I T : spot the drip lmao

L O C A T I O N : his condo

M E N T I O N S : n/a

I N T E R A C T I O N S : zephyyyyy

T A G S : Winona

​

“Popcorn, popcorn, pop-corn,” Lin sang beneath his breath to the beat of cha, cha, cha, cha, cha-cha, shaking his butt to the rhythm as his dog yapped and propped her front legs on the cabinets beneath the counter. “Popcorn!” Lin cheered to his dog as he grabbed the bag from the microwave and tossed another one in, pressing the two and setting the bag to the side just as Zeph came into the kitchen.

“Brooo!” Lin greeted him, as if he hadn’t just seen him, tossing up two shaka, bruh hands and wiggling them as he grinned at his bruhsband. “Help yourself, man!” He gestured to the singular bag of popped popcorn.

Zeph made his way over to the counter, picking up the bag and popping it open as he began to talk “Alright. So we look freaking badass, we got snacks, what now?” Lin dug his hand into Zeph’s bag, taking out a heaping handful and sticking out his tongue to touch to a piece. The popcorn let out a soft sizzling noise as the puffy part melted onto his tongue, and he laughed happily as Zeph continued. “Swordfight, or are we going to the store now or something? And are we fighting with fake swords? Sticks? Cardboard tubes?”

Lin laughed his loud, exuberant laugh. Zeph asked a lot of questions, luhmao.

He shoved the rest of the popcorn in his mouth, chewing it a couple of times before swallowing the hunk and dusting off his hands.

“Bro, what?” he laughed, giving him a soft punch on the shoulder. Though the whir of the microwave was loud and right next to their ears, Lin’s loud voice was far from difficult to hear. “You scared or som’n’, man? You sound like Pricky with all of these questions, luhmao!” he kidded, sticking out his tongue and giving a soft “nyah” sound. “Difference is that I like you, luhmaooo.” He snickered. “Don’t be so uptiiiight, dude. Go with the flow,” Lin laughed, giving him another solid nudge. “Go with my flow— I’m the coolest here, luhmao, just follow my lead.”

The popcorn popped loudly in the background.

Lin gave a shrug. “I dunno what we’re gonna fight with— we could fight with anything, man.” He gasped, his eyes widening at his idea. “Ooh, ooh!” He held up his palms, holding them in front of his chest as if to say I know this is a wild idea, but. “And we could fight out at my pool.” He jabbed his thumb toward his right, though there was only the wall there. “Out back, luhmao.” He crossed his arms, giving a sure nod. “Could play chicken, but it’s just the two of us, luhmaooooo— sounds fun as hell. Loser has to walk the plank, luhmao.”

Beep beep beep—

Click!

Lin snatched the microwave door open with an excited “hehehe”, the door flying open so hard that it nearly bounced back shut but was stopped by his wrists. It made a bwaaaaang sound as the door rattled, and Lin let out a little “ouch, luhmao” at that.

He sat the bag by the side, ripped open the final package, threw the plastic on his stove, tossed the package in, and clicked the 2 before grabbing the fresh bag and ripping it open to grin at Zeph.

“Luhmao, but we could really do anything,” he said, kind of contradicting his follow my lead thing. “I don’t fucking care, luhmaooo, I just wanna go, like, to the store with you. We could get some guns or something.” He realized how that sounded as he shoved in a handful of popcorn, and he let out a loud laugh. “Luhmaooo, not glocks, tho. Like, foam glocks, luhmao. And some foam swords. Or some of those fuckin’, uh…” He made a grabby motion with his hand, as if that would help him find the word, and then he laughed and shook his head. “Big bubble sti— bubble wands, dude!” As he spoke his idea, his eyes lit up even more. “Bro, bro, bro! We could fight with those big plastic bubble wands, luhmao, and then after you lose, we can both blow some bubbles— luhmao, unless we crack the plastic of the wands with our fighting, and then we’ll just have the juice on us, luhmaooo.”

He downed some more popcorn by the handful, and then laughed. “Luhmaooo, bro, bro, bro— wanna rob the store?”

LINDSAY MORGAN KAY

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ditto]

[

i sold some tickets to come see my downfall
it sold out in minutes, i saw friends in the front row

M O O D : greetin' and meetin'

O U T F I T : casual (you could call it business casual. get it? ...i'll see myself out.)

L O C A T I O N : a (insert sparkles emoji) park (insert sparkles emoji)

M E N T I O N S : n/a

I N T E R A C T I O N S : slater, javi

T A G S : Winona hery

​

Felix listened to Slater as he spoke, grinnin’ at him in spite of all of his words.

What were friends for, if not to expose you for your illicit business practices, ‘uh? That bit was the best part’a ‘em.

He was kiddin’, of course, but in good nature.

Besides, Felix had already had such a discussion with this guy, whether he recalled it or not, so there was no need to worry or backtrac—

Slater laughed with a snort, and Felix’s brows knit slightly. You good there, bud? he asked with his eyes, even though Slater wasn’t lookin’ at him.

“Kidding, ‘course. Felix here isn’t the sharpest tool int he shed, ya know.”

Felix blinked, grin frozen on his face.

Uhh…

“See, he thinks we’re friends ‘cause our parents worked together and wanted us to hangout. But really it’s ‘cause he got bullied a lot as a kid and they needed someone to keep an eye on him, so that’s what I do. Outta the goodness of my heart, ya know.”

Slater didn’t even know him as a kid, but alrighty.

What a nice dude, and super flatterin’, he was.

Hey, well...ya know, Felix wasn’t meant to be very formidable, anyway. It wasn’t like it mattered too much. Water off a duck’s back, ya know— Slater was definitely just tryin’ to help, and who was he to really fault him for that?

Even so, that was kinda rude. Felix couldn’t’ve been bullied when he was a kid—

He didn’t even really speak with other kids until fifth grade or somethin’ like that. Before that, he just talked with old, grubby businessmen all of the time, and occasionally their little ones, but not too often.

Honestly, now that Slater was talkin' about him like this, he kinda felt like he was bein’ presented for a meetin’, bein' paraded like a lil’ trophy, his crooked grin his only strong suit in the mildly-awkward thing of parents introducin’ kids and tellin’ all of the embarrassin’ facts about them to the others, except these facts weren’t really real this time.

Javi looked over at him, and Felix met his eyes, conveyin' to him as best he could without words that yeah, no, that wasn’t true.

“Sorry to heart that, man,” Javi said, pursin’ his lips. “We could all use a friend to fuck up the assholes trying to fuck us over. I don’t know what I’d do without all mine.” He grinned at him, grabbin’ his shoulder. “Don’t take shit from nobody. That’s what I live by.”

“Right,” Felix agreed, noddin' and grinnin', as he always did. He gave a soft chuckle. “Slater’s stretchin' the story a bit, but…he’s a family friend, yeah, and it just kinda came from there. Ain’t no shame in that,” he said, lookin’ over at Slater and still grinnin’, “though he seems to be a lil’ bit embarrassed by it, since he’s excusin' it as wardin' off my bullies, heh.”

He gave a soft chuckle, lookin’ back to Javi. “Oh, yeah, ‘course I got a rich dad.” He gave another nod. “He’s a politician— of sorts. He does more lobbyin’ for my stepmother, but yeah, the guy’s loaded. He’s why I’m here, you know…though I do sustain myself in other ways.” He met Javi’s eyes, grinnin’, and he let out a soft chuckle. “And no, ‘fore you ask the same thing as everyone else does, I ain’t no pimp or nothin’. My business lies in the same field as yours, bud.”

He said it as if Javi didn’t already know, ‘cuz, as far as he could tell, Javi didn’t know.

“And now, I suppose I could introduce myself more formally, ‘uh?” he said, and he held his hand out to Javi again. “Name’s Felix Emmerson, or Emm for short, though Emm is more of an…alias, ya know? You don’t see it written down often, if you catch my drift.”

He met Javi’s eyes. “I’m your competition. It’s nice ta meetcha.”

He slung his arm around Slater, giving his friend a quick squeeze and shaking him slightly. “Slater here knows that I play fair— I’m not one to play dirty or nothin’.” He grinned over at his friend before lookin’ at Javi again. “Stay in your lane, and you and I should have no qualms, bud.”

felix rian emmerson

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Soap]

Alejandra Cortez
"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.”

@Realex has set their status to:
Jacket or no jacket?

@Realex has set their outfit to:
Business Casual Brunchial

@Realex has interacted with:
Ava

@Realex has mentioned:
Simone, Chas

@Realex has tagged:
Winona hery natsukashii ​

Her head was pounding. The sun was too bright, her eyes squeezed shut and she rubbed at the temples. Ignoring the feeling in the back of her throat that had somehow tried to convince her she needed to throw up-- which, thankfully she didn't. Alejandra was regretting almost all of her choices last night.

Almost all of them.

After Naomi left perhaps Alejandra shouldn't of found herself in the company of Simone and many, upon many shots. There was only so much tequila one girl could hold. And everyone knew Alex wasn't the party type of girl, much less have a high tolerance to alcohol.

But it was weird. Last night was... amazing. And in a way, Alex didn't want the party to end. That is until she almost fought a sixteen year old girl and her boyfriend. That part wasn't her fault. It wasn't! They... bumped into her. Okay, so maybe she overreacted. But hey, everything was fine now. Maybe the girl's beer stained costume wasn't, but Alex was. The headache began to worsen as she made her way out of bed and into the shower.

Of course, the shower was rushed when she noticed the time, and Alex was already off before Ava was awake.
__

Her eyes almost fluttered shut, and Alex quickly shook it off. Adjusting the dark aviators higher onto her nose and settled into the chair.

"Are you doing okay, Alex?"

"Completely. What were you saying?"

The brunette twiddled with her thumbs as she silently prayed for the answer she was looking for. Thanks to Gen and Evie, they had given her the idea to style outfits for a play... her own play. Look, it count, that's all that matters. The only thing Alex needed is for the lit department to notice her, to notice the tiniest scrap of talent in that play from her own writing and boom, she was in.

Although... it wasn't really on her.

It wasn't on Norman Bailey either, the man sitting across from her in his late fifties, gray hair had almost taken over this whole head-- as much as it could taken over considering he's balding already. That was a whole thing too, don't mention his bald spot and maybe he'd help you out.

Alex was great with people. Girls? No. But people? Absolutely. Yes, she knows that women count as human beings.

She's a feminist after all. Don't question it.

The point here being.

Norman and Alex were pretty close.

On a fateful day, two years ago today-- Alex was sent to the guidance counselor because she might've threw a a high heel or two at one Adriane Halloway.

She deserved it.

Okay so she didn't get hurt.

Unfortunately.

But it was enough for her to be called in, and Norman here had diagnosed with a little something called anger issues. Naturally, Alex charmed the pants off of him-- not literally. And with a little arguments back and forth, and someone to bounce ideas off from.

They became friends.

Sometimes, she felt like Norman was the only one who took her seriously about switching departments.

"You're not in lit department."

So much for that.

"Gee, well I wonder what gave that awa--"

"Not what I mean, it means, that if you wanted an actual chance at showing someone your work-- and still qualifying for plastics, you'll have to collab with someone from the lit department"

Oh, well see. He does still care after all. Alejandra sighed, rubbing the temples of her head, easing the headache that threatened to worsen as she continued to listen to him speak. Nodding-- fully understanding of what she had to do next. She wasn't sure how it was going to go, but for now? Alex is going home and getting a few more hours of fucking sleep.

__

She was late.

It wasn't surprising she overslept, but if Chas ordered anything without her? Oh, there was bound to be hell to pay. Thankfully, he didn't know that she absolutely despised when people had started eating without her, so that only meant he hadn't started out of spite. Now, why was it whenever Alex was looking for a jacket, she couldn't find it?

Was she truly that blind?

Perhaps she needed something stronger than reading glasses-- or, she needed this place to be a little more clean. Apparently Ava had a nightcap last night, there was snacks and... clothes everywhere who knows. But there was a lot of and right now? It was entirely too stressful for Alex to deal with. Something had told her to check in the bathroom but that proved nothing, so much for following her gut feeling-- the feeling it had only gave her in return was anger. Well, minor irritation. Really.

"How many damn times do I have to tell you, the soap is still good when it's empty, just fill it up with some water and you're good to go until we go shopping-- I cannot stress this enough, it's the most simplest thing I ask of you. The tiniest thing besides telling you not to bring demons into our apartment and you can't refill the bottle of soap?"

Okay, so... it wasn't because she was stressed because she was late for brunch. It wasn't because she was afraid to hurt poor Chas's feelings for being a little over ten minutes late.

It was about everything riding on this.

This was her future, this was her chance.

She had to make sure to secure it.

"I'm looking for my stupid jacket. I swear to god I could never find what I need in this damn place. Qué mierda de vida." Ava by now couldn't be surprised by Alex's sudden switch in languages, although it almost always translated to some curse word, it was nice not to have a roommate who was overly sensitive over such words. Maybe she just... didn't know what they meant. And no, no matter how many times she asked, she wasn't going to tell her what they meant. Alex was throwing articles of clothing off of the couch and moving decoration pillows that her mother urged her to buy, which... they did actually look really good but the apartment was irrelevant right now.

"I'm going to brunch."

Ah, yes.

Brunch.

Alex hated the word, but the richest of the rich-- and anyone who was in LA longer than six months was obsessed with brunch. It was the pinnacle of the social pyramid. Everyone who was anyone would be eating brunch at this time of day. Judgey eyes were everywhere while a blonde who pretended to be better than you, sipping on her mimosa and judging you under her breath to her other bleach blonde friend. Alex didn't have anything against blondes, there was just a lot of em' in LA.

"Don't flip, you didn't lose me to the dark side. It's for a business thing-- er, well, school thing I guess. I don't know. I don't know, no, you know what? I don't know where this fucking jacket is. Ain't nobody going anywhere until I get my hands on that jacket. I'm blessing this place when I come home, I swear, there's some kind of demon that's fucking with me and my jackets. If you brought another Ouija board in the house I swear to you I'll--"

Her words were cut short as she glanced over at Ava, fully prepared to give her worst death glare and all the fight suddenly disappeared out of Alex once she noticed Ava was in fact, holding her jacket by the collar.

"...Thank you." She said, yanking the jacket from the redhead with a huff.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm just... stressed. I guess." She slipped on the jacket and began to adjust her white collar over it, Alex faced the mirror and couldn't help but notice Ava in the reflection. Something was up, she knew it.

Alex could just... feel it.

"Don't tell me I hurt your feelings or something."

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ditto]

[

I am, I am trying
The best that I can

M O O D : ...whew.

O U T F I T : t-shirt & sweatpants

L O C A T I O N : the apartment

M E N T I O N S : n/a

I N T E R A C T I O N S : ash

T A G S : Winona

​

There was silence, and Trevor broke eye contact with Ash.

Now that he’d said the words, they weighed on him.

Well, he’d admitted it.

He’d admitted that he’d done wrong.

He’d admitted that he’d been an arse.

He’d admitted that he’d fucked up her night.

…shite.

Responsibility— taking it?

Yeah. There was a reason why he never did it.

This was…the opposite of catharsis.

It fecking sucked.

A pit was growing in his stomach. Part of him spoke up and gave him a preemptive look of the most likely future:

Ash stands, rejects your apology, and breaks up with you.

You break down in your room and drink yourself for weeks before going out to party.

You graduate high school in a year, entirely alone.

Your life flies by you quickly.

You sit, age 35, poised on a cracking, red, leather seat at a bar in a quaint, red-and-white-themed family restaurant.

After hours, they serve alcohol, but only frequent guests would know such a thing. At this point, though, the waiters and waitresses all know your face, if not your name, and now, they call on you with a “Callaghan” and a single, repetitive request: “Another?”. Your name, at this point, is well-known— or, perhaps well-known isn’t the most apt term. You’re written a few shows that were averagely successful, but your new idea for a breakthrough hit has been rejected, time and time again, so, time and time again, you end up in this seat at this bar in this diner that’s perpetually stuck in some nondescript pastime. At some point, you lost your face to the public, and the paparazzi weren’t as interested in some drunken has-been, so the only ones of those who knew who this strange figure in this diner at strange times of the night are those who pieced together the name on the tab and the man before them.

The neon light, mounted just above the far right end of the bar, flickers with the same OPEN as always, though all of the lights inside have been turned off besides the lights in the kitchen. The string and its dangling clothespins, hanging in the window to the back, are reflected in the backside of your glass, placed very near the ledge of the bar near you. You reach out and turns it forty-ish degrees to the left, and you are unsurprised when the reflection doesn’t move. You sigh as you look out the window. That’s how life is; reflections in your glass don’t move, no matter how hard you try to get them to. Even if you shatter it, the reflection remains, just in fractals.

(You could call Trevor a pessimist, but, as he saw it, he was a realist. This was what was, most likely, going to happen.)

(And here it came.)

He braced himself for her next words.

At least they wouldn’t hurt as much, now that he was high.

“It’s…”

Over.

“…fine.”

He flinched—

And then blinked.

Confused, he slowly turned his head towards hers, letting out an involuntary “huh?”.

She shook her head. "I mean, it's...I forgive you for, like..."

She was struggling with her words, just as he had been.

"It's fine, Trevor, I'm not mad at you. I just want to move on, too, and I’d…like that. Like, talking more."

…could he breathe a sigh of relief, or would that be too self-indulgent?

He breathed a sigh of relief anyway.

Her lips quivered into a smile, her body relaxing and her arms falling away. "You...didn't ruin my night, anyway.”

The way she talked made her seem…what, scared?

Was that…was that his fault?

Yeah, probably. What wasn’t?

Shite.

Damn it.

"I..." She looked down. ”I ruined my own night— or, well, like…other people ruined it. You were still like...one of the better parts of the whole night."

He wanted to ask her what happened— and, hell, he probably would end up doing it, because he was a nosy bastard, but…

He knew that that was probably not the best can of worms to open up right after he’d apologized.

(Trevor had some forethought, yeah…it shouldn’t’ve been that surprising to know.)

She met his gaze again. The look in her eyes made his heard freeze for a second before it resumed its usual patter. "Are you like...okay? You weren't when Amy got you from my room last night. Like, you kept threatening to bang your head against the wall."

Ah, right. That did happen.

“I…” He grinned slowly. “I should be askin’ you,” he chuckled. “I’m…grand. Jus’ been…thinkin' about how much of an arse I am all mornin’. Nothin’ major. I…really shouldn’t’ve come to ya las’ night after…uh…that. I jus’…wish I had gone home after I smoked with Jo.” He laughed slightly. “An’ now, look what I did…but I appreciate that yer forgivin’ me. It…uh, it won’t happen again.”

He did mean that— he didn’t want it to happen again—

He…didn’t want it to happen again.

…so that meant that that it won’t happen again was probably a lie.

It was a white lie. He would do his best not to let it happen again, but...

He deserved one lie after that apology, anyway.

He reached his hand out, offering it to her like an olive branch and looking at her.

“I…are you okay? I mean…ya probably didn’t want to come here, I…” He lifted his other hand to rub his neck, chuckling ashamedly. “I should’ve asked you if ya wanted to come before I told you ta come…I…uh…well, I was a bit preoccupied.”

The implication there was that he was self-loathing or nursing his hangover— which, technically, he had been doing the latter.

But his thoughts were on more…intimate matters when he’d seen her text. He was a teenaged boy with raging hormones. He couldn't help it.

He hadn’t lied at all this time, so he could also be allotted this choice of words, too.

“I didn’t mean for you ta have ta spend yer day…spendin' time wit’ me when ya could be enjoyin’ it,” he finished, laughing slightly and clearing his throat with a soft smile on his face. “I’d love ta spend time wit’ ya. Honestly, we don’t get ta do it enough, ya know.” He laughed slightly. “I mean, a week in, and we’ve only hung out— really hung out, ya know, like…twice, not countin’ tha fair, an’ even then…I jus’…like ta spend time wit’ ya.” He shook his head slightly. “Hangin’ out wit’ ya after school on Wednesday was fun, an’…” He was getting sappy. He should stop. “Well, I jus’ like ta spend time wit’ ya.”

His smile faded slightly as he went back to telling her what he’d started to tell her. “But, uh, if ya don’t wanna be here, you can…leave or somethin’. I…I want you ta stay when ya don’t want to. It wouldn’t…ruin my day, if that’s not what ya wanna do.”

His eyes and knit brows still begged her to do something, though he didn’t notice:

Please stay.

TREVOR CALLAGHAN

º º code by ditto º º

 

[mogy]

Oates Oates
" podcasts, amirite? "

@bigO has set their status to:
don't fall, please

@bigO has set their outfit to:
costume

@bigO has set their location to:
gen's house/oates' apartment

@bigO has interacted with:
callum

mogy has mentioned:
hery

Callum stumbled to get his keys, but Oates already decided Callum wasn't fit to spend the night alone, especially knowing how the boy felt in the dead hours of the night even when he wasn't under the influence of alcohol. It was a recipe for disaster if he were to be left alone, and so, the only alternative was that the two spent the night at Oates' apartment. With a spare bedroom and food, if Callum wanted it, it had been a far better option. And it wasn't like the boy in the maid dress was going to mind it.

With a sigh, Oates followed behind a tottering Callum back to the party. Thankfully, Oates was pretty much with partying for now. From kissing Kian to almost crying over Callum, his mood was too all-over-the-place for the boy to want to have fun, and it was clearly for the best. At least he would only feel bad for the stumbling boy in front of him and not about missing eventful interactions with the people at the party.

Oates soon took the lead and led Callum to the exit where people were still coming into the house ready to party. It was obviously cold, and even Oates, who had barely any skin showing, thought it was chilly, so he wasn't surprised when Callum mentioned that he too was cold.

"I know, buddy," Oates commented as he prompted Callum to start walking by walking himself. They were both cold, but the sooner they got home, the sooner would they be able to enjoy the warmth of the indoors.

And then, silence ensued. Knowingly uncomfortable, though it helped Oates focus on keeping Callum from hurting himself by doing something dumb like falling flat on his face and then crying like he unquestionably would do.

But even while having to check on Callum every other second and then helping the boy maintain his clearly slipping balance as the two walked on the sidewalk of a seemingly endless street, Oates' mind wandered. And it wasn't that he was thinking about something random like the Muppets or whatever it was that usually went through his mind. It was one of those deep thought moments where one really looked at their life from a third-person view.

Was this what his life was going to be? Giving it his all to help Callum every time the boy stumbled while a melancholy silence engulfed them? Was his purpose in life to help make Callum feel good any time he could, or try and then inescapably fail to do so? He didn't like this. Oates didn't want this for either one of them. In fact, he clearly doubted that Callum appreciated the look of pity that marked his own facial expression, which made the two of them. Yet again, he simply couldn't push himself to force on an empty smile for the spotlight that were the street lights of the vacant street. In Callum's words, he was tired.

Oh, how had things gone so sour so quickly? How did their lives go from being happy together to being miserable with each other?

Well, one could argue that these two things were one and the same when it came to the two boys or that they plainly never were happy together to begin with.

Sure, there were differences. The two had been just friends now, and they didn't spend every living second with each other like they used to, but the fact was that Callum had gotten drunk because of Oates not being there like he promised he would be, and ironically so, there was no debating that this had been their life for the past two years, the curly-haired boy just now realizing how much he really despised it. He despised the way Callum made him feel and the way Callum could get him debating if he wanted to get back together by just saying a single sentence. He despised that he was the only one willing to get Callum home and that the temporarily-shorter boy felt the way he did as he struggled to keep walking in a straight line. He despised that he wanted to help Callum no matter what and that his own willingness persevered despite his common sense.

Oates stopped Callum as the two arrived at Oates's apartment, the boy unlocking the white front door and letting Callum enter first. Thankfully, Oates left the heating on so the cold leather pants he had on would stop making him feel like he was being frozen alive, and it probably also felt good for Callum to feel some warmth contrasting the cold outside air.

"You can take the guest bedroom, and I can get you a bucket if you'll need it during the night," Oates spoke as he took off his boots, glancing at Callum. "I also have some of your shirts in the closet somewhere so I can take a look when I take this makeup off. And if you're hungry there are some leftovers in the fridge, I think, so, feel free to help yourself."

Oates headed for the bathroom, to get the makeup off his face, leaving the door open in case Callum did something he really wasn't supposed to and ended up hurting himself.

º º code by dildo º º

 

[Kitsune2202]

"Goddess of Chaos"
Magnolia Darrington

@Rebel.lia.on has set their status to:
Feelin like Kesha's Tick-tok song

@Rebel.lia.on has set their outfit to:
Clothes

@He.went.2.Jared has set their location to:
Home

@He.went.2.Jared has mentioned:
Lucky, Josie, Ken

@He.went.2.Jared has interacted with:
Ryder ( sunshineysoul )

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Once twitter slowed down to a boring conversation about...who knows what at this point. Something about Gen taking some girl to an arcade? Yawn.

She hopped off to go finally take this dreaded cold shower. She figured she went to him for advice she might as well take it. She popped a few Tylenol pills into her mouth before hand for extra measure. Plus if tonight was as wild as she anticipated it being she'd need to enter it at least decently sober to have any chances of remembering the night and not doing anything too crazy.

Her standards for too crazy were pretty high though considering a bunch of things she's already done, but she knew there were limits. She knew her parents well enough to know their precious crafted image if her still had to have boundaries. It was sickening really. How she she'd been tricked into having to play this role out for them. How they tainted her wishes and desires. Sure Maggie loved to have fun, but she hated that it was now a tool her parents used for their benefit. She hated feeling like even things she didn't wanna do, didn't wanna be known for she still had to because that was the deal for what ounce of freedom she had.

It was lonely knowing that only three people outside of her family really knew her for who she was and not the wild child, black sheep of the Darrington family line. The one everyone expects not to make it to 25 at this rate. Hell she wasn't even sure if she was sometimes. Not that she wanted that, of course not, but she knows she does reckless and dangerous things and accidents do happen. Will that knowledge stop her? Nope. Because accident happen to good people too. Life doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints as the line goes.

What was probably even lonelier was knowing that most people preferred it that way. They liked what they saw so why would they dig any deeper? If they saw her as a trouble maker and stayed away what it they care if she only caused trouble when she she believed someone had been wronged? If they saw her as a wild child and wanted in on the rush, why would they care about the days she just wanted to chill and have a moment of peace? Why would they care about anything more about her then the thrill they know they can get around her and the possibility of getting laid? That was her brand, and thanks to her family there was no escaping that.

It made some days feel so heavy, and her heart feel closed off, but Magnolia didn't know any other way to be at this point. She didn't know how to fight it. So here she was grabbing a towel and getting in this cold fucking shower ready to do the whole shibang all over again. The only thing that made it barrable was the people she was with. Lucky and Josie were real friends in her heart. Doing this for Josie wasn't a burden, Just like she'd do anything for Ken at this point. Those three? Those three she'd do time for, she'd die for, but for now she'll live for.

She decided to take this time to actually wash her hair too since it was usually a mess after big parties. Once she was done griping about it the whole time to herself she finally hopped out and looked for something to wear. To bad that's when she heard the doorbell ring. Well it'd be rude to keep him waiting right?

She made sure her towel was wrapped up tight and that she was completely dry (except her hair that was gonna take a while) before making her way over and opening the door to let him in but she stood behind the door not wanting to risk the air being cold. God she hated feeling cold. Coldness was only good for the excuse of getting cuddles, and all the warm snacks that you get to eat with it.

"Of course! I'm starving. Come on in." She chimed with a bright smile on her lips. It'd felt like it'd been a while since she'd last seen Ryder even before he went on tour, so this was kind of a nice surprise. She waited till he came all the way in before promptly closing the door. She'd have given him a hug, but that's dangerous territory with her in nothing but this towel and she wanted food first. "Feel free to use anything you need in the kitchen over there." She pointed even though it was pretty obvious it's not like this was a mansion. "I'mma finished getting dressed and be back in a sec." She hummed before disappearing off back into her room.

It was too early to get into her party clothes for the night so instead she threw on some grey sweatpants and a regular striped crop top T-shirt. She had an embarrassing about of crop tops verses regular shirts. She decided to blow dry the tips of her braids so at the very least they wouldn't be dripping all over the floor.

She gave herself a once over then went back out to where Ryder was. "So how was your morning babysitting?" She grinned thinking back to his conversation about Mike as she took a seat on an open countertop space he was sure he wasn't using.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[natsukashii]

Corey Preston
18 || Senior || Literature

@coreyinthehouse has set their status to:
What did I just do?

@coreyinthehouse has set their outfit to:
Clearly not enough

@coreyinthehouse has set their location to:
Kitchen

@coreyinthehouse has mentioned:
Gus, Adri, Maddie

@coreyinthehouse has interacted with:
Gus, Adri, and Maddie

@coreyinthehousehas tagged:
jasmyn Winona sunshineysoul

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When Adriane had slid his coffee mug across the countertop, an act that made Corey turn his head a few inches in her direction, which, of course, saw him looking at her, he gave her a forced half-smile and a nod as he made sure to turn back away.

God, how Corey hated this so much. Or maybe hatred wasn’t the right word. He didn’t hate anyone.

Okay, maybe a couple of people, but that was within reason. So maybe right now, what Corey felt was a tense awkwardness, especially in his chest.

He dropped his head halfway to stare into his mug. The contrast between the white mug and the black coffee made it easy for him to get lost. The steam rising from it hit his face, but it was the aroma of the high-quality coffee that seemed to ease his mind a bit. For some people, coffee made their stomach ache and for others, it did absolutely nothing. For Corey, however, it was akin to a good massage or that feeling he always got when he finished a book he got lost in.

His smile widened and as he raised the mug to his lips and sipped it carefully, the sweetness of the coffee was met with a murmur of satisfaction. Corey had always preferred his coffee on the sweeter side. In fact, when it came to it, he preferred it be sweet, but it wasn’t the fact that it tickled his sweet tooth in the same way an ice cream cone or a piece of cake did; it was that backdrop of hazelnut that woke him up in the best way. And considering his current company sans Maddie was unpleasant in his opinion, this was just what he needed. The little moment of relief from the tension that his sweet tooth allowed him to have.

But like all great things in his life, coffee-induced ignorant bliss came met a brick wall when he heard a grunting Gus wake up and soon made himself somewhat comfortable against the wall with his arms folded across his chest.

Ever the curious Corey, he looked over, and maybe it was the way he looked, but Corey sighed into another sip of his coffee. He could never pull off the solemn, broody cool guy persona that Gus was currently displaying. He’d appear to be too wonky or it would be too artificial to be as though that was his body’s natural response. He was more the stand-against-the-wall, head-down, hands-in-pockets-wallflower type. And maybe he made peace that for every cool guy Gus Jace, there was semi-socially-awkward Corey Preston.

Suppose this is how God made us.

Corey let that thought linger for a few more seconds until he tuned into what Maddie and Adriane were talking about. He heard his ex-girlfriend mention the calories of the breakfast she prepared, though he couldn’t say his mind was completely on his bestie and ex because his plate of pancakes and bacon was in front of him and he immediately went for the syrup, nearly drowning the stack of fried batter in it.

He looked over at Gus and knew he was going to regret this, but…

“Gus. You should eat something.” He said to the blond, speaking faster than his brain could process it. And when he did, he just sort of...sat there, half of his mouth full of pancakes and his eyes meeting Gus’ for a solid four seconds before causally transitioning them back in front of his plate. “I mean, it’s great! And it’s not like you guys have to leave this instance, right?”

There goes Corey and his big mouth again.

Oh, well. You’ve gone this far. “At least, I’m sure it would mean the world to Maddie if you two enjoyed the food she took the time to make.” Ah yes, guilt-tripping. Because clearly that’s a very you thing to do, Corey.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Soap]

Livanna Moore
"I'm taking these shots like it's novocain."

@Livieeee is has updated her status to:
Hahahah, can't wait for the rave.

@Livieeee has interacted with:
Nate

@Livieeee has mentioned:
Evie, Oates

@Livieeee has set her outfit to:
Anything to keep me not naked

@Livieeee has tagged:
geminiy Winona​

The sun rays shot through the many windows around the apartment that was entirely too big for one, petite Livanna More. The light itself had woke her and for a moment-- the smallest moment, Liv believed she was alone. And then every memory had time to flood through her system while a certain craving just returned. She picked up the pillow beside her and covered her face with it, taking a deep breath and enjoyed the few seconds of darkness the pillow provided.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. It's Evie. She wants to talk."

"What?"

This had Liv practically throwing the pillow across the room and suddenly shooting out of bed-- she was dressed. Although it's not like it would matter at this point, Livanna already felt guilty, even more so because she was wearing Nate's shirt. He told her about what exactly went down last night, and she should've known better than not to...

There wasn't a point to dwell on it after she already fucked up.

She always fucks everything up.

"You have to tell her." She blurted out while she started to get undressed, it wasn't like Nate didn't see any of this before, and despite whatever the hell happened last night and throughout their few years of being friends-- she trusted him enough to change in front of him, c'mon. Imagine sleeping with someone and then asking them to turn around when you needed to change.

No matter how much Evie tried to deny she didn't have feelings for Nate, she knew she did. Liv knew. And she still made the choice to sleep with him. Evie was her friend... even if it was sorta hard to the little model woman to admit it. She was. Liv had a soft spot for certain people and she was one of those people. She couldn't really define it.

She just didn't want her to get hurt.

Especially if it's her fault in the first place.

"What if she changed her mind or something? What does she want to talk about? Did she say? Does she know somehow?" There was so many questions that needed to be answered, and honestly-- Liv seemed more concerned about it than her boyfriend. Well, not boyfriend.

She knew Nate was messed up about it too, it's just...

this was complicated, and hard and--

dingdingdingding.

Tons of messages came through all at once and her phone practically exploded.

There was a few from her mom, Oates to see if she got home okay-- which was sweet. But mainly, a ton from Josie. She'd almost forgotten about that. The two had made plans to celebrate together since their birthdays were so close together, she wasn't sure what the plan was, but Liv knew of this really--

What is she doing?!

Liv quickly replied and threw her phone onto the bed, gesturing towards Nate's phone before letting her hands fall to her sides in defeat. "What if she asks me something? What am I gonna say? Yeah, sorry. Slept with your not-boyfriend who you're totally interested in and lied that you weren't." Liv's gaze darted around the room, slipping off his shirt and she threw it at him. Looking for first article of her own clothing she found and slipped it on.

"... sorry. I just... what are you gonna say?"

º º code by ditto º º

 

[sunshineysoul]

danielle howard

@beautyandthebeat has set their status to:
friendship !!!

@beautyandthebeat has set their outfit to:
hungOVER

@beautyandthebeat has set their location to:
bedroom

@beautyandthebeat has mentioned:
alex, cole

@beautyandthebeat has interacted with:
kelli

@beautyandthebeat has tagged:
ditto

@beautyandthebeat has written a tl;dr:
bondingggg

"You might know him; Oates?”

dani sat and listened to kelli talk. she found it wild how there was another couple of siblings like cole and herself. not just an older brother and younger sister, not just a music and dancing duo, nope; no kian and kelli as well as cole and dani were both a couple of siblings, an older brother that was a senior in the music department and a younger sister that was a sophomore in the dancing department.

it wasn't a dramatic revelation or anything, but dani thought it was cool

"oates... i think i've seen his name pop up on twitter? i haven't met a whole lot of people here yet, i really only know my brother's friend, alex. aaand now you!" her face lit up, still pretty excited about making a new friend.

it sounded stupid, dani knew that, being so giddy about making a new friend. but at the moment, dani didn't care, she was just really excited to be making a friend, on her own, without her brother having to introduce them

she continued to listen as kelli spoke, explaining how dani actually came to HA first, with kian to follow due to their parents wanting him to look out for here.

aha, here was the difference in their stories. cole was the first one at HA, obviously. and dani wasn't sent out to "keep an eye on him" or anything; she wasn't even sent out, her parents didn't want her leaving. dani and cole had to tag team convincing them to let her come, most of the convincing coming from cole.

“How about you? How long have you and your brother been here, and what made you all want to come here?”

dani perked up, realizing the conversation was being directed to her.

crap now i gotta say stuff about me

"well my brother's been here since his freshman year. we grew up in texas, our family has this huge ranch or whatever," she waved the sentence off as if to say it's not a big deal. as much as dani loved the animals on their ranch, she never understood why so many people back home thought they were celebrities or anything. sure they were well off and sure they were well known in their area of work, but too many times they had been treated like they were some emmy-award winning actors.

like when they went to support cole at his first gig in Sundance Square, back home in Texas, once people heard his last name, they made the connection to the rest of his family in the crowd and suddenly they were surrounded by yee-haw fans.

dani didn't get it, they raised, killed and sold animals. nothing too special.

"he was always passionate about music, and good at it too. don't ask me where he got his talent though, he's the only on in the family with a decent singing voice and enough coordination to play more than one instrument." some giggles came out and rang throughout her room. memories of different charity fundraiser balls came flooding into her head.

of course her family was filled with good people, people who wanted to help the less fortunate. so of course the Howards would have semi annual charity balls, raising money and matching donations to help different charities, doing their part to help those in need. of course all the howard children had to make an appearance, and the nights were some of her best memories with her brother and cousins.

they would run around, play with other kids, and get yelled at when they got their fancy outfits dirty from playing hide-n-go-seek in the dark outside. when they were forced to stay inside at their table, they were also forced to watch as their parents went on stage, in an attempt to sing karaoke. in a very bad attempt, dani would like to add. they only did it to try and get folks to reach a little deeper into their pocket and try to encourage others to try and come on stage as well.

she loved those nights, those charity balls were some of her favorite memories in texas.

"but as for me," dani tilted her head a bit, trying to debate how much she wanted to say. "i really got into dancing when i was younger, but i never considered going to any kind of fine arts school until... recent events." dani didn't know how sensitive kelli would be to hearing about her mother dying, she didn't know how kelli would think of her if she heard dani talking about how her mother was dying as if she didn't care.

dani absolutely cared about her sick mother, and she would throat punch anyone who suggested otherwise. however, dani didn't believe her mother was truly dying, she saw this as a rough patch that her mother would get through. she had seen her parents go through some hard stages in life, dani was convinced that this was exactly like that.

"my mom's been kinda sick, and so i didn't really like the atmosphere at home. cole and i convinced our parents to let me come out here! it's been a blast and once my mom's feeling better, we're gonna fly her and the rest of the family out here to see how awesome at dancing i've become while here and they'll see that they made the absolute right decision."

no doubt about it, dani missed her family. but her favorite family member was right in the other room, always looking out for her even when she didn't think she needed it.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[hery]

MOOD: tired

OUTFIT: maid costume

LOCATION: oates' apartment

basics

MENTIONS:
n/a
INT:
mogy (Oates)

tags

TL;DR no

tl;dr

Callum Richards

Callum entered Oates' apartment with his head down and his arms crossed. He was freezing, downtrodden, and a little bit out of touch with reality. The air of the apartment was toasty and comforting, and he could instantly feel the goosebumps on his body melting away. As expected of Oates' living space, the air was also fresh and light, or perhaps it was just really good air in comparison with Callum's unkempt apartment space.

"Thank you," he replied in a low, tired voice, nodding shamefully knowing something was sure to come up after all that he'd ingested. All he could do was stand still like a statue as Oates cleaned up and moved around. It was exhausting just watching the curly-haired boy chipper and on his feet as though he hadn't just gone trick-or-treating and partied all night.

Knowing that some of his shirts remained in Oates' closet pricked at his heart a little. He'd had more than enough time to return them to Callum in the past month, not that he particularly cared if he got them back. Was Oates holding onto their past or did he just not care? Callum longed for it to be the former, but logically he was aware that he was overthinking for the sake of his own selfish whims.

Callum didn't feel like eating; he was sure if he put anything in his stomach he'd puke all over the floor. And then Oates would really lose all attraction for him. "I'll go get changed," he stated flatly, thinking back on all the times he'd came over and they just... lived together. Not actually, but they'd shared so many mundane nights of quiet time that this atmosphere felt... natural. Even going to change as Oates cleaned himself up in the bathroom called upon old, insignificant memories he hadn't thought of in months.

He rifled through the closet for one of his old shirts, nearly grabbing one of Oates' before stopping himself. He was already desperate and obsessed enough; the last thing he needed was his ex catching him sniffing his shirts or something. Each article of clothing brought about a different memory, which all melded into the same general idea that Oates and Callum had spent many, many nights in on his own request.

It was torture knowing he was so close to the routine they'd once shared, yet unable to hold Oates like he used to. He hadn't just slipped out of his grasp. He'd entered someone else's altogether. Callum was sure of it. What else could he have been doing all night as Callum fumbled around the party with Jace? The entire night Callum had been determined to deter him from doing so, yet as he removed himself from that setting and the energy died down, all he could think about was laying around defeatedly like he always did. He was painfully aware that what Oates needed was for Callum to do something—anything at all.

But he was so... exhausted... and as Callum fought his body telling him to slumber, he only sunk deeper and deeper into shutting down for the night. He sat himself on the bed, his mind occupied by recollections of the T.V. screen flickering on a wide-awake Callum and a fast-asleep Oates. He also recalled their nights spent beside one another in bed, enveloped by the thick darkness all around them. Most painful of all, he remembered turning over and weeping softly in bed, Oates beside him eyes shut and occasionally allowing a tiny stream of drool to escape his mouth. He felt so alone back then, but it took being thrust deeper into loneliness to realize those nights were all he needed to keep going.

Beckoned forth by Sandman, Callum rested his body completely onto the bed, becoming one with the plush mattress. He couldn't afford to pass out now and lose his courage. He had to tell Oates how he felt. Every chance at happiness in his soul was riding on this, yet, as a result of his poor choices and broken body clock...

He was... so... tired...

His eyes fluttered open and shut, his mouth hanging open while he hadn't a clue which state of consciousness he was tethered to. He was closer to Oates than he'd been in weeks, inches away from pouring his entire heart onto the table...

But... he could hardly... think...

"Sorry," he mumbled, his voice barely rising above the even breaths escaping his nose and mouth. The rise and fall of his chest evened out, bringing him the peace of rest he yearned for. His eyes remained half-shut, his brain engaged in a tug-of-war of sleep. The light wasn't even off and he wasn't out yet, but before long he'd lose himself to his dreams and bury the words he needed to say deep into his cluttered, distraught mind.

code by valen t.

 

[sunshineysoul]

ryder alistar

@rydeonme has set their status to:
i do be cookin tho

@rydeonme has set their outfit to:
casual weekend

@rydeonme has set their location to:
maggie's kitchen

@rydeonme has mentioned:
mike, twitter people

@rydeonme has interacted with:
maggie

@rydeonme has tagged:
Kitsune2202

@rydeonme has written a tl;dr:
i'm a musician AND a chef, fight me

ryder oliver alistar was able to predict quite a few different things. he predicted that he would become an incredibly successful musician, he predicted that he was going to rock his tour, he predicted that everyone would jump on his dick as soon as he came back to the HA twitter,

but he would've never been able to predict one magnolia darrington would open the door wearing nothing but a towel.

ryder oliver alistar was also anything but a prude. having lost his virginity at the ripe age of fourteen, sex was never some taboo thing to ryder. he flirted with girls whenever he felt like it, he always let the girl take it as far as they wanted, even if that meant going all the way. ryder was never one to be bashful when it came to such things, especially such a beautiful young woman answering the door for him in nothing but a towel.

but ryder just had an entire lecture to himself about being there only to make eggs and catch up with a friend. it caught him off guard is all.

he hated that his face started to heat up, but that was the only indication that ryder was thrown off his game. his smirk immediately grew on his face as she waited for him to come in.

"you know i know we talked about seeing you wet, but i didn't expect it to be so soon, mags." there he was, good ol' flirtatious ryder. no one would've ever thought he was so stunned by maggie in nothing but a towel.

nothing but a towel.

holy hell

"Feel free to use anything you need in the kitchen over there."

she pointed ryder in the direction of the kitchen as she walked off to her room. it took all of his strength to not watch her as she walked away.

damn he forgot how hot hollywood babes were.

digging through some cabinets and the fridge, he gathered what he needed to start making eggs; eggs, frying pan, garlic salt, and pepper. ryder spotted some turkey sausage and tortillas in their fridge and a big grin grew on his face.

surely mags wouldn't be upset with a change to breakfast burritos.

"so how was that cold shower?" he called out to her, her voice in a laughing tone, just wanting to mess with her.

off to work he went while he waited for her to come back. he cracked the eggs into a bowl, sprinkled in the spices, and even threw in the chopped bits of turkey sausage. after mixing everything to his liking, he poured it onto the frying pan, occasionally stirring it with a spatula. grabbing a second frying pan, he set it up on the stove to heat up the tortillas.

his head flicked to the side as he saw mags come back into the kitchen. she hopped up on the counter as she asked about baby sitting.

"oh it went swimmingly," ryder snuck glances at maggie as he kept his eyes on the eggs and tortillas. "i've got a lot of experience with babysitting mike, so it might as well be a fucking science at this point. but it was nice to come back to more than just one familiar routine." his hands went to turn off the stove for the eggs, still warming up enough tortillas for the two of them. "not only did i have my best friend pass out in my tub, but i also got to enjoy everyone hopping on my dick for doing absolutely nothing." he shot maggie a big, cheesy grin, showing how the twitter fiascos didn't effect him in the slightest. well, that was a lie, they obviously did have effects on him, but it wasn't anything bad.

no ryder absolutely loves watching everyone scramble to try and find good enough insults for him to try and dent his ego. it made him laugh to see how stupidly creative everyone tried to be when insulting him.

after a few more moments, there were enough tortillas warmed up and he turned off the stove. sprinkling some shredded cheese over the eggs and sausage, he started making a burrito up for maggie.

"hope you don't mind, i switched from just the boring old eggs, figured you deserved more that just regular scrambled eggs." another smile was on his face as he handed maggie her breakfast burrito on a plate. "only way i could've made it better was if you had some potatoes, but that would've taken way longer than just this." he laughed to himself as he made his own burrito.

he leaned his back against the counter across from maggie as they took their first few bites of the burritos. ryder had to hand it to himself, he was a damn good cook.

"so," he started, his mouth half full of food as he talked. "how've you been since i've been gone?" he swallowed his bite. "i regret not keeping in touch with more people while i was touring, but tour life is a different animal."

º º code by ditto º º