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

[mogy]

Oates Oates
" podcasts, amirite? "

@bigO has set their status to:
...

@bigO has set their outfit to:
jeans, shirt, jacket


@bigO has set their location to:
park

@bigO has interacted with:
kian, slater, felix

mogy has mentioned:
geminiy , ditto , Winona

Oates didn't particularly pride himself on his smarts. He wasn't good at things like math or physics, but when it came to social interaction, he could've been freaking Einstein. There was knowledge in every single action happening around him, from body language to actual words leaving Kian's mouth, and at this point, it was probably more of a curse than it was a blessing to understand it all. Had he not followed, would he have not felt humiliation and despair as he hopelessly attempted to fix the ground crumbling underneath him. He was even aware that by just trying to help, he was digging himself into a deeper hole, however, saving himself as others suffered wasn't a viable option in his mind.

He did have trouble reading Kian's eyes as eye contact never truly was established, though, one thing had been fairly obvious:

Pain.

Undeniably painful were rejections for any teenage boy, but this had roots deeper than most things—destroying back many years of laughter and joyous memories—and it led the taller boy to pain Oates had never seen him at before. For Oates, this wasn't Kian. The anger and yelling and maliciousness in his voice definitely couldn't have been him because Kian wouldn't yell at Oates? He wouldn't despise the lone sight of Oates, right? This wasn't the guy whose window Oates remembered throwing pebbles at; it wasn't the Kian he wanted to even believe existed, no matter the evidence of what was going on around him and of all the bullets shot towards him in hopes of landing a fatal shot. Maybe, after all, the two weren't the same as before... Maybe, it wasn't only Kian who changed so drastically...

Where did the curly-haired boy even learn to hurt people so much? Why did everybody around him end up miserable? Was he really such a bad person?

It was his fault this whole thing was happening, and he couldn't stop reminding himself of it, even amid Kian speaking down to him as if he was some worthless speck of dust not worthy of the taller boy's time. Oates was supposed to defend himself and stand up for what he believed in, but with every word leaving Kian's mouth, he felt shorter and shorter, weaker and weaker in front of the boy's declarations. All of the pain the taller boy was feeling had, in its entirety, been Oates' fault, and he deserved to suffer for it, so he accepted everything being said, guilt now, fully, showing on his face.

He would've continued to accept it until he felt smaller than an atom because it maybe made a difference to Kian. After all, there was a chance it would've taken away some pain from him, and that was worth it. But as people entered the scene, he managed to contain the tears slipping away from his eyes, wiping them and shifting his gaze at one unfamiliar face, and another just barely familiar.

Felix, the guy he bought drugs from for Callum once a while back, and, after his introduction, Damien, the guy from Twitter who seemed like a fun person to hang out with, had it not been for the circumstanced the two were introduced in if this even could be called a proper introduction.

But despite his usual, rather social personality, Oates' mouth remained shut throughout the awkward interaction. He dared not cross the invisible line Kian undeniably put down for Oates as he spoke to the two other boys. He had already been mad and hurt enough, and at the same time, Oates didn't feel like saying anything because he might have burst in tears instead—thoughts running rampant in his mind.

As the three boys walked away, led by Kian, Oates remained in one place. Kian left the blanket, the spread of food, and some parting blows for Oates, which he didn't even take to heart. It would've been too much.

He waited. Until Kian and the boys were far away; until he managed to comprehend everything that took place just a few minutes ago, to sit down, or more so fall down on the brown blanket, and when the three were no longer anywhere in sight, tears just started rolling down his cheeks, silence surrounding him.

He really did ruin everything.

º º code by dildo º º

 

[ditto]

LINDSAY MORGAN KAY

do it, no balls

(not really a trigger warning, but just a general warning: lin pretty much talks like a twelve-year-old bully who just learned curse words throughout, so...take that as you will)

Lindsay Kay really didn’t get mad-mad much.

When Lin was mad-mad, he was known to be violent.

Rash.

Careless.

Even-more-fucking-reckless.

Ten times worse.

And, yeah, he seemed mad-mad every time that he finished a game and didn’t see the word WINNER or FIRST PLACE across his screen. And, yeah, he seemed mad-mad when he lost bets and had to pay up. And, yeah, he seemed mad-mad when he got caught doing dumb things and called out on them.

But none of those instances were him anywhere near mad-mad. Nothing even fucking compared.

This shit? This shit? It made him mad-mad.

So mad that he couldn’t fucking talk.

So mad that he couldn’t fucking think.

So mad that he just wanted to break and smash and yell and destroy.

What the fuck was this shit? Where the fuck did it come from?

And why the fuck was it happening now?

Things were going good— had been going good. Fucking superb. Lin was at the top of his fucking game. He had a girlfriend now. He was working on more music to release soon, ya know. Everything was going fucking great.

And now this bullshit had happened.

Now his dad had gone and fucking impregnated some random bitch who just so happened to be the aunt of his ex-best friend, and Lin had had to find out from a fucking tabloid.

He set his sight in front of himself, his pace slow but determined. His jaw was clenched. His blue eyes, glassy, boiled over with rage. Two strands of light brown hair bounced at his forehead, and Lin brought one hand up to angrily pull it through his hair while the other remained a clenched fist at his side. His brows were set low, and his lips were pulled into a thin line.

“Hey,” Zeph said from beside on Lin, “what happened back there?”

Lin didn’t lift his eyes to see his friend as he usually would. He made no motions to answer the question, either.

A hand went to Lin’s shoulder, and Lin instinctively jerked his shoulder away.

“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to,” Zeph started again, “but, uhh…I’m here— to talk, if you need to. Whenever. About anything.”

Lin glanced up at Zeph, his cold, un-Lin-like gaze catching on Zeph’s eyes for a moment before they flicked away.

He paused for a moment, his pace slowing slightly. He considered telling Zeph for a moment.

The bullshit was public, anyway.

The tension in Lin’s body remained, but he changed his posture, sitting back on his spine more. He leaned his head back slightly to look at Zeph.

“My dad,” Lin started, “is a fucking whore.” There was a white truck to his right, and he reared back and kicked at its front bumper— hard enough for there to be a loud clunk. It felt fucking good to do some damage, and he let out a chuckle beneath his breath. “That’s all there fucking is to it, I guess.” As they continued to walk, his arm shot out to slam the side of his fist into the door of a vehicle. He glanced at where his fist had been as they passed. There was a slight rush when he saw the fist-sized dent in the door, and he grinned over at Zeph.

The grin immediately dropped from his face when he started to speak again. “Fucking bastard didn’t fucking tell me shit,” Lin said. He could feel his voice on the edge of breaking, but he kept talking anyway. “And the fucking tabloids fucking used my fucking name in the fucking article, and he didn’t even fucking say a fucking word to me.” His footing became looser and less determined, his teeth gritting harder. “You’d think that he’d, ya know, fucking call me, or fucking text me, or fucking make some kind of effort to fucking reach out to me, to fucking say something, right?” His breathing was growing heavier by the second. A wet film came over his eyes, and he looked away from Zeph, blinking hard. “Fuck, or maybe he’d have some of his fucking people try to get ahold of me. It’s not like I’m fucking hard to reach. It’s not like it would’ve taken any effort at fucking all. The fuckhead has my fucking number. His people have my fucking number. Shit, I wouldn’t’ve fucking cared— wouldn’t have even fucking cared if I even fucking found out from his motherfucking personal chef— if fucking George Paulson fucking called me at fucking two fucking— at two in the fucking morning to tell me that the wife of my fucking skank dad is having a fucking child. But no one fucking said shit.”

Lin’s face screwed up, and he sunk his head, clenching his jaw tightly as he admitted, in a hissed mumble, “He didn’t even fucking think of me.”

That shit fucking hurt. Even though he’d realized it back at the store that they were in the parking lot of, it still fucking hurt.

He hadn’t even crossed his dad’s mind.

Lin stopped walking to lean heavily against the side of a random blue car. He crossed his arms and his ankles, and he looked at Zeph.

He stared at Zeph for a long moment, not thinking, not saying anything. There were tears forming at the lip of his lower lid, and he tried to blink them away. He ran his fist under his nose before crossing his arms again, and he frowned at Zeph.

“The fucking bastard is having a fucking kid,” Lin said in a choked voice, and it stung to say it. It hurt like hell. “I’m getting a fucking sister. In four fucking months, I’m going to have a fucking sister.” He drew in a deep breath, and his teeth clenched again as he hissed, “And the fucking slut-faced shit-nosed cock-sucking man-baby shitty-fucking-excuse-for-a-human-being didn’t say fucking shit to me.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I didn’t hear a single fucking word.”

He suddenly slammed the sides of his fists against the vehicle to push himself up, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands again, and he started to quickly walk in the direction of the road.

He dropped his hands from his eyes, lifting his gaze to look at the ground, and he saw a bike rack.

He came to a stop beside the rack. His sight set on a new-looking orange bike. “That’s a nice fucking bike,” he said, his voice still mangled. “Bet they paid a fucking load for that kinda shit. It’s nothing like Dick or anything, but it’s still nice. Bet they’re really proud of it and all of that shit.” He grinned, though the corners of his grin were shaky.

He stooped down next to the the bike rack, and he stared at the object for a moment before he grabbed the chain and inspected the lock dangling from it. “That lock looks fucking weak,” he commented. “They’re just asking for something to happen to their bike.”

He looked up at Zeph, a wide grin on his face, though his eyes were still teary. “You wanna nick it with me?”

He was being dead serious.

mood
seeing fucking red

location
tha dolla storeeeeeee

outfit
spot the drip lmao

playing...
tongue tied

by grouplove​

mentions
angy

interactions
zephy

tags
Winona

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ditto]

saint andrew taylor

live & let live...

Saint had typed the address of Jo’s place into his GPS without having to ask for the address. He had no reason to use the GPS, because he had every turn memorized and knew nearly every landmark on the way to her place, but he couldn’t let her know that. If he drove there without the aid of the electronic on his console, it would make it seem as if he cared in the slightest about her, enough to have allowed that piece of information to have remained committed to his memory, and that simply wasn’t the case.

He glanced over at her as she took his offer of the goods in his glovebox. He knew her well enough that he had known that she was going to accept his offer, and he felt a slight wave of relaxation pass over him as he considered the familiarity of the situation.

She really was predictable. She really did do the same things over and over and over again.

It was something that he…couldn’t quite say that he admired, but that he could never bring himself to say that he disliked.

It had been frustrating when they were in the relationship, of course. This habit carried over into her wardrobe and her flirtation, and it irked him, of course, because they were in a relationship, and it was only logical to be disappointed in your significant other when they acted in the way that Josie did, though she’d have you believe differently.

(And yet, when he acted how she did— in any way that he wanted to— she got irrationally angry, and it just dissolved into another fight and resulted in a break up. That was hypocritical of her, as he tried to get her to realize, but she still refused to accept it.)

"So, this heifer?” Jo asked. “Is that what you're doing for the Arts Fest?” Over the music, the noise of the road, and the incessant buzzing coming from her cellphone, he could still clearly hear her voice. “What was the inspiration? Assuming you have a reason behind it.”

He took the lit blunt from Jo when she offered it to him, placing it between his lips to take a puff. After a moment, he exhaled the smoke in a ring and held the blunt between two fingers in the arm that rested on his door. “Yeah…it’s my Arts Fest project,” he answered finally. “I thought that I would do something from my roots for my senior year…and I like cows.”

He could have simply said I like cows and left it at that, but he found that being more detailed about his work and inspiration made for more engaging conversation and wasn’t quite as much of a waste of breath as other idle conversation might be to him.

Blowing out another puff of smoke, Saint continued. “I lived in Memphis,” he said, as if she didn’t know, “but Tennessee has a lot of farmers…and Arkansas and Missouri do, too…and I visited those states a lot because of my relatives.”

HIs Great Aunt Delia and her husband were cattle farmers in the Arkansas delta, and he spent a few summers with them in his childhood. When he was staying with them, he always spent most of his time in the fields, sitting on buckets and filling up sketchbooks with drawings of their livestock. Number 219, or Becka, was his favorite to draw, because she always came closer to him than the others, and her eyes looked like there was so much going on behind them

“Cows are…fascinating…,” Saint stated. “They’re so big but very fragile…one misstep and they could break their bones and have to be put down. They have to be treated with the utmost care or they’ll get sick and grow feeble. It was interesting to think about, that something that big is that fragile…” He took another draw from his blunt. He exhaled the smoke, and then he yawned.

(Not only was the project interesting and not only did he put every ounce of effort into working on it, but it was also exhausting, and he’d lost so much sleep over it already.)

“Fiberglass…though you already know that’s what I work with most of the time, is also a medium that makes the most sense for this sculpture…because I’ve already had a couple of offers to purchase the sculpture, and all of my offers so far have been for outside settings,” Saint said in his disinterested tone, his slow, Southern drawl spoken in his low buzz. “It’s a lot of work, because it’s got so many steps…sketching, and then sculpting it from clay…and then making its mold, and finally casting it…but I’m used to the process, since it’s what I work with often, anyway…at least for my commissions.” Here, he took another hit from the blunt. “I’m going to be blowing some grass and flowers. I considered…also making some jugs of ‘milk’ from glass and staining the glass white…making a stained glass pool of water for the cow to be bending to drink from...” He let out a soft sigh. “Because it’s…senior year…I’m expected to put in more work than I would normally and make the project larger than my past projects…and last year…you remember, I blew all of those pitchers…over one-hundred-thirty of them.” He had sold all of them throughout the show, and he’d gotten countless high-dollar commissions from that one show. “I’m working hard to…make this year even better…”

He really was. Though his voice sounded dispassionate, he spoke of his work expertly and in great detail because he did care and he was invested. There was almost nothing that meant anything more to him than his work— and he knew that Jo knew this.

He glanced at the reflection of her in his rearview mirror. “How about you…?” Saint asked his passenger. “I’m assuming that you’re doing some kind of dance routine. Are you doing it with anyone…?” Solos were mostly for seniors, but he wouldn’t put it past Jo to pull a wild card and do a performance alone.

Seeing her in the passenger seat like that— sitting and listening attentively— made Saint think of when they were together. She’d approached him because of his work, and she always expressed her interest in his work and asked him about it.

In this moment, it was almost like nothing had changed.

It was easy to ignore the fact that they were exes, the fact that they had broken up in this same car, when she acted like that.

He took a final puff from the blunt and offered the object to Jo as he made a left turn.

mood
cows

location
the road

outfit
let loose

playing...
god's plan (drake cover)

by our last night​

mentions
n/a

interactions
jo

tags
jasmyn

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ditto]

trevor callaghan

quite the catch

The I hate choosing was much of a shared sentiment. He scrawled a tally mark in his head. There was one thing that he and Ash had in common.

(And, hey, before ya started on well, you’re dating her, shouldn’t you have more things in common, he would have you know that he was sure that they had nothing in common when they started dating, so even having one small thing was a miracle in and of itself.)

Trevor pulled out of the parking lot of the apartments, chuckling softly at Ash’s questions. “I would tell ya where I wanted ta go if I wanted ta go anywhere in particular. Or, uh...well, if I even had ideas of any kind.”

(He didn’t get out much, and that was one of the main reasons that he had no ideas, but he wasn’t going to cite that fact in particular because it wasn’t necessary information, thank you very much.)

“An’— hey.” His brows furrowed and his lips downturned in the look of offense that he often got, though this time it was mostly tongue-in-cheek. “Walmart isn’t a bad option, so don’t ya start dockin’ it. You can get tha bes’ deals there. You remember the crock pots? That was a good price for such a clever contraption, an’ that’s only one of tha thin’s that you can get when you shop there an’ save.” He smiled, snickering. “Or so tha advertisements say.”

He shook his head, going back to being mildly serious as he realized that he had no idea of where he was driving.

“I mean, dates…where do ya go?” he laughed, scoffing slightly and rolling his eyes. “In movies, they usually go ta those…oh, what are they called?” His brows screwed up. His mind was blanking. “They got tha fancy booths, an’ there are those girls in roller-skates with tha short tops an’ tha little hats…uh…an’ tha aprons, an’ they scribble your stuff on a receipt by hand, an’ there’s a jukebox, an’— diner.” It dawned on him suddenly, and he interrupted his sentence with the word that he recalled. “In tha movies, the teens on dates always go to tha diners, ya know.” (The way that he was referring to the teens made him sound either like an old man or an alien— you take your pick.) “An’…yeah, that’s tha only thin’ that I know about date spots. Usually a murder happens when they’re at a diner, too, so I don’t know how good of an idea that is,” he chuckled.

He turned on his right blinker and turned because he felt like it. Again, he had no aim.

“Uhm, uhm, uhm…,” he said, trying to remember, with his hazy brain, what Ash had just said. “Oh!” The confusion on his face subsided. “Tha park, you said?” he asked, glancing over at her before continuing. “I mean, you’ve definitely been on more dates than me. Park sounds good— an’ tha beach sounds good, an’ tha aquarium sounds good, an’ tha zoo sounds good. I’ve got no preference whatsoever. Seriously, I meant it when I said my only goal for tha day is ta spend time wit’ you.” He gave another soft chuckle. “So you tell me— where are we headed to? Really, I mean, it’s up ta you.”

He smiled at the road. “Wherever it is,” he said, “I’ve got my date t-shirt on an’ I’m ready ta tackle it.”

(Not that it was going to be a challenge or anything, but using tackle it made him sound cool, didn’t it?)

mood
headed out

location
rachel

outfit
jeans and a gaudy t-shirt

playing...

i wanna slam my head against the wall​

by glaive​

mentions
n/a

interactions
ash

tags
Winona

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ditto]

felix rian emmerson

it's all my pleasure

Felix grinned over at Damien, givin’ him a soft chuckle as he listened to his answer.

Slater had money to burn? Well, if that just so happened to be the case, you know that Felix wouldn’t mind being a handy-dandy Benjamin furnace. He was even a friendly one, and he was told that he was also a charming one. He was a good cause— or, ya know, he liked to think that he was— and he was an even better taker of cash.

Slater cut himself off, and Felix cocked his head slightly at his friend.

"Yo, it's Kian," Slater said with a lopsided grin, smackin' Felix’s chest. Felix gave a soft “oof” and looked in the direction that Slater was lookin’, haltin’ his steps for a moment.

Oh, hey! Yeah, sure enough! Well, what would you know? Who could’ve guessed? It really was a small world, huh?

Felix’s grin broadened, and he began to follow behind Slater. It’d been a solid minute since Felix had seen the guy, and it was a really big coincidence to be seein’ an old friend like him here, ya know. Honestly, it was kind of a relief. Sure, Felix hadn’t really reached out to Kian in the months that Felix had been shootin’ for the movie, but he’d been thinkin’ about him on occasion, and wonderin’ what came of him. Talkin’ to him online was one thing, but seeing him in person was another kind of relief and excitement.

Damien was greetin’ and seatin’ by the time that Felix reached the picnic. The guy seemed to be entirely unaware of obvious tension that hung in the air, but Felix recognized it immediately, and his grin faded from his face and settled into a mildly uncomfortable smile. He gave a nod to Kian and a nod at the other boy (who he swore had bought from him before, for some reason), but the unease in his chest from the tension disallowed him from seatin’ himself like Slater had done.

He glanced down when Damien offered him a cube of cheese, holdin’ up a hand and shakin’ his head at his offer. “I’m good,” he mouthed, but he didn’t want to say anything aloud.

He really didn’t belong here, at this moment, and he could feel it. All of his instincts were tellin’ him to turn around and leave, but it would be even ruder to walk away right now, without a goodbye or a warning, now that his companion had approached and interrupted, so he just stood, awkwardly.

Slater had given a rush of questions, and the tense silent sat for a moment that felt like an eternity.

Was it hot out here, or was it just Felix?

He shifted antsily.

“No,” Kian finally said, and Felix turned his attention to him to see that his face was rife with emotion, “Oates is far more concerned with getting with manipulative pricks to be single. But hey, you’re probably just his fucking type.” In a quick, harsh motion, he yanked Damien up to stand by his shirt, and Felix took a couple of steps back to allow for Kian to do…whatever he was doin’ without bein’ impeded by his presence. Guy seemed…uh…stressed. Obviously didn’t want Slater there, and honestly looked like he didn’t want to be there himself. Suddenly, Felix was a butterfly on the tree— yeah, that was what he was— and he did his best to disappear into the scenery.

“Turns out my date got cancelled,” Kian continued in a growl. “This is absolutely nothing to me.” As a double-whammy of fuck yous, Felix’s old bud smacked the cheese out of Slater’s hand. "Stop eating my fucking cheese."

Felix’s eyes widened.

Okay, then.

Well…he probably wasn’t meant to see that outburst.

Kian shoved Damien aside, and Felix reached out to put a hand on Damien’s shoulder, brows knit. He met his eyes and shook his head slightly, tryin’ to say, without sayin’ anything aloud: yeah, this wasn’t a good idea, but are you good, bud?

Felix glanced at Kian as he unbuttoned his shirt, droppin’ his hand from Slater’s shoulder.

“Do whatever the fuck you want with this,” Kian finished. “I don’t care.”

With that, he turned from the dude that he’d been sittin’ with and walked right past Felix and Damien.

For a moment, Felix just stood, looking at Damien and then at Oates, and then at the spread.

Felix gave a grin to the other boy who was seated. He was good at grinnin’ convincingly, even when he didn’t feel it, and this time was no different.

“I’ll…uh, catch ya later, bud,” he said, givin’ him a nod. “Uh…see ya later. Slater and I’ve…got some, uh…business to attend to.”

Felix nodded, as if he was tryin’ to understand what his own words meant.

Business? Business, business—

Business.

Business, as in you need to go talk to Kian and stop standin’ like your head is full of nothin’ but rocks— even if that’s the truth.

“C’mon,” Felix said to Slater, turnin’ on his heel and movin’ at a fast pace. He didn’t wanna run, but he did want to catch up with Kian.

Every step grew more determined. Look, at the end of the day, Felix wasn’t just runnin’ after Kian because he’d, y’know, missed talkin’ to him and wanted to give him an actual greetin’, or because he felt obligated to help.

Kian— Kian was obviously goin’ through some emotional turmoil, and Felix— Felix, as his friend, who’d seen Kian at his lowest, y’know…well, he didn’t like seein’ him like this, and he actually wanted to help him out in any way that he could.

Even if…well, even if Felix was only really suited— and only really used to helpin’ in one way, one way that he wasn’t even sure that he had the correct supplies to do right now.

Felix finally reached Kian, and he set his pace with Kian’s, brows knit slightly and grin on his face doin’ its best to comfort Kian without sayin’ a word.

Kian started diggin’ around in his pocket, and Felix cleared his throat.

“Hey, uh...Kian, are you—“

“I don’t give a fuck what you give me,” Kian said, holdin’ some bills out to Felix, “but give me something.” His voice was dead, suddenly devoid of all of the emotion that Felix had heard in his voice moments before. “Give me something to shut this shit up. Give me something to get all of this shit to stop. One night means nothing.”

Felix stared at Kian. He looked into his eyes for a moment, tryin’ to get a sense of what was goin’ on.

“You sure?” he asked, but he was already reachin’ for the pocket of his jacket, feelin’ around to see if he had anything in there.

Ya see, Kian had stopped buyin’ from Felix some…time…ago. Said that he was gettin’ clean. And Felix had…well, he hadn’t believed him, and he’d been waitin’ for him to come back to him.

Now that he was back, Felix was glad to be of service.

See, this was the comfort that Felix was used to— the chemical kind, the substance kind, the kind that everyone acted like they were above but that, deep down, craved. This was the kind of comfort that Felix dealt in.

Felix found something in his pocket, and he glanced down to see that it was a small, opaque bag. He used these for the powdered substances that he carried— unlabeled. He didn’t remember what was in this bag in particular, but…well, Kian had asked for anything, and he had his money right in front of him.

Felix gently took the money, his grin broadenin’ as he offered Kian the bag, and he chuckled softly.

“There,” he said. “It’s what I’ve got.” He knew that Kian was in a spot where he wouldn’t care what it was, and that was probably for the better. “Don’t know how much this covers, but…well, just this once, I’ll give ya a discount, bud,” he said, his tone lighthearted, though he felt the concern in the pit of his stomach.

With a nod to Kian, he glanced down at the money. He quickly tried to count it, but he wasn’t goin’ to actually count it in front of the customer— that implied distrust, and it was pretty rude. He pocketed it, and he gave him a grin, and the same phrase that he always gave, though this one was laced with sympathy:

“I’m glad that I could be of service. It's all my pleasure.”

With that, Felix reached out and put his arm around Kian’s shoulder, givin’ him a solid pat. He didn’t say anything this way or that, because he doubted that anything would help Kian at the point that he was at, so he just glanced at Slater and gave a shake of his head, discouragin’ anything too pushy from the other boy.

Look, Felix was bad with comfort, as he said, but he knew what not to do, and what not to do was probably what Slater was considerin’.

mood
...drugs?

location
the park

outfit
somethin’ casual (you could call if business casual. get it? ‘cuz— ...i’ll see myself out)

playing...
title track

by machine gun kelly​

mentions
n/a

interactions
slater, kian, and oates

tags
Winona geminiy mogy

º º code by ditto º º

 

[geminiy]

Genevieve Johannes

@genjohanne has set their status to:
excuse me, why?

@genjohanne has set their outfit to:
casual vibes

@genjohanne has set their location to:
the fashion studio

@genjohanne has mentioned:
n/a

@genjohanne has interacted with:
mike

@genjohanne has tagged:
ditto

Okay, Genevieve had questions. It wasn’t very often that Gen had questions, even less often that she had questions about the behaviours of others. She knew people were unpredictable and strange, that’s why she loved being around them so much. Hell, Mike’s own unpredictability was part of the reason Gen had kept him around for so long: she enjoyed being kept on her toes. But this nice and agreeable act (or whatever the hell it was, she genuinely couldn’t tell) was a new level of weird.

Of course, there was no room in her professionalism to simply ask him what was going on with him. Gen was well aware that Mike, although a chronic bag of rancid dicks 99% of the time, was not all bad. There had been plenty of moments that the two of them had actually gotten along rather well. But, on the other side of that same coin, they had gone through more arguments and disagreements than they had fingers and toes combined. In their years of friendship, Gen had never seen him so agreeable and willing before. It was unsettling.

So, instead of opening her big mouth to comment, she had simply put her mind back on the task at hand. The Arts Fest was a big break for most people. Gen didn’t need the exposure nor the help that would be offered from said exposure, but she wasn’t about to just sit back and relax. Any performance she participated in had to be the gold standard of performances, the best of the best, better than every other performance she had done. Gen was a diva in that sense. If she wasn’t one-upping herself, she wasn’t good enough.

Gen’s silence didn’t last. All it took was for one more friendly prompt and Mike holding his hands up as if to capture a photo for her to ask the question that had been biting at the back of her mind.

“Respectfully, why the fuck are you being so nice to me?” Gen spa in a tone accidentally harsher than expected as she tilted her head, eyes looking through Mike’s framed fingers. Cringing at her own words, Gen shook her head and slumped down onto the stool beside her. “Okay, dialling back the bitch for a minute. That came out a lot more bitter than I had anticipated.”

Leaning forward slightly, Gen raised her arm and placed her elbow down on the tabletop so that she could rest her chin on her hand, ironically imitating the Thinker. Her eyes were squinted as she made an attempt to read Mike, her plush lower lip catching between her teeth.

“But like in all seriousness, why are you being so nice?” Gen asked, her tone more flat and serious this time. “Like don’t get me wrong, you not bitching and moaning or pretending you’re king shit is sorta sexy but like why? Please don’t tell me you’re gonna go all soft on me just because you drunken and angrily railed me on a desk. Again, not complaining, I’m just confused.”

Silence filled the studio room for a moment before Gen burst into laughter, turning her attention back to the laptop in front of her as she began clicking open files to project onto the screen.

“My question still stands but fuck, we are the only people who question why the other person is being nice.” Gen giggled to herself, flicking a piece of hair over her shoulder as she scrolled. “What a pair we are. So bitchy and mean as a collective that we forget we can be nice. How quaint.”

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ditto]

MICHAEL K. REID

asshole supreme

Oh, right, Gen was a raging bitch. Mike’s bad for forgetting for, ya know, point five seconds, and props to Gen for reminding him.

To be totally honest, Gen reminded him of one particular girl in his elementary school. You know, one of those third grade bitches. Dollar store strawberry lip balm, eye shadow that she stole from her crackhead mom, spaghetti straps, the whole nine yards. Of course, he bullied her by calling her a whore, but he didn’t know what the name meant back then. She was a bitch back to him, so it was totally okay.

Mike also had a total crush on her, even though girls had cooties and he was, grr, the big bad bully boy who got into fights every day— literally.

Playground shit. You know, the usual.

Anyway, Valentine’s Day rolled around, and Mike had bullied one of the richer sniveling brats to give him his lunch money the day before. When he left home that morning, he stopped by the decrepit dollar store on the corner and bought himself a box of one dollar V-Day cards and a pack of pens for fifty cents. He stopped on the sidewalk outside, opened the box up, picked out the best card— the one with the turtle on it— and scribbled, in his crude handwriting, Mike beside the from and Ruby beside the to. He found the sticker sheet inside of the box and sealed the card shut with a heart.

Yeah. Little simp.

Look, kids are dumb, so don’t hold it against him.

Onto school he went, and he found her before class started. She was sitting at a desk in the back, and he came up to her, smiling, and gave her the card.

And there only response was, “You aren’t nice. Why are you being nice?”

And then he called her a bitch and got into a fight with some random boy because that pissed him off, and he didn’t even get sent to the principal because the teachers at his old school fucking sucked and no one cared about anyone there.

Good times, good times.

Mike stared at Gen for a second, and then he shook his head with a snicker. “Gotta keep you on your toes, babe,” he said, shifting his knee out of the chair to stand up straight. “A bit of unpredictability never hurt anyone, huh? Keeping people on their toes— it’s what people in our line of work strive to do, huh? Keeps things interesting, you know. Someone of your caliber should really know something as simple as that.” He gave her a teasing wiggle of his eyebrows and an inclination of his head. “So, respectfully,” he said, emphasizing the words that he’d stolen from her with a cheeky grin, “I’ll keep you guessing, babe.”

He dropped the pen to the table beside his journal, and he shut his journal. He slipped the pen into the spiral binding of the book, and he tucked it underneath his arm. He started to walk to her side of the table. “But, hey, if you really wanna find out, then…” He leaned back against the table so that he was nearly seated on it, and he grinned down at her almost tauntingly. “Maybe you should ask a bit nicer, huh?”

He gave a chuckle, shaking his head and tossing his journal on the table as he turned to seat himself properly. He pulled out a chair, and he dropped himself into it before looking at Gen. “I don’t go easy on people just because I fuck them,” he said, tone and face semi-serious. He cracked a grin and gave a chuckle. “I’ll stick my dick in anything that moves, remember? You don’t get special treatment just because I’ve seen what’s beneath your clothes.”

There was his signature tongue-in-cheek self-depreciating humor.

He gave a chuckle and a shake of his head. He flopped open his book, and he pulled his pen out of its spine as he continued. “Wouldn’t call what I’m doing being nice or even being professional, babe.” His eyes were settled on the paper as he adjusted the journal’s position in front of him, but an uncontrollable grin tinged at his lips. “I just…well, I like a challenge…” He looked up, met Gen’s eyes for a moment, and winked. “…and I’d say that this is a challenge.”

He dropped his hands from the table to fold them behind his head as he leaned back against the chair. “The greater the risk, the greater the reward,” he said, and then he shifted his hands once more, from behind his head to folded in his lap. He leaned forward, closer to Gen, and he met her eyes. “Or, as I like to put it, the greater the chase, the greater the…taste, huh?” His lips formed a smirk at his flirtatious words, and he held her gaze intensely for a moment.

He moved again, breaking the moment with a chuckle and leaning back again with a shake of his head. “There’s nothing quite like drinking in success until you’re drunk, and it’s that whole getting drunk on success that makes me damn near giddy,” he explained finally, and then he snickered. “So, yeah, put it as a date on your calendar. Mark it down. Do a photset, here and now. Write it down that oh, shit, Mike Reid’s actually fucking excited for something— because Mike Reid’s actually fucking excited for something.” He chuckled.

“You’re surprised about that?” he asked rhetorically, and then he grinned again. “You know that I’m just full of surprises. You should’ve expected the unexpected with me.” He gave her a wink, and then he chuckled, making gestures around himself as he continued to speak. “What, did you think I was turning over some kind of new leaf? What kind of ship do you think I’m running here? You think I could drop my asshole façade? Pfft.” He flicked his wrists dismissively. “Never in a million years.” He folded his hands behind his head, giving Gen a cheeky grin. “It’s damn near the only thing that makes me appealing, right?”

mood
work time...but that doesn't mean no play

location
?? someplace bougie

outfit
polo and pants

playing...
drunk face

by machine gun kelly​

mentions
n/a

interactions
gen

tags
geminiy

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Winona]

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

@SluttierThanThou has set their status to:
6/10 picnic

@SluttierThanThou has interacted with:
Felix, Oates, Kian

@SluttierThanThou has mentioned:
N/A

@SluttierThanThou has tagged:
ditto geminiy mogy ​

Alright, Kian was being an unnecessary fucking dickhead. Yeah, if Slater had to rate his couple friends on a fucking list or some shit, he'd be putting Kian right above Felix for being the biggest fucking asshat to ever fucking exist.

Instead of grabbing him lemonade like Slater had so kindly asked, Kian had the fucking audacity to grab the front of his shirt and pull him up from the ground. And then even had the audacity to call him a manipulative prick... which was actually a compliment, so that just earned a bright smirk on Damien's face.

"Overdramatic much?" Slater grumbled under his breath.

He went to pop another piece of cheese into his mouth after Kian had released him, but the fucker just smacked the cheese straight out of his hand, which earned Slater's jaw dropping open with a look of absolute betrayal on his face.

Fucking dick.

"Stop eating my fucking cheese." The bitch spat before pushing Damien.

He stumbled a bit, but not much, and narrowed his eyes at Kian until the fucker finally took off, stomping away across the grass.

Felix said something, but Slater was too angry to really hear him, until Felix said c'mon and walked away, which really, Felix should've known that that wouldn't convince Slater to follow along. If anything, it made him want to stubbornly sit back down on the blanket and refuse to move. Look, Damien was really a lot like a petulant little kid -- you know, the kind that refused to do shit and would ignore adults and do the opposite of what was asked.

In fact, if Felix had said "stay here," then Slater would've actually followed him.

"He's such a fucking prick," Slater grumbled. He crouched down, grabbing one of the cups and pouring himself a glass of lemonade because he fucking deserved it, and basically ignoring Oates who was still on the blanket. Sure, Slater was speaking, but he was pretty much speaking to himself -- not Oat. "Tell me not to eat his food-- who the fuck does he think he is?" Defiantly, Slater grabbed up some more cheese and popped it in his mouth.

"See ya later, Owen," Slater said, his voice muffled around the cheese that was causing his cheeks to puff out like a chipmunk's. He brought two fingers up to his forehead and away in a little goodbye gesture towards the other boy and then, with cup of lemonade in hand, he stood back up and headed towards Felix and Kian.

Damien sauntered his way over, bringing the cup of lemonade up to his lips as he did so and taking a sip to wash away the taste of cheese in his mouth.

He wrinkled his nose up in disgust as he brought the lemonade away from his mouth, his lips smacking together in relative disgust.

"Is this from fucking packets or some shit?" He asked Kian, his tone harsher than he intended, but hey, he was still all revved up and annoyed from the previous treatment that he'd received which he didn't deserve at fucking all, for the record. "It tastes like fucking garbage. What the fuck is wrong with you, man? Was this the date you wanted? You don't bring powdered lemonade to a date."

He shook his head in disappointment, his gaze flicking between Kian and Felix for a moment before he spoke again.

"There's a... rave or some shit I'm going to..." he started, slowly. "If... either of you wanted to come..."

Look, Kian was obviously fucked up from whatever had just happened, and if this would help... then yeah, sure, whatever, Kian could tag along and make the party lame.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ditto]

dominicka abrams

have you heard?

Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, what the actual fuck? How did last night turn out so…how the hell—

Nickie had a boyfriend now— and it was the Hunter Drake, the love of her life, the cutest, hottest, sweetest boy that she’d ever met.

Like, what? Like, pinch her. Like, she had to be fucking dreaming.

And— and! Not only that, but her cousin— you know, JJ? Yeah, she and Dorian got together last night, too! Like! What were the odds, you know? Because, like, Nickie and JJ getting together with their boyfriends on the same night? How crazy was that? How cute was that?

Nickie was so glad that she’d only had one drink last night. Like, yeah, she’d lowkey wanted to get plastered, but she didn’t, and she got a boyfriend, and she didn’t have a hangover— and she had a date today.

Oh, yeah! Oh my God, she had a date today!

Nickie was giddy, needless to say. She’s woken up fully aware, with a smile on her face.

Like, Nickie had a date— like, a real date, with Hunter— her boyfriend.

Like, insane! She knew!

Literally. In. Sane.

Like, they’d talked, and they were going to go bowling, and, like, Nickie didn’t know shit about bowling, but that was totally okay, right? Like, the last time that Nickie went bowling, she was in fourth grade and couldn’t pick the balls up, so she just sat out and cried while she drank from her cup and her little brother and sisters played their little games. Like, the point of a date was to spend your time with the other person and not to win, right? Because she was so going to lose.

Guys liked that, though, right? Girls losing? Something about a power trip or something?

She didn’t know, she didn’t know.

She was probably overthinking it, but like—

It was a date!

With Hunter!

Insane!

She got out of bed to go eat herself some breakfast and get somewhat ready.

There was some Twitter goings-on. JJ mentioned something about people thinking that Nickie was pregnant or something, and then, like, two minutes later, they got into a little bit of a fight over something, but JJ said that she wanted to come over to help Nickie get ready for her date or something, so it was whatever.

Nickie ran herself a quick bath, got out, and then her favorite account— you know, that ThirsTea account— posted some video of the anemic freak from the cheerleading team doing something or other. Of course, like, Nickie’s attention caught on the juiciest bit of information (because she had an eye for the real tea), and there was the thick-necked hot guy with a baby-faced boy, and she just had to conclude from all of that evidence that the guys slept together. Like, she didn’t care about either one of them, but that was some big, personal stuff, and so she had to point it out.

But everyone told her to shut up, so she had to go and talk to Javi about it, and then Javi got all angry about it for some reason and blocked her, which was weird, because he’d also offered a threesome last night in the dms, but whatever. He was still hot so she didn’t, like, hold it too much against him. And then she went to JJ, and then JJ was all like “I don’t really care but they def did”. And then she went to Adriane, even though Adriane definitely hated her and even though Nickie was supposed to hate her, because, besides JJ, Nickie knew only, like, one person who liked drama like that and it was Adriane. And then, like, Adriane told her that she didn’t care or something, and then Adriane mentioned that she thought that she was pregnant? Like, what the fuck? But whatever. And then JJ was all like “oh yeah, they def slept together, I saw a video over Eli’s shoulder”, and so she had to go and clear her name. And then she posted the info on the main Twitter.

And then she logged off and went about her morning.

Literally, was there any better way to start the day than to know that you had just dropped some real tea? Like?

(The answer was no, bee-tee-dubs.)

By the time she left the bathroom to go and grab some breakfast, Simone was up, and Nickie gave her a greeting and poured herself some cereal. After some excited chatter over breakfast, the preoccupied Nickie went back to her bedroom to get ready for her date—

With Hunter!

Insane!

Oh my God, literally insane.

(Of course, it had totally slipped her mind that JJ was coming over. Look, she couldn’t help it. Like, she literally just didn’t remember it at all. Don’t blame her.)

She spent, like, a solid twenty minutes flat-ironing until none of her dark brown hair was even slightly wavy, and she spent the next twenty working on her makeup. Sure, it was, like, super basic stuff, and she didn’t put on a ton, but she had to get everything perfect. No creases, no uneven spots. All of it had to be just right.

And then, she grabbed her purse, her phone. and her keys and went to head out the door, but not before she ran by Simone.

She knocked on her roommates’ door before pushing it open, and she walked in, walking up to Simone with her brows knit.

“Oh my God, do I look okay?” Nickie asked, nearly breathless. Her heart was already beating out of her chest. The butterflies in her stomach were going to tear a fucking hole. But she didn’t exactly want to calm down, because she felt super fucking happy. “How do I look?” It was the same question again, but she didn’t realize. She adjusted her hair, pulling it in front of her shoulders and tilting her head, trying to give Simone a cute smile before she pursed her lips in worry.

She stared at her for a moment with that expression, and then she recalled something. She shook her head, giving a soft laugh. “Oh, right…,” Nickie said. She’d remembered what she’d come in here to do. Her face relaxed into a smile. “I just wanted to say goodbye.” She opened her arms to give Simone a quick hug, and she hovered her cheeks beside hers, making “mwah”s before she pulled back.

She put her hands at her side, giving a soft laugh. “I’m nervous,” she admitted. “Oh my God.” She held her hands up, laughing at how much they quivered. “Like, I’m literally shaking…”

She was getting distracted again.

She giggled once more, and she started walking toward the door, giving a little wave. “Kisses. I’m heading out.” She grabbed ahold of the doorknob and took a step outside of Simone’s door, then turned around to give her a last “wish me luck— bye!” before she shut the door.

And then, she was out of the apartment, on the road blaring her music, and to Hunter’s house.

She pulled up outside finally, and she put the car into park.

And then she felt like she couldn’t move.

Her whole body was literally shaking with excitement and nervousness.

She looked at her reflection in the rearview mirror.

Nickie was about to go on a date.

With Hunter.

That was…

Insane.

Could she, like…handle it?

Or was she going to puke again?

She stared at her reflection.

Then she laughed.

“Oh, shut up,” she scoffed, and she pushed out of her vehicle, turned it off, and made her way into his apartment complex.

Nervously, she walked up to his room, and, when she reached his door, her hand hesitated to knock.

Hunter was behind the door.

Hunter, her boyfriend, was behind the door.

Hunter, her boyfriend, was behind the door, and they were about to go on a date.

She swallowed hard, and she squeezed her eyes shut, holding her breath.

Knock, knock, knock.

Her fist knocked gently on his door, and then she slowly opened her eyes, one at a time, relaxing the tension of her body and lowering her fist as she waited for him to answer.

mood
omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

location
outside of hunter's apartment

outfit
date fittt

playing...
cloud 9

by beach bunny​

mentions
"thirstea", jj, adriane, javi, & lucky

interactions
simone & hunter

tags
natsukashii

º º code by ditto º º

 

[natsukashii]

Hunter Drake

How are you feeling?

hunter drake boyfriend mode activated

What are you wearing?

Classy date vibes

Where are you?

My Dei's Apartment

Did you mention anyone?

Nickie

Who are you talking to?

His Bae

And, like, tagging?

ditto

As much as he tried, especially with access to alcohol and other means that he wouldn’t otherwise have access to if he didn’t live with Dei, Hunter didn’t really sleep throughout the night.

When he got into his room that night, he intended to sleep. He was tired by the time his head hit his pillow and wanted nothing more than to have sweet dreams about his girlfriend. But he spent well into the late hours of the night — probably until 5 am — going through the empty condo, making some abomination of a midnight snack that could feed a family of five.

Even after eating and eating some more, Hunter kept wandering around. He just couldn’t bring himself to sleep because he kept thinking about how he and Nickie, after dancing around it for so long, after he danced around his own feelings, it was official. They actually were together in the way that made him officially her boyfriend.

After a few shots of rum and another serving of the meat and cheese snack he made, Hunter passed out on the couch until around 9 am, waking up to a series of texts from a series of people: some friends from school, a couple of friends from his old neighborhood, and of course, his wonderful stepmom.

“What does she want?” Hunter thought as he grunted out, raising himself from the couch. He took a moment to realize he never made it to his bedroom.

Mason--sorry, Hunter. I keep forgetting that’s what you prefer. I heard there was a party recently. At that Geniveve Johannes’ house. And don’t say there wasn’t. I know because your sister told me about it.

Seriously Mimi? Did you really have to blab like that?

Hunter had just woken up and already his stepmother was driving him crazy.

He read her second message.

Whenever you can, please call me. I..just do it whenever you can, okay?

Right. Like that’ll happen.

Hunter closed his phone and got up.

What a great way to start off this day, right? Hunter had a magnificent dream in which it was him being the coolest person ever, so not so different than his real life, but instead of being clowned on by almost everyone at school, he was praised for being so awesome.

Why couldn’t that have been real life? Instead, like everything he does on Twitter, he’s met with a nasty greeting.

Thank god for Nickie. Thank God for Chas and everyone else who didn’t treat him like crap. Ash clowned on him, but never in the way that made him want to rip out his eyes and feed them to a stray dog. But in a healthy way that made him laugh and clap back.

Rubbing his still-intact eyes, Hunter grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the fridge, which should for sure wake his ass up as he sent a good morning text to Nickie.

As he slowly woke up, he took a quick shower.

Or what he intended to be a quick shower.

On normal days, Hunter would be in and out less than ten minutes after he stepped in, but he spent at least double that time just thinking about his stepmom Hana. He didn’t care if she knew about the party he went to. That was yesterday and he had the time of his life. What bothered him was that his sister blabbed and that she actually texted him, coming into his messages like she was this caring mother.

“Yeah, as if she actually gave a damn. Bet dad put her up to it.”

For several years she’s been in his life and she’s still just his father’s wife to him. He loves Mimi, though. But he just..

No, this isn’t happening right now.

Hunter finished up and after nearly thirty minutes of letting himself get swallowed up in his mind, he was in his room, getting dressed. He had to remember that no amount of a hovering stepmom could take away the importance of this day.

He was going on his first date with Nickie today. That was going to be his main focus even if he had to force himself to have fun.

And as he thought about that, Hunter spent close to an hour trying to figure out what the hell he was going to wear. Yeah, it was unlike him to fret so much about his outfit. He had a bunch of clothes. But his wrestling and band merch didn’t seem to be first date appropriate. And most of his other shirts were, well they would only be fitting if he was dragged to Comic Con.

So, what does he wear?

Spending a few more minutes, Hunter stumbled upon a classy, long-sleeve shirt and shrugged. It was clean and it didn’t say “hey, I’m a fifteen year old poser” all that much, so he figured what the hell. Pair that with a white, blank t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and Hunter was all set.

A spray of cologne that his father gave to him for his birthday this year and he was ready, which was kind of perfect timing because he heard a few soft knocks at his door.

And as soon as he opened it, there was Nickie looking as fine as she has always looked. He smiled. “Blue is definitely your color, babe,” he commented, bringing her into a hug and giving her a quick kiss.

º º code by ditto º º​

 

[ditto]

dominicka abrams

have you heard?

As soon as the door opened, Nickie felt herself freeze.

Like, she got nervous a lot, so she should have been used to it and dealing with it and stuff. She got nervous when she had to go to the bank because what if some kind of crazy fan came and kidnapped her, or even just some creepy old guy? She got nervous when she ordered at McDonald’s because what if she fucked up the order and embarrassed herself? If that happened, she couldn’t ever show her face at that location again.

And, like, if you didn’t count those because those were just little anxious things, she even got big time nervous a lot. Every time that she went on stage, she felt so nervous that she could puke, which was why she didn’t eat before she went onstage. She had been nervous when she’d had to perform that routine as the co-captain on homecoming. (She’d cried, but also, like, that was unrelated from the nervousness.)

But this? This was, like, advanced nervousness. Like, Nervousness Premium. Like, she was not ready for this kind of nervous. It was, like, unprecedented nervousness.

Seeing him made her face heat up immediately, and her lips pulled into a smile that was already making her cheeks hurt. A wave of pure nerves and relief rushed over her, and she felt her blood pulsing in her wrists and in her neck. Her heart slammed against her ribcage.

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, it was him— it was Hunter.

Smiling at her.

She could pass out.

Or puke.

Both, actually.

In rapid succession.

“Blue is definitely your color, babe," Hunter said.

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, what she was wearing her color, babe!

Her knees felt weak.

Okay, she was so overreacting, because he’d said stuff like that a trillion times.

But this just…hit different, and, like, she couldn’t explain it beyond thinking oh my God, I love him as he pulled her in for a hug and gave her a quick kiss.

She giggled, finally unfreezing herself. “Hunter!” she said in a happy tone. She met his eyes with a light laugh. “Thanks. You really think so?” She tried to do a cute pose, puckering her lips and holding her hands out to her sides, but she dissolved into giggles because she knew it definitely looked dumb. “You’re literally the sweetest. Like, literally literally literally.”

She gave a giggle, then took a step back to admire Hunter. “You look very dapper,” she teased lightly, reaching out to adjust his collar before using it as a grip when she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him again. “Everything is your color, literally.” Her bright smile came back onto her face. Her cheeks were glowing a bright red. “You would look good in anything. You could wear my clothes better than I can.” She laughed. “Like, this shirt? A-ma-zing as a Hunter Drake crop top,” she kidded.

She adjusted her purse, holding up her keys by the keychain. “It’s not exactly the best for a chariot or a luxury ride, but Old Blue is waiting outside,” Nickie said, talking about her SUV. “It’s ready and waiting.” Holding her breath, she held a shaky hand out for Hunter. “As long as you’re ready?” She gave him a smile. “You know, the bowling alley’s calling our names. It’s screaming, like…” She cupped her free hand to her mouth, whisper yelling, “’Hunter, Nickie, hurry up!’”

She cringed at herself. What a dorky joke, oh my God.

She giggled when he took her hand, her heart giving a big, solid throb. For a moment, she couldn’t do anything except stand and stare at him, just kind of in awe that, like…oh my God, she was here, oh my God, he was there, ya know.

And then she blinked rapidly a few times and giggled again. “Okay, let’s head out,” she said, and she started walking out to the parking lot again.

When they reached the vehicle, she reluctantly released his hand, and she popped open the driver’s side door and stepped inside, dropping her purse into the floorboard backseat. She slammed her car door and buckled in, and she looked over at Hunter as she started her vehicle. “I’m paying,” she insisted. “And if we get lunch there, too, I’m paying for that.” She gave him a smile. “I wanted to preface by saying that.”

Yeah, because she wasn’t going to let him pay on a date where, like, his presence was so much of a fucking gift already.

She smiled as she pulled out of the parking lot, laughing softly at pretty much nothing. She glanced over at him. “Your pick on the radio,” she said, and then she shifted her phone from her pocket to sit it in the center cup holder. “Or you can pick something on my phone— it’s your decision.”

The car ride to the bowling alley was far too short, honestly, and she hesitated before putting her vehicle in park when they reached the parking lot.

She contorted her body and struggled to reach her purse. She muttered curse words beneath her breath as it remained just out of reach. Fuck her short arms. She managed to twist slightly more and snag her purse up by one handle, and she tugged it up, sitting it in her lap.

She looked at Hunter, breathless from the struggle.

Oh my God, that was so embarrassing.

She gave him a smile, trying to act as if nothing had happened there, but her cheeks blushed intently.

“You ready to go in?” Nickie asked, smiling.

mood
omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

location
the parking lot of the bowling alley

outfit
date fittt

playing...
cloud 9

by beach bunny​

mentions
n/a

interactions
hunter

tags
natsukashii

º º code by ditto º º

 

[natsukashii]

Hunter Drake

How are you feeling?

hunter drake boyfriend mode activated

What are you wearing?

Classy date vibes

Where are you?

Bowling Alley

Did you mention anyone?

Nickie

Who are you talking to?

His Bae

And, like, tagging?

ditto

Hunter watched her a silence that had him looking at her from head to toe. Sure, it was one thing for someone to do this to another, but Nickie was his girlfriend and he was her boyfriend. If you didn't admire the person you're with, were you even relationshipping properly? No, you weren't. Now if you'll excuse Hunter Drake, he has some simping to do.

Hunter couldn't help but laugh at her choice of words. "Dapper huh?" He smirked, almost posing so she could get a better look at how ...dapper he looked. "I guess I do, huh? This shirt was actually something I got from Men's warehouse. My Aunt thought it would look good on me. I'll tell her she was right." Yeah, because his Aunt Jade was always the type to enjoy it when she was proven right. She'll get a kick out of it Hunter thought.

“Like, this shirt? A-ma-zing as a Hunter Drake crop top,”

"Oh?" Hunter kept smirking and brought the ends of his shirt up and fake-tied it as he pretended his was a crop top. "Like this?" He laughed letting go of it before it started to wrinkle.

With all of the joking, Hunter had practically forgotten about how nervous he was about the date and just how much he really was overthinking it. It wasn't his first date technically, but as someone's boyfriend, it was. So it was new for him. This whole experience of whatever expectations that came with it, the stress and everything, he seemed to forget about it as soon as Nickie's smile lit up his world and put his over-worrying mind at ease.

And if he needed any additional reasons to prove that his love for her was certain, there she went with that hilariously bad and equally corny joke, putting on her best imitation of a car. It was so cute that Hunter felt the laugh come all the way from his gut, putting some real volume into it.

"Oh my god, you incredible dork," Hunter said through his fit of from-the-gut laughter, "that was just great, babe! Amazing impression!"

They'd hold hands, tightly at that, until they reached Old Blue. Hunter could tell the hesitation to let go of each other's hand was mutual as there was a delay, but when they did, Hunter climbed into the passenger seat. "Took you long enough," Hunter said in a similar impression-like voice that Nickie made earlier as his butt made contact with Old Blue's surprisingly comfy seat.

When he adjusted himself into it, leaning back into the seat, lowering his bottom half so that his upper-thighs were hanging off the edge of the seat, which was his preferred position to sit in any seat, regardless if it was a couch or a car seat, he heard Nickie declare that she was going to pay. "Wait no. I can't--"

Before he could protest, she continued. And if Hunter knew one thing, it was whenever someone said they were going to take care of something, especially in the way Nickie stated it, arguing would produce results similar to an unstoppable object trying to make an immoveable object budge.

It simply couldn't be done.

"Fine, but I'm taking care of the gas on our way back," Hunter added, bringing the seatbelt over his right shoulder until he heard it click.

After they took off out of the parking lot, Hunter took Nickie's hand, interlacing his left hand with her right, fingers locked tight. And with his right hand, he took control of the aux, finding a 90s rock station he knew played a bunch of great hits. Highway to Hell by AC/DC and Everything Zen by Bush was what played as they drove to the bowling alley. It was quite literally about five blocks from where Hunter lived and thanks to the benefit of minimal traffic and red lights, actually getting there felt like a breeze.

"Yeah babe, let's go roll some balls!" His comment came at the right time because, as Hunter opened the door, someone was exiting the bowling alley and the sounds of rolling balls hitting pins echoed and Hunter smiled.

Like before, a few short moments of breaking hand contact so they could round the front of the car and Hunter went straight back to locking his hand with Nickie's.

God, how he loved holding her hand. It didn't matter to him if his or her palms were getting sweaty, the amount of affection he held for her was stronger than that. Plus, he didn't mind a little sweat, either.

He turned his back when they were at the door, opening the door for his beloved so she could walk through, though he gave her a kiss as she passed by him.

Following after, he went up to the counter and, begrudgingly, stepped to the side (metaphorically speaking) as she had so sternly stated that she was paying.

º º code by ditto º º​

 

[ditto]

dominicka abrams

have you heard?

Nickie laughed at Hunter’s comment. Hunter was literally the funniest guy. He was like, uh, that guy from American Pie, but, like, actually funny.

Plus, Hunter wouldn’t stick his dick in a pie—…

...

…Okay, like, so what? A little, uh, apple filling on a, uh, gentleman’s genitals never hurt anyone.

Her heart gave a painful squeeze as his hand left hers, and she watched him get out before she realized that she should be moving, too.

It was super easy to forget to even breathe around him, okay? Like…he impeded her basic functioning.

But in, like, a good way.

In, like, an I’m in love way.

She popped her door open, adjusting her purse strap to sit on her left shoulder, pulling her keys out of the ignition, throwing the keys in her bag, and getting out. She slammed the door shut with her hip and then quickly walked to the front of her vehicle.

She gave Hunter a smile as his hand immediately found hers. Her cheeks glowed a radiant pink, and she let out a soft laugh beneath her breath.

This was happiness.

They finally reached the front door of the bowling alley, and the absolute fucking gentleman held the door open for her. Her heart gave a flutter, and she gave a “oh my God, literally so sweet” as she went to pass. Before she could make it fully by him, though, he pressed a quick kiss against her lips, and she staggered a step, her gait thrown off by a sudden weakness in her knees.

She fucking loved him. Literally so, so, so, so, so, so, soooo much.

Fuck JJ for hating on him. Fuck Landon and Evie and Gen and— okay, not Gen, because Nickie loved her to death. But…fuck everyone who hated on him.

They just didn’t get it. They just didn’t know him.

She made her way toward the counter, glancing behind herself every couple of steps to check that he was behind her. She self-consciously adjusted her hair, though she tried to do it in a subtle enough way that it wasn’t obvious that she was thinking, Did I miss a spot? Is there some frizz? Oh my God, does he think that I should get a haircut? Highlights?

When they reached the counter, she gave the worker a smile.

“Hello, welcome to Bowling Paradise,” said the girl in an uninterested tone. She had dark circles beneath her eyes, and she adjusted her black visor hat and shifted something on the desk before she finally looked up at Nickie. She forced a smile that didn’t carry to her eyes. “How may I help you?”

Nickie felt the familiar buzz of nervousness tickling her throat. It was a slightly different kind of nervous than the Super-Ultra-Mega-Nervousness that she felt from being on a date with Hunter. You know, it was just that kind of nervous that she got when she had to interact with customer service of any kind. “Two,” Nickie said. Her voice was shaky when she spoke.

The girl smacked her gum, staring unamusedly at Nickie for a second before she asked. “Two what?”

Oh, shit.

“Uh,” Nickie said, and then she cleared her throat and laughed. “Sorry. I meant, like…” Her eyes shifted to a chart with the prices on it hanging behind the woman, and then Nickie’s eyes moved back to the cashier with an awkward smile. “Uhm, three games, please.” Three games was a good amount, right? Like she said, she didn’t know shit about bowling.

She pulled her credit card out of her wallet and handed it to the cashier, who took it between two manicured fingers and typed something into the computer before swiping the card. She stared at the screen for a moment, pausing, and she rolled her eyes as it beeped with an error noise. She tried again, and Nickie shifted awkwardly, focusing on the girl’s lips as she smacked her gum with her mouth slightly open.

Finally, the girl handed the card back out to Nickie, and Nickie gave an awkward nod, slipping her card back into her wallet as the cashier began to drawl some instructions.


“You go and get your shoes at that desk over there,” the cashier said. She shuffled behind the desk, and she picked up a plastic, cyan card with BOWLING PARADISE on the front. “Here is your ticket. You just swipe it on the machine at the lane that you’re going to use. It has your games logged on it.” She tugged at the end of her blonde hair. “Basically, if you want to play more, just come and give it to whoever is here and pay.” She heaved a sigh, seeming to try and smile again for a brief moment before giving up. “You can also get credit on it if you want to do the arcade or laser tag.”

The girl paused to drum her fingers on the desk, seeming as if she was trying to remember something. “Oh,” she said as she seemed to realize what it was she was missing, though her tone was just as lazy and unamused, “and there’s a concession over…” She craned her neck to look around herself, as if she didn’t know where anything was, and then she pointed directly to her right. “…there. You can use the credit you get on your card for it, or you can just pay with debit or credit.”

She gave another attempt at a smile. “Thank you for coming today,” she said, “and, if you have any questions, please come to this desk. If no one is here, there is a button to ring for service.”

“Thank you,” Nickie said awkwardly, giving a smile and a wave goodbye as she picked the plastic card up from the desk. She turned to Hunter with the card, and she held it up. “Okay, so…shoes, and then, uhm…we start!” she said, and she held out the card for him before making her way over to the shoe desk.

mood
omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

location
the bowling alley

outfit
date fittt

playing...
cloud 9

by beach bunny​

mentions
jj, landon, evie, & gen

interactions
hunter

tags
natsukashii

º º code by ditto º º

 

[natsukashii]

Hunter Drake

How are you feeling?

hunter drake boyfriend mode activated

What are you wearing?

Classy date vibes

Where are you?

Bowling Alley

Did you mention anyone?

Nickie

Who are you talking to?

His Bae

And, like, tagging?

ditto

Hunter so desperately wanted to pay. He knew he could cover the cost of the price for a few games. He knew he had enough to pay for lunch, too. But Hunter also knew that Nickie would consistently fight him on it.

She had that way about her, you know. And if was asked if he’d continue to press her on it, he wouldn’t. He was powerless around her. So instead of trying to question it, as he leaned against the counter, dividing his gaze between his girlfriend and the girl who was showing the minimal amount of interest. From her tone to the expressionless look on her face.

When the girl was a little rude to Nickie, Hunter wanted to say something but he stayed silent as Nickie clarified what she meant, handed her card over to the cashier.

Some moments later and after a few back and forth exchanges between Nickie and some other Bowling Paradise employee, Hunter was finally able to talk, which for anyone who knew him, it was a miracle he didn’t give that cashier a piece of his mind for the tone she carried with his girlfriend.

But they were to have fun.

Fun. Right. This is going to be fun, Hunter thought as he hooked his hand back with Nickie’s, hearing her mumble shoes and they walked over to the shoe desk. There was a quick exchanges of glances between the shoe desk clerk and Hunter. “Right, so size 11 for me and,” Hunter quickly glanced at Nickie, smiling, “pretty sure my girlfriend is size 7. Womens.”

“Sure, whatever you say, sir.” The sassy clerk said, reaching under the countertop and pulling two atrociously-looking pairs of bowling shoes, one significantly larger than the other. “Enjoy your time at Bowling Paradise.” His tone was flat and Hunter grabbed the shoes.

“You said you’d pay, never said anything about me not getting our shoes.” Hunter stuck his tongue out at her teasingly and pulled her arm lovingly with his shoes in the other. “C’mon! Let’s see if we can have some fun by throwing some oversized balls at pins.” Hunter laughed and smiled at her, almost as though he was having fun.

Fun is what dates were supposed to be, after all.

Or so Hunter was told.

º º code by ditto º º​

 

[ditto]

dominicka abrams

have you heard?

Nickie laughed at Hunter, rolling her eyes as he put his arm around her. “Loopholes!” she huffed, giving him a gentle, teasing push on the shoulder. Her face was reddening more and more by the second. “But fine, fine...I guess.” She giggled, putting a hand shyly over her nose as she laughed.

God, she hated her laugh.

She shook her head, dismissing the thought from her head, and she smiled up at her much taller date. “Lead the way,” she said, and she walked with him to a lane to the far left.

The bowling alley was dark. The lights above were dim and tinted a red color. The flooring that they walked on was black and peppered with neon swirls and confetti-like dots, like something out of the eighties.

“Weird scenery in here,” Nickie said, looking around with a slight look of wonder on her face. “This place is huge.” Her eyes caught on a circular rack of bowling balls. “Kinda looks like a, like, movie set or something.” She smiled, looking over at Hunter with a soft laugh. “Disinterested employees and all.”

They came to a stop at a table whose matte top looked like static. A television blared to their right. Nickie moved out from beneath Hunter’s arm to seat herself at a table, and her eyes shifted to the television to see that the person had made a strike.

“Oh-em-god,” Nickie said, shaking her head slightly as she lowered herself onto a black, (probably faux) leather seat. “They’re already making more points than I will,” she laughed softly, tugging off her sandals and pulling a pair of dark blue socks from her purse. (Yeah, she kept extra socks in her purse. It was totally reasonable.) “Like, the last time I bowled was, like...when I was eight or nine or something like that, and I...” She shook her head, tugging on her shoes one at a time and tying them with bunny ears. “My little siblings did, like, ten times better than I did. Like, I couldn’t even pick up the ball or anything.”

She set her feet on the ground, shoving her purse beneath the table, and she turned to look at Hunter with a glowing smile on her face. Her cheeks were a bright pink, and she touched the backs of her hands absently on her cheeks. “I’m ready,” she said, “whenever you are. You’ve got the card, mister, and I’m just, like...here.” She giggled. “Ready to, uh, grab some hefty balls and roll them into the gutter, I guess!”

mood
omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

location
the bowling alley

outfit
date fittt

playing...
cloud 9

by beach bunny​

mentions
n/a

interactions
hunter

tags
natsukashii

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Kitsune2202]

Dangerously Soft
Amethyst Jones

@If.U.Seek.Amy has set their status to:
Detective by day, and handywoman by night

@If.U.Seek.Amy has set their outfit to:
Casual weekend drip

@If.U.Seek.Amy has set their location to:
Library

@If.U.Seek.Amy has mentioned:


@If.U.Seek.Amy has interacted with:
Charlie ( geminiy )

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Amy couldn't help but be a bit amused at her friends reaction. It was so classic it was as if watching a cartoon come to life. Stifling a soft giggle by biting her lip, "Oh yes, just a bit of light reading on thermodynamics to get the day going right?" She teased playfully glancing at the book in her besties hand.

If Amy was honest with herself that actually sounded really interesting. She actually made a mental note to come back and check it out because that could really help with her whole lightsaber creation project she's got going on. She was more focused on the electrical side at the moment but a true light saber would involve that...then again it'd be dangerous to make a real one right? Nah, It's fine she'll have a real one for herself and make the non-lethal ones for others if they really wanted one. Why was she so absorbed in this project? Heaven knows.

Her music was taking an odd turn and just when she thought she was finally melting her music in with her personality...it's shifted. It sounds good to her and her producers and everyone. They all love the sound...but she wasn't convinced it was her. Sure she wrote it, and it was how she felt...but was it really her? Could the girl singing that song also be seen as a girl wielding a home-made lightsaber? Could they be one in the same? It didn't feel like it. It felt like she'd once again shut down a part of herself to explore another part of herself. A habit she had hoped wasn't going to continue this late in the game. She was a junior after all she needed to get her sound down packed before graduation.

This felt like a distraction from her actual problems instead of an extension of her being herself.

Anyways back to the task at hand! Her problems were not the point right now anyways. The short silence that had fallen between them now due to her getting lost in her own nerdy thought more so then tension or awkwardness on her half. She snapped back to reality once Charlie started to speak again. She tilted her head slightly, "Oh I know, which is why that's not why I'm here. Surprise surprise it's the 1% you didn't expect." She hummed letting the smirk curl onto her lips enjoying the fact that even now sometimes Charlie didn't get things 100% right when it came to her. That there was still a small spark of unpredictability with them.

Sure that was mostly due to the fact Amy had been playing therapist, mamma bear, you name it all night long and even a bit this morning. So Charlie was completely justified in her thinking. However Amy knew when something was a lost cause for the moment. She knew better then to keep beating this dead horse because it wouldn't help and it would only push Charlie further away. So No She knew before she stepped into the library that conversation about last night would be pointless unless Charlie was in the mood to talk about it which would only be if Charlie brings it up saying that's what she wants. Amy bringing it up or saying anything on the matter was a mute point and useless if before that.

She shrugged her shoulders non-chalantly, "Hey, If you want therapist bestie she can pop up, but right now?" She grinned slipping the book from Charlie's hands to see the title for future reference, "Right now, I'm bored bestie. Let's go have a bit of fun cause we both deserve it bestie. Because thermodynamics is in fact mind-numbingly boring and you know it." She giggled before correcting herself and raising her index finger up between them, "At least before noon. If you wanna come back later and read up on it I'll even join you cause this is actually pretty useful, BUT this is a evening read" She chimed standing up and extending her hand towards her, "I'm here to kidnap you to the mall. I'm in need of some new heels and accessories for a shoot, and we can pick up your favorite snack on the way too! Cause ya girl is kinda hungry." She'd had a snack before coming here, but that was not enough.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[gh0stwriter]

[

I feel like I'm drowning

M O O D : hungry

O U T F I T : fit

L O C A T I O N : the breakfast spot

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

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

T A G S : jasmyn​

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

There weren’t enough fucks in the world to get him out of this.

He was screwed. His reputation. His career. His whole life was gonna be over because of one stupid mistake.

Javi fucking Cervantes.

Yeah. The sex was good. And yes, the dude was hot if he wasn’t talking and if you were into that sort of thing. And by that sort of thing...he meant guys which Lucky definitely wasn’t into guys. Nope. Not at all.

Okay, so he was into one guy and that had been a monumental mistake. But Javi? Javi was a drunken mistake that apparently would haunt him for the rest of his life. How had everything gotten so fucked up? And who had cameras in their house? And why the fuck would Gen check them just to prove who yacked in the office? It was a party. People were gonna hurl. He couldn’t even count how many times he had held Josie’s hair back while she puked on the side of the road or a bush or one time over a freeway overpass directly onto another car.

The point was: puking at parties was a given. And didn’t require a full Law and Order investigation into the guilty party.

FUCK!

"You and Ash, huh? Sounds interesting. I mean, she's not super reliable but I guess you'll be fine as long as she decides to keep her word and perform with you," he said with a shrug.

He snapped out of his internal panic attack when he heard Dorian speak. He really was going to have to ask what the history was between him and Ash cause the excuse didn’t quite match up with the level of disdain they spewed at each other on Twitter. Not that it mattered. He was just curious. And while Dorian might be the only person that could sway him from getting along with someone, Dorian wouldn’t do it. That wasn’t the type of person Dorian was. Dorian was probably the only genuinely nice person Lucky had in his life.

He took a bite of his burrito and savored the bite. A slight escape from the current horror that was his life.

"Speaking of JJ, I said I'd meet her and bring her breakfast. It's not far,".

Lucky nodded with a mouth full of food as he trailed Dorian. The less he spoke or made decisions, the better. Not that he had ever been a man of many words, but lately, his decision-making skills left little to be desired. .

Yes. I’ll uproot my life and move to LA and attempt to make it in the music industry. Stupid. Sure, I’ll attend a Halloween party as spiderman. Double stupid. Okay, I’ll lose my gay virginity to one of the most toxic dudes at HA. TRIPLE FUCKING STUPID.

"Yeah, man. I really like her. She's insanely talented, not afraid to say what she wants, and come on, she's easily one of the hottest girls at HA,"

One of the hottest girls at HA? He couldn’t disagree. Though she wasn’t really his type. Like she’d get attached the minute you entered her and would expect a ring the minute you came. That wasn’t Lucky’s style. Plus, she was related to Nickie and if Nickie were a dude, he’d bash his fucking face in.

He took a deep breath and another bite of his burrito as they walked. Man, his cousin seemed really happy. He didn’t get it. Relationships? Caring about someone so much that you decide that they are it? It worked for some people, he guessed, but not for him. He didn’t have time to get close to people. All it did was cause more problems and MORE problems was not what he needed right now.

“I’m happy for you, dude.” Supportive. He could be supportive and fundamentally disagree with everything his cousin was doing, right? “You know you two can crash Josie’s party if you want.” He said as he checked his phone. “Shit.” He looked up and stopped. “There’s a problem with the booze. Can you make it the rest of the way?" He started backing away. "I'll...uh...text you later." Turning around, he made his way in the opposite direction.

LUCKY DUBOIS

º º code by ditto º º

 

[natsukashii]

Hunter Drake

How are you feeling?

hunter drake boyfriend mode activated

What are you wearing?

Classy date vibes

Where are you?

Bowling Alley

Did you mention anyone?

Nickie

Who are you talking to?

His Bae

And, like, tagging?

ditto

Hunter expelled a short laugh at Nickie's comment about the vibe of "Bowling Paradise". While he agreed, he also didn't.

He found himself looking where she did, following the motion of her eyes to the ceiling, the floor with its colorful confetti swirls. He eventually took a detour to the bowling lanes. They had similar designs: black lanes with colorful patterns along the smooth crevices of the lanes. The pins he saw in the other lanes, which had been knocked down by a literal wrecking ball, they were traditional with a white base with two red stripes spaced a few inches near the top of it.

In the middle of taking it in, Hunter heard his girlfriend comment about how huge the place is. "Yeah," he muttered absentmindedly, looking at Nickie and noticing just how wide her smile was. They were almost as struck with wonder as her eyes had been. And for obvious reasons, he smiled.

He was overcome with a wave of joy just seeing her be happy. Her happiness was everything to him and he'll do anything to make sure she remained on that cloud for as long as possible.

As they walked and then came to a stop at a table, Hunter took a seat next to Nickie. Much like he did earlier with taking in the classic diner-like feel of the alley, Hunter mirrored Nickie as he slid off his Nike shoes in favor of the probably-sweaty bowling shoes. As he did and as he had half of his left foot inside the shoe, he stopped because he saw Nickie pull out a pair of socks. He didn't know why that specifically caught him off his guard. In all the time he has been spending time with her even before they became official, he had seen it all.

Or so he thought.

And after his surprise faded, Hunter laughed. "You are honestly the first person I know that carries extra pairs of socks on them," he commented, giving Nickie a smile as he slid his foot into the shoe. "But I love that. Can never be too careful, I suppose."

And then came the right foot.

“Like, the last time I bowled was, like...when I was eight or nine or something like that, and I...”

"Hey don't worry about it, babe." Hunter assured her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“My little siblings did, like, ten times better than I did. Like, I couldn’t even pick up the ball or anything.”

"Oh.." He realized he might've spoken prematurely. "Well, still don't worry about it, Nicks. Those balls are fucking heavy. Doesn't matter if you're eight, nine, or almost old enough to drive." He expelled a laugh

As they stood up, Hunter's heart stopped at how freaking adorable she looked, bright cheeks and smile and all. "That I do." Hunter waved the card in front of her teasingly and laughed. "Okay!"

Hunter clapped his hands. A few moments later, as the first game began, Hunter turned around to Nickie. "Clearly, because I'm a gentleman, you can have the first crack at it." He looked at the balls, putting a couple in his hand to feel the weight of it. He arrived at a powder blue one that felt lighter than the others. "This one isn't too heavy, Nicks!" He said, holding it out, handing her it. "See if this one works!"

º º code by ditto º º​

 

[ditto]

dominicka abrams

have you heard?

Nickie let out a soft, thankful laugh at Hunter’s encouragement.

It was nice to have someone build her up for once.

She let out another soft laugh and followed behind Hunter to the machine that started the games, pressing the back of one of her hands into her cheeks to feel if she was still blushing or not. Spoiler alert: she still was.

Did blushing burn calories? Like, if it did— and she could swear that she’d heard that it did— she was going to have six-pack abs by the end of this date.

(Ooh, and maybe some biceps?)

(Okay, okay, okay, maybe the biceps were, like, just a weeee bit much. Like…plus, she didn’t want to have such big ones because, like, she didn’t want to put off Hunter.)

The screen above the lane sprung to life, and Nickie set foot onto the wooden flooring in front of the lanes. She pursed her lips, studying the board for a moment. There was a little NA and a little HD written on two rows of the blue board, and beneath both of them was the same score: 0. There were several more rows, with squares in the upper right corner.

She gave a nod, putting a finger to her chin.

Okay, yeah, she had no idea what was happening. Or was anything happening yet?

“This one isn’t too heavy, Nicks!” came Hunter’s voice, and Nickie turned her head to see Hunter, a wide-eyed, curious look on her face. When she saw that he was holding a ball and holding it out for her, Nickie gave a soft laugh and walked over to him. She opened her arms for it.

“See if this one works!” he said, handing it to her.

Nickie took it in her arms, and she let out a soft “oof” at the weight, slouching a bit. She shifted it to cradle it in her arms, and she smiled at Hunter. Well, at least she could hold it in two arms! She appreciated him, uh, trying to help.

“Uhm,” Nickie said, walking back over to stand in front of the lane, and then she looked down at the ball.

How in the hell do I hold this thing?

She brought her manicured left hand up to turn it around in the arm that she cradled it in the crook of, trying to find the finger holes. After forever turning it, she finally found the finger holes…and then she remembered that she wasn’t left-handed, but she had only made her left hand free.

Cue her blushing harder, giving a soft, embarrassed laugh, shifting the ball to her other arm, and repeating the great search for the holes yet again.

Finally, she managed to shove her fingers into the holes, and then she pushed the ball from her left arm and curled her right arm inward to hold the ball to her bicep.

She was surprised at how light it seemed now, and she gave a laugh at it.

She looked back at Hunter, making sure that he was still doing okay, and she tried to center herself in the lane.

“Okay,” she started, and she set her feet shoulder-width apart. She squinted her eyes and furrowed her brows in concentration, tucking her lower lip in and sticking her tongue out slightly.

She reared her hand back, and she looked back at the ball and then at the pins.

“Here I go!” Nickie said, and, in a great flail, she gave her best attempt at throwing the ball down the lane…

…and the ball slammed into the floor in front of her.

Oh, right.

She should’ve been closer to the actual lane to—

She laughed, shaking her head and looking back at Hunter. “I’m totally kidding!” she laughed, and then she looked out at the lane again, face burning.

She picked the ball back up, curled her arm inward, got her stance back, and took a couple of steps toward the lane.

Her arm went back, and then she shot it forward, releasing the ball—

That went straight into the gutter.

She watched it roll down with a look of defeat and frustration on her face.

She looked back at Hunter again, a smile spreading across her face along, her blush deepening. “Gutter!” she cheered kiddingly, just as the television blared with a womp-womp-woooomp sound.

Hiding her finger behind a hand clutched to her chest, Nickie raised her middle finger at the screen.

Really, fuck that screen! It was totally ruining her game.

mood
omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

location
the bowling alley

outfit
date fittt

playing...
cloud 9

by beach bunny​

mentions
n/a

interactions
hunter

tags
natsukashii

º º code by ditto º º

 

[jasmyn]

Madelaine Harlow

"ready for bff time!"

heading for the pier

click to see

corey

natsukashii

Maddie's phone rested perfectly in her right hand as she used her thumb to scroll through Instagram, lightly double-tapping every now and then and watching the empty heart turn red to signal she'd liked someone's post. After a few minutes passed she called out to Corey to let him know she was ready but her words came to an abrupt halt when he walked out and she caught sight of his outfit choice. More specifically...his shirt.

Her facial expression must have been easy to read, though it always was with him because he quickly caught on to what she was thinking. He blurted out something about her look and how he wanted to wear his favorite shirt to the pier but all she could focus on was the bright yellow fabric. Maddie could even get past the unflattering color if it weren't for the Spongebob face staring back at her complete with buck teeth and all.

"Oh my god. Coco, you look like you're going to a children's party," her eyes flickered from the shirt to his face as he tried to defend the fact that he was wearing a talking sea sponge on his body. "I've seen your closet! You have a million shirts to pick from, why on earth is this your favorite??" she questioned.

"You might as well wear an advertisement for Nickelodean on Ice," she added, shaking her head.

In all honestly, he was lucky that Adriane wasn't still here when he decided to emerge from his room wearing this. She would've ripped his style choices to shreds and called him a major fashion faux pas or something. Okay, she actually would've been way harsher than that but still, you get the picture.

Maddie wasn't Adriane though and despite her mother or the modeling industry's influence, she wasn't going to let that make her into someone who couldn't just be silly with her best friend. Best friend's day wasn't about high fashion, this was fun not work and she needed to remember that.

So, after a moment she sighed and stood up from her spot on the couch. "I'll be right back," she said rolling her eyes playfully before walking past him and into her room.

Fifteen minutes passed before she walked back out in a completely different outfit, though more stylish than his she still fit the cartoon vibe he'd decided to go with. "Well? Better or what?" she said with a smile as she did a twirl to show off. "I couldn't let you go out like that while I wore something boring, could I?" she teased, a laugh escaping her lips.

"You gotta get rid of the hat though, it clashes too much," she added as her eyes landed back on him. What? Compromise, right? She walked up and plucked the hat from his head, running a hand through his hair to fix it a little before motioning to the door. "Now come on! We're wasting time here and I wanna ride all the rides!" she told him, reaching for his hand and dragging him out the door.

trapeze

º º code by ditto º º

 

[jasmyn]

Kennedy Parks

"totally not nervous..."

breakfast cafe

click to see

jared

Kitsune2202

One would think that Jared’s compliment should’ve helped to make Kennedy feel more at ease but they would wrong. Despite the smile painted across the girl’s face and the soft thank you that escaped her mouth, her nerves had actually just skyrocketed with his presence. Could you blame her? Jared Darrington was a fairly intimidating person and anyone who said he wasn’t was either lying or a Johannes.

There was just something about him that instantly told you he meant business and wasn't one to be crossed. Not that she thought he would be malicious towards her in particular, in fact, he'd been nothing but nice to her but that didn't mean he couldn't.

Now that she thought about it though, this was exactly why her label had pushed her into this. Well, one of the reasons. They kept saying that she was too soft and that while that was cute and all, they were afraid she would get swallowed up by the industry if she didn't get some backbone.

Jared's purpose in her manager's eyes was to give her a little edge and it didn't hurt that he had a big following in his own career either. Put her on the map in more places than one. While Ken understood that they had good intentions part of her was still just unsure about it. But she also wasn't one to break a promise and she'd already gotten herself into this so here goes nothing, right?

So, she let him take her hand as he led her out to the car and it actually made it feel less like a business deal and more like a date even though she knew otherwise. Of course, it was more about covering all the bases for him since they had already been in the media being shipped so you never knew when a camera was on you. It was something he was obviously more used to than her.

"Beignets? Is that a favorite dish or something?"

"Yes! When I was younger my mother taught me and my brother, Anthony how to make them. I might be biased but if you ask me she made the best ones in all of New Orleans," she explained to him as they climbed into the car. "Have you ever had one? If not then you're missing out and you have to try one on our..uh, date," she added unsure of the last word.

She put something upbeat on the radio but left it at medium volume. It would be rude to turn it up. What if he wanted to talk or something but couldn't over the noise? Not a great start to a first date! Then again, she had a feeling he was more wanting to keep this strictly "a job" so she shouldn't expect deep conversation unless they had to...

Once they arrived at the restaurant and sat down, Kennedy looked around for prying eyes. She was sure that it was only a matter of time before one of their managers sicked the camera crews on them so they could get the big scoop. They had been planning this out for a while now after all.

"I did! I mean, I mostly hung out with Mags until we ran into you. It's still crazy that we both dressed as iconic people from the 90s, isn't it? I mean, what are the odds!?" she laughed as her eyes shifted back to him when he spoke to her. "As crazy as HA is sometimes, I'm happy to be back. I love going home but I missed my friends! I'm just glad that you and Mags came back at the same time because I'm not a fan of being home alone," she added.

When the waiter came over she perked up a little more and opened the menu so she could point out the items as she asked for them. "Hi! I'll take an order of beignets, your fresh fruit, and an orange juice please," she said, thanking him when she was finished and giving him the menu.

Ken knew it was already mid-afternoon so maybe asking Jared to take her to a breakfast spot was odd but she could eat breakfast for dinner honestly. It was her favorite. She was surprised he'd agreed to it but it was also a smaller cafe so it would allude to the fact that they were trying to hide from paparazzi and that would make it look even more real. Right?

"Oh! So, how is your modeling going? Any new shoots coming up?"

song title

artist name

º º code by ditto º º

 

[natsukashii]

Hunter Drake

How are you feeling?

hunter drake boyfriend mode activated

What are you wearing?

Classy date vibes

Where are you?

Bowling Alley

Did you mention anyone?

Nickie

Who are you talking to?

His Bae

And, like, tagging?

ditto

Hunter loved watching Nickie take first crack at throwing the ball.

Or, at least it would have been if it actually went anywhere.

He hid his chuckling response behind his hand. He was laughing with her as she looked back at him. It was hilarious in the most adorable way.

Here was Nickie, given the first attempt of scoring a point. She positioned herself picture perfect with her legs and feet spread to align with her shoulders. She seemingly aimed the ball where she wanted to throw it, and in what had to be the slowest couple of seconds in her life (Hunter assumed), the ball slams no further than a few feet in front of her, not even in the lane.

Only thing missing was a godawful laugh track. Personally, Hunter would prefer having Tidus from Final Fantasy X laugh over it. Or maybe Skeletor. Now there’s an iconic laugh for you.

“I’m totally kidding,” Nickie said, her laugh making Hunter smile.

“You got this babe!” He encouraged, clapping his hands supportively as he crossed a leg over the other, his ankle pressed just a few inches shy of his knee.

As he watched her make attempt number two, he kept clapping for her, though he wouldn’t say anything. He just kept a steady rhythm of support, hoping that would help her.

And then when the ball left her hands, his eyes narrowed with focus, his heart beating somewhat faster than before. His smile went into a slight frown, curving in a way that emoted both disappointment for her and an empathetic desire to comfort his girlfriend.

Only that she turned around and completely played it off like a champ.

In the few short moments that it took the ball to go straight into the gutter, rolling back into Bowling Ball Heaven and for Nickie to cheerfully call it out, the sounds of the monitor above being out-volumed by her adorable voice, Hunter saw that she truly was amazing.

“Yeah, you give that bitch the bird!” Hunter, the ever supportive boyfriend, said as he stood up.

“But great try, Nicks! I mean, seriously, you gave it your all!” He walked up to her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Absolutely amazing!”

As he would walk past her and up to the pinsetter, Nickie’s bright blue ball came back, hitting the orange and white one he had his eyes on, nearly crushing his finger in the process. Thank God for Hunter’s cat-like reflexes.

With it in his hand, the bowling ball he chose was significantly heavier than Nickie’s, but he was also stronger than Nickie was. It felt right, though. The way it felt when he raised up his left hand (his dominant hand) and how the ball itself felt like the goldilocks of bowling balls. It was heavy but not too much so; the way the holes inside fit his medium fingers wasn’t too narrow or wide. And as he did a few test runs of moving his arm up and down with it in his hand, Hunter was satisfied with how it felt.

“Perfect,” he muttered, looking back at Nickie, giving her the “a-okay” hand gesture with his hand. “Time to bowl!” He called out to her.

As he approached the lane, Hunter stared down the pins as they finally reset. Taking a moment, he looked over his shoulder, seeing Nickie sitting down and wondered something. He was confident he could pick up a spare. It had been a while, but Hunter knew he could. But then he figured, this wasn’t about being the best or who won or who lost. It was about having fun. Competitive or not, which Hunter sometimes knew he could be, especially when it came to games, he knew sometimes what was best was to be considerate of others.

Smiling through a chuckle, Hunter took his shot. He ran and bent forward a second after the ball was released from his grip. The ball flew into the air about three inches and landed on the floor, curving to the right. As it rolled, it went inched closer and closer to the edge of the lane. By the end of it, the only pin that managed to be knocked down were the three on the right side of the lane.

And as time unfroze for Hunter, he dipped his head down in an almost, albeit faux, disappointment. “And I was so close!” A few moments later, his ball came back and Hunter completed the turn. He did the same thing and got the same results but on the opposite side of the lane. “Damn only six pins? This game’s rigged!” He didn’t fake it that much. He actually did try, so at least he wasn’t totally faking him sucking at this game.

º º code by ditto º º​

 

[natsukashii]

Corey Preston
18 || Senior || Literature

@coreyinthehouse has set their status to:
I'm Spongebob Ready

@coreyinthehouse has set their outfit to:
Coco is Pier Ready!

@coreyinthehouse has set their location to:
Santa Monica Pier — Pacific Park

@coreyinthehouse has mentioned:
Adri, Maddie

@coreyinthehouse has interacted with:
Maddie

@coreyinthehousehas tagged:
jasmyn

With one look and Corey knew exactly what was coming his way.

...Not like he completely minded it, though. There was something truly precious about the way he and Maddie had their unique — oh, let’s say discussions — about his fashion sense and what he wanted to go out in public wearing. The most recent of them was, of course, his Halloween costume, in which he wanted to wear the gown as opposed to the modern interpretation of an angel. He would have fought her ont hat, but he was out numbered because Evie was brought into the fold and you didn’t say no to Evie Sinclair.

But now, it was different. Evie was nowhere to be seen and, honestly, Corey had valid reasons for choosing his Spongebob Squarepants shirt as opposed to million shirts, as Maddie phrased it, in his closet.

“Because it’s just..me!” He proudly stated. “It’s bold and cheerful and childlike and, well we’re going far away from where we might run into anyone. So it’s not like I have to worry about feeling stupid for wearing something that might get me jumped.” As grim as that was, it was the exact reason why Corey felt comfortable in choosing it and the blue hat with the Domo w/glasses.

There was a moment after they both said what they wanted to say and Maddie said she’d be right back that left Corey’s heart pounding its way through his chest and the spongy exterior it temporarily had. She had been gone for a while. He knew it wasn’t longer than ten or fifteen minutes, but given how much Corey likes to psyche himself out, regardless if it was intentional or not, those short fifteen minutes turned into hours for his self-sabotaging self.

In his mind, he was truly questioning if the shirt was worth it. Maybe she was right and he truly was looking like an extra from Spongebob Squarepants: Live on Broadway. Maybe it was too much or he was too old to be wearing something like it.

And then he saw her come out, donning the oversized Micky Mouse shirt with the long black stockings. Even before she spoke, Corey was in love with it.

Well, in love with her, but at this moment, the drastic change had captured his attention like Madelaine Harlow had captured his heart since the moment they met.

When she twirled around, his heart pounded even faster and her smile just melted it several times over.

God, I love her so much, Corey thought, smiling at her comment.

But then she told him to ditch his hat.

Compromises was the backbone of their unique friendship.

“Fine!” He laughed as he tossed it to the couch.

As they left their apartment and reached the car, Corey opted to drive. Usually, he hated driving and especially with how things ended last night, but this was different. They were alone. There wasn’t anyone impeding on their time together, and Corey felt like taking on the burden of driving. Plus, he loved the scenic route. He loved how he felt behind the wheel when it was just him and Maddie. He loved when they took their trips to Santa Monica.

LA was at its most beautiful when it was enjoyed with someone you loved.

Probably would be better if that person knew.

Baby steps, Corey. Baby steps.

It was nice though. The late morning cool air brushing his hair up, the cool breeze that tasted more and more like the salty mist that came from the beach, which was an obvious indicator that they were close to the pier.

Another sign they were close? Corey actually heard the uproar of collected noise from the rides and those who waited in the many lines of the shops and street venders, but where they were heading wasn’t specifically the pier, but Pacific Park — AKA where the rides Maddie so impatiently wanted to go on — were at.

“And we’re here!” Corey said excitedly. Maybe he was too excited because he nearly hit the car next to them. “Oops!” He laughed it off, acting almost totally unlike him. Corey truly was his most comfortable when he was with Maddie.

As he hopped out of the car and rounded around the back, he actually tugged on Maddie’s arm as she got out, smiling at her, running towards the amusement park.

This was happiness. This was what Corey needed after the morning from hell. His own little slice of heaven with his angel by his side.

Who could ask for anything more?

º º code by ditto º º

 

[geminiy]

Kian Phelan

@lockandkian has set their status to:
can I forget everything? yeah? thanks

@lockandkian has set their outfit to:
a touch disheveled

@lockandkian has set their location to:
...

@lockandkian has mentioned:
Josie, Lucky, Maggie

@lockandkian has interacted with:
Damien, Felix

@lockandkian has tagged:
Winona ditto jasmyn gh0stwriter Kitsune2202

Of course Felix had his back. Within the next few hours, whatever was being offered to him would hopefully make him numb and forget his own fucking name. He missed the feeling of being elsewhere, lights blurring together in kaleidoscopic patterns in front of his dry eyes, shirt clinging to his skin with the cold sweat.

“You sure?”

Kian audibly scoffed as he pulled up beside Felix, shaky hand reaching out to take the packet from him.

“Stop acting like you care, of course I’m sure.” Kian growled, fingers gracefully taking the baggie and shoving it into his front pocket. He wouldn’t use in front of Felix and Damien, he was classier than that. No, he would wait until he was home alone in his dumpster of an apartment to feel the relief as long as he could wait that long.

The small plastic bag in his pocket weighed as heavily as brick and burned against Kian’s thigh as he walked as if every cell in his body was aware of the substance’s presence. Two years was a lot of time to just throw away because of a bad day and Kian couldn’t help but feel guilty about how willing he was to just give it all up. But hell, it was just one bad day. One bad day needs one remedy. This wasn’t going to be a nightly occurrence, this wasn’t going to become a habit. Kian just needed to stop feeling for one night.

“Thanks man.” Kian eventually managed, rubbing his damp palms together in front of his stomach. He looked like such a nervous idiot.

“I’m glad that I could be of service. It's all my pleasure.” Felix spoke calmly as his arm reached out and grabbed Kian’s broad shoulders.

Kian blinked blankly a few times as his teeth gently gnawed away at the inside of his cheek. Felix had never been the type of guy for comfort. Sure, he was always one of the first people there for his friends when shit hit the fan, but that odd sideways hug thing that was going on wasn’t something Kian was used to. As they walked, Kian attempted to remember when the last time someone genuinely tried to comfort him was. He ended up with no answer.

"There's a... rave or some shit I'm going to..." Damien spoke up as he walked up beside the duo. "If... either of you wanted to come..."

“Don’t sound so excited to invite us.” Kian laughed halfheartedly, shoving Damien gently as he wiggled out of Felix’s arm. “But sure. It’s that girl, Josie’s, party right? I dunno how you got your lame ass invited but if the invitation is extended to us, who am I to say no?”

Following Damien’s lead (who knew the guy could navigate? Kian always thought he was just dumb enough to get lost in a paper bag!), the trio made their way to the spot they were supposed to meet their fellow partygoers at. Somehow, they were rather early as the spot sat empty.

“Give me like five minutes, I’m gonna run and grab a drink. Don’t leave without me.” Kian excused himself with a nod, jogging off across the busy street to a busy little gas station.

Stepping inside, Kian looked around as he shoved his hands in his back pockets. A bathroom sat at the back, the door slightly propped open with a yellow mop bucket. Looking at the cashier, Kian walked over to the bathroom and placed his hand on the knob.

“You gotta buy something to use it, kid.” The cashier spoke up, the rickety stool he was sitting on squeaking harshly as he leaned forward.

Shit. Kian looked over his shoulder and nodded, his hand still wrapped around the grungy doorknob.

“Yeah man, I’m gonna grab something on the way out.” Kian explained.

“No can do. You buy before you go in.”

Kian rolled his eyes. Seriously? Why such harsh restrictions on a damn bathroom? With a shake of his head, Kian pulled a bottle of soda free from the fridge beside him along with a five dollar bill. Dropping them both on the counter, Kian forced a smile onto his face.

“Keep the change for your lovely customer service.” Kian spoke bluntly before he turned away and pushed his way into the bathroom.

Once inside, Kian freed the baggy from his pocket. Holding it up in front of the light, Kian shaked it around slightly in an attempt to see through the black bag. From the sound, it was something powdered. Perfect. Carefully prying the bag open, he scooped the smallest amount of the white powder out and examined it closely. It wasn’t until his hand was before his face that he noticed his hands were shaking.

Fuck it, he was in too deep to stop now.

A few seconds later, the two year sobriety was gone. A few minutes later, the bottle of soda was in his hand and the now half-full baggy shoved away securely in his pocket. Walking back across the street with his hands in his back pockets. The party was bound to get started soon enough and who was Kian to say no to a little pregame? Besides, no one needed to know. Not Felix, not Damien, not anyone.

"So, are these party people actually gonna show up or is this all just a figment of your little imagination?" Kian teased, twisting the cap off the soda bottle and taking a swig.

º º code by ditto º º

 

[geminiy]

Elias Johannes

@elithegreat has set their status to:
we're totally gonna kill the arts fest, nbd

@elithegreat has set their outfit to:
keepin' it casual

@elithegreat has set their location to:
the studio

@elithegreat has mentioned:
n/a

@elithegreat has interacted with:
JJ & Dorian

@elithegreat has tagged:
Soap jasmyn

Eli was on the tail end of his warm up when JJ entered the studio, the energy of the room instantly shifting. Eli did his best to simply smile and wave as the song continued on in the background. Look, JJ was an… interesting person to the older boy. She wasn’t exactly nice nor did it seem like she had any desire to imagine that anyone else could possibly be better than her. In most people’s words, she was an absolute bitch. Sure, she wasn’t nice and yeah she got on Eli’s nerves sometimes but he saw a sort of spark in her that was refreshing.

“Good morning.” Eli greeted sweetly with a grin, pulling up the hem of his shirt to dab the sweat from his forehead.

“Morning, I guess. I see you took my suggestion. It was literally the perfect song, I found it online and—“

Music started up from behind Elias that abruptly shut JJ right up. Eli’s nose crinkled in confusion as he looked to JJ. From the look on her face, she was pissed and rightfully so. Eli had booked out the studio for his and JJ’s rehearsal so what the hell where… Of frickin course it was Matt and Taylor. Eli had very few people who he disliked in the dance world, he rathered to make friends with those who he competed against rather than make an enemy, but that damn pair had been pissing him off from day one.

“Excuse me?” JJ questioned loudly over the music as Taylor and Matt looked their way. Eli opened his mouth to explain that they weren’t supposed to be there but promptly shut it. JJ had enough anger in her for the both of them and Elias was not about to get in the way of that.

Eli’s eyes darted between JJ and the duo, lips pressed together to suppress a laugh. Eli had seen that look in JJ’s eyes before. Strike one.

As expected, the insults began flying, predominantly between Taylor and JJ. Normally, Elias would have interjected in an attempt to cool the air. But JJ’s retorts were rather funny and hell, he wasn’t about to stop her. If Taylor and Matt got pissed off enough to leave, that would save him the energy of having to deal with them. Besides, Elias was always taught never to interrupt a lady and JJ was hardly allowing any time between bitter words for Eli to speak.

The music started up once again as Matt and Taylor went right back to their dance. Crossing his arms over his chest, Elias walked over to beside JJ and watched from her angle as they started up their dance. From a purely unbiased perspective, the dance itself was okay. In fact, the choreography was rather nice. But the technique was awful at best and a flaming trainwreck at worst. Eli hadn’t ever considered the two genuine competition, they just got on his damn nerves.

“Your form is wrong.” JJ called out from beside him, earning a soft chuckle from Elias.

“No it’s not.” Matt returned with a roll of his eyes.

“She’s right. Your hips are stiff and your sho-” Eli began though his words were cut off by JJ.

“Yes it is. You’re slouching more than Jace West if he had scoliosis.” JJ shot with a shake of her head. Eli worked hard to contain the laugh bubbling in his chest. He couldn’t have said it better himself. “Shoulders back. And— ugh, let me just show you, incompetent bitches. I swear.”

JJ had turned back on their music and had grabbed Eli’s hand, pulling him in to start the dance. As if Matt and Taylor weren’t even there, Eli got right into the dance. JJ had clearly reviewed the choreography that Eli had sent her. People can say whatever they want about her, but JJ was clearly a professional. The dance continued on though everything felt like it was being done at half-energy. Showing people up was easy for two dancers as talented as themselves but getting that spark was difficult, especially with two people like Taylor and Matt ruining the energy of the studio.

“Alright! Alright, we get it. Shoulders back. But that doesn’t mean your form was better than mine.”

The music stopped right before the end of the routine causing Elias to groan in frustration. He looked back to JJ who, thankfully, looked as annoyed as he felt. Perfect, strike two.

“Can you both just stop? We’ve got work to do. And insulting JJ? Really? Honestly, insulting her makes no sense. I strongly doubt she cares what either of you have to say, especially when it isn’t true. All you two are doing is making yourselves look like complete fools.” Eli sighed, rolling his shoulders back.

Words began to be thrown back and forth once again, this time a raging war between JJ and Matt. Eli paid little attention to it as he grabbed his water bottle and took a few long swigs, bouncing slightly on his toes to keep himself in motion. To be honest, he was paying little attention to everything happening around him. That was until JJ spoke up yet again.

“That’s exactly what it means. Eli here would tell you exactly that— well, that is unless he wants to show you how a real man leads a woman.”

Eli instantly dropped his water bottle from his lips, eyebrows knit together in confusion. What was she doing calling him a ‘real man’? She certainly didn’t believe that. Eli looked between the three people again and a smirk pulled onto his lips. Ah yes, strike three: they’re out.

Placing the bottle down beside his bag, Eli walked over to his laptop in the corner and plugged it into the speaker. Tapping away at the keys for a moment, a different version of the song JJ had sent him began to play through the speakers. This version sounded much darker, heavier on the bass and clearly feeling more angry. Eli was known for screwing around with dance tracks to fit his vision and although he had just planned on going with the original song and never showing JJ this version, he figured that now was a good time as any to flex his abilities.

“You know, leading is a very odd thing.” Eli spoke as he pulled off the loose hoodie that he had been wearing and gently placing it in the corner. “Leading implies that someone is in charge. I personally detest it. JJ is just as competent as I am as a dancer. She has skills that surpass my own. I have skills that surpass her’s. So why would one of us lead? It would be doing both of us a great disservice.”

Eli reached out and took JJ’s hand, spinning her around before pulling her to his side as they made their way to the center of the room.

“But to fulfill your sick little fantasy of being the one ‘in charge’, I don’t mind demonstrating.” Eli spoke sweetly, the frustration behind his words hidden by a tone of honey. “Besides, I think your fragile masculinity could use a check.”

Pulling JJ into his chest, he carefully guided her to the starting position as the song looped back to the beginning. He looked down at her, gently reaching up to push a few strands of hair away from her eyes.

“Let’s show these two up, shall we?” Eli laughed quietly, carefully adjusting his body so that he and JJ were intertwined in a power stance. “Pretty much the same choreo with a few changes. Trust me on this one and give it your all.”

The song finally finished the loop as it started from the beginning. From the first few notes, Elias’s energy was entirely different. From the song and the strength in his movements and the way he commanded the dancefloor, Eli was a completely different person. JJ was keeping up as well as he had expected, causing him to amp everything up with each new movement. Each touch, each step, each movement had meaning. Their dance was one that would leave people questioning whether or not the passion flying between the two was acting or not, just as Elias wanted it to be. A final few notes of the song rang out through the studio as Eli pulled JJ in for the final movement, lifting her clean off the floor to hold her like a damaged lover to his chest.

“Yeah yeah whatever.” Eli heard from the other side of the studio. “Clearly that’s not even your dance.”

Eli laughed as he carefully released JJ, his strong arm not leaving her waist until she was fully on her feet.

“Okay dude, whatever you say.” Eli giggled as he waved goodbye to the pair who were leaving with gym bags over their shoulders. Turning to JJ, Eli grinned widely and raised both of his hands to give her high fives. “JJ you were incredible! I think that choreo would actually work better if you liked it, maybe adding in a lift just before the third chorus. Experimentation will work really well I think and clearly you can keep up.”

The squeak of the door reopening stopped Eli mid-speech. Spinning on his heels to see who had entered, he smiled and gave a gentle wave as Dorian came into view.

“Hey man, I didn’t know you were stopping by today!” Eli greeted warmly, reaching up to turn the speakers down. “I don’t know if you saw that dance but JJ was amazing. Part of that routine was entirely improvised, I always forget that she’s great at working as she goes.”

º º code by ditto º º