DELETED398633

CANCELLED.

_{Collab with @Hey Im Jordan
Thursday afternoon, Evelyn Green & her son, Henry Green}

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Henry, for the first time in a while, wasn’t with Min-seo. Min-seo was, instead, in the room — taking a nap or something. He wasn’t too concerned, and it was half his fault anyway. They were in the middle of the somewhat arduous and monumental task of cleaning his room, and she needed a break somewhere between him cleaning under the bed, and taking the full trash can out of the umpteenth time. Henry, being a Green, didn’t much care for ‘naps.’ Now, he was also a Locke — so sleeping was all good. Naps? Naps weren’t for him. He gave Min-seo a kiss, and said he was gonna go play with Benedict and Arnold.

So that’s exactly what he was doing. Together with his two trusty water dogs, Henry was floating around the river habitat they had. Covering his eyes from the pesky Californian sun was a pair of sunglasses, and he had a drink in his hand — non-alcoholic. Min-seo didn’t want him to come back to the room sloshed, and he could see the reasoning, she’d agreed to her terms.

From the speaker system surrounding the habitat, soft music played. Loud enough that Henry could bob his head, but soft enough that it didn’t bother Benedict and Arnold. Henry, in short, was sunbathing and relaxing. Nothing could ruin his vibe, y’know, except for a few very specific things that surely wouldn’t be happening.

His dark haired mother, the one that was the liaison between him and his other mother, dressed in a gorgeous, red floral dress walked out the sliding patio doors, barefoot, searching for, well, her son. There were a couple of places she could list where he would be. The first place was not right, because she found a sleeping Asian beauty but no Henry. The second place, though? She was right. Walking with feathery light steps, Evelyn made her way to the river habitat and knelt down by the edge watching her son float with his water dogs. “Henry.” The songstress spoke loud enough for him to hear her, but soft enough so her voice didn’t overpower the music. Patiently, she waited for his response. Patience was important when you had a child like Henry.

Oh hell, that was on the very few specific things. Henry adjusted his sunglasses, and did not at first address his mother, instead he put his hand in the water and began paddling. “Ah, hell. Paddle away, boys!” Neither Benedict nor Arnold seemed to understand, though they sped up alongside him regardless. It was probably a game, or something! It didn’t take him long, before Henry realized that he wasn’t going anywhere except circles paddling with one hand. With a sigh, he paddled himself in a half circle so that he was facing Evelyn, and took a sip from the vanilla Dr. Pepper, keeping his sunglasses in place. “Evelyn.”

“Are we to become accustomed to Parker living here? You know that is a battle, for me, on it’s own.” Eve leaned forward, tracing her fingers on the water. “I adore your friend, but how do her parents feel about her always being here?”

So that’s what this was about. Henry couldn’t do nothing! Not even in the sanctity of his own home. “Yes. Parker’s parents aren’t around, and she was living in a tent in the backyard, surviving off of Lucky Charms marshmallows and juice boxes. What would you honestly have me do? I don’t know who her mother is, but you should find her and have your wife pay her off. Parker deserves better than that. If that means I have to move her in and start taking care of her all the time, then whatever. I don’t care.” He flipped the aviator lenses up and squinted at her, sipping from his soda again, “I’m not letting her go back.”

“That can be arranged. Would you like me to get child services involved? We could find her a good home.” Eve had a feeling how her son would react, but she waited. Another battle ahead of her.

“No way, dude. C.P.S. would fuck the whole thing up, I did some Google-fu, and they’d relocate her. You can’t relocate Parker. She needs to be here.” Another sip from the Dr. Pepper, and the aviators came back down, “‘sides, this is a good home. She’s happy.”

Changing her position, Eve sat down and put her feet in the river. She didn’t respond right away. Instead she watched him with those cold, yet loving, eyes. After a moment of silence, she addressed the issue, “Before adoption becomes a liable option, we would first need to strip her guardians of ownership. Would you like us to adopt her?” Eve didn’t realize this, but naturally, she always wanted to spoil her son.

“Either you or Hailey’s butler. She likes him.” Henry could understand why; that asshole bought her a fucking kitten. He tilted his head back and took another sip from the Dr. Pepper, before he realized it was empty. Making a face, he stuffed it in the cupholder of his pool mattress, and shrugged. “She just needs to not be where she was. I don't care how. I got her this far. She’s one of my best friends, and I can’t let her just live a shitty, dirty life. Now she’s at least taking baths and eating real food and not living in a tent or anything. I’ll ask Mother myself if I have to. But we all know how that story goes.”

“I’ll take care of it.” Henry needed to focus on high school, and if Parker’s livelihood was important to him, Eve would make sure she was okay, for him. Any consequences and punishments would be handled accordingly. Henry wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. That’s what mothers were for.

Henry. Henry was her only son, so of course, she would make sure that nothing got in the way of his happiness. Including her wife. The option of James adopting Parker didn’t sound like a bad idea and may be a good compromise with her wife. She’d have to talk to him some time soon… “And Min, how are things with her? If we didn’t have such a large house, your mother would probably have a noise complaint.” Luckily they did, and the children were down a different wing in the castle.

Henry flipped the aviators up, and squinted again, “Things with Min are fine, why?” Now what was she going to do? Yell at him for dating the younger, attractive, Asian, foreign exchange student? LET HIM LIVE HIS LIFE. “She’s doing okay. Made a friend. Loud blonde girl.”

“The doctor’s daughter. I know of her.” Swaying her legs, letting her feet feel the brisk water, Eve gave her son a gentle smile, “Believe it or not, Alyssa approves.” A first. Alyssa rarely approved of anything their son did. However, there was change in Henry that all the parents started to notice and no one could argue about that. Min was a good influence on him and actually helped give Eve a break. In the course of two weeks, she didn’t have to do much convincing, minus his birthday party. It was like pulling teeth when it came to planning his parties.

“Wait, what? How does she even know?! I intentionally didn’t tell you guys.” Who ratted them out!? Was it Hailey’s Butler? It had to be, Henry’s was still on vacation... She’d come back, one day. It didn’t matter, because a horror was dawning on Henry. “Oh no. She’s going to talk to Min-seo.”

“Mother’s intuition, and… social media. You didn’t have to tell us. And I think her being in your room every night is a HUGE sign that says: me and Min are an item. So far, she is your longest record. I haven’t seen any other girls around.” He was right. Alyssa would talk to Min. Most definitely. “You don’t even mention Ilyana anymore.”

“Min makes me happy, satisfies my urges, and like… once you see her in a crop top you’ll understand — wait, why are we having this conversation!? You’re missing the point. Alyssa is going to eat my girlfriend alive!” It was a fair fear to have. His mother could be… something, to say the least. “She’s gonna make her hate me and then send her back to South Korea, dude.”

“Girlfriend, huh?” The smile on Eve’s face widened. Today marked a monumental moment. Her son was finally taken.

“Ya, why don’t you go pick on Hailey and her girlfriend and leave my ass alone?”

This was news to Eve’s ears. “Hailey has a girlfriend? Why hasn’t she told her father? She tells her father everything.” Eve kicked water at her son. “That ass belongs to me until you leave the nest. I can pick on you if I want.”

“Tell Min that line. Yo, Nero told me that you’re throwing me a party. Let me just say… that sounds terrible.” The aviator lenses came back up, and he stared across the way at Evelyn with squinted eyes. “I decline.” Henry had a specific way of speaking to his mothers; they were much more business orientated than he was, and he got around things better this way.

“I decline your decline.” Eve teased. It was far too late to change her plans. She already spent a pretty penny on both him and Cyndi, and already convinced Jericho to help her with making it extremely high tech.

“I have plans already.”

“Well change your plans, or I will for you.” This was the first year Eve had the ability to make his and Cyndi’s birthday party more about him. He wasn’t going to take this away from her.

“I see you intend to go out of your way to make me as unhappy as possible. I commend your efforts, and will offer you one hour of my time on that, the day of my birthday. I was going to lay in bed with Min-seo and listen to dream pop.”

“You do know having a double bash is vital to making your big 18 and Cyndi’s big 16 the party of the century. If it was just for Cyndi, no one but family would be there and this is literally the first year I can do what I want for you. So, you can have your cuddles with your girlfriend any other time. Just give me this night.”

“You missed the party of the century, it was on a boat. The number two was at Damian’s beach house. Turning eighteen isn’t that big of a deal, and the idea of a sweet sixteen is only for girls and pushed by makeup companies when it also isn’t that important. I can make people come without involving me. I’ll go, but I want the house in Colorado.” He pulled the sunglasses off, and folded his arms over his chest. “To keep. Fully. In my name. Mine. And I want Hailey’s key taken away, so I can laugh at her.”

“Okay, that’s a bit harsh I guess. I did have a moment with her. She can keep the key. I really don’t want to do this, I don’t really dig birthday parties, and you’re like… old so it’ll probably be lame.”

“‘Cuse me. Have you forgotten I’m a goddamn rockstar?” Eve crossed her arms, almost offended. Her informal speaking slipping out. Her son was downright rude to her.

“Yeah, yeah. Shit has changed since you were a rockstar. That was a long ass time ago. Why do we even have the same birthday!? That is a wicked coincidence.” Henry protested, paddling with both hands toward the shore. He had to get back to cleaning, before wifey woke up.

“Birthday sex.” Was all Eve said in response. Ty liked sex and his birthday meant a lot of it. Sometimes his birthday happened throughout the course of a week. He just so happened to knock Eve up twice around the same time. Cyndi, however, came two weeks earlier than her due date.

“Nigga that is gross!” Henry protested as he beached his floatation device, with Benedict and Arnold coming up behind him. Henry flicked the shades open and put them back on as he walked by him, followed by the trotting water dogs. “Colorado ski lodge, or no deal. Alyssa can buy another one for herself, the rich motherfucker. Now, I gotta go clean my room.”

“Fine, deal. But don’t use a blatant lie to convince me to agree to you. We all know you don’t clean.” Eve’s dark gaze followed her son wherever he went. She stood sitting down, enjoying the water.

“Min’s orders! Said she wouldn’t sleep in my room if we’re going to, and I quote, ‘wallow in filth.’ So I’m cleaning.” Henry said, as he continued walking back toward the house. Why was it so hard to believe that he was cleaning?!

Because it was. Leaning back, laying down on the ground, Eve cloud gazed and bid her son adieu, “Have fun.” Min was a good girl. She too approved.

CANCELLED.

_{Collab with @Hey Im Jordan
Thursday morning, Jericho Snyder and his son, Lil' Boss, also known as Tyty
with an unwanted guest... Evelyn Green
Oh and the OG Ty}

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Six missed calls.

Well, ‘missed’ was a bit generous. Jericho had blatantly and intentionally ignored them. He wasn’t about to answer the phone, even if it was Evelyn calling, even if it may have been important. The truth was, he didn’t much care about what she had to say — Jericho didn’t really care about anything other than a very few specific things, and his sister-in-law was not on the list.

Well, ‘not on the list’ was a little harsh. She just wasn’t very high on the list. The three most important people in his life, were Amity, Tyty, and Phillip, in that order. Evelyn could, and would, be ignored so long as Jericho was spending time with his son. What was she going to do? Complain about it in person? Jericho would ignore her there too.

Playing Super Mario 3D world with the little dude was what mattered. Maybe, and it was a big maybe, maybe after they finished and he was ready for lunch, he’d call Evelyn back. Maybe.

“Did you know we’re almost at the last level, bud? At least, that’s what I remember. After we beat this, it’s the boss fight against Bowser.” Jericho explained, glancing over at his son. The pair of them were sitting side-by-side and cross legged on the floor, on the thick and comfortable carpet in front of their huge, curved TV, and were playing the game they’d been working on beating for a couple of months now. They’d finished New Super Luigi Bros, so this was the next logical step. “After that, we’ve saved the Mushroom Kingdom! We’re almost done.”

“What?! No way, I don’t wanna be done playing games with you! I love playing games with you.”

Jericho’s heart grew eight sizes that day.

“Don’t worry! I have other games you can play, I already talked to mommy and made sure they are 100% mommy-approved.” Jericho said, reaching over and patting Tyty on the head to reassure him.

“Yay!”

With one of Amity’s spare keys unlocking the front entrance, the door opened announcing a soundless presence. It surely wasn’t Jericho’s wife, who usually always entered with a bounce to her step unless she was dreadfully gloomy. Those steps were more like shuffling against the marble. No. These distinct steps were gracefully haunting. Heels that echoed through the halls, but so subtle that it was hardly noticeable over the sound system. Reaching the archway to the living room, the Raven herself tossed her bag on the nearby loveseat and greeted the man that has been ignoring her for the two hours, “Jericho. We need to talk.”

“Did you just let yourself into my house? In most states that’s considered breaking and entering. Besides, Evelyn. I’m kinda busy here? We can talk later. I’m saving the Mushroom Kingdom.” He said, turning to look at her only briefly, before he glanced down at the little guy and shook his head, “we’re saving the Mushroom Kingdom, sorry. Whatever you want to talk about is nowhere near as important as what I’m doing right now. Phillip will show you the way out.” After Jericho spoke, he turned back to the game, and — true to his word — the floor behind Evelyn lit up with arrows pointing back toward the door out.

“Mrs. Green, if you would…”

“Amity said I could come over. You can call her if you’d like, but you know better than anyone that family means everything to her.” Shaking her head, Evelyn took off her shoes, placed it to the side, and walked to JJ and her nephew. This was going to take awhile. She took a seat beside them, on the floor. “We can multitask. I know you’re fully capable of doing so.” After addressing JJ, Evelyn brought her gaze toward Tyty. Her harsh stare softening. Something about little ones always melts her ice cold heart. “Are you having fun being a hero?”

“Actually, Auntie, I’m a Toad. I like Toad. He jumps high.” Tyty explained. It wasn’t Evelyn’s fault she didn’t know the difference between a toad and a hero, but he could help her learn. After all, he was pretty smart! Like his daddy. But not as smart as his mama. She was even smarter than Daddy!

Jericho looked at Eve and scowled, though he did snap his fingers to dismiss the lights leading toward the door. “I’m on vacation. Don’t you know how rude it is to disturb someone on vacation?”

“You’ve been on vacation for a little over a year now, Jericho. I think I’m allowed to barge in when you ignore my calls. If you simply picked up, we could discuss matters in a timely manner, but no. You rarely pick up and so I must go through your wife in order to reach you.”

“It’s almost like… I don’t... want to... talk to you.” Jericho replied in a thick, sarcastic voice.

“You are the uncle to my children, therefore your participation for their birthdays is at the top of my list. You really are the only one that ever impresses my son.” Composed and hardly reactive to Jericho’s sarcasm, very unlike her sister who reacts to everything, Eve, with a blank stare, carefully surveyed her insufferable brother-in-law. Amity surely knew how to choose them.

“Evelyn, I’m very busy. Do you know what I have planned after we beat Bowser? He wants to build a rocket ship out of Playdoh and Lego. So we’re gonna build a rocket ship, you understand? Plus, I promised him we’d make a house of pancakes and then eat it. This stuff takes time. Planning. Precision. Plus, Alyssa doesn’t even like Henry.” Jericho’s eyes never went off the TV. They were almost done with the castle.

“He is my son and I will not make him feel unwanted.” Eve glared at Jericho and then brought her attention to screen. “The things I need you to do won’t even take that long and it doesn’t have to be done today. We have a little over a month before his and Cyndi’s birthday. He already lacks faith I’ll throw him a decent party because I’m ‘old’.” When Eve said the words old she made quotations with her fingers. “I am trying my best to keep a happy balance in my family.”

“Dude, you are old.”

“Auntie’s at least one thousand!”

“Oh, at least.” Jericho said in agreement, before he paused the game, and turned his body to look at Evelyn. “I agree to do this, and you agree to leave me alone?” He squinted up at her, as if he didn’t trust her. And why would he? She let herself into his house, without even knocking. “I’m trying to, ahem, keep a happy balance in my family, and… you know, really ensure that my son doesn’t feel unwanted.” He sat his controller down and leaned toward Eve, raising his right eyebrow in a sharp arch. “In doing so, part of my efforts require that I come to your house, uninvited, with a key I borrow from Alyssa, and then sit on your couch and talk to you about things you’re, at most, indifferent about.”

If he had gum, he would have popped it. “What do you want me to do? _{Can’t even play games in my own home anymore… People gotta figure this out.} How come nobody bugs Jude? She does the same shit that I do, and she’s easier on the eyes.”

“Good question. One sec.” Instinctively, Eve pulled out her phone and dialed her babies’ daddy. “Truth be told, I didn’t think I’d get this far… I was going to wing it, but my son is being rather difficult, which makes this an awful and hard challenge. But, you know who might have an answer?” The ringback tone resonated throughout the room. “Your best friend.”

“You really are the worst person. You know that, right?” Jericho protested, glancing briefly at the still paused screen. First, she came to is house, and ruined his morning, then she called Ty? This would surely ruin his morning too.

The phone was answered, though it didn’t draw a verbal answer — instead, the first sound that came from Ty’s side of the line was a kiss.

Fucking Ty. Forgot he actually likes her.

Then Ty’s voice came. “Hey, baby girl. What’s up?”

“Hey, handsome…” Eve didn’t like being lovey dovey in front of people, especially not Jericho. That judgy bitch. “I’m currently at JJ’s house. I want him to do something grand for our son and daughter, for their big bash this year, I just don’t know what! Do you have any ideas? JJ is here and he can hear you. Also, little Ty.”

“Oh no wayyyy! Mini-me!”

“Big-me!”

“The one and only. Anywayyyy, gimme a second.” There was the sound of Ty taking a drink of something, and smacking his lips. “_{Needs salt.} What? ...it’s dish water? Whatever, still needs salt. Because I don’t look before I do things! I’m taking a phone call, go bug your wife.” Ty said, before he returned to the phone, “Sorry, Wolfe is here and I was taste testing some stuff and apparently I just drank dishwater so that happened.”

“...would you recommend the dishwater?”

“With salt. Anyway, the answer is movies, duh. Go to the island in the center of Henry’s little river thing for his water dogs, and setup a movie there. They both like movies — and they don’t really agree on most things. Other than that? Well, Henry likes to sleep… I’d say getting him a new bed could go a long way — he’s been sleeping on the same one since he was like 12…. He’s probably outgrown it; so there’s that gift. Simple, thoughtful, effective. What else have I noticed? Oh, Henry loves fireworks, see if you can get permits for a fireworks display, he’ll love that. Henry likes midriff, so just put that girl he’s always hanging out with in a lowcut or croptop. Henry likes strobe lights _{it’s the… medication}, and Cyndi likes _{don’t tell Alyssa I phrased it this way} to be on display. So what you do is set-up a stage with a strobe like and let Henry play with it while Cyndi performs for her friends and family. Don’t worry about Cyndi’s gift, I know what to get her. Well, I guess we could get her something physical too… You want my advice? Maybe don’t do it at the castle. Maybe do it at Disney. I dunno. That’s what I got.”

Taking mental notes at her… boyfriend’s words…. Eve listened in silence. Okay, she got it. “I’ll ask my brother to design an outfit for Min, that is one of a kind and just for her. I’ll take her out to choose Henry’s new bed. JJ, I want you to transform— "

“Ahem, JJ, please.”

...“Please.” Eve lightly hissed, before continuing, “— The castle into a grand theater, but we’ll have fireworks and Cyndi performing at Disney. I’ll reserve the entire park for her and her friends. Henry can stay behind with Min. I think we’ll keep this close knit, so I’ll look into Henry’s immediate friends, aside from Parker and Min. For now, he will continue believing he is having a huge surprise party.”

“He’s going to hate that. But I guess he hates everything we do. Can’t win. Okay, I have to go entertain guests! Are we still doing… y’know what on Sunday?” She knew what.

“That’s gross!”

“I’m being coy!”

“...we’ll talk later. Say hi to the Kingsleys for me.” Eve was glad she called Ty. Things were figured out a lot faster than she thought they would be. He, to her, was a wonderful father and she did love him, along with her wife. Their relationship was an odd one.

“I’m sure they’ll be by there. But okay, will do. Bye, honey. Love you.”

“I love you too!” The little guy was all too happy to intercept the offered love and claim it as his own, which was met with a chuckle from Ty.

“Well… not you, but it doesn’t matter. Eve wouldn’t say it aloud and would text it to me anyway so she doesn’t have to say it in front of Jericho and risk embarrassing herself.” With that, there was another kiss from Ty and then the click of a line gone dead.

“HA.”

Eve didn’t say anything. Her face which was usually pale and white showed faint pink in her cheeks. “Okay, now that we have that settled. I’ll leave you alone now.” She picked herself up.

“Yeah, yeah. I got a boss to beat.” Jericho finally picked his controller back up and unpaused the game, leaning forward to focus on the TV screen, with the little guy doing the same.

With that, Eve made her way to her shoes, where she looked down toward her friend and indeed texted Mr. Locke with exactly what he expected. Affection and love.

CANCELLED.

_{Collab with @Hey Im Jordan
Friday before Star Wars
Mentions of Wyatt @smarty0114}

“And whatever you do, don’t suck him off on the first date. That makes you a thot, and Dad wouldn’t approve of that. I wouldn’t approve of that either.”

Damian was back in his room Friday (after a particularly emotional {for her} meeting with his mother, involving lots of ugly crying — more on that later), with Joy on his lap while he gave his younger sister some brotherly advice for her very first date. “And if he touches your butt, push his hands away. you don’t want that. And if he does it again, text me and I’ll have Trevor tackle him. I’m not gonna be there, since we have dinner plans unfortunately, or I would totally creep on you from a short distance to make sure he isn’t being a fucker.” Damian rested his chin on Joy’s shoulder, and his eyes looked up toward the ceiling. They’d been at this for about six minutes now, and he’d touched most of the bases.

“Just be yourself. And when you feel like that isn’t gonna work, imagine what you think I’d do, if I was there and the guy was a girl. And then don’t do that. Then, after you’ve imagined what I would do and then not done it, imagine what you would do, and then do that. Remember, whoever this is goin’ on this date because you’re you, not because you’re Damian’s little sister.” A this, Damian sniffled a little, teasing her as he wiped fake tears away, “You grew up so fast. I’m so proud.”

“...so no butt touching?” Truly Bliss had to confirm the advice her brother was giving her. She had a notepad and everything! She had to cross out ‘butt touches’ because she actually wanted to touch Wyatt’s butt. “What if it was by accident and it actually made me smile? Would that make it okay for a butt touch?” She had to cover all the bases with her brother. Leave no open ends.

Joy stood silent and watched the interaction with the siblings. Honestly, what she was most curious about was whether or not Damian knew his sister had a crush. On an upperclassmen for that matter! Smiling to herself, Joy did think True looked awfully cute. It was like she was planning for this day all her life. Her outfit was completely on point and she looked ready to make a boy swoon.

“Well, I mean if the butt touching is allowed by both parties, I guess it’s okay. But you have to make sure that there’s no unwanted butt touching, because that’s when it gets slimey, you know? And then I really only have one last ipp, and if you’re gonna write this down in really big bold letters os you don’t forget it. It’s the most important one by far.” Damian looked away from True, and instead to Joy, playing with her hair as he continued to speak, finishing off his biggest tip yet. “Have fun. It’s a date. They’re supposed to be fun, not awkward or scary, or anything like that. Just enjoy yourself, and go in and come back with that big smile on your face and you’ll go in single and come out with a boyfriend.”

“Just a boyfriend?” True scoffed. She wanted more than just that. Wait, her brother will think she’s weird. “I, err… what if he doesn’t like me enough to ask me out? Should I ask him out? I don’t know if I can. He’s too cool for me and whenever I look at him, I just want to touch.” She was not helping her case. At all.

“Alright, first OFF. Your last name makes you wicked cooler than anyone you could date, and if you wanna touch him, then touch him. Guys like when girls get frisky, so I mean go for it. Just don’t thot it up. So don’t put out on the first date, or everyone will think you’re easy. Put out on the second date.” What? It made sense to him — that was how it worked with other girls, the same thing would apply to his sister, O’Connor or not. “And whatever you do, do not invite him over. Go to his place. Go to his friend’s place. Go to a hotel. I’ll pay for it. Whatever it takes! Don’t wanna be fuckin’ here, Mom will know and she’ll intentionally make it weird. She did that to me for the first few times too.” Damian nuzzled his cheek against Joy’s, and shook his head. “Don’t get weird. I know you get weird… sometimes. But just get a little weird. Not too weird. There’s a little gray area and that’s where you operate. Joy do you have anything to add?”

Joy was trying her best to keep her laughter to herself. Hearing Damian in brother mode was hilarious. But now that he said everything he needed to say, she looked over to True and shrugged, “If you need a safe place, I can call my uncle. He’s pretty chill when it comes to these things, as for ‘putting out’ just remember to use protection.”

“Wait, what does putting out mean and how am I going to find a bodyguard to protect me?! I don’t have enough time and I don’t think Wyatt will hurt me! Do you want to come on my date, big brother? You’re my protection!” True’s response caused Joy to cover up her mouth and laugh. She wasn’t trying to be rude, but watching and hearing True was priceless. She was adorable and unbelievably naive. “What’s so funnnyyyyyy!” The freshman whined.

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll let Damian answer this one.” Another chuckle slipped out.

Damian lifted Joy up off of his lap, and placed her on the bed, shaking his head. Of course, he had to take the hard questions. It wasn’t even his fault, Joy brought up all the things. He stood up from his bed and rolled his eyes, “putting out means ‘having sex.’ Don’t do it on the first date! But if you do…” Damian rummaged around in his night stand, before withdrawing a box of condoms, which he opened and pulled one out. “Here. Make him put this on. If he says no, kick him in the dick.” With that, Damian thrust out the offered condom, before he went ahead and added more confusing advice, “But don’t kick him in the dick if he produces his own to wear, because this might be too big. Maybe too small, but I dunno. Just make sure he puts one on. If he doesn’t? Kick him in the dick. But only if he’s going to have sex with you. If you’re just giving head then you don’t need one. Also, remember, spitters are quitters. And you ain’t a quitter.”

“Spitters are quitters… too big…. too small… wait, I want his babies I can’t kick him in the dick!”

“Damian, you’re teaching your sister bad things.” Joy chided, crossing her arms as she watched the two converse.

”And, and, and what is giving head? Do I like knock my head on his?” With this, Joy laid back on Damian’s bed. She was done. Absolutely done.

“Ay!” Damian very suddenly leaned down incredibly closer to True’s face and held up his finger, “listen here! Don’t be thinkin’ about having nobody’s babies! You are like twelve years old! You can have babies when you’re 26! No older, no younger. You got one year!” He straightened back up and tugged at the hem of his shirt, adjusting it as he glanced over at Joy and shook his head, “Truly Bliss is truly sheltered. She’s fourteen — damn near fifteen — years old and she doesn’t know what that means? Better me than somebody else! It means usin’ your mouth to get your man off. Don’t use teeth.”

“Hmpf. _{I don’t see the problem with having babies.} OKAY, IF HE ASKS I WILL USE MY MOUTH.” It was the only solution.

Staring at the ceiling, her arm resting over her eyes, Joy interjected, “Or you can like, not do any sexual thing and just enjoy learning things about him? That’s what first dates are for.”

“I already know so much about him! I guess I could ask him if he’ll marry me.”

“Joy, you don’t understand. She inherited mom’s crazy. I’m warning her about things that are inevitable tonight.” Damian explained, looking over at his girlfriend, “it’s better she goes in knowing what she’s getting into than not.”

“TRULY, IT’S ALMOST TIME. I’LL BE IN THE CAR!” Melody’s voice was nice and crisp, coming from down the hall.

“Right, one last thing. Make sure he can drive. Getting carted about by mom for sex dates is embarrassing.” Damian turned around and leaned down once more, kissing True on the cheek. “Love you. Call me if you need me. Be good. But not too good.”

“Love you too, big brother! I’m just going to…” True pocketed the condom in her bra. She had no pockets.

“That’s a good idea. Make him grab it. Good plan!” Damian ruffled True’s hair, and returned to the bed. His work here was done.

Holding tight to her phone, True nodded to her brother and rushed out, slamming the door behind her.

“I’m glad I’m the youngest out of my siblings.” Sure, Owen and Ruby were her half siblings but they were her siblings nevertheless. “I’ve learned enough from them, but with True… it’s a little bit different for her.” She turned her body to face Damian. “You’d think she’d learn a thing or two from you.” Joy teased.

“A king only reveals his secrets at the right time. He is never late.” Damian put a hand on Joy’s arm, and pushed onto her back, crawling on top of her. “Nor is he ever early. He arrives precisely when he needs to.” He flicked his head toward the door that True had shut. “I taught to always shut the door when she leaves. Little lessons.”

With that, he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers...

“Did you just quote Lord of the Rings?” Joy briefly pulled away to ask him that.

“Yes. Please don’t ask questions, we don’t have much time.” Damian’s shirt was off before he finished talking.

He was right. They never did have much time. Feeling him up and resting her hands on his broad shoulders, she mischievously smiled, “Okay. Let’s get to work.”

CANCELLED.

_{Collab with @Hey Im Jordan
Post focuses on a particular prick @smarty0114
Flashback to Thursday late afternoon.}

As editor-in-chief of the Black and Orange, finding out about its great success today was inevitable for Beatrix Kingsley. Trixie, a girl who cares about upholding a confident, self assured school presence, even if right now her image is very much tainted, made it an absolute to go to school for the rest of the week. And to that decision, she fucking regretted it. The moment she walked onto campus, she could smell the gossip running through the halls and like the fox that she was, the paper found her hands and she was able to read Jamie’s newest article. His most successful yet and completely driven by… her life.

All eyes were on her and their whispers were a constant. Non stop. All day. Talking about HOT being dead, Trixie being a dumbass for believing in lies, and everyone feeling sorry for Owen. Was it smart for her to go to school? Probably not. But, Trixie had to go. She wasn’t going to hide away anymore. If Riley could strut his stuff after saying FUCK YOU to the whole school, so can she! If only she could find her… greatest apprentice… who ruined any chance she had to mend things with Owen!

Why did she ask for Jamie’s help again?!

Oh, that’s right.

She was desperate.

“Fuck me!”

Pacing back and forth in the office of the gym, Trixie tried to figure out an explanation for this. An explanation to why their situation, her’s and Owen’s, was basically the headliner of today’s paper, even if it wasn’t on the first page. They were doing so good too! She had just gotten Owen back and now she had to confess it was her fault Jamie even had the idea for the story. It was her fault he could even publish the story. It was her fault… because she gave him permission! Maybe she should text Ophelia and be like: the way you can make up to me is by planning my funeral.

No, this wasn’t going to get that bad. He wasn’t going to break up with her… was he? Oh god, she was a natural disaster and nothing she did was ever right. Trixie collapsed on the futon, burying her head in the pillow, silently screaming. Fuck up after fuck up. Was she ever going to redeem herself?!

Jut outside the office, voices could be heard. One of them belonged to a new face at the gym. “Did I… do okay? Dude you seem pretty salty. HEY, don’t look at me like that! I’m just a messenger, I swear. I thought you’d wanna see it! It had your name in it, and… stuff.” The voice belonged to non other than Zach Webb, local boy crushing on Sam Lassiter, also known as ‘young grasshopper’ to Owen.

The response came from Owen, who sounded irate — but at least not ballistic. “It’s not you. You did good, kid. I’ll come get you tomorrow, alright? As for Jamie… well, let’s just say that I’m gonna get him. I will hit that fucking slimey, rotten, no good, nasty motherfucker so hard his fuckin’ children are gonna be born bruised. Fuck that guy. I want one thing in life, I want some goddamn fuckin’ privacy. But, I can’t have that, because SOMEONE —” His voice was intentionally raised, “— likes to hire nosey little PRICKS to writer articles for the newspaper. Sure would be a shame if I were to see said someone when I opened the door.” Owen said, though before he could respond, Zach was quick to speak up.

“Is… that… Tank Girl? Wait, don’t answer that. I know, I know. No references. But still, dude! Jamie is gay, you know he’s gay, right? Gay people can’ have kids! They’re… gay! I guess… I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that last statement, Zach could be heard stepping away from the door…

...and Owen threw it open. “Trixie! What the fuck!?”

Eep! Snapping herself up from the pillow, resting on her knees on the bed, Trixie met Owen’s gaze nervously. The anxiety in her was crawling up her petite body and getting stuck in her throat. Rather than respond immediately, she played with her hair that flowed over her right shoulder. After sucking her bottom lip, she still did not know what to say, but if she didn’t say anything, he’d get ten times worse. she timidly asked, “...hi, Owen. How was your day?” Heh. She was trying, okay!

“Oh, y’know. It was just fine. I woke up, I worked out with the kid. I took the kid to school. I picked the kid up from school after, because I told him I would and y’know, I’m just a great guy. Right? Kid comes up to me, says he wants to learn to fight so he can make Sam love him, so I agree. Good job Owen. BUT, Kid gets in the Lambo, hands me the newspaper and says I’m mentioned in it. So we get here. And he reads it to me. And I know you know what’s in the article. And I’m just wondering, why you let this happen? I want one thing in life. To be left alone, and afforded some privacy. Is that so much to ask? Can you not keep your fucking scumbag pet on a short enough leash? You know what I gotta do now right? Gotta stop talkin’ to Marshall, for starters. And then? I gotta kill Jamie. Dammit, Trixie. Get the strap. Where’s he live?” Owen blew at his bangs, and leaned against the doorway. In fairness to Owen, he was being quite calm, moreso than he had been in the past. On the other hand… he was talking about killing someone like it was the same as taking someone out to eat.

“He lives…” Trixie could feel the waterworks coming, but she kept them in. She jumped up off the chair and pleadingly apologized, “IT’S ALL MY FAULT, I’M SORRY!” Her hands were now tugging at her hair, to the point that she was picking some of it out from pure fear.

“Oh, quit being a baby. I’m not gonna kill him, you can’t kill gays anymore. Everyone says it’s a hate crime.” Owen shook his head and stepped forward, grabbing Trixe’s hand and prying them off of her hair, and instead slipped their fingers together, so their palms were touching, before he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “I like your hair, don’t pull it out.” Owen said, lifting his hands up above her head, bringing her arms up with him, “now, if he was straight? Then I might have to roll on him.” He kissed her again.

“Just fucking with you. I really do need something from you, though.”

“What is it?” How did things change so drastically? She didn’t even explain how the idea was entirely hers because she wanted to get to the bottom of the break up. He couldn’t have possibly found out about the deal she and Jamie made… or could he? Perplexed, Trixie, with wide eyes, looked up at her boyfriend. Was she really not dead yet?

“I need his mother’s phone number.”

Owen smiled, swinging their arms up and down as he gazed into her eyes. “Some people don’t understand that what they’re doing is fundamentally wrong, so you can’t just pound sense into them. I pounded sense into you — ha. Sometimes, you just gotta tell someone’s mom.” He said, before he shrugged and dropped her hands, walking over to the couch and flopping down on his rear, and shrugging. “I don’t know if you know this, but Jamie came here the other day. To try and get me to talk about my side of the story. I declined. He pushed. I pushed. He left with a sore face. Now, I know that no one on that newspaper does anything without your say so, but we’ll get to you later. One issue at a time.”

Oh.

Yeah, that made sense. He simply put two and two together. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that she led the charge of the newspaper club. Going to Jamie’s mother was actually an exceptionally rational solution to the issue. No violence. Simply getting the person who bled for the boy involved. A mother would be disappointed at an article like that. Trixie already knew once she told her own mother about everything, like the Cowardly Lyon, her mother would give her a earfold. When was her parents arriving to Beverly Hills anyways? She still hasn’t seen them and she thought they were flying last night… “Okay… here.” Trixie scrolled through her phone and brought up The Callaghans’ house number. Since she was a club administrator, for multiple clubs, she had all the numbers of her members’ ‘emergency contacts’. Just in case. She shuffled her way to Owen and handed him her phone.

Owen took the phone, before pulling out his own and adding the number in. Then, he held it back out to Trixie, and let out a long, winded breath. “Now, I’m gonna go see if I can handle this nonviolently. For you. And you, young lady, are going to go sit at home and think about what you’ve done.” Owen wagged his finger at Trixie, “and Daddy will pick you up tomorrow night when he’s ready.” With that Owen stood up and looked around the office, before he frowned. “That fucking kid took my Gatorade with him. Is there anything to drink in the office fridge?” All in all, Trixie got off easy; in a shocking turn of events, Owen seemed to have a more or less strong hold on his emotions and his typically short temper. For the most part, Trixie had eaten all of his aggression over the past few days in the bedroom.

“...there’s beer but you don’t drink… um...” Without hesitation, Trixie hurriedly went to the fridge and opened it, checking to see what else was in it. Beer, beer, beer… “There’s ginger ale!” Wait, wouldn’t that mean someone got sick if there was ginger ale? If she wasn’t mistaken, Owen practically lived here during the era of them not being together. When did he get sick?

“Just forget about it.” Owen said, waving his hand. Why did they have beer? His fucking dad probably did it, that rat bastard. Move back into the house for one week, and Dad thinks the gym is his playground again. Owen stood up and walked over to Trixie, shutting the fridge, “come on. Let’s go get Chinese food, and go to your house and watch K-Pop music videos.”

“W-what about Jamie’s mom?” Trixie unbent her body and gazed at Owen, still very much confused. “I thought you were going to take care of that and then punish me?”

“I’m gonna take care of it probably after I eat? I’m hungry and I had to listen to Zach… you know, exist. He talks a lot. You wanna get punished, huh? You got enough of that the last couple of days. You’re literally grounded, Trix. You can go to school tomorrow, and then you can go right back to your room and you can sit and stare at the ceiling all day.”

“But Daddyyyyy.” Trixie whined, actually okay with her sentence. This was so mild compared to what he could do to her.

“I can’t believe you want me to call another woman so badly.” Owen gestured for her to follow, and started heading toward the door with a shake of his head. “Did you really think I was gonna shoot Jamie in the face?”

“Uh, duh. When do you not want to shoot him in the face?” Trixie needily rushed to his side, grabbing ahold of his hand.

“When I’m rational and not acting on heat of passion.” Owen shrugged, locking their fingers together, “he’s not worth the jail time. I’m just going to go out of my way, to never speak to him or acknowledge him again, so long as I live. I have my mother’s blood. I can be the most petty person in existence.” He led her out of the gym and toward the parking lot. As they walked together, he glanced over at the girl that was holding his hand, and smiled. It was suffice to say that Owen was content, something that he hadn’t been for a while. He pulled her a bit closer, and dropped her hand to instead wrap his arm around her shoulder.

“I love you.”

“...I love you too, Kitty.” They had only recently got back together, day 2 now, and yet she still couldn’t believe this was her reality. Gliding her hands up his chest, she grabbed his face and tenderly smiled, “I really do and I will do whatever I have to, to make things right.” She pushed her lips up against his, letting it linger before nipping at it. Whatttt? They had a lot of loss time to make up for! She missed this. She missed him.

“If you ask me? So far so good. Maybe we should get Chinese delivered, so we have more time in your room with the door closed.” Owen was like an insatiable animal, but really? It only took one look at Beatrix Kingsley to understand why. “Either way… I’m hungry. Point still stands. By the way, your being grounded gets me out of going to the movie night thing at Captain Cuddles, completely guilt free.” What? He had to be sure. Trixie was a manipulator — he was already pretty sure she’d find a hole in his words and worm the punishment to her advantage somehow, but that was okay. Part of why he loved her, even.

Raising an eyebrow, Trixie inquired, “So what are you going to be doing then? If I’m grounded, you’re obviously not going to be doing me!” The latina didn’t mind staying in. Just because she couldn’t go out, didn’t mean she couldn’t plan something. She already knew what she wanted to do, but Owen being there would make things weird, since she had a lot to cover tomorrow night with a special someone. “You need to get out. You haven’t had a good night with friends in a long time. Owen Lyon is not someone that hides away. Go have fun!” She innocently gleamed up at him. “I’d love Chinese, by the way!” And something else. She looked down at his package, playfully.

“I am gonna have fun. Sam and me and the young grasshopper are gonna hang out here. Sam and I are gonna mess around, and the kid’s gonna work out. It should be fun. Chinese it is.”

Let's Gush!

@Bee

CANCELLED.

Me now that we're at 400 posts


KEEP IT UP BABES! I LOVE YOU ALL xoxo

CANCELLED.

_{Collab with @Hey Im Jordan as Ty Locke}

| Friday I'm In Love | Bright Lights Bigger City | The Middle | Almost |

| E V E N T | Movie Under the Stars, Captain Cuddles Roof. 'Star Wars: New Hope'

| W H O ' S I N V I T E D | Anyone & Everyone. Teens, adults, kids! Attendance not required.

| F O O D | Unlimited pizza buffet, open salad bar, couples milkshakes, free refill fountain drinks, and alcoholic beverages (21+).

| O T H E R | Entertainment center and arcade open late.

Yes, he had the kids.

Yes, he had the supermodel wife.

Yes, he had the songstress.

None of that changed the simple fact that Bartimaeus Locke’s proudest accomplishment was Captain Cuddles. It had been his life’s goal, to open a place where people could come and hang out and have a good time, and he’d definitely accomplished that. It’d taken him damn near two decades to get it to the point where he could be happy with everything, but he could say now that he was satisfied.

It didn’t just stop though, it was important to him that the building was always pushing for more people to come and visit, and that usually manifested in the form of events. Ty liked to have an event every week if he could, usually on Fridays. Sometimes, like tonight, it was as simple as a movie night. Really though? Captain Cuddles’ deal on an all you can eat pizza buffet and a two-for-one arcade tokens every Friday probably brought enough business on its own.

But, he liked to be encouraging!

The roof of the Captain Cuddles building was set up for this type of thing, with a projector that shot its image across the street and onto a huge screen attached to the building across the way (which Ty’s family also owned), and the sound system was done by his best friend Jericho, so it was top of the line and atmospheric as fuck. There were a few chairs, but most people liked to just sit on the astroturf he’d had installed on the roof with a blanket and cuddle with whoever they brought along.

What? It was in the name.

Now, though, Ty was standing with his chef friend in the kitchen. He had a few kids that had to work tonight, and he felt kind of bad about that… but, hey. Things had to keep rolling, and the few he had on shift tonight? They were single as far as he knew! “Can you believe that so many of them haven’t seen Star Wars, Remy? We gettin’ old.”

“The times are changing, but at least we keep it alive. I use to dress my boys up as Jedis. Those were the days. Saber wars when Jareth would come home late and we’d surprise attack him.” Remy reminisced, feeling the pains of watching his children grow up. His Trevor would graduate soon and then off to college he would go, becoming something big and grand. Making a difference in this world. This was TERRIBLE. “I think I made enough pizza to put anyone in a coma.” And to think, he was going to make more.

“Yeah, I remember when Henry didn’t hate me. Good times… good times.” Ty opened with, giving a thumbs up. “Hey, that’s not enough pizza probably. There’s this girl — her name is like Kit? — she might be here tonight. She… she likes her pizza.” Ty explained, heading over to the ice cream and milkshake machine with a cup in his hands. It was important to make sure that both machines were active, after all. He pulled the lever first on the soft serve machine, filling the cup up a bit before he ate a spoonful of it. Check. Then, he filled the cup up with milkshake, and drank at it, nodding. “Good news. Ice cream stuff is working.”

“I would sure hope so. I made sure the maintenance guys checked it first thing this morning. Can’t have a repeat of last week where some kid broke the lever and our floor was covered with ice cream.” Okay, so Remy’s boss wanted a lot more pizza. That’s fine. He loved cooking and if anyone could make an over abundance of food, it was Remy. “And yeah, I knew Kit when she was a lot smaller. My son use to go to therapy with her father. I’m pretty sure she ate a lot then too. Reminds me of my boys.” Remy sniffled, thinking about his sons again, growing up, too fast. WHY WERE THEY TEENAGERS? “Did you know Trevor got himself a girl? I can’t wait to meet her. I’m SO HAPPY for him.” The emotional chef rolled the dough in front of him with vigor. “I met your daughter’s girlfriend. Hailey’s korean, I mean. Such a cute girl. Why do kids grow up so fast?”

Now this was interesting to him. Remy getting all bent up about Trevor and Riley? That was… basically par for the course — Remy was a bit of an emotional lad. But this… this he did not know. “Hailey has a girlfriend!? Man, what a bummer. Nobody ever tells me anything… I guess that explains why she rainchecked movie night. And she did say she had a guest for our next dinner get together…” Huh. Well, now he was kind of excited… “Maybe Hailey will bring her in tonight? I guess that could be possible!”

“If anyone should take advantage of your events, it should be your kids! They love you. The girl’s name is Hana. I’m not lying when I say she’s absolutely gorgeous and the way your baby girl looks at her. It warms my heart.” Remy wasn’t required to always make an appearance at his place of work, which was here, and other food places owned by Ty, so it was only natural that he had totally forgotten that Hana Park was an employee at Captain Cuddles. Remy was only human and sometimes, emotion clouded his thoughts.

“Well… yeah, the girls do. And four outta five ain’t bad, yo. I did alright for myself. Hana, huh? That name seems like, familiar. Who knows why? I know a lotttt of motherfuckers.” Ty sipped a bit more at his milkshake and checked his watch, nodding to himself. It was nearly time. “Hey, if that Kit girl shows up, make sure someone… actually you know what? What if we just took the door to the arcade area… and left it open?” Ty asked, glancing over at his friend, with a tilted head as he took another sip from the drink. That was probably the easiest way to keep something like what had happened to Kit from happening again.

“We closed it for noise, right? Because kids use to annoy those that just came here for food. But maybe, nights like this, we keep it open? It’s your call. I get why it was closed to begin with, but I also get why it would be helpful for it to be open. I suppose a good in between for this would be a big sign. Signs solve everything.”

“Well, the only thing is… Kit kinda made me feel bad? She didn’t know about the arcade, and thought our only machines were the Tron, Ms. Pacman, and the Street Fighter ones in the main area? Then when I opened the arcade door, she pretty much looked like she wanted to cry when she walked off. I felt, real bad, dude.” Ty was only being honest. If opening the door was what it took to keep him from never feel like an asshole again, then so be it. They could deal with the noise.

“Well, if you want to really make her feel better, just rip the door off. Then this problem will never happen again. Do know the noise complaints will definitely pick up again, but luckily, people love pizza more than they hate noise.” Remy nodded at his words, feeling his solution was pretty reasonable. Now, he was rolling the pizza into a round.

“That’s… that’s not a bad idea. I think JJ is coming. We’ll just do that.” Made sense to him. “I think it’s gametime. People should start showing up soon.”

“I should totally take pictures of my children during break…” That was more to himself than anything. “Aye, aye Captain! Go be an awesome host!” Remy cheered, still feeling a bit sentimental about the seasons of life. Babies becoming toddlers, who grew up to being kids, who found themselves as teens a decade later, and before Remy will know it, his sons would be grown ass men taking care of him.

“Yeah, I’ll do my best. I’m gonna take that fuckin’ door off, dude. Fuck a door. Poor kid was cryin’.” Ty mumbled as he walked off, out of the kitchen.

When Ty was gone, Remy whined, “I DON’T WANT THEM TO GROW UP.”

CANCELLED.

^{Honey // Roz
Collab with @Fabricant451
Wednesday, Lunch
Text mssg from Shiloh @Silent Observer}

Honey could not focus on any of her classes today. Experiencing her first hangover was ruining all her interactions with anyone, ever. After second period, she decided to keep to herself, quiet, and away from the many socialites of the school. Sitting outside, at a picnic table by her lonesome self, with a brown bag with leftovers from the Sunshine Diner, and an assortment of sweets from the bake sale on her napkin, she pulled out her phone to text Shiloh.

To: My Fairy God-Sister
Heyyyyyyyyyy, Shi-shi. How was your night? My night was… fun. Was your night fun?

After sending that text, she felt inclined to send another one.

To: My Fairy God-Sister
...should we talk to Riley? He actually made it on the morning show, and he looks… okay… but is he?

She thought about the show, how Riley came in just when it was going to start with Brian Helmsley. He thanked him and took over, bravely addressing the things he said on his viral video: “Yeah, I know I said more than enough last night to get me sent to a psych ward, but you know what. Here I am, more me than you’ve ever seen. I don’t take back saying what we do to each other is bullshit and stupid. Don’t censor that.” He glanced off camera briefly, then brought his attention fully back on the school. Staff, teachers, and students alike. “We’re in high school, guys, so... if you don’t take a stance, are you just going to let others walk all over you? You have a voice, use it. Honestly, no one is to blame but ourselves. Like politics, there are factions and forces at this school, but we choose our time here, not them. We fear people who aren’t afraid to show what they’re against and what they’re for. People who speak their mind. People who fight for what they believe in. I’m not here to start a movement, I’m here telling you to stop pretending. If you’re not okay, that’s okay. Don’t be okay. Having a voice is not a bad thing, if anything it makes you, you. So, Beverly Hills High, I will survive here but this time, as me. If that means I’ll eat alone, from this day on, so be it. And yeah, I’m gay and I’m okay with that, because I’d rather be me than give people the time of day to drag me down. This has been Riley Wells on RISE, and believe it or not, I’m going nowhere.”

From: My Fairy God-Sister
my night was interesting
I kissed a girl
rather… a girl kissed me
which isn’t usually how that happens… but im into it
Identity to be disclosed at a later date, maybe
anyway, yeah, i planned to talk to Riley later today. im gonna invite him to LGBT+ council!

Approving of Shiloh’s course of actions, Honey grabbed a cupcake, dessert before lunch, and licked the frosting off. Absentmindedly, she went to her contacts to a new number added. The number of Roz Norcross. Honey didn’t see her throughout the entirety of her morning, so she couldn’t help but wonder if she was okay. The sunflower girl that was Honey Dalton didn’t want to appear too needy or overwhelming, but something in her was telling her to check on her.

Taking a deep breath in, she pressed the contact name ‘Roz’ and subsequently, the green phone icon to call. This was so surreal that she was capable to do this... to call her crush. On her phone. As she listened to the ringback tone, she tried to think of things to say if Roz picked up her phone. Hey, it’s your stalker who wants to know all your secrets! Oh god, that reference from last night… how cringey. Maybe a different reference. So, a dare might not be legally bindin’ but I totally could be— Okay, no references. They were horrible. Grumbling to herself, she munched on the cupcake. Maybe it would be better if Roz didn’t pick up. Saves her the trouble from embarrassing herself.

Roz was not having an ideal morning which in turn meant she wasn’t having an ideal afternoon either; though she had kept her cool, for the most part, with her brunch time meeting she made one mistake that cost her dearly. She let her pride get the better of her. She went for the slap on the wrist instead of the jugular and while it might one day prove to be a costly mistake - always go in for the kill, a true sentiment in journalism as well as warfare - her only solace was in the fact that for all the supposed heads of the class knew, they truly didn’t know Roz’s identity.

Still, with the way it went earlier, Roz decided it was better to take a personal day rather than suffer through another day at an establishment where the only thing people cared about was who could ram their tongue down the most throats or who could drink the most without having to file a police report and medical history for alcohol poisoning. No doubt the talk of the day would be about the world’s lamest boat party thrown by the world’s most self indulgent one percenters, and that was not something she needed to overhear. There wasn’t even a post on Weekend Warrior about it precisely because the only juicy bit was tired old junk about snogging and idiot teens thinking drugs won’t negatively impact them and that they’re totally bubbles of personality that don’t need booze to be mildly interesting enough to hold a conversation without devolving into monosyllabic interjections such as ‘like’ and ‘uh’ and ‘dude’.

A lazy trail of smoke wafted towards the ceiling fan as Roz watched in a stupor. The lit cigarette was in her hand but she hadn’t taken a single drag - nasty habit, it was. As the smoke wafted towards the fan only to be cleaved in two by the swaying blades, everything seemed to just be in slow motion, everything except the fan and the music playing on a loop in the background. Anger had come. It was still lingering. But more than anything else, right now Roz needed to be in her zone. People retreated to their happy places, Roz returned to her zone, where nothing could get in or out except her own thoughts as she drifted along the currents of her mood like smoke wafting upwards.

And then, of course, her phone rang.

Roz shifted her position on the dilapidated couch upon which she was laying, reaching out with a hand like she was trying to stop an old alarm clock without getting out from under the covers. In her current state of haze, her frantic slapping of the coffee table had her finger hitting the ‘accept call’ button - while she had been trying to hit the reject and mute button. With the ringing stopped, Roz assumed her task was complete and she could go back to doing nothing on her way to the zone. “Old piece of shit phone.”

“Hello? Is this Roz?” A voice that contrasted the setting that Roz was in could be heard coming out of the phone. That kind of mellifluous sound that makes someone feel like they’re floating in air. Too pure, too sugary sweet for this dog eat dog world. A voice that would be hard for Roz to forget.

Back outside, on school grounds, the girl that reminded people of sunflowers held the phone close to her ear, turning her body around on the bench to face away from the table. “It’s Honey! From last night! I was just calling to say thank you…. your company really meant a lot to me. I don’t really drink often… at all… so I’m sorry if I was a handful.” She looked at the ground, at her feet, as she tapped them against the ground waiting for a response. “I just wanted to check on you. See how your day was going.” Honey was impressed how well she was handling herself even if Roz had yet to say anything.

The same hand Roz had used to accidentally answer the phone now ran down her face as the reality of her little error was made clear. It would be rude to hang up and it would be rude not to say anything at all but in the heat of the moment, such as it was, Roz had to search her memory for the owner of the voice. She wasn’t exactly used to hearing voices that could turn black coffee into that warm caramel shine so it took the honied voice of, well, Honey for Roz to put two and two together and come up with the answer. The drunk fangirl from the blackjack game, the one who went for a night swim, the one Roz kept out of trouble - the sharks on the boat surely smelled the blood of an inebriated girl. Did she give Honey her number? Obviously, but in light of the morning’s events, the previous night was largely a blur by now. And to think she didn’t even drink.

“Did you go to school? Your hangover cure must be something else - you were kinda gone.” Roz didn’t want to let her present mood influence her tone, the Dalton girl didn’t do anything wrong and Roz knew better than to lash out at the innocent party - but that didn’t exactly mean she was fully prepared for some kind of sudden phone call. “As far as drunk people go, you were fine. You didn’t puke on me and pass out in my lap. What is it, like noon? This couldn’t wait until after school? Why’d you really call, Honey?”

Oh no. Roz was super inquisitive. It made Honey tingley on the inside and undeniably nervous. “Is it a bad time? I just…” She bit her bottom lip, mustering what to say. She wasn’t lying when she said she was worried. “I didn’t see you, and I hope I wasn’t the reason you didn’t come in today. I’ve been feeling like poop all morning but I didn’t want daddy to worry about me. I know he probably would’ve been okay with me staying home, but I don’t know. I didn’t want my bad mood to ruin my day. And I...”

Pause.

Should she say it?

Well, she already got this far.

_{“...I wanted to see you.”} Her soft voice dropped to a whisper. Her free hand covered her beaming red face, near immediately. Her heartbeat was pulsating through her ears. Every single pound, booming from her chest, running through her veins and through the entirety of her petite body. She did it. She said she wanted to see her again. Courage wasn’t failing her now! There was no turning back. Still not a full on confession, but if her signs weren’t getting more and more obvious, then she was terrible at this ‘love’ game.

Technically after the morning meeting? Every time was a bad time where Roz was concerned, but she obviously couldn’t say that to the girl. Well, she certainly could but it would have been both rude and not at all Honey’s concern. In this bloody battle of wits and the published words, Roz couldn’t afford to drag genuine innocents through the muck. Roz might have been a bit of a muckraker, but fortunately that term didn’t mean what it sounded like. Hell, the girl was basically so pure that she didn’t even use the obvious profanity that was as commonplace as janitors being weird. How someone like that survived this long at BHHS was...a mystery. Mysteries were never Roz’s strong suit but she was nothing if not considering a change of perspective.

“I think you might still be a little drunk there. You said you wanted to see…me?” That was enough to get Roz from a prone position to a seated one, with her curious gaze levied at the phone like it was an alien device. For someone that supposably understood people enough to write about them...Roz was finding this particular person rather atypical. The mystery. It couldn’t just be so simple, there had to be an angle...right? Was she put up to this? That didn’t seem possible, Roz met Honey before she was even a blight on a brunch...but that was the only thing that made any sense...because clearly this girl who couldn’t say ‘shit’ and was a bit of a lightweight couldn’t genuinely want to see Roz for no particular reason. Right?

“You sure you got the right number? What, you tryin’ to hang out with me? You don’t wanna be in the dirt with me, you’re better than that.” Roz felt lower than dirt at the moment; she couldn’t even see the light from her depths, but at least she didn’t shut it out completely.

“Don’t think so negatively about yourself!” Honey retorted, in a rather scolding manner. Eep. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.” She said sorry too much. Taking a moment to breathe, Honey stood up from her seat, her feet planted, keeping ground. Roz needed to believe her when she said the things she said. “I’m calling Roz Norcross. She gave me her number last night and took care of me when my brother was busy working and my best friend was seeing colors. I got lucky because I never thought we’d actually talk… in person. With us being different years, and all, but we’ve met before, believe it or not. I don’t know if you remember me, since I sit in the middle of the room, but we share photography together. Before winter break, for our midterm, I was the one who did the photo essay at Sunshine Diner. Just a simple, peaceful day at a family diner. Hard working people, trying to brighten their customers’ days. I’d like to think I got my message across.”

She was getting off topic. “You, Roz, are a mystery. No one knows anything about you! Not saying I tried to find out or anything… but last night was new for me. I chose to go to a party. I never go to parties. But I did! And then we talked. I want more talks like that… I want to get to know you.” Honey’s expression was completely resolute. If nothing else, she was determined to build a bridge between her and this girl that thought she was in the dirt. She wasn’t dirt. She was sensationally awesome!

With the apology came the immediate response of Roz’s laughter; it was more akin to a scoff, but one that came with a dry little chuckle. It had felt like an eternity since something had made Roz laugh in genuine fashion. If that was her idea of yelling, Roz wondered what it was like if she ever actually got upset or angry. Roz didn’t exactly recall the specifics of last semester’s midterm but who was she to say otherwise - the important bit was that this girl clearly knew Roz. Not well but enough to be intrigued. She might have been the only one who did notice her and that was...curious where Roz was concerned. Spend enough time being invisible and the one person who sees through the spectre is one that sticks out.

“It seems we both have a thing for mysteries, yeah?” Roz could admit when she was intrigued. It was in her nature, but this time it wasn’t for a blog or to raise awareness. This one was more of an editorial. And completely off the record. “You like coffee?”

“Mocha only, I prefer hot chocolate. Coffee can be a little too bitter for me but when you add chocolate, it’s not half bad.” Not once was Honey anything but herself. Nor did she look at their conversation as a quiz or a test. Really, Honey thought if people were going to be in her life, they would love her for her, regardless of her opinions and what she liked or disliked. Honey’s hold on the phone tightened, waiting in anticipation. Was this going to lead to a date? Was Roz going to ask her out on a date? Don’t think too far ahead. Don’t get your hopes up. Maybe she just wanted to know if you liked coffee.

Roz knew the type of person who responded like that. The literal response, the type who didn’t understand the intent behind it - or maybe the type that didn’t think they had any right to think of the intent like that. It was cute in its own sort of oblivious kind of way; she supposed that’s what she got for trying to play a little bit coy and loose. “Honey, I was asking you out. You want to get to know me better, I assure you there’s not much to know, but from what I remember last night you weren’t awful to be around. We can make it hot chocolate, Miss Mocha.” That, it seemed, left little room for misinterpretations.

“OH MY GOD.” Oh. Honey said that outloud. Frantic now, she spun in circles. What should she say? What should she say? What should she say? Abruptly, she reached for the table for stability. Hungover and spinning. Bad combo. “I mean, cool. Yeah. Perfect.” Her eyes glanced up at a couple staring at her from a different table. Her cheeks were stained rose and she had no idea if this feeling would ever go away. “You, me, Mocha chocolate.” A date. Yes. A date. A DATE! “I totally knew that.” She anxiously giggled, before the sudden recollection of something from last night popped in her mind.

“...can we consider last night our first date?” Because then she would be a first for Roz.

That was definitely not something Roz heard every day: genuine excitement. It seemed the student body at BHHS lived in a constant state of blase and malaise where the only emotion was indifference or lust. It was exhausting which was why Honey’s reaction was working as kind of a mood enhancing stimulant. Like a shot of honey in tea. Funny, that. “Sure, why not. We’ll avoid the trap of an awkward first date then.” Roz didn’t seem to understand the simple significance, but she did have quite a lot on her mind of late. “It’s a date, then.”

“Absorutely!” Pause. “Er, absolutely. Just text me where and when?” The school bell rang. Did Honey forget to eat? She looked at the single bite in her cupcake. Yeah, she sure did. Who needs food when she had a second date with Roz! A date. Her cheeks started to hurt from how wide her dimpled grin was becoming. “I have to go… I’ll see you?” Honey didn’t want to hang up, but she had to. Like a puppy with a wildly waggy tail, she waited for the ‘ok’ from Roz, still clinging to her phone like it was her most prized possession.

“That sounds like the school bell, Honey. Go try and learn something and I guess I’ll talk to you later. Maybe call after school next time, yeah? The delinquent look works better on me.” Roz wasn’t so much in her stupor and she figured there was one person to thank for that - the tragedy was that the person would never know. Still, Roz appreciated the gesture even if she didn’t think it was one she exactly deserved. Maybe this one she wouldn’t fuck up irreperably. “Be seeing you. Sooner rather than later.” It was off to a good start, at any rate.

“For a second date! Yay!” The second warning bell went off. Ooooh no. Roz was right. She wasn’t much of a delinquent but she wouldn’t mind expanding her horizons with her sexy warrior! Don’t think ahead of yourself. She’s just going on a date with you. She doesn’t actually ‘like’ you. If anything this is probably a pity date... Shaking her head before depressing thoughts got into it, Honey quickly, yet still politely, dismissed herself, “I can’t wait! Bye-bye, Roz. Thank you so much!” And with that Roz’s phone line went dead.

CANCELLED.

_{Time: Early, Thursday morning.
Collab with: @Hey Im Jordan as Alyssa Green and @Bee as Justin Quentin}

Finally, after fifteen hours and change, Cyndi Green and her Butler arrived in front of the Green Castle, 5am in the morning. She wondered if all her parents were up. She knew her mommy was definitely up, since Alyssa lived and breathed her job. She was one of the most prominent business magnates — there was no time for sleep. Daddy, he was a wildcard, but Cyndi decided to assume he was snuggling with Tia Julie. Her mama was a fifty/fifty chance of being up depending on her restless mind that caused her to stay up, spending endless hours in the studio, making new music, or simply playing the piano until she passed out. That happened more often than you could imagine and there have been many times when one of the butlers, which it use to be Alyssa’s Butler’s job before he retired, had to carry Eve to the master bedroom. Or daddy would simply do it. Well actually, ever since Hailey was born, daddy preferred to be the only one to do it. The only times he didn’t was when he wasn’t around.

Evelyn was a wonderful mama, always trying to play the peacemaker between Alyssa and daddy, or Alyssa and Henry. But, she’s come a long way with being able to actually care for herself and a family for that matter. Becoming a mother was the best thing that could happen to Eve, because as an abused child star that found happiness with a Green, it gave her three reasons to better herself and not succumb to the demons of her past. As for Cyndi’s eldest sister, Hailey didn’t need someone to watch over her, especially not Eve, and rarely was caught in messes, even if she was the mastermind behind plenty of mishaps at school.

Then there was the littlest Green. Cyndi wasn’t one for anyone to worry about, but that was primarily because she was a Goody-Two-Shoes. She didn’t want to disappoint her mommy, so of course, she had to be prim and proper. The perfect Green princess. Not necessarily for entrepreneur reasons, like Hailey was fully capable of, or even for charming reasons, like Henry, who was an amazing people person. She was the obedient one. She did what she was told. She didn’t stray away from the path paved for her, which was one day to be a starlet, managed by her mommy. At the core of it all? She was just pure. A cinnamon roll.

Cyndi had been caught in a daze during the entirety of the car ride when her Butler’s voice broke her out of it: "Hey, head in. You need sleep, we got another big day ahead of us. Cyndi’s big return! I won’t go over your schedule for next week until Saturday. For now, don’t worry ‘bout a thing.” As per usual, Xander would take care of her luggage. Yawning widely, she nodded at her Butler. She couldn’t wait to get to her bed. That bed she’s missed for so long. Exiting out of the black car, she shuffled her way down the path, up the stairs, and to the big doors that would lead to her home. The moment she reached the door, it opened automatically.

From the nearby dining area, there was the soft sound of music playing. The source of it, of course, was Alyssa Green’s laptop, from where the woman was working on a project summary she was meant to present to a board. They were absorbing yet another company in the next week, which would hopefully increase their revenue a bit more, though she did look up when she heard the door opening, realizing who it was. “Cyndi? Come here.” Alyssa’s voice wasn’t raised particularly loudly, but the only people who didn’t snap to it when she spoke were people whose time on this green earth was short.

Without much of a fight, she loved her mommy too much, Cyndi walked with her feathery dancer feet and made her way into the room where the woman of the house waited for her. Playing with her long, artificially blonde hair, Cyndi beamed, “Hi, mommy.” She waited to be given permission to hug her, since she didn’t want to disturb too much of her mother’s work. “Another big project?” The princess inquired.

“Yes. I have to build something worth leaving to you and your siblings, after all. All I ever do is big projects,” She stepped off of the seat she was sitting on and wrapped her arms around Cyndi and placed a kiss atop her youngest child’s head. “I also have to make sure that Min-seo can stay, despite her exchanged student… coming home. It’s turning out to be a pain… I might just buy the company that arranged it.” She shook her head and had a brief look on annoyance on her face, though it faded quickly after.

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble…” Cyndi apologized to her mother. Looking up to her, with her big, innocent eyes, she added, “I just wanted to come home. I missed you.” She missed a lot of things, but she missed her mommy the most. Not wanting to seem too pitiful, she tried to change the course of the conversation, “Has Min enjoyed herself here?” Cyndi had no idea the impact Min has had on her brother. Not yet at least.

“Min-seo and your brother are under the impression that they love each other. I doubt it will last, and I intend to have a private meeting with Min-seo to discuss it. Evelyn is allowing them to sleep in the same room — I protested but was shut down by a tag team of my bastard half-brother and your mother.” Alyssa scowled, and took a seat back down at her chair, taking a sip from the steaming mug of coffee beside her.

With the word love coming into the air, Cyndi thought about the concept, wondering its depth, and whether or not her brother was actually in love. Stepping closer to her mother’s seat, Cyndi continued to play with her hair, as she asked, “How do you know? When you’re in love?” It was late, or well early, and usually this time of day was when philosophical questions came into Cyndi’s mind.

“It’s different for everyone. I knew I was in love with your mother when we spent an entire day together, and at some point I forgot I invited her over to fuck.” Another sip of the coffee — and Alyssa shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t think much about what she was saying, it was mostly true. She’d watch her brother have the same effect on Evelyn, too. “I don’t know if Henry’s really in love, though I suppose if he is, I can use the threat of sending Min-seo home against him.”

“I see.” And it was this response that would instill fear in Cyndi whenever she would cross that bridge with someone. When she would hopefully fall in love. If he’s happy, then I’m happy for him. Cyndi thought to herself, before giving her dimpled smile, “I should probably go to bed. Try to get some sleep if you can, mommy. I love you.” Staying in place, Cyndi waited to be dismissed.

“Sleep is for people who don’t run empires.” She leaned over and kissed Cyndi on the forehead, “good night, princess.”

“Night-night.” With that, Cyndi turned on her heel and tiptoed upstairs, to her bedroom. As she made her way to her room, Xander went into the dining area to give his boss an update, as protocol. Butlers were the eyes and ears for the sovereign of the house.

Closing the door behind her, Cyndi took a deep breath in. She was home, at last. With hurry, she stripped, including her undergarments, and threw on a Winnie the Pooh nightgown. Placing her phone on her nightstand, she then grabbed her hairbrush. Sitting down on her bed, Cyndi softly brushed her long strands. Stroke after stroke. If only she was a natural blonde, then she would look just like mommy. The short conversation with her mother replayed in her head, especially about love. Cyndi would be lying if she said she didn’t want to know how it felt. To be truly and deeply in love. Then all her love songs would have soul. She would sing like her mama. Her eyes trailed from the ground to her phone. For a moment, she contemplated her next actions and sucked the bottom of her lip. Would he be up? Would it be rude to… message him?

Stroke, stroke.

Even if he didn’t get back to her this very moment, he could when he woke up! Yeah! It was worth a try. No guy had ever showed interest in her. Scooting on her bed, closer to her nightstand, she traded her hairbrush for her phone, and opened Instagram up. First, before she decided to message him, she decided to explore his pictures. After a couple of moments of just… looking at him, she mustered the courage to initiate another conversation. Not really knowing how successful it would be.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“...hi.”

Hi? Just hi? She didn’t know what to say! Well it was a start. A start was always good. First, he needed to respond. Or not. And she’d force herself to go to bed.

Justin was deep asleep, the burdens of life temporarily off of him as he was whisked off to dreamland. Footballs were flying all over the place in his dream. He was dreaming about playing in the big leagues, underneath the spotlight as everyone was calling his name. Justin Quentin! Justin Quentin! He was playing in the Super Bowl… and all eyes were on him as he lead the team to a potentially game winning drive with mere seconds on the clock.

As soon the ball left his dream-self’s hand, he was immediately yanked out of his dream with the violent vibration of his phone. Jerking wide awake, a jolt was sent through his body as his phone lit up. ”Jesus…” Justin murmured, rubbing his face as he grabbed his phone. Who was texting him at this time in the morning? He had to know. Upon opening his phone… his mood suddenly took a turn for the better.

It was Cyndi. Holy shit it was Cyndi.

Looking at the DM, there was a goofy smirk on his face. Now the question of how to respond was on his mind. She just sent him a hi, and she initiated it, which was great. Now… how was he gonna follow that up? As simple as this seemed, it felt like he was doing rocket science. His fingers hovered above his screen, mulling over the potential reply.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Justin Quentin (@justinquentin6)

”Hey”

Laying on her stomach, her legs swaying back and forth in the air, Cyndi’s eyes widened when he responded so quickly. He greeted her back! With a sudden serious face, she sped typed her next DMs:

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“I’m back… and safe.”

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry!”

Cyndi rolled in her bed, not wanting to spam him too much. Resting her phone on her chest, she waited, wondering when they would get pass the whole ‘chit chat’. Curiosity filled her warm soul. Who was this Justin Quentin? And what did he like about her? This was all so new and exciting!

Did she wake him? Yeah, she kinda did. It was 5 AM in the morning right now. Who in their right mind was up at 5 AM besides the cutest girl on Earth and racoons (not like they were mutually exclusive though)? He was lying in his bed, holding his phone up in such a position where it could do some damage to his face if he were to drop it.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Justin Quentin (@justinquentin6)

”Nah. It’s all good.”

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Justin Quentin (@justinquentin6)

”...back from where tho? 🤔👀”

Oh, okay. This was definitely new for her. He didn’t follow her like most people did. If anything, they both were starting with a complete blank slate. She knew nothing about him, besides football and that his instagram made him really attractive and he knew nothing about her.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“Seoul. South Korea. I was part of the exchange program.”

Tapping the phone on her chin, part of her wanted to go somewhere with this conversation, but she didn’t know what was appropriate in these circumstances. If there was anything her siblings were, it was bold and daring. Nodding to herself, she sat up once more and walked to her vanity mirror. Aiming her camera toward the mirror she took a quick picture of herself, but hid her face with the phone. Raw and unfiltered, she DM’ed the picture and added:

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“Do you like Winnie the Pooh?”

Her flirt game was going to get somewhere. Maybe. At least she sent him a pic of her sleepy self!

Seoul? What made Cyndi go all the way over there? Justin was curious, but he had a feeling that she didn’t really want to talk about that right now. Especially not with the latest thing that Cyndi had sent. His face turned super red. Damn… Justin was flummoxed. His smile somehow got a bit wider. Why wouldn’t it? Cyndi was super cute, after all.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Justin Quentin (@justinquentin6)

”oh… bother. what a cutie 👀 ”

Justin smirked, before trying to figure out how to follow up the photo. He wasn’t good at taking selfies, but he figured he should return the favor since Cyndi had sent one. Sitting up in his bed, he made one of those obligatory fuckboy-y poses in his bed, sticking up his hand in a “rocking” gesture before taking a pic and sending it off to Cyndi.

To his luck, Cyndi wasn’t educated in ‘fuck boy’ manners and patterns. Her reaction was something any young teenage girl would give when they saw something mighty attractive. She squirmed completely embarrassed, threw herself on her bed, and smothered her face into her pillow. Would her mother be disappointed in her? Probably.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“You’re the cute one!”

Did guys like being called cute? Maybe that wasn’t the exact term she wanted to use. Give him another compliment!

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“I like your eyes.”

Justin blushed again as Cyndi said he was cute. Man, he really liked that. It was making him feel fuzzy on the inside and he liked it. A sudden sense of warmth had filled him up as he looked over the texts from the cutest girl on Earth.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Justin Quentin (@justinquentin6)

”Nah. You’re cuter. I know a cute girl when I see one.”

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“You’re the cutest!”

Was this becoming a competition now? He was trying to out compliment her!

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“If I was so cute, you would’ve asked me out already xP”

Woah. Did she say that? She totally did. How was he going to react to that? Her eyes were glued to her phone. Tracing her finger on her comforter, she waited. Waiting sucked.

Justin damn well nearly dropped his phone at the latest text he had just received. That had come as a HUGE shock to him. He didn’t know how to respond. But, he might as well have gone with the flow. It was pretty much the best way to go about things.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Justin Quentin (@justinquentin6)

”... you down? You forreal?”

Justin scratched his chin.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Justin Quentin (@justinquentin6)

”how’s tonight for ya? ”

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Cyndi Green (@cyndigreenofficial)

“Sounds great. Meet me at the front entrance of The Underground at 8PM. Don’t be late.”

And there was the Green in her. Demanding and decisive. If she wasn’t mistaken Thursday night at The Underground was ‘rap’ night. It’s been awhile since she frequented there. She actually preferred The Underground over Captain Cuddles, truthfully. That’s where people showed their talents. Feeling she ended their conversation on a hopeful note, she plugged her phone on it’s charger and placed it on her nightstand. It was time for her to get rest. She had a date later on that day.

Grabbing her Eeyore teddy, she brought him close to her, brushed her face up against his soft fur, yawned for one last time, before closing her eyes. If there was one thing she didn’t want to come across as, it was needed, so she would stop their conversation there.

Holy SHIT she actually agreed to it. Maybe Justin should’ve thrown Hail Marys more often. Apparently he had a higher success rate with them than he’d thought.

MESSAGE RECEIVED FROM: Justin Quentin (@justinquentin6)

”sounds good to me! see ya then ;) ”

CANCELLED.

_{Every Wednesday night, the Tyler family & the Thomas family have a bad movie night.
(Relation connection: Mr. Tyler & Mrs. Thomas are brother and sister)
Collab with @Hey Im Jordan}

“Good evening, I’m your host of the night, AJ-fucking-Tyler! It's that time of the week again, bad movie night. And our selection is... drumroll please.” AJ had his snapchat on, in selfie mode, as he recorded during ‘break’ because his Aunt Molly had drank too much wine and went to the bathroom, so the movie was on pause. He changed the camera mode and pointed it at Kit, “KIT DRUMROLL!”

“AJ, stop playing around.” Haylee tsked, as she grabbed the HUGE ASS popcorn bowl from the ground to her lap. Never enough popcorn. At least it had a good butter to popcorn ratio. She could live with that. Maybe she should pop more, though.

Haylee may have said something about AJ not playing around, but Kit wasn’t going to miss the chance to hit things. She leaned forward to the coffee table and drummed her hands as rapidly and loudly as possible. Fuck yeah! Making noise!

“What else you want me to do, ma? Tell auntie to hurry her ass up, or better, Doc. Hurry up your wife. ANYWAYS!” AJ zoomed the camera into his dad’s face, “Dad, dad, dad, what we watchin’?”

“A two hour long advertisement for Instagram. Why don’t we just watch good movies?”

“Because, dude. The Professor can’t handle watching movies quietly and if we watched good movies, then everyone would give her dirty looks for talking during movies.” Kit explained, bringing her drumroll to an end and instead grabbing a handful of Haylee’s popcorn. Oliver looked at Kit, and shrugged — a way to say ‘yep.’

“Ugh, whatever. It’s called the Emoji Movie.”

“Hell yeah, you heard that fam.” The camera was back in selfie mode.

“YOU KNOW I’M NOT DEAF, OLIVER!” The bathroom was actually pretty close… Molly could hear everything, even in her inebriated state.

“Emoji movie. Stay tuned for an AJ review.” AJ charmingly winked at the camera before posting the video on his story, for all his classmates to watch. Snapchat was the shit. AJ would utilize it because it was fun and it gave him an excuse to watch himself talk. He was a fine looking dude. Who wouldn't want to watch him talk?

There was a flush heard from the bathroom. After the sink ran for about a minute or two, out came an annoyed Professor, “I could be quiet if I needed to be!” Kit’s mother crossed her arms and sauntered to the sofa, giving her husband a death glare. Classic Molly.

“About damn time.” Haylee rolled her eyes at her sister-in-law. “We were only a quarter in and you already had to pee, what did I tell you about drinking so much before we actually started the movie?”

“Like I listen.” Molly stuck her tongue out like a child to AJ’s mother.

“Clearly.”

Knock knock.

“Babe, get that please.” Haylee nudged at B-Rad’s arm, too busy eating popcorn to answer the door herself. Popcorn was her top priority right now. The man shrugged, and stood up off the couch and walked across the way to the front door, and nobody could hear anything, before…

“HAYLEE! AJ! SCOTT’S HERE! HAS SOMETHING TO ASK YOU!” The sound of B-rad’s voice fluttered across the house and into the living room, and the ears of his beautiful wife and the ears of his relatively handsome son.

“Bruh, my boy.” AJ got up from the ground and was by his father and his best friend in a matter of seconds. With his arms open, he greeted his bro, “Scott! Didn’t know you were comin' by, what brings you?” AJ didn’t think it was something terribly bad, but just reading Scott’s expression told him otherwise. “What's good?” His smile shifted to concern and his arms dropped to his sides.

“SCOTT, COME JOIN US! WE’RE WATCHING THE EMOJI MOVIE.” Haylee called out, but in a far more graceful way than her sister-in-law was ever capable of doing. Molly was basically a banshee.

“My dad kicked me out dude.” Scott said bluntly and plainly, with a somewhat defeated shrug, before he walked past AJ with a long sigh, heading toward the movie room. B-rad looked at his son and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sounds like Gabe.”

“...want to, uh, talk about it? Somewhere private?” AJ offered, not really wanting to leave his friend feeling like this. Movie night would have to go on without him. Friendship came first and if Scott needed him. Well then, Scott needed him.

“Is everything alright?” Haylee looked at her husband, wondering what needed to be asked of her. Truthfully, movie nights were sacred for the Thomas and Tyler family, but there were a few people who were exceptions to the rules. One being AJ's best man. His partner-in-crime. Scott Lyon.

“Nah, it’s okay. We can talk… after the movie.” Scott said, before turning to look at Haylee, staring at her for a few seconds before he spoke, “my dad kicked me out. Can I stay here for like… a few days? Or at least tonight, until I figure something out.” Scott asked, somewhat meekly. It was a lot to ask of someone who wasn’t even really related to him… He just happened to be best friends with her son.

“Dude, that’s awesome! You can do adult stuff, like kissing!” Kit chimed in, with an incredibly Kitcore thing to say.

“Kathryn.” Molly scolded. “Let them finish.” And stop. Just stop with all this ‘kissing’ stuff.

“Pleaseeeeee, mommy. We won’t get too rowdy! And I’ll make you breakfast in bed!” AJ made his way to Haylee, resting his chin on her knees and batting his eyes. What? He was a mama’s boy and he was trying to give his best friend a good deal. His mom was kind of random with how she dealt with things. Sometimes the results were positive, sometimes the results were nuclear.

“Sure, for as long as you need to, but wouldn’t your mother be upset you’re gone for a few days?” Haylee raised an eyebrow to Scott, as she twirled a piece of her son’s soft hair around her finger. The bowl was no longer in her hands, it was in Kit’s.

Nice. Kit was demolishing the popcorn now. No longer was she concerned with what her mother said, with what the boys were saying, or anything else. There was nothing else in the room — only the popcorn. Munch, munch, munch. Too bad they didn’t have pizza… “You… guys should… start having… pizza. At this thing.”

“Mom’s on vacation, so Dad’s kinda being… extra him. You know how he gets, right?” He asked, tilting his head slightly with a frown on his face. He’d drawn a rather shitty hand, as far as fathers went — but, Gabriel wasn’t that bad when Mama was around, but… she was off, right then.

“You eat too much pizza.” Molly held her glass close to her lips, as she watched her daughter savagely eat the popcorn. “It’s going to go straight to your thighs, young lady.”

“Thick thighs save lives, dude!”

Haylee nodded to Scott’s words. Of course, she knew how Gabriel was, she grew up with him because he was her best friend’s half brother. She’d find time later to talk to Sofia Helmsley, to see if she could give Gabriel some chill for his sexually frustrated ass. “He probably got mad because you weren’t doing things like he’d do. Typical for your dad. Such a manchild.” Haylee rolled her eyes and leaned her head against her husband’s shoulder. With this, AJ turned around, but sat near his mom’s legs. Only Kit and Scott knew how attached he was to her. “Anyways, come join us before Oliver gets yelled at a thousand times, Molly passes out drunk, and Kit eats everything we have here.” The matriarch had spoken, as she continued to play with her son’s fluffy hair.

“I mean, I’d definitely do my best. Did you know that Victoria girl puts like… cinnamon sugar on her popcorn sometimes? It’s like… crack. Popcrack.” Kit said, munching on another handful of popcorn. She seemed indifferent to the discussion and tribulations that Scott was facing, and instead seemed single mindedly dedicated to eating all the food she could get her hands on. It was the weed! Probably.

“Thanks, Haylee… Sorry.” Scott grumbled, before taking a seat on the floor and out of the way. Him being here in the Tyler household wasn’t like a totally unusual thing, but this was a little awkward. This was like a family function! What was he doing here?

The movie started once more and for the sake of Molly not falling asleep, the lights were kept on. Scott’s phone vibrated with a text.

From: Bae

u sure u dont want 2 talk?
i got news 4 u 2
wanna go to the roof after this?

AJ was good at sneakily typing, while still looking at the TV. Truth be told, AJ couldn’t focus on the movie anymore, since now he was thinking about theories of why Gabriel kicked out his boy.

From: Bae

ok.

Scott’s response wasn’t quite as full of vigor as he normally was, in fact it was quite the opposite. While he would usually include an unnecessarily large amount of emojis, this message was rather bare. Scott wasn’t even trying to hide that he was in somewhat of a ‘mood,’ to say the least. What his father had asked about him was impossible!

The movie was fucking god awful, but that was what Wednesday nights were for. To watch god awful movies. By the end, everyone but Molly and Kit were up. Usually, Kit could power through, but her dark circles did seem more prominent than usual. Molly, however, fell asleep always on nights she chose to drink. There was no doubt she was drinking because of her daughter.

“I’ll clean up.” Haylee whispered, leaning in to give her husband a gentle kiss on the cheek. With the noise of his mother, breaking the movie silence, AJ bounced up and looked toward Scott expectantly. Usually, he’d clean up for his mother, but he was worried and she knew him well enough to expect him to not assist this very night.

Oliver was on his second trip, having already carried the sleeping Molly and gotten her situated in the car. Now, he had Kit in his arms, and was walking out the room, glancing at his sister-in-law, “sorry that Kit tends to… eat people out of house and home. I don’t know how she does it. From what I understand though, she’s going through some stuff right now… Lotta friction. Thanks for having us,” Oliver smiled and waved as best he could with his daughter in his arms.

“We have money, so it isn’t a problem. Drive safe. You’re a good man, Oliver.” Haylee walked her family to the front door.

Scott, on the other hand shrugged, and stood up from the ground and walked off toward the roof with AJ, “My old man’s bein a real cocksucker, dude.” His words were venomous, especially for talking about one’s father, but Gabriel tended to deserve it!

“What’d he do this time? Man, I bet you can’t wait to be on your own, living the fast life. My dad has his moments, but he’s the best.” AJ’s mom had told him stories of her young days; his father was basically an A-Class asshole and she was a total bitch, but they brought out the best in each other. A true love story to aspire for. Finding someone that brings the best out of you...

Their route was the same-o, same-o. Second floor bathroom window. Vines. Roof. Boom.

“He told me that I can’t come back unless I come back with Katie on my arm.” Scott explained, while they hoisted themselves up onto the roof. He didn’t really understand the point of his dad’s… punishment? Encouragement? He wasn’t sure what Gabriel thought he was doing, but he knew that he was fucked either way. “The problem? I told Katie today that I never want to talk to her ever again.”

AJ had gestured for Scott to go up first, and was poking his head out the bathroom window, “And how did that make you feel? Telling her you were done with her?” AJ had a feeling it was a blatant lie because Scott was like him, and sometimes, they chose to lie because at the time, they thought it was for the best. Or maybe they weren’t even lying but they weren’t really aware of how they were feeling.

Fuck you, Jamie.

He was the reason he was a damn mess. Blame it on him, for life.

Honestly, if AJ didn’t have massive history with Jamie, people would think his bro that he would never convert, Scotty-boy, was his lover because their bromance game was on par. Actually, that was a rumor even while he dated Jamie.

“What? Don’t get all gay on me. No offense, of course. Just help me come up with a stupid, convoluted plan to get her to come home with me so I can get in my own damn bed.” Scott said, glancing over at AJ and shaking his head. He didn’t need to hear any of that crap about… feelings. He didn’t want to talk about his feelings, he wanted to talk about how they were going to fix this.

“You right.” He was being pretty gay, but hey, he had just been with his mom and that’s when he was at his softest! Okay, focus. Finally, they were both on the roof, sitting under the stars. Convoluted plan… Katie… convoluted plan… man, that girl was like a damn nazi but the female kind…. Convolution…

“IDEA!” He snapped his finger, making a dramatic pause, before shaking his head, “Nah, I got nothing…” He paused once more when suddenly an all too familiar face came into his head, “But I know just the person who can help us.” Cecily. “That is, if you want to get someone else involved. I think you know who I’m talking about.”

“Dude, I already DM’d her on Instagram. This is her own fault for being hot!” Scott said, looking up at the sky and groaning, This was all Katie’s fault. “Look, dude. On the boat, Katie and I had a… moment. We were fighting, and then she fell into the water, and I dove in after her… I wanted to help I guess. I don’t know. Then we went to one of those rooms, and we talked and it was weird and sentimental… I didn’t like it. So then today at school I told her I never wanted to talk to her ever again, and it was great, she agreed. BUT THEN, this happened, so I DM’d her. I don’t think Cece can really help with this one, I gotta figure it out mostly on my own.”

That’s true. Cece didn’t really care about Katie. If anything, she would do something to make her more… repressed… and more angry. Katie needed to get laid. Part of AJ wanted to tell Scott about him and Bailee, somehow ‘dating’ now, but not really, because really it was a convoluted plan to get Jamie jealous. Yet, Bailee was completely in the dark and thought he was into her like that.

Uh, yeah.

That wasn’t the focus, though. The focus was Scott and Katie. “...how about using Joy?” A trap. Katie listened to Joy and would be there for her in a heartbeat. Get Katie somewhere and just take her! No, that was illegal. Very illegal.

Here was a start, at least.

“Joy doesn’t even need to be aware of our ploy. Or, or, what if you ask Joy to set you up on like a blind date with Katie? Like she doesn’t even need to know it’s you! Be genuine and be like hey, Joy, I really like Katie, I just need a good opportunity to tell her then like a fly swat, you hit your target, SWAT, and take her to your place!” Wait, that still sounded like kidnap.

“Hey, you and Jamie are cool-ish right? Why don’t we just go to their house and throw rocks at her window in the middle of the night? That seems like a legitimate reaction.” He paused for a moment, to let AJ react to the idea (which was a grimace), before he shook his head, “nah, that wouldn’t work. I guess Joy’s an okay option. But maybe we should go through Damian. Because if I tell Joy that I think I’m into Katie, she’s just gonna tell Katie that I’m into her. You can’t trust hoes, dude.”

“You right.” AJ nodded in agreement, before making a fist with one of his hands, conveying passion, “And Damian probably understands how the other Shauna can be. He would definitely be a hero for all boys at our school. We’re like the best gearheads out there. He’ll scratch our backs, then we’ll scratch his.” They were getting somewhere. Sure, their plan wasn’t necessarily the most clear, but it wasn’t like they were throwing themselves to the wolves and hoping for good results. They have direction, the rest they’d just improvise as they go.

Pfft, AJ and Scott were better at improvising than Katie! Yeah, he thought that. Katie was eh-aiight in AJ's book. He didn't necessarily know how he felt about his best friend hooking up with his ex's sister, but he'd learn to live with it. Good thing he didn’t say any of that out loud.

“Yeah, Damian has knowledge of many things. I’ll just call him and tell him to tell Joy that he wants to set up a double date with Katie and one of his friends, and then maybe that’ll work? I dunno. This all depends on her not responding positively to my DM. By the way I typo’d my DM so it just says ‘i want you.’ So that’s good.”

“You fucking would.” AJ laughed, slapping Scott on the back. “Okay, well while you’re waiting for her response, if she responds, I’ll put the ball in Damian’s court for you. He’s better at figuring shit out and you don't need to worry yourself. I got you.” A double date with unspecified location of where the date would be, could be a nice mouse trap for Katie, but maybe they wouldn’t need to do all this and she would actually be reasonable for once.

Did he think she was going to be?

Not really.

Katie was Jamie’s fucking sister, after all.

Fuck you, Jamie.

“You know, Damian has it easy. Must be good to be the king. Does he ever have problems? Whatever. Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime. You’re my brother for life.” AJ grinned at his friend, while pounding his chest with his right fist. “As for the Damian thing... good question. Maybe he got an STD. Nah, I'm just playin' but seriously." Pause. “I hope he gets checked."