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[color=slategray][sub][@Lovely Complex] & [@Universorum]
[b]Location:[/b] In each other’s hearts
[b]Starring:[/b] [color=309b75][b]Damian “Don’t Take the Girl” O’Connor[/b][/color] and [color=6174ff][b]Joy “uwu” Darling[/b][/color][/sub][/color][/center]
[indent]Full speed ahead, the one and only Darling of Beverly Hills High, class of 2045, one year younger than her boyfriend’s class, swiftly walked off the boat, escaping the confines that was the Helmsley Three party. A boat party that felt more like a prison than a place for revelry. She didn’t know if it was due to the thoughts that were eating her up alive or the fact that if she chose to stay, she would have no escape besides swimming with the fishes. The boat party was not like a fishing trip with her father, her uncles, and her grandparents. No, this felt like a place where people her age encouraged mistakes for the sake of it blowing up in their faces at school. Another Weekend Warrior post waiting to happen, that would inevitably make people feel more shitty about themselves. More so than they already do with their own damn selves. 

Joy wasn’t going to make her night a mistake. She didn’t want Damian to be a mistake. After they were a fair distance away from the boat, she finally let go of his hand, crossed her arms, and turned to look up at him. Look up at her tall, unforgivably handsome, man. [color=6174ff][b]“What are we doing, Damian?”[/b][/color] Joy would’ve liked to believe her intuition was on her side. Usually, it was. Her intuition gave her the ability to read people like a book, but with him, when it came to the feelings they shared, he became complicated, more complicated than the hardest equation in the world, like his eyes had a curtain on and the curtain was her insecurities. She didn’t even realize she had insecurities until he started to see her. Really see her. 

Joy’s elongated eye contact demanded answers of things that couldn’t necessarily be explained. Love was hard to explain. It just… happened. One thing she understood was, she sure as hell wasn’t going to change for the king of the hill, even if other girls would do whatever he said, without an issue. She wasn’t like ‘other girls’. She was Joy. Daughter of one of the CEOs of ASMR and daughter of a remarkably talented NFL star, who was [b]the[/b] best friend to his father no less! A rift was built between them when school politics became a thing in their young lives, because their differences were blindingly obvious. What makes them think things would change? She was Rachael Leigh Cook from [i]She’s All That[/i], who played Laney Boggs, and he was Freddie Prinze Jr’s character, Zack Siler, the jock that called the shots and got invited to the biggest bashes of the school year. Or a more obvious comparison: He was Fred, she was Velma, from Scooby-Doo. Fred chooses Daphne, not Velma. 

What a cliche they were. 

[color=6174ff][b]“Well?”[/b][/color]

Damian was an alright guy, and, as such, he’d be the first one to tell you when he was confused. He had no idea what Joy was asking, why she’d dragged him off of the boat, why she was asking him weird questions, or why she was staring at him like that. He wasn’t sure what to say, or even really what she was asking. Damian was just a boy, after all; a smart, athletic, hot boy. But a boy all the same! He didn’t think about things the way she did, and he knew that, but that made things like this all the more confusing. Why couldn’t they just date and be merry?

Damian had to consider his answer for a few seconds, during which he furrowed his eyebrows. It wasn’t easy for him to think of what the right answer was, but he figured he’d just give it a shot. [color=309b75][b]“I guess going to the observation tower? That’s where your parents think we are. Then I guess back to my place? I dunno, Joy. What do you want to do?”[/b][/color] Damian looked behind them, as the boat pulled off into the distance, before he had a sudden realization. [color=309b75][b]“Or we could go get food… I just realized how hungry I am.”[/b][/color]

[color=6174ff][b]“No, I mean, well yeah, we can go eat, but what I [i]mean[/i] is—”[/b][/color] Looks like Joy was being too vague... What she said made sense to her, but it flew over his head. [color=6174ff][b]“—I’m not some easy piece of meat you can fuck and add to a long list of girls you’ve fucked. God, I’m no Candy that drools over every hot thing I see down the hall and I don’t even like parties where people do stupid shit. I’ve [i]never[/i] lied to my parents until you started liking me. Why do you even like me? You didn’t like me when we were kids!”[/b][/color] Ophelia would disagree. [color=6174ff][b]“But now, all of sudden, I’m suppose to believe you like me now? Look at me.”[/b][/color] She gestured to her entire body which was fully clothed. A cardigan, plain jeans, a simple tank. She was BORING. The only exciting thing about her was red hair, which wasn’t even her natural hair color.  [color=6174ff][b]“I’m not Damian material. So tell me, what are we doing? This isn’t some kind of cruel joke, is it? I’m not just another girl on your list, am I?”[/b][/color] Joy’s face saddened. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like not understanding what they were and what she was doing. She didn't like being confused. Just as confused as him, in the moment, but for different reasons entirely. 

[i]Ohhh[/i]. [i]This[/i] is what they were doing. This made way more sense than all of his options, which was good. It was only going to get worse if it turned out that Joy just wanted to go to the observation tower; at least in the sense that it would be more confusing. Damian grinned down at her after she finished her rambles, the classic smile that had won her over in the past, before he spoke. [color=309b75][b]“I look at you a whole lot, Joy, and I’onno, ya look pretty damn hot to me.”[/b][/color] He laughed and shook his head, wrapping his arms around her in a hug as he pulled her close. [color=309b75][b]“We’re dating, Joy. That’s all, don’t overthink things like that. I like you or I wouldn’t use my time on you; I’ve only got so much of it after all! Also, I don’t really keep a list. It wouldn’t be [i]that[/i] long, would it? Geeze, I guess it would…”[/b][/color] Damian trailed off as he thought about it for a few seconds, rocking side to side on his feet with Joy in his arms.

[color=309b75][b]“Dang, I’m a bit of a manwhore, huh? Oh well. Look, the thing is, I [i]am[/i] Damian, so [i]I[/i] get to decide who’s Damian material or not, and you’re Damian material. Is that a thing people say? ‘Damian material?’ Oh, and by the way, Joy, you drooled over me a lil bit. There was a lil drool.”[/b][/color] Damian pushed her back just a bit, and rested his hands on her shoulder, before leaning down and kissing her forehead. [color=309b75][b]“No stress, just relax. You’re wicked overthinking things, and I definitely liked you when we were kids, we hung out like every day...”[/b][/color] Damian kissed her again, then took a hand off of her shoulder and to his pocket, fishing out his car key and smashing the unlock button so the lights would flash and they could find it in the packed parking lot.

[color=309b75][b]“Now… about that food.”[/b][/color]

She didn’t drool over him! Joy’s cheeks were heated. He gave her [i]that[/i] smile, then gave her all these compliments, all the while embarrassing her. She was covered from neck down and he still thought she was [i]hot[/i].  [color=6174ff][b]“As long as you don’t add an STD to taking away my V-Card, your funeral won’t be [i]that[/i] bad.”[/b][/color] Joy teased, still dying from how cute he was being. Was he always this goddamn cute? Hooking her arm on his, deciding to take his advice and not overthink things, she scanned the parking lot and pointed in the direction of the flashing lights, [color=6174ff][b]“Found her.”[/b][/color] 

Wait a minute. He said he liked her when they were small?!  [color=6174ff][b]“What? Just because we hung out a lot doesn’t mean you liked me! We didn’t do anything ‘lovey dovey’.”[/b][/color] All they did was play around! Like kids do! [i]Forever[/i] she'll be in denial that they could've been a thing in the past.

[color=309b75][b]“Haven’t you ever heard that song, dude? I’ll even change the lyrics to fit our life.”[/b][/color] Damian said, leading her toward his car, holding his hand up in a fist in the air as he began to sing, [color=309b75][b]“Damian’s daddy was takin’ him fishin’, when he was eight years old
A little girl came through the front gate, holdin’ a fishin’ pole
His dad looked down and smiled, said ‘we can’t leave her behind…’”[/b][/color] Damian smiled at her, never stopping his walk toward the car as he sang [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMk8YWV7te8]the song.[/url]

[color=309b75][b]“Son I know you don’t want her to go, but someday you’ll change your mind, and Damian said
Take Brian Helmsley, take Owen Lyon
Take my best friend, Trev
Take anybody that you want, as long as she don’t go
Take any boy in the world, Daddy, please don’t take the girl,”[/b][/color] Damian pulled her more snugly into his side, [color=309b75][b]“Same old boy, same sweet girl
Nine years down the road, he held her tight and kissed her lips in front of the football team
Ophelia came and pulled her away, grabbed her by the arm, and said to her
‘If you do what I tell you to, there won’t be any harm…’”[/b][/color] Damian spun Joy so they were facing each other, and lifted her, sitting her down on the hood of his car, and leaning forward, putting their foreheads together.

[color=309b75][b]“And Damian said, take my money, take my wallet, take my credit cards”[/b][/color] Damian reached into his back pocket, dropping his wallet into Joy’s lap, [color=309b75][b]“here’s the necklace that her daddy gave me,”[/b][/color] he pulled their heads apart and took the chain off his neck, Ender’s superbowl ring hanging on the end of it, and dropped it gently over her neck. [color=309b75][b]“Here’s the key to my car, you can give it a whirl,”[/b][/color] Damian dropped the car key on her lap, before he put their foreheads back together. [color=309b75][b]“But please, let me have the girl.”[/b][/color]

And then he kissed her.

Okay. This was her life now. A musical where her boyfriend used songs and compared it to their life situations. This song, however, was different from the Africa song and this kiss was different from their past kisses, all kisses that were driven by lust. The strange feeling she knew was there since the beginning expanded and exploded throughout her whole body. A dangerous fire, and yet she felt safe… at home, with him. His lips pressed against her with so much warmth, passion, and need, like he’s been containing himself for a very long time. Joy felt completely exposed and naked, even if she wasn’t exposed or naked at all. 

This was the moment Joy fell in love.  

Forcing herself to break from him, knowing very well she could kiss him longer, pink in her cheeks becoming a normality when she was with Damian, so different from her stoic and in charge self, Joy held her father’s ring in her right hand. Her palm rested on her chest. He kept it for all these years…. 

Spinning the keys on her left pointer finger, Joy playfully grinned, not one to handle ‘romance’ for too long, [color=6174ff][b]“...My dad has yet to give me a driving lesson.”[/b][/color] She had a permit, just not a license. Probably one of the few fifteen year old kids with a permit.  [color=6174ff][b]“Based on the lyrics, I can [i]totally[/i] drive your car, right?”[/b][/color] She stuck her tongue out, using her new 'girlfriend' powers. 

[color=309b75][b]“Uh… yeah, that’s fine.”[/b][/color] Damian shrugged his shoulders. If worse came to worst, he’d just yell at Snake to take over. Besides, Joy would have chose where they went anyway! [color=309b75][b]“Where are we going? Oh, I want this back…”[/b][/color] Damian muttered, lifting the chain back over Joy’s neck and tugging at the ring in her hand. His free hand grabbed his wallet and stuffed it back into his pocket. It seemed like he’d done a good job singing to her, so that was good at least…

[color=6174ff][b]“You really do admire my father, huh?”[/b][/color] Letting him take his things back, Joy scooted on the hood, to where he wasn’t in front of her, then hopped off. [color=6174ff][b]“I was thinking food heaven. A place with endless options.”[/b][/color] She went to the driver’s door and opened it. Before she entered, she simpered, [color=6174ff][b]“A place with a goldmine of games, toys, and [i]private[/i] areas. My uncle’s!”[/b][/color] With that, she slid into the driver’s seat and closed the door. 

Yeah, Uncle JJ's house was the best place to be. [/indent]