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#jessica davis fanfic
cvntyworld · 4 days
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Can you do until dawn characters x reader dating headcanons like what they’re like when they’re jealous (thank you!!)
green eyed monster ( the until dawn gang )
summary: until dawn characters and what they are like when they're jealous while dating you.
contents: usual until dawn shenanigans, jealousy, angst if you squint, mild language, fluff, insecurities, the twins are not included as there isn't much content abt them, ect...
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SAM GIDDINGS
The greenest flag ever, so when she does tend to get jealous, which is rare, she usually smiles through it so you don't think anything is wrong.
She often puts others above herself so she tries to get rid of any feelings of jealousy rather quickly because it doesn't feel right to be jealous and she often feels as if she's being stupid.
If her jealousy tends to build up, she'll be mature and tell you about how she's feeling because that's much easier than trying to hide it.
She's rarely jealous because of her pacifist ways and is more often to work through those feelings with you as your girlfriend rather than let them simmer.
JOSH WASHINGTON
He'll most definitely hide his jealousy behind jokes or a change in subject because he definitely does not like it when talking about his feelings.
Lets his insecurities about your relationship simmer in his head until he's firing back as a default, trying to get you to be the jealous one for once but it never worked in his favour.
Building a wall to hide how vulnerable he feels about it and trying to lock you out of his mind, until he gives in to your persistence and tells you what's wrong.
Feels as if it makes him weak to feel jealous and needs assurance that jealousy isn't a weakness, it just shows how much he cares despite his doubts.
EMILY DAVIS
When this girl gets jealous she lets it be known, loud & clear, not just to you but to everyone. This girl is not a pushover so she'll let it be known how she feels about her jealousy, even if it isn't in the most kind way, girl is very blunt and straight to the point.
While she may act confident about it, it's really just an immature front to hide how she truly feels, she'd been betrayed in the past before by her bestie and her ex so she's pretty careful about who she grows close to and doesn't want to be hurt again.
Emily often tries to deflect the situation, changing the subject or going on a shopping spree and buying a lot of expensive things in hopes to win you over, but she's always insecure you'll grow tired of her.
What she doesn't know is that you don't need to have expensive clothes given to you as presents or have her acting a lot nicer than usual out of fear she'll lose you, you love her just the way she is.
MATT TAYLOR
The biggest sweetheart who tends to go into a rather sour mood when he's jealous, he'll close off and won't be his usual chatty self.
His jealousy usually doesn't last long but he does try & communicate how he's feeling even when it isn't in the best ways sometimes, he'll build up courage and try to put his feelings into words but then backtracks.
Usually all he needs is a little assurance and he's back to being his usual happy self, Matt doesn't really hold grudges or resentment, he's way too kind-hearted for that type of behaviour.
What makes him even happier is when he sees you at one of his football games, cheering him on with a big smile and his mind is at rest with his doubts.
ASHLEY BROWN
When this girl is jealous, she'll often feel embarrassed about being jealous to begin with. She usually looks at the big picture of things but when it comes to you her mindset is thrown out the window.
Usually gets rather sensitive and teary when it comes to her jealousy, which also drives a mean streak that's reared its ugly head a few times.
Often overreacts to her jealousy and ends up bursting out how she's truly feeling which ends in you calming her down. After a conversation with you she feels her relationship is more secure.
To make her day better, you'll probably buy her some books or plan a day out together to cheer her up and she greatly appreciates it and you.
CHRIS HARTLEY
Often feels embarrassed to be jealous and starts to doubt your relationship, thinking that you might just be with him out of pity.
Starts to act rather awkward around you to hide the fact he's jealous but it instead makes it more obvious that he is.
Tries to dismiss how he's feeling when you ask him if he's jealous and immediately caves and tells you how he's feeling and why he's feeling this way.
Apologizes for his feelings of jealousy and you have to tell him he's got nothing to be sorry for and that you're happy to be with him and that nobody else even came close to him.
JESSICA RILEY
Her insecurities make her doubt your relationship and question if she's actually important to you, often feels sad about her jealousy and shields herself with a little argument or a dumb facade.
While she appears confident, she's conflicted inside as she wants to tell you how she's feeling but is worried it will set back your relationship.
Eventually, you know something is up and ask her to tell you what's bothering her and she does after a few nudges to explain what's wrong. When she does, she's worried you'll laugh or reject her but all you do is take her hand and smile and assure her.
Feels more secure and confident in your relationship and knows she can come to you about any worries if she has them and knows that she can trust you with her feelings.
MIKE MUNROE
He isn't the type to get jealous but when he does, he can start to have a bit of a pissy attitude and not just towards you but to everyone.
Usually, he brushes off any jealousy by being rather suggestive towards you but it doesn't always work in his favour, usually you'll leave him hanging until he's forced to tell you what's wrong.
You always try to reassure him he's got nothing to be jealous of but he'll shrug it off and dismiss it, he's not one to talk about his feelings.
He usually gets over his jealousy on his own and is an immediate grinning bastard again, but he knows that you'll listen to his worries whenever he decides to get in touch with his feelings and talk to you.
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kurottsukii · 3 months
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𝖱𝗈𝗆𝖺𝗇𝗍𝗂𝖼 𝖲𝗎𝗂𝖼𝗂𝖽𝖾 | 13 𝖱𝖾𝖺𝗌𝗈𝗇𝗌 𝖶𝗁𝗒
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This is a short story based on the show 13 Reasons Why and the song Romantic Homicide by D4vd.
Please be warned that this story contains R*PE, s*icide, s*xual assault, s*xual scenes and m*rder
Introduction
Juliana Foley, the twin sister of Liberty High's most beloved athlete and heart throb, Justin Foley. Now this isn't a cheesy sitcom where one twin is popular, leaving the other twin in the dust of irrelevancy, both twins were born into the poor life. They had a drug addict of a mother and her river of abusive drug addict boyfriends that did not supply her addict but their endless trauma.
They had nothing but the dirty rags as clothes on their backs and each other, well until they met an angel in disguise Bryce Walker. He did not only befriend the Foley twins and basically helped build their nonstop relevancy today's high school popularity but he was their family, their everything. To Justin, Bryce was a best friend, a brother. But to Juliana, he was her first kiss, first love, first boyfriend, her... rapist; but we'll get to that last part later on.
Juliana Foley, Liberty High's cheer captain and class president, the boys there kissed the ground she walks on while the girls envy the air she breaths out. She was pure perfection at it's best, the most likely to succeed in life, they both were. So beloved, so admired but yet one person, and 13 tapes ruined that within seconds. Everything they built together came crumbling down their feet once a girl named Hannah Baker came into their life and shared their secrets. A domino effect has occurred....
Present Time | A week after her death
With how hard her heels slammed against the cold concrete as she stomped her way towards Bryce's house, she was surprised they didn't break under the pressure or even cause a mini earthquake.
The girl practically seething with pure anger after hearing Hannah's tapes, she was the last one Tony gave it to before giving it to Clay Jensen, Hannah's best friend. You'd think with what Hannah said about her, she'd be scared about the tapes coming out like the rest of the group but no. One, her tape wasn't as bad as the others, it was her secrets that was bad. Secrets that Hannah shared. Secrets like Bryce fuckin Walker.
After not only hearing that Bryce was cheating but that he raped Jessica, and Hannah. And to think she was the only one and she bared that constant pain for so long, hoping that he doesn't do it to anyone else and yet he did, behind her back even. Manipulating her to keep her mouth shut and just smile, making her think she was fucking delusional to even think her boyfriend would do that to her but no. She faced the cold hearted truth once hearing those tapes and that truth felt like a bullet to the face.
Upon hearing the tapes she realized something, not only does she know the truth but so does everyone in the friend group, they all knew what kind of monsters they were all while Bryce was the devil and yet...they chose to do nothing, to say nothing as if the tapes were a lie. How could they? Her friends? Her brother? Everyone.
How could they do that to her. Most importantly how could they do that to Hannah.
Her fist left a burning hot pain on themselves for how hard she was slamming them against Bruce's front door. She knew his every day schedule like the back of her hand, his parents are on a business trip leaving him alone and since it's a Saturday, he's definitely by himself; Saturdays were their 50 shades of gray kind of night. I know, so young but yet they fuck like sex hungry thirty year olds.
"Bryce Fuckin' Walker, Open The Damn Door!" Her voice sounded angry but really it withered with pain, afraid that she might cry in his presence about what she just learned. It felt like hours with how long the girl stood there, injuring her fist trying to get her so-called "boyfriend" to open the door. No luck. No luck for a good thirty more minutes and then hearing the sound of a door lock being unlocked made her stop immediately.
Taking a step back to fix her outfit and composer she watched as his face slowly emerged from being the door, looking all handsome with confusion written all over his face. It was hard, it was hard to hate him. After being involved with him for so long, after everything he did for her, for her brother. It was so fuckin hard to hate that face, she fell in love with that face. With that man and to finally come to the conclusion of what he truly is, is so heartbreaking.
Her lips trembled and then flattened as she tried her hardest to speak the words that were already formed and played out in her head. "I heard the tapes." Her tone was quiet, her demeanor was weak, she sounded pathetic, not at all mad as she was minutes ago. She hated how much control he had over her.
His face stayed the same, in fact it was relaxed. Not alarmed at all that his girlfriend now knows the truth. It was like he knew, no matter how he played it, the outcome would be the same, she won't go to the cops and she won't leave him. It was only how he was going to play it out to get that outcome and so, he played the clueless role. "I don't understand what you're talking about."
"The tapes, Bryce." Annoyance danced around her voice, "Hannah Baker's tapes. I heard them, all of them so don't play fucking stupid. Everything. I was right about everything, about who you are and you made me always feel stupid but now I got proof!" She was met with silence, in fact, she was met with a remaining calm composer as if he just knew she was bluffing.
This made her frustrated.
"Why are you not worried?" There was hesitation in her voice, she was confused, angry, and scared all at once. She didn't even recognize the boy she fell in love with. "I—I'll ruin you. I can turn you in, turn them in.."
"No you won't."
No she won't? Why did he say it so casually, so confident. Why wasn't he breaking? ....Why did she want him to?
"Yes- yes I will. You don't know who you're playing with." There, the hesitation sat at the base of her throat, giving him the go that she was bluffing. "No you won't." He stated again, this time disturbing her personal space, his eyes glued to her, his flatten lips twitching into a smirk. " You know why you won't? Because you don't have the tapes right now and your brother is on the tapes, so is your friend Zach, so is your bestie Jessica, everyone Jules. If I go down, we all do. Dominic affect."
Fuck he was right, he didn't even need to bring up the fact that she wouldn't turn him in because she also still love him, maybe that one was obvious but still, she was furious.
With one quick slap that smirk was whipped clean off, she couldn't help it.. She hated how confident he was, how right he was..How calm, like he acknowledged his sins and doesn't have remorse. How could he do that?
To her, to those girls. How could he cheat on her like that? How could he be the main reason a girl killed herself and he doesn't have remorse? She was disgusted. "We're fuckin done. If I see your face or if you even try to talk to me or look in my direction, I'll squeal and bring everyone down with me. If you don't have remorse, I won't either." Her words taste like venom on her tongue but that's how she felt deep in her gut. She hated him, she despised him but with all of that, at the same time it broke her.
He was her angel, her first everything and he turned out to be a devil in disguise and he's protected too, why? He's a rich white boy in America surrounded by money and jock friends that worship him like he's a god. It was sickening really.
Her heels clanked against the concrete once again, making a bitter melody as she walked herself home that night. Hannah and everything she said flashed in her head like a flashback. That poor girl, that poor pitiful girl. You know at the same time Juliana felt bad but she despised the girl too? She went after Jules brother and kept seeing him, she went after Zach and even Bryce. Oh Lord Bryce, just the thought of them two .....it felt like flashes of burning heat burning in her stomach.
Home, she didn't know why she bothered going home. She knew Justin wasn't there, home was the last place the twins would even be. Bryce was always their second home, their hideaway from hell, and now it's not even that for her anymore. Upon arriving at their shitty apartment, Juliana slowly upon the door, mentality cursing at how loud this door can be when they're trying to sneak in, luckily no one was there, well, until she closed the door.
"Where the fuck have you been?" Seth, Juliana and Justin's mom's boyfriend and well, shit bag drug dealer. One time he tried to make a move on her and Justin tried to protect her honor only to get his ass kicked. "I went to Bryce's house " Her words were short and bitter which was strike one to him, but before anything could happen amber saved the day by convincing her lousy, shit hole, white trash boyfriend back to their room, she didn't even bother to look at her daughter. But then again, she was always a boy mom even though she was a shitty mom most of the time.
Letting out a breathy sigh, she quickly ran to her room, locking the door behind her. Tears crept up as her eyes were now swollen with them. God, what the fuck is she going to do.
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iamsuperbi · 10 months
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currently drafting an until dawn fic
may or may not be an inverse of my ud au fic…
ud peeps goin thru tq storyline ???
we’ll see 🤞🏻
(werewolf jessica ??!! josh as ryan ???)
so many ideas weeee
(yes i am sleep deprived how r u)
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13-reasons-ideas · 1 year
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Can’t Go Back Part 24
A/N: Guess who’s back! Thank you for sticking with me. It’s been a rough several months and I think things are finally getting to a point where I can focus on my hobbies again. As always, feedback is appreciated and Character Q&As are open. Much Love -Em
I had finished the last book on my To Read shelf by mid-May. Hopping off my bed, I went over to my bookshelf. There was only one shelf of space left. The stack to shelve had gotten a tad out of hand. Sighing to myself, I sat down to start reorganizing. I pulled the books from H to Z down to fit the new additions to my collection in. My dad poked his head in when the stack fell over.
“Everything okay in here?” I was surrounded by books. Dad tried not to laugh as he took the scene in. Grabbing books, I turned back to the shelf.
“Perfect. Totally meant to sit in a sea of books this afternoon.”
“Sure. You have fun with that. I have to head into the office for a while. Tell your mother I probably won’t be home for dinner.”
“Will do.” I nodded, not turning my attention back to him.
Monty texted me shortly after I had finished the M’s. What are you up to today?
Organizing my bookshelf. I finished my TBR so now they go in the permanent collection.
Only my girlfriend would make a permanent book collection and a separate section for books that aren’t done.
Hey! Lots of people do this.
Yes honey.
What are you up to today?
Trying to study for my last History test. It’s very boring.
I’m sure it is. If you’re free Saturday, how about a get out of studying free card?
Oh? What did you have in mind Doll? I rolled my eyes and grinned. Of course he thought I meant something dirty.
Cool your jets Monty. I was going to see if you wanted to go to the bookstore with me?
I can make that happen. What time?
I think Clay and I are getting lunch to go over our study guide for the Math final. I could do like 1?
Sounds good. Do you want me to meet you at the bookstore?
Sure. I go to the B&N at the Everglade.
It’s a date.
I smiled and went back to my books.
When it was done, I snapped a picture and sent it to Justin. I finished my TBR! You know what that means?
Oh no. More books?
More books!
Do I have to come with you?
No. The parents gave me a limit of 10 books this time.
Only 10?
I have points saved up. And 10 is a perfectly reasonable amount of new books.
For you? Yes. For normal people? No.
Oh shhh, or I’ll make you come with me.
Okay, okay. It’s reasonable lol. I texted Monty a picture of my bookshelf too. He responded with a laughing emoji.
Teachers were beginning to wrap up final units and hand out study guides for finals. Justin was still mad about summer school so he kept up his not giving a shit attitude. I rolled my eyes whenever he sighed or complained about finals. And I stopped offering to help him. If he wanted to do more work in summer school, that was fine by me. It gave me more time to spend with Monty.
On Saturday, I met Clay at Rosie’s and we both got milkshakes. I wasn’t very hungry, and I didn’t want burger breath later. “So Clay, how’s Hannah doing?”
“I don’t know. We have hung out a few times, and I see her at work, but I don’t think we have hung out hung out.”
“You still haven’t asked her out?”
“I mean, we went to Jeff’s place not together, but we were both there, and I feel like maybe we connected?”
“Connected?”
“Well, we were doing… stuff… and we talked.” My eyes widened.
“Clay Jensen did you do drugs in Jeff’s basement?”
“Maybe?” I was stunned.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Clay Jensen, having fun. I never thought I’d see the day.”
“Ha ha.” He joked.
“I’m kidding! But seriously. Take the risk Clay.”
“I’ll think about it. Can we look at this study guide now?” I sighed and pulled it out of my bag. We both shuddered. This is not going to be a pretty exam.
By the time Clay and I called it an afternoon, it was 12:30. That gave me just enough time to get to the city. We packed our notes and headed outside. “Man, I really need a car.” Clay sighed, unlocking his bike.
“Your parents said no?”
“I have a bike.” He waved towards the bike.
“That you do. I would offer you a ride, but I’m headed into the city for the afternoon.”
“No worries, Addy.” He smiled. We waved goodbye and I watched as he biked down the street. I started my car and texted Monty. Leaving Rosie’s now. Might be a little late. Drive safe.
Sounds good, drive safe Doll.
I stopped at Starbucks when I got to the mall and got an iced coffee to sip while I browse and a coffee for Montgomery. He was waiting outside Barnes & Noble for me. “Hey handsome. Fancy seeing you here.” I winked as I walked up to him.
“Hey gorgeous. What can I say, thought it would be a good way to find a girl. You know what they say about the readers.”
“I have a feeling I do.” I laughed and handed him his coffee. “Something to do with being high strung, overachievers with daddy issues?”
“Somethin’ like that.” Monty took my hand and let me lead him into the bookstore. I decided I would keep my ten-book limit to myself. I knew how many points I had, and I still had birthday money left from last year.
He chuckled as I practically dragged him towards the YA section. I didn’t stop to look at the romance displays or the cookbooks or the journals. I was on a mission. There were books to buy. I sipped my coffee as I browsed. As usual, I made my way up and down the aisles quickly once to see if anything immediately caught my eye. A couple of books did, so I grabbed them to look over after I was done my power walk. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you move that fast.”
“Ass.” I laughed as I read over the synopsizes of the two books. Neither of them was my cup of tea in the end, so I decided to put them back. I could feel Montgomery watching me as I looked at the shelves. “What?” I asked as I pulled a book down and skimmed the back.
“Nothin’. You’re just cute is all.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. And those shorts are very nice.” I blushed and smiled softly.
“Thanks.” I handed him the book.
“Oh, I see. You needed someone to carry the books.”
“Well, who else would I have asked, when I have my strong, athletic boyfriend to follow me around the store?” He only laughed in response. I grabbed a few more books as I sipped at my coffee. Once in a while, I would notice him watching me and turn to smile at him.
There were six books in Monty’s hands before he finished his coffee. “I’m going to throw this out. Try to leave some books for the next person, okay Bookworm?”
“I’ll try. No promises though.” I mused. By the time he came back, I had three more books. I looked up when I heard him laugh. I grinned at him and held out the books. He took them, tucked them under his arm, and stepped towards me. My brow furrowed and he reached to tuck my hair behind my ear, trailing his hand down to cup the back of my neck, and pull me towards him to kiss me. I kissed him back softly. It was nice to be able to kiss in public. I liked our little bubble. It felt like we were the only two people in the world. He pulled away first.
We continued to peruse the store for a while and stole kisses and glances along the way. Monty slid his hand in my back pocket as we walked. I grabbed another couple of books and sighed. “What’s up?”
“I guess that’s enough books for a little while.”
“For a little while? Addison. There’s like,” he paused to count, “sixteen books here.”
“Yeah. And that isn’t even all of what is on my TBR still. And it’s buy one get one half off all books.” I shrugged.
“Jesus. Crazy woman.” He muttered softly and kissed the side of my head. I sighed and turned to head for the till. After discounts, points, and birthday money, my total was twenty-five dollars.
“Now to figure out how to sneak the extra six books into the house.” I muttered as we left.
“The extra what whats?”
“Uh… nothing.” I smiled sheepishly. He shook his head playfully. “Oh, hey. Pretzels. Split one?”
“Nice change of subject. Sure. Pretzel sounds good.” He rubbed my hand as he held it. This is nice.
In late June, just as finals week was hitting its peak, tragedy struck our little group of jocks. The boys were at Bryce’s trying to blow off some steam. I was trying to be nice to him and make an effort for Justin, so I tagged along. The way his family approached and flaunted their money always took me by surprise. I wasn’t oblivious. I knew my family had more money than most. More than I liked to consider or admit. But it was never flashed around the way it was with the Walkers. I came from old money on my dad’s side, like his mom. But unlike him, I wasn’t exposed to it on a daily basis. The concept of a twice a week maid was enough to widen my eyes. The only time my family had a maid come was when Gran was coming to stay with us, or we were hosting Christmas back when all my grandparents lived state-side, so a very deep clean was needed. The fact that they had a chef come in once a week to meal prep for them was… almost incomprehensible. The only time I met a chef was when I found a hair in my food when my family went out one night.
I had been to his house before of course. I was friends with Justin. We shared custody of him most weeks. Even still, I found myself hanging back and watching the boys socialize. Or I was trying to at least. Bryce thrusting a bottle of water in my hand startled me. I jumped slightly. “Thanks.” I muttered.
“Don’t mention it.” He chuckled. He settled himself next to me and leaned back against the counter.
“Hi.”
“Hi. You know that they will talk to you, right? They know you.”
“I know.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you then.” Great. Just what I want.
“Sure Bryce.”
“How are finals treating you?”
“I cried before my honours English final yesterday.”
“I almost forgot about my math final.”
“So, we are basically in the same boat.”
“Basically. You had bio and history today?”
“Yeah.”
“How were they?”
“I think I did fairly okay. Can you imagine what my mum would do if I bombed the history final?” He stared off into space with me and shivered.
“I would say something nice about you at your funeral.”
“Thanks Walker. Killing me does seem like a lot of hassle for that though. Like it seems like it would just inconvenience them. Maybe locked in my room to study until I’m forty?”
“True. I would text you news updates. Keep you updated in all things Bryce and the boys.”
“Prefect. Make isolation at least a little bit bearable.” He was actually kind of nice sometimes. Maybe. If I squinted.
“Yeah. My dad would have freaked if I missed my math final.”
“How could you take over the family business if you fail tenth grade math Bryce?”
“No idea. Not like he doesn’t pay someone to do all that math for him. Speaking of, he wanted me to ask you if your dad is taking on any new clients now that tax season is winding down?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think he is, but I can get him to email your dad.” I don’t think he’s going to take your dad on.
“I’ll let him know.”
“Where are you off to this summer?”
“I think we are summering in Fiji?”
“Because California isn’t summer-y enough?”
“Mom thinks the sun feels different. More sunny. I tan better in tropical environments.”
“Sure, you do.”
“What are your family’s plans?”
“We have our annual family trip to Boston at the end of July into the first week of August. Dad pushed his vacation time this year.”
“Doesn’t he own the company?”
“Yeah. But his associate wanted to take vacation in mid-July. She’s taking her kids to Disney World.”
“Again, doesn’t he own the company?”
“Again, yes. Why?”
“Shouldn’t he get first pick?”
“Well, our vacation basically costs us airfare, food, and spending money. Hers and everyone else’s costs a lot more. And requires more planning. So, he lets them have first pick and takes whatever’s left for the most part. Because of that, people are more willing to pick fairly.”
“Interesting.”
“Are you two going to come outside or not?” Justin called from the back yard. Bryce and I looked up and found the house empty. All the boys had moved to the back. We shrugged and joined them. I needed to pass the sniff test so I didn’t dare go in the pool house. Anders and Dylan were in the pool house enjoying Bryce’s stash. It was already nearing eighty degrees in the daytime. We were in for a hot summer. Justin pulled off his shirt, dropped his pants, and jumped in the pool. Shaking my head, I followed Bryce outside.
I sat on the edge of the pool and dipped my feet in the water. Monty was trying to be discreet and swim backwards towards me. He stopped just shy of me and shared a look with Zach. I pretended not to notice. It looked like I was busy watching Justin goof off with Bryce and Garrison. I was watching my boyfriend out of the corner of my eye though. I felt a wave close to my foot. “Montgomery. If you touch my foot, I’m not responsible for what happens to your face.” His hand stopped and his eyes widened. Justin laughed and called from across the pool.
“She isn’t wrong dude. She kicked me in the face when I was trying to bug her one time.”
“I wasn’t going to….” Monty trailed off.
“Sure, you weren’t.” I shook my head and moved to stand up. I pulled my tank top over my head. The shorts I was wearing were fine to go in the water.
Seeing as we had to keep up appearances, I couldn’t very well ask Monty to tighten the tie on my bikini top. That would be too much. The boys would question that. Joking around and talking to each other in a group was okay. Touching was not. “Hey Justin, do you mind?” I gestured to my back, not looking at the pool.
“He’s a little busy.” Bryce said. I could hear splashing behind me.
“Zach?”
“Sure.” He climbed out of the pool and untied the bottom strings. He pulled them tighter in a knot and doubled the bow. “Good?”
“Yeah.” I turned around. “Thanks.” Bryce whistled. Gross.
“Why are you keeping her all to yourself again?” He asked Justin. I flipped him off. Why am I being nice to you again?
“I’m not. It’s Addison. Even if I was, I don’t share Bryce.” He seemed to shut the conversation down. Only I could pick up on the stern undertone in his voice. Just as quickly as it came, it was gone, and they were back to goofing off again.
I slipped in the pool and noticing Justin was distracted, I swam over to him and jumped on his back. I may have accidentally splashed Monty in my jumping. I snuck a peek at him and he was rolling his eyes and laughing. “Chicken?” Justin asked. His hands went to my thighs unconsciously.
“No. You dropped me last time. Though it would be entertaining trying to watch the rest of you lift each other.”
“We’re strong.” The boys around me protested. They all made a show of flexing.
“Yes, yes. You’re all strong and hot. With superior athletic abilities. Go you.” I laughed.
“Ha! I told you she thinks I’m hot.” Bryce pointed at Justin.
“It doesn’t count if you’re objectively attractive Walker. I also think the blond guy from the Percy Jackson movie is hot. Because he is objectively attractive.”
“Objectively attractive?”
“You’re lucky you’re rich.” I muttered. Justin choked. “You’re a very pretty man Bryce Walker.”
“Do we get called pretty too Addison?” Monty asked.
“If you don’t call me by my full name again then sure Monty. You are also pretty. Foley, I swear if you drop me, you’re sleeping on the floor tonight.” His hand tightened around my thigh.
The group of us hung out for a while. At some point Scott joined us. Even though we weren’t friends per say, he was still nice to me when I was around. He swam over to my corner of the pool. “I’m supposed to ask you if you think I’m pretty?”
“Scott. If you don’t know you’re pretty, I don’t know what to say to you.”
“Alright then. Why was I supposed to ask?”
“I acknowledged Bryce is objectively attractive and the children felt left out.”
“I see. Why are you hiding in a corner?”
“Hiding from Justin. He’s trying to get me to play chicken. But I don’t feel like getting dropped again.”
“And why does he think you’d get to play with anyone else?”
“I think the attempt would be very entertaining actually.” There was a ringing over by the table.
“Someone’s phone is ringing.” I called. The ringing stopped and started again immediately. Zach looked up. It was his phone.
“It’s probably his mommy calling to tell him he has to come home before it gets dark.” Bryce teased. The boys laughed. I even chuckled a little to myself. Oh, how bad I would feel about that chuckle in a few hours. Zach splashed him. By the time the phone began its second round of ringing again, Zach was out of the pool and grabbing it. He was smiling when he answered it.
“Hey Mom. I’m com-.” It was quiet. “Yeah, I’ll be right home.” He hung up and quickly pulled on his pants, over his wet swim trucks. He threw on his shirt and practically sprinted back in the house. He didn’t say a word to any of us as he left.
“What’s going on with him?” Bryce said. We all stared after him.
A few hours after I got home, I got a text from Bryce. Justin got the same text. Zach’s dad died. Justin and I sat and looked at each other at the table, shocked. We sat there for a solid ten minutes, trying to absorb the information we had been given. I was sure our friends were in the same position. How did you respond to something like that? None of us had ever lost a parent. Sure, I had lost a couple of grandparents. I probably wasn’t the only one. But they’re sort of expected to die. They’re old. They’ve lived. Our parents weren’t old. Not old enough to die yet anyway. I picked my phone back up and texted Zach the only thing I could think to say. He would hear the words a lot in the next few months. I am so sorry. I knew he wouldn’t answer.
Zach wasn’t at school for the rest of the week. Not that he should have been. He had been excused from all of his other exams. Because of course he should have been. I didn’t see him until I was walking home from a date with Monty over the weekend. He was just… walking around town. He didn’t see me at first. When he noticed me standing up the street, he waved a little. I waved back and slowly walked over to him. Even though Zach Dempsey and I weren’t really friends, we were friendly. That’s why it didn’t feel weird when the only thing my brain said to do, was hug him. He didn’t cry. He didn’t say anything. He just hugged me back. We didn’t talk about that random, silent hug on the street again. Not for a long time at least. We simply nodded as we parted ways. He walked one way and I walked the other.
July changed a lot of things. Bryce left town with his family a few days after Zach’s dad’s funeral. Seth was back in town too. That meant Justin spent most of the first couple of weeks of July at my house. He was right. My parents were not happy about him doing summer school. As his not-mom my mum had a strict ‘no fun until homework is done and checked’ rule. At first, I spent my time with Monty during school hours. We weren’t really sure what the summer meant for our relationship. Those first few dates, we mostly talked about that.
“Well, I don’t want to not see you.” Monty said, between kisses in the backseat of my car. We had parked at a secluded clearing overlooking the river.
“I don’t want to not see you either. It’s going to be hard though.”
“Don’t talk about hard right now Doll. Please.” I pulled away and looked at him wide-eyed. “You don’t strike me as a public sex kind of girl. And I don’t want to get a public indecency charge.”
“Yeah. I’m not.” I sat up. “Justin being at my place complicates things.”
“Oh, I know.” He ground out as he adjusted his jeans. I could tell my cheeks were flushed.
“We knew we couldn’t see each other every day.”
“But it’s not easy not seeing you.”
“I know it’s not.”
“Why does this have to be so hard?” He sat back.
“I don’t know.” Neither of us were ready nor willing to have the ‘tell other people’ talk. Even though it had been almost a year. And probably needed to happen.
“Seeing each other while school is in, isn’t such a bad thing, is it?”
“No.”
“And I do have other friends. I could say I’m going to the city with Alex or something. Give us some more time?”
“That’s true.”
I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “I could take you to the bookstore.” He blinked at me. “What?”
“The bookstore?”
“It’s air conditioned.” I shrugged and climbed into his lap. His hands instinctively found their way to my hips.
“You just need someone to carry your books again.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I smirked.
There was something different about Justin since he started summer school. I couldn’t put my finger on it. He was… distracted. I noticed he spent more time on his phone after homework than paying attention to what we were doing. Which was fine when it was show re-runs or my mom’s pick for movie night. But when you’re trying to play Ticket to Ride with a guy, it’s much easier when they are paying attention. “Hey. Earth to Justin. Hello?”
“Huh?” He looked up from his phone.
“It’s been your turn for the past five minutes.”
“Shit, sorry.” He looked at his cards and the map. Picking up a red and a pink from the pile, he settled back in his chair. Interesting. I frowned at the board, trying to figure out what he was doing. I came back with nothing. His phone buzzed again. I glanced at it. So did he. Then my phone buzzed. He glanced at it. So, did I. It was like we were waiting to see who would grab their phone first. After a few beats, his hand went to his phone. He smirked a little and put it down. I didn’t check mine.
I came home from a date with Monty a little late on Thursday. It was nearing five when I walked in the door, after I fixed my hair. I dropped my purse and stopped dead in my tracks. Justin had company. Company in the form of Jessica Davis. Who was currently sitting in his lap. On my couch. Making out with him. On my couch. They had their hands up each other’s shirts. On my couch. I cleared my throat. Jessica pulled away and turned towards me. “Oh, hey Addy.” She greeted, like this was normal.
“Hey Addy. You’re… just getting home?” His speech was slowed. Are you shitting me?
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
“Your parents said I could have a friend over after class.”
“Okay.” I blinked. She was still perched in his lap. I glanced at the clock. “I suggest you fix your shirts because they should be home soon. And I don’t think they want to see, uh, this.” I motioned in their general direction. Jessica laughed and climbed off Justin.
“Oh, don’t be such a priss, Addison.”
“I’m not being a priss. I just wasn’t expecting to come home to people making out on my couch.” She rolled her eyes. “Great to see you too. Hey, Justin. Can I steal you for a sec?” I waved upstairs. “There’s snacks in the cupboard, Jess.”
Justin followed me upstairs, trying not to giggle at, assumingly, the fact that he didn’t get caught by my parents. I shut the door when we got to my room. “What the fuck Justin?”
“What?” He shrugged.
“What do you mean what?”
“What?”
“Making out with a girl on our couch?” He was trying to avoid eye contact. My parents are going to kill him.
“No one was home. It’s not a big deal.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“I don’t know, a couple weeks?” I blinked at him. He was still trying to look away from me. I grabbed his face and made him look at me.
“Are you fucking high right now?”
“No? What? Why would you ask that?” His eyes were bloodshot. He was acting very much like Justin when Justin has been indulging in Bryce’s stash.
“Don’t lie to me Justin Foley. You know my parent’s rules. Do you want them to freak out?”
“Oh, come on Addison. It was a little weed. It’s not that big of a deal.” I sighed heavily.
“You know what, whatever. You obviously don’t care. So, I suggest you tell your girlfriend to leave or figure out a way to sober up before they get home. And if that fails, tell her to leave, and come hide in here until you’re sober enough to face them.” I grabbed a book off my shelf and went back downstairs. I nodded at Jessica, who had made herself some crackers and dip. Sitting at the table, I texted Monty.
Justin and Jessica? Did you know about this? He responded a couple of minutes later.
No? Actually?
Yeah. They were making out on my couch when I got home. And to make things even more awkward and complicated, they’re both high.
I mean, to be fair, weed isn’t really that bad.
Yeah. I know. But that’s not the point. My parents are going to freak. Now is really not the time to be pissing them off.
Oh crap. You guys leave for Boston soon, don’t you?
Next week. And if Justin can’t keep his shit together… I left the unspoken implication hang in cyberspace. Are you really just going to ignore the fact that they were on the couch?
I was hoping to just ignore that fact.
Our make out spots are becoming fewer and further between.
We could just stay in your bed, Doll.
But the couch has the TV. So we can not watch a movie without worrying about my laptop falling.
“Who you texting so much?” Jessica asked, trying to peer at my phone.
“Friend from Boston.” I said, locking my phone.
“Oh, friend from Boston, you say? Is he cute?”
“I guess? His girlfriend probably thinks so.”
“Oh. Not a secret long distance lover then?”
“No. And we grew up together. It would be weird.” I slipped my phone in my pocket and grabbed some cereal. We both looked up when my parents got home. I took that as my cue to go get Justin. I practically kicked him downstairs so he could go entertain his girlfriend with my parents and I could have some time to process how I missed it. Probably the same way he has missed me having a boyfriend for… almost a year.
The day before we left for Boston, Justin and I were running around like mad men. I had plans with Monty and Justin had plans with Jessica tonight, so I didn’t want to be too long packing. Unfortunately, neither of us could find anything we wanted to bring. It was going to be nice so I wanted to bring some dresses. We had a few things planned, but like with our other trips, there would be plenty of time to lounge around the house.
“Have you seen my pink and green dress?”
“The one with the stripes? No. Have you seen my blue shirt?”
“I think mum put it in the wash.”
“Okay.” Justin went down the hall to the bathroom. “Has anyone seen my shampoo?” He called.
“It’s in here.” My dad called from their room. I was busy ripping apart my closet. I groaned in frustration.
“You know, it’s just Boston. We go every year.”
“I know Justin. I just like to be prepared for every eventuality.”
“Yeah. Wait… are you trying to impress Adrian?” Justin laughed. I turned and he was leaning against the doorframe.
“No. Absolutely not. Besides, he has a girlfriend.” A girlfriend I happen to like.
“If you say so.” He smirked. I rolled my eyes and flipped him off as he went back to packing his bag. I gave up on my closet and decided to tackle our toiletries. I wasn’t too concerned with travel sizes because it was all going in my checked luggage.
“Decide what book you’re taking with you Addy?”
“Don’t you mean books, plural? It is a 6-hour flight after all.” He laughed.
“Okay, okay. Books?”
“I’m happy you asked.” I grinned as I pulled out the Barnes & Noble bag from under my bed. His jaw dropped. I shrugged.
“Your parents are going to freak.”
“They know I went book shopping.”
After a very long day of packing, Justin left to go meet Jessica. I texted Monty to let him know I would be leaving in about fifteen minutes. “I’m going to hang out with Alex and Clay for a bit.” I told my parents.
“Just remember we leave early tomorrow for the airport Addison.” My dad said, not looking up from his list. My mom was emptying the fridge.
“I will.”
When I got to the cliffside where we agreed to meet, Monty was waiting for me. I couldn’t help myself. I ran and held onto him like it was the last time I would ever see him. “You’re only leaving for two weeks Addison.” He grunted at the impact.
“I’m going to miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too.” He kissed the top of my head. We stood like that for a few more minutes before finally separating. I took his hand and led him up the trail. It was good for both of us to be walking the trails. He was starting summer training with the boys while we were gone, and I was going to be sitting for around 8 hours straight tomorrow. Provided our flight wasn’t delayed, of course. It was just starting to get dark, and I stopped along the way to take in the town’s skyline in the evening dusk. Monty rested his chin on top of my head, and I sighed, leaning back into him. It was so peaceful. I looked up and him and noticed a small bruise forming on his jaw. Not wanting to start a fight right before I left for two weeks, I pretended I hadn’t seen it. I smiled sadly to myself still. I wish he would just talk to me about it.
After a few hours, wandering around and soaking in the last time we would have for a couple of weeks, which feels like an eternity when you’re 16, we knew it was time to say goodbye. When we got to the parking lot, he made me turn around at his Jeep. I furrowed my brow. Before I could ask, he twirled his finger in the air. I clamped my mouth closed and turned. He rummaged around for a minute. “What are you doing?”
“You’ll see. Just wait a minute.” I huffed. He chuckled. “Ah.” He muttered. He tapped me on the shoulder. I turned. He held out a small Barnes and Noble bag. I was taken aback. I wasn’t expecting anything. I pointed at the bag and then at me.
“F-for me?”
“It’s not much so don’t start.” He smiled, shyly.
“Okay.” I took the bag.
“I can’t wrap stuff worth shit, so the bag is as good as you’re going to get.” I laughed and shrugged. It was a fair enough explanation. I opened the bag and pulled out a spiralbound notebook. The cover was pink with the titles of all the classics on it. I smiled. “You won’t be here for your birthday, and I know your notebook is getting full so….” Monty trailed off.
“Thank you. This is really sweet.” I flipped it open and gasped. On the first page, he had drawn a book like on the cover, and titled it The Next Classic and written Hawthorne at the bottom where the author’s last name sometimes appears.
“Happy birthday, Addison.”
“Oh.” I smiled. My eyes had started to tear up. This was the sweetest gift anyone had ever given me. I closed the gap between us and kissed him. He pulled me closer to him and I deepened the kiss just a little. Not too much, just enough to make him remember me while I was gone.I had finished the last book on my To Read shelf by mid-May. Hopping off my bed, I went over to my bookshelf. There was only one shelf of space left. The stack to shelve had gotten a tad out of hand. Sighing to myself, I sat down to start reorganizing. I pulled the books from H to Z down to fit the new additions to my collection in. My dad poked his head in when the stack fell over. “Everything okay in here?” I was surrounded by books. Dad tried not to laugh as he took the scene in. Grabbing books, I turned back to the shelf.“Perfect. Totally meant to sit in a sea of books this afternoon.” “Sure. You have fun with that. I have to head into the office for a while. Tell your mother I probably won’t be home for dinner.” “Will do.” I nodded, not turning my attention back to him. Monty texted me shortly after I had finished the M’s. What are you up to today? Organizing my bookshelf. I finished my TBR so now they go in the permanent collection. Only my girlfriend would make a permanent book collection and a separate section for books that aren’t done. Hey! Lots of people do this. Yes honey. What are you up to today? Trying to study for my last History test. It’s very boring. I’m sure it is. If you’re free Saturday, how about a get out of studying free card? Oh? What did you have in mind Doll? I rolled my eyes and grinned. Of course he thought I meant something dirty. Cool your jets Monty. I was going to see if you wanted to go to the bookstore with me?I can make that happen. What time? I think Clay and I are getting lunch to go over our study guide for the Math final. I could do like 1?Sounds good. Do you want me to meet you at the bookstore? Sure. I go to the B&N at the Everglade. It’s a date. I smiled and went back to my books. When it was done, I snapped a picture and sent it to Justin. I finished my TBR! You know what that means?Oh no. More books? More books! Do I have to come with you?No. The parents gave me a limit of 10 books this time. Only 10?I have points saved up. And 10 is a perfectly reasonable amount of new books. For you? Yes. For normal people? No. Oh shhh, or I’ll make you come with me. Okay, okay. It’s reasonable lol. I texted Monty a picture of my bookshelf too. He responded with a laughing emoji. Teachers were beginning to wrap up final units and hand out study guides for finals. Justin was still mad about summer school so he kept up his not giving a shit attitude. I rolled my eyes whenever he sighed or complained about finals. And I stopped offering to help him. If he wanted to do more work in summer school, that was fine by me. It gave me more time to spend with Monty. On Saturday, I met Clay at Rosie’s and we both got milkshakes. I wasn’t very hungry, and I didn’t want burger breath later. “So Clay, how’s Hannah doing?” “I don’t know. We have hung out a few times, and I see her at work, but I don’t think we have hung out hung out.” “You still haven’t asked her out?” “I mean, we went to Jeff’s place not together, but we were both there, and I feel like maybe we connected?” “Connected?” “Well, we were doing… stuff… and we talked.” My eyes widened. “Clay Jensen did you do drugs in Jeff’s basement?” “Maybe?” I was stunned. “Well, I’ll be damned. Clay Jensen, having fun. I never thought I’d see the day.”“Ha ha.” He joked. “I’m kidding! But seriously. Take the risk Clay.” “I’ll think about it. Can we look at this study guide now?” I sighed and pulled it out of my bag. We both shuddered. This is not going to be a pretty exam.By the time Clay and I called it an afternoon, it was 12:30. That gave me just enough time to get to the city. We packed our notes and headed outside. “Man, I really need a car.” Clay sighed, unlocking his bike. “Your parents said no?” “I have a bike.” He waved towards the bike. “That you do. I would offer you a ride, but I’m headed into the city for the afternoon.” “No worries, Addy.” He smiled. We waved goodbye and I watched as he biked down the street. I started my car and texted Monty. Leaving Rosie’s now. Might be a little late. Drive safe. Sounds good, drive safe Doll. I stopped at Starbucks when I got to the mall and got an iced coffee to sip while I browse and a coffee for Montgomery. He was waiting outside Barnes & Noble for me. “Hey handsome. Fancy seeing you here.” I winked as I walked up to him.“Hey gorgeous. What can I say, thought it would be a good way to find a girl. You know what they say about the readers.” “I have a feeling I do.” I laughed and handed him his coffee. “Something to do with being high strung, overachievers with daddy issues?” “Somethin’ like that.” Monty took my hand and let me lead him into the bookstore. I decided I would keep my ten-book limit to myself. I knew how many points I had, and I still had birthday money left from last year. He chuckled as I practically dragged him towards the YA section. I didn’t stop to look at the romance displays or the cookbooks or the journals. I was on a mission. There were books to buy. I sipped my coffee as I browsed. As usual, I made my way up and down the aisles quickly once to see if anything immediately caught my eye. A couple of books did, so I grabbed them to look over after I was done my power walk. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen you move that fast.” “Ass.” I laughed as I read over the synopsizes of the two books. Neither of them was my cup of tea in the end, so I decided to put them back. I could feel Montgomery watching me as I looked at the shelves. “What?” I asked as I pulled a book down and skimmed the back. “Nothin’. You’re just cute is all.” “Oh?” “Yeah. And those shorts are very nice.” I blushed and smiled softly. “Thanks.” I handed him the book. “Oh, I see. You needed someone to carry the books.”“Well, who else would I have asked, when I have my strong, athletic boyfriend to follow me around the store?” He only laughed in response. I grabbed a few more books as I sipped at my coffee. Once in a while, I would notice him watching me and turn to smile at him. There were six books in Monty’s hands before he finished his coffee. “I’m going to throw this out. Try to leave some books for the next person, okay Bookworm?” “I’ll try. No promises though.” I mused. By the time he came back, I had three more books. I looked up when I heard him laugh. I grinned at him and held out the books. He took them, tucked them under his arm, and stepped towards me. My brow furrowed and he reached to tuck my hair behind my ear, trailing his hand down to cup the back of my neck, and pull me towards him to kiss me. I kissed him back softly. It was nice to be able to kiss in public. I liked our little bubble. It felt like we were the only two people in the world. He pulled away first. We continued to peruse the store for a while and stole kisses and glances along the way. Monty slid his hand in my back pocket as we walked. I grabbed another couple of books and sighed. “What’s up?” “I guess that’s enough books for a little while.” “For a little while? Addison. There’s like,” he paused to count, “sixteen books here.” “Yeah. And that isn’t even all of what is on my TBR still. And it’s buy one get one half off all books.” I shrugged. “Jesus. Crazy woman.” He muttered softly and kissed the side of my head. I sighed and turned to head for the till. After discounts, points, and birthday money, my total was twenty-five dollars. “Now to figure out how to sneak the extra six books into the house.” I muttered as we left. “The extra what whats?” “Uh… nothing.” I smiled sheepishly. He shook his head playfully. “Oh, hey. Pretzels. Split one?” “Nice change of subject. Sure. Pretzel sounds good.” He rubbed my hand as he held it. This is nice. In late June, just as finals week was hitting its peak, tragedy struck our little group of jocks. The boys were at Bryce’s trying to blow off some steam. I was trying to be nice to him and make an effort for Justin, so I tagged along. The way his family approached and flaunted their money always took me by surprise. I wasn’t oblivious. I knew my family had more money than most. More than I liked to consider or admit. But it was never flashed around the way it was with the Walkers. I came from old money on my dad’s side, like his mom. But unlike him, I wasn’t exposed to it on a daily basis. The concept of a twice a week maid was enough to widen my eyes. The only time my family had a maid come was when Gran was coming to stay with us, or we were hosting Christmas back when all my grandparents lived state-side, so a very deep clean was needed. The fact that they had a chef come in once a week to meal prep for them was… almost incomprehensible. The only time I met a chef was when I found a hair in my food when my family went out one night. I had been to his house before of course. I was friends with Justin. We shared custody of him most weeks. Even still, I found myself hanging back and watching the boys socialize. Or I was trying to at least. Bryce thrusting a bottle of water in my hand startled me. I jumped slightly. “Thanks.” I muttered. “Don’t mention it.” He chuckled. He settled himself next to me and leaned back against the counter. “Hi.” “Hi. You know that they will talk to you, right? They know you.” “I know.” “Okay. I’ll talk to you then.” Great. Just what I want. “Sure Bryce.” “How are finals treating you?” “I cried before my honours English final yesterday.” “I almost forgot about my math final.” “So, we are basically in the same boat.” “Basically. You had bio and history today?” “Yeah.” “How were they?” “I think I did fairly okay. Can you imagine what my mum would do if I bombed the history final?” He stared off into space with me and shivered. “I would say something nice about you at your funeral.” “Thanks Walker. Killing me does seem like a lot of hassle for that though. Like it seems like it would just inconvenience them. Maybe locked in my room to study until I’m forty?” “True. I would text you news updates. Keep you updated in all things Bryce and the boys.” “Prefect. Make isolation at least a little bit bearable.” He was actually kind of nice sometimes. Maybe. If I squinted.“Yeah. My dad would have freaked if I missed my math final.” “How could you take over the family business if you fail tenth grade math Bryce?” “No idea. Not like he doesn’t pay someone to do all that math for him. Speaking of, he wanted me to ask you if your dad is taking on any new clients now that tax season is winding down?” “I don’t know. I don’t think he is, but I can get him to email your dad.” I don’t think he’s going to take your dad on. “I’ll let him know.” “Where are you off to this summer?” “I think we are summering in Fiji?” “Because California isn’t summer-y enough?” “Mom thinks the sun feels different. More sunny. I tan better in tropical environments.” “Sure, you do.”“What are your family’s plans?” “We have our annual family trip to Boston at the end of July into the first week of August. Dad pushed his vacation time this year.” “Doesn’t he own the company?” “Yeah. But his associate wanted to take vacation in mid-July. She’s taking her kids to Disney World.” “Again, doesn’t he own the company?”“Again, yes. Why?” “Shouldn’t he get first pick?” “Well, our vacation basically costs us airfare, food, and spending money. Hers and everyone else’s costs a lot more. And requires more planning. So, he lets them have first pick and takes whatever’s left for the most part. Because of that, people are more willing to pick fairly.” “Interesting.”“Are you two going to come outside or not?” Justin called from the back yard. Bryce and I looked up and found the house empty. All the boys had moved to the back. We shrugged and joined them. I needed to pass the sniff test so I didn’t dare go in the pool house. Anders and Dylan were in the pool house enjoying Bryce’s stash. It was already nearing eighty degrees in the daytime. We were in for a hot summer. Justin pulled off his shirt, dropped his pants, and jumped in the pool. Shaking my head, I followed Bryce outside. I sat on the edge of the pool and dipped my feet in the water. Monty was trying to be discreet and swim backwards towards me. He stopped just shy of me and shared a look with Zach. I pretended not to notice. It looked like I was busy watching Justin goof off with Bryce and Garrison. I was watching my boyfriend out of the corner of my eye though. I felt a wave close to my foot. “Montgomery. If you touch my foot, I’m not responsible for what happens to your face.” His hand stopped and his eyes widened. Justin laughed and called from across the pool. “She isn’t wrong dude. She kicked me in the face when I was trying to bug her one time.” “I wasn’t going to….” Monty trailed off. “Sure, you weren’t.” I shook my head and moved to stand up. I pulled my tank top over my head. The shorts I was wearing were fine to go in the water. Seeing as we had to keep up appearances, I couldn’t very well ask Monty to tighten the tie on my bikini top. That would be too much. The boys would question that. Joking around and talking to each other in a group was okay. Touching was not. “Hey Justin, do you mind?” I gestured to my back, not looking at the pool. “He’s a little busy.” Bryce said. I could hear splashing behind me. “Zach?” “Sure.” He climbed out of the pool and untied the bottom strings. He pulled them tighter in a knot and doubled the bow. “Good?” “Yeah.” I turned around. “Thanks.” Bryce whistled. Gross.“Why are you keeping her all to yourself again?” He asked Justin. I flipped him off. Why am I being nice to you again? “I’m not. It’s Addison. Even if I was, I don’t share Bryce.” He seemed to shut the conversation down. Only I could pick up on the stern undertone in his voice. Just as quickly as it came, it was gone, and they were back to goofing off again. I slipped in the pool and noticing Justin was distracted, I swam over to him and jumped on his back. I may have accidentally splashed Monty in my jumping. I snuck a peek at him and he was rolling his eyes and laughing. “Chicken?” Justin asked. His hands went to my thighs unconsciously. “No. You dropped me last time. Though it would be entertaining trying to watch the rest of you lift each other.” “We’re strong.” The boys around me protested. They all made a show of flexing. “Yes, yes. You’re all strong and hot. With superior athletic abilities. Go you.” I laughed. “Ha! I told you she thinks I’m hot.” Bryce pointed at Justin. “It doesn’t count if you’re objectively attractive Walker. I also think the blond guy from the Percy Jackson movie is hot. Because he is objectively attractive.” “Objectively attractive?” “You’re lucky you’re rich.” I muttered. Justin choked. “You’re a very pretty man Bryce Walker.” “Do we get called pretty too Addison?” Monty asked.“If you don’t call me by my full name again then sure Monty. You are also pretty. Foley, I swear if you drop me, you’re sleeping on the floor tonight.” His hand tightened around my thigh. The group of us hung out for a while. At some point Scott joined us. Even though we weren’t friends per say, he was still nice to me when I was around. He swam over to my corner of the pool. “I’m supposed to ask you if you think I’m pretty?” “Scott. If you don’t know you’re pretty, I don’t know what to say to you.” “Alright then. Why was I supposed to ask?” “I acknowledged Bryce is objectively attractive and the children felt left out.” “I see. Why are you hiding in a corner?” “Hiding from Justin. He’s trying to get me to play chicken. But I don’t feel like getting dropped again.” “And why does he think you’d get to play with anyone else?” “I think the attempt would be very entertaining actually.” There was a ringing over by the table. “Someone’s phone is ringing.” I called. The ringing stopped and started again immediately. Zach looked up. It was his phone. “It’s probably his mommy calling to tell him he has to come home before it gets dark.” Bryce teased. The boys laughed. I even chuckled a little to myself. Oh, how bad I would feel about that chuckle in a few hours. Zach splashed him. By the time the phone began its second round of ringing again, Zach was out of the pool and grabbing it. He was smiling when he answered it. “Hey Mom. I’m com-.” It was quiet. “Yeah, I’ll be right home.” He hung up and quickly pulled on his pants, over his wet swim trucks. He threw on his shirt and practically sprinted back in the house. He didn’t say a word to any of us as he left.“What’s going on with him?” Bryce said. We all stared after him. A few hours after I got home, I got a text from Bryce. Justin got the same text. Zach’s dad died. Justin and I sat and looked at each other at the table, shocked. We sat there for a solid ten minutes, trying to absorb the information we had been given. I was sure our friends were in the same position. How did you respond to something like that? None of us had ever lost a parent. Sure, I had lost a couple of grandparents. I probably wasn’t the only one. But they’re sort of expected to die. They’re old. They’ve lived. Our parents weren’t old. Not old enough to die yet anyway. I picked my phone back up and texted Zach the only thing I could think to say. He would hear the words a lot in the next few months. I am so sorry. I knew he wouldn’t answer. Zach wasn’t at school for the rest of the week. Not that he should have been. He had been excused from all of his other exams. Because of course he should have been. I didn’t see him until I was walking home from a date with Monty over the weekend. He was just… walking around town. He didn’t see me at first. When he noticed me standing up the street, he waved a little. I waved back and slowly walked over to him. Even though Zach Dempsey and I weren’t really friends, we were friendly. That’s why it didn’t feel weird when the only thing my brain said to do, was hug him. He didn’t cry. He didn’t say anything. He just hugged me back. We didn’t talk about that random, silent hug on the street again. Not for a long time at least. We simply nodded as we parted ways. He walked one way and I walked the other. July changed a lot of things. Bryce left town with his family a few days after Zach’s dad’s funeral. Seth was back in town too. That meant Justin spent most of the first couple of weeks of July at my house. He was right. My parents were not happy about him doing summer school. As his not-mom my mum had a strict ‘no fun until homework is done and checked’ rule. At first, I spent my time with Monty during school hours. We weren’t really sure what the summer meant for our relationship. Those first few dates, we mostly talked about that. “Well, I don’t want to not see you.” Monty said, between kisses in the backseat of my car. We had parked at a secluded clearing overlooking the river. “I don’t want to not see you either. It’s going to be hard though.” “Don’t talk about hard right now Doll. Please.” I pulled away and looked at him wide-eyed. “You don’t strike me as a public sex kind of girl. And I don’t want to get a public indecency charge.” “Yeah. I’m not.” I sat up. “Justin being at my place complicates things.” “Oh, I know.” He ground out as he adjusted his jeans. I could tell my cheeks were flushed. “We knew we couldn’t see each other every day.” “But it’s not easy not seeing you.” “I know it’s not.” “Why does this have to be so hard?” He sat back. “I don’t know.” Neither of us were ready nor willing to have the ‘tell other people’ talk. Even though it had been almost a year. And probably needed to happen. “Seeing each other while school is in, isn’t such a bad thing, is it?” “No.” “And I do have other friends. I could say I’m going to the city with Alex or something. Give us some more time?” “That’s true.” I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “I could take you to the bookstore.” He blinked at me. “What?” “The bookstore?” “It’s air conditioned.” I shrugged and climbed into his lap. His hands instinctively found their way to my hips. “You just need someone to carry your books again.” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I smirked. There was something different about Justin since he started summer school. I couldn’t put my finger on it. He was… distracted. I noticed he spent more time on his phone after homework than paying attention to what we were doing. Which was fine when it was show re-runs or my mom’s pick for movie night. But when you’re trying to play Ticket to Ride with a guy, it’s much easier when they are paying attention. “Hey. Earth to Justin. Hello?”“Huh?” He looked up from his phone. “It’s been your turn for the past five minutes.” “Shit, sorry.” He looked at his cards and the map. Picking up a red and a pink from the pile, he settled back in his chair. Interesting. I frowned at the board, trying to figure out what he was doing. I came back with nothing. His phone buzzed again. I glanced at it. So did he. Then my phone buzzed. He glanced at it. So, did I. It was like we were waiting to see who would grab their phone first. After a few beats, his hand went to his phone. He smirked a little and put it down. I didn’t check mine. I came home from a date with Monty a little late on Thursday. It was nearing five when I walked in the door, after I fixed my hair. I dropped my purse and stopped dead in my tracks. Justin had company. Company in the form of Jessica Davis. Who was currently sitting in his lap. On my couch. Making out with him. On my couch. They had their hands up each other’s shirts. On my couch. I cleared my throat. Jessica pulled away and turned towards me. “Oh, hey Addy.” She greeted, like this was normal. “Hey Addy. You’re… just getting home?” His speech was slowed. Are you shitting me? “Yeah. What’s going on?” “Your parents said I could have a friend over after class.” “Okay.” I blinked. She was still perched in his lap. I glanced at the clock. “I suggest you fix your shirts because they should be home soon. And I don’t think they want to see, uh, this.” I motioned in their general direction. Jessica laughed and climbed off Justin. “Oh, don’t be such a priss, Addison.” “I’m not being a priss. I just wasn’t expecting to come home to people making out on my couch.” She rolled her eyes. “Great to see you too. Hey, Justin. Can I steal you for a sec?” I waved upstairs. “There’s snacks in the cupboard, Jess.” Justin followed me upstairs, trying not to giggle at, assumingly, the fact that he didn’t get caught by my parents. I shut the door when we got to my room. “What the fuck Justin?” “What?” He shrugged. “What do you mean what?” “What?” “Making out with a girl on our couch?” He was trying to avoid eye contact. My parents are going to kill him. “No one was home. It’s not a big deal.” “How long has this been going on?” “I don’t know, a couple weeks?” I blinked at him. He was still trying to look away from me. I grabbed his face and made him look at me. “Are you fucking high right now?” “No? What? Why would you ask that?” His eyes were bloodshot. He was acting very much like Justin when Justin has been indulging in Bryce’s stash. “Don’t lie to me Justin Foley. You know my parent’s rules. Do you want them to freak out?” “Oh, come on Addison. It was a little weed. It’s not that big of a deal.” I sighed heavily. “You know what, whatever. You obviously don’t care. So, I suggest you tell your girlfriend to leave or figure out a way to sober up before they get home. And if that fails, tell her to leave, and come hide in here until you’re sober enough to face them.” I grabbed a book off my shelf and went back downstairs. I nodded at Jessica, who had made herself some crackers and dip. Sitting at the table, I texted Monty. Justin and Jessica? Did you know about this? He responded a couple of minutes later. No? Actually?Yeah. They were making out on my couch when I got home. And to make things even more awkward and complicated, they’re both high. I mean, to be fair, weed isn’t really that bad. Yeah. I know. But that’s not the point. My parents are going to freak. Now is really not the time to be pissing them off. Oh crap. You guys leave for Boston soon, don’t you? Next week. And if Justin can’t keep his shit together… I left the unspoken implication hang in cyberspace. Are you really just going to ignore the fact that they were on the couch?I was hoping to just ignore that fact. Our make out spots are becoming fewer and further between. We could just stay in your bed, Doll. But the couch has the TV. So we can not watch a movie without worrying about my laptop falling. “Who you texting so much?” Jessica asked, trying to peer at my phone. “Friend from Boston.” I said, locking my phone. “Oh, friend from Boston, you say? Is he cute?”“I guess? His girlfriend probably thinks so.” “Oh. Not a secret long distance lover then?”“No. And we grew up together. It would be weird.” I slipped my phone in my pocket and grabbed some cereal. We both looked up when my parents got home. I took that as my cue to go get Justin. I practically kicked him downstairs so he could go entertain his girlfriend with my parents and I could have some time to process how I missed it. Probably the same way he has missed me having a boyfriend for… almost a year. The day before we left for Boston, Justin and I were running around like mad men. I had plans with Monty and Justin had plans with Jessica tonight, so I didn’t want to be too long packing. Unfortunately, neither of us could find anything we wanted to bring. It was going to be nice so I wanted to bring some dresses. We had a few things planned, but like with our other trips, there would be plenty of time to lounge around the house. “Have you seen my pink and green dress?” “The one with the stripes? No. Have you seen my blue shirt?”“I think mum put it in the wash.” “Okay.” Justin went down the hall to the bathroom. “Has anyone seen my shampoo?” He called. “It’s in here.” My dad called from their room. I was busy ripping apart my closet. I groaned in frustration. “You know, it’s just Boston. We go every year.” “I know Justin. I just like to be prepared for every eventuality.” “Yeah. Wait… are you trying to impress Adrian?” Justin laughed. I turned and he was leaning against the doorframe. “No. Absolutely not. Besides, he has a girlfriend.” A girlfriend I happen to like. “If you say so.” He smirked. I rolled my eyes and flipped him off as he went back to packing his bag. I gave up on my closet and decided to tackle our toiletries. I wasn’t too concerned with travel sizes because it was all going in my checked luggage. “Decide what book you’re taking with you Addy?” “Don’t you mean books, plural? It is a 6-hour flight after all.” He laughed. “Okay, okay. Books?” “I’m happy you asked.” I grinned as I pulled out the Barnes & Noble bag from under my bed. His jaw dropped. I shrugged. “Your parents are going to freak.” “They know I went book shopping.” After a very long day of packing, Justin left to go meet Jessica. I texted Monty to let him know I would be leaving in about fifteen minutes. “I’m going to hang out with Alex and Clay for a bit.” I told my parents. “Just remember we leave early tomorrow for the airport Addison.” My dad said, not looking up from his list. My mom was emptying the fridge. “I will.” When I got to the cliffside where we agreed to meet, Monty was waiting for me. I couldn’t help myself. I ran and held onto him like it was the last time I would ever see him. “You’re only leaving for two weeks Addison.” He grunted at the impact. “I’m going to miss you.” “I’ll miss you too.” He kissed the top of my head. We stood like that for a few more minutes before finally separating. I took his hand and led him up the trail. It was good for both of us to be walking the trails. He was starting summer training with the boys while we were gone, and I was going to be sitting for around 8 hours straight tomorrow. Provided our flight wasn’t delayed, of course. It was just starting to get dark, and I stopped along the way to take in the town’s skyline in the evening dusk. Monty rested his chin on top of my head, and I sighed, leaning back into him. It was so peaceful. I looked up and him and noticed a small bruise forming on his jaw. Not wanting to start a fight right before I left for two weeks, I pretended I hadn’t seen it. I smiled sadly to myself still. I wish he would just talk to me about it. After a few hours, wandering around and soaking in the last time we would have for a couple of weeks, which feels like an eternity when you’re 16, we knew it was time to say goodbye. When we got to the parking lot, he made me turn around at his Jeep. I furrowed my brow. Before I could ask, he twirled his finger in the air. I clamped my mouth closed and turned. He rummaged around for a minute. “What are you doing?” “You’ll see. Just wait a minute.” I huffed. He chuckled. “Ah.” He muttered. He tapped me on the shoulder. I turned. He held out a small Barnes and Noble bag. I was taken aback. I wasn’t expecting anything. I pointed at the bag and then at me. “F-for me?” “It’s not much so don’t start.” He smiled, shyly. “Okay.” I took the bag. “I can’t wrap stuff worth shit, so the bag is as good as you’re going to get.” I laughed and shrugged. It was a fair enough explanation. I opened the bag and pulled out a spiralbound notebook. The cover was pink with the titles of all the classics on it. I smiled. “You won’t be here for your birthday, and I know your notebook is getting full so….” Monty trailed off. “Thank you. This is really sweet.” I flipped it open and gasped. On the first page, he had drawn a book like on the cover, and titled it The Next Classic and written Hawthorne at the bottom where the author’s last name sometimes appears. “Happy birthday, Addison.” “Oh.” I smiled. My eyes had started to tear up. This was the sweetest gift anyone had ever given me. I closed the gap between us and kissed him. He pulled me closer to him and I deepened the kiss just a little. Not too much, just enough to make him remember me while I was gone. 
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lunarjulyqueen · 11 days
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Recently I have become obsessed with Until Dawn again and I want to read some fanfic but I also don't want to read anything bad. Does anyone know some really good ones that are well written and have stuff with the main cast before their night of terror and before the prank as well. I need to see them being friends but also some drama! Anything with multiple chapters is appreciated especially if it's finished. An au of them in college or maybe even something good taking place after main game and they are living with their trauma :)
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sithdaya · 9 months
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Chapters: 6/? Fandom: 13 Reasons Why (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jessica Davis/Justin Foley Characters: Jessica Davis, Justin Foley Additional Tags: soft justin and jessica, Inspired by 13 Reasons Why (TV) Summary:
CHAPTER 6 IS UPLOADED 
MY YEARLY JESSTIN FIC HAS A 6TH CHAPTER. CHECK IT OUT PLS
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Justin doesn't die and goes to college like he deserved to :') 
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justinewt · 2 years
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A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH - UNTIL DAWN REWRITE (series masterlist)
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meet Synthya Oleynikov before reading <3
Summary: During a party at her lodge on Blackwood Mountain, a cruel prank causes Hannah Washington to run into the woods. She is followed by her twin sister, Beth and finds her sister, freezing cold. Synthya, close friend to the twins and girlfriend of the latter’s brother, runs outside to try to help them but the three girls are pursued by a flamethrower-wielding stranger driving them to the edge of a cliff. Despite the aid of their dear friend, the twins fell off and she will be the only survivor of this tragic incident, for some reason spared by the stranger as she run back to the lodge, frantic and in shock.
A year later, Josh invites the group from the previous party, his loved and caring girlfriend and the twins’ close friend, Synthya Oleynikov, his own best friend, Chris Hartley, the latter love interest, Ashley Brown, new couple Emily Davis and Matt Taylor, Emily’s ex boyfriend, Mike Munroe and his new girlfriend Jessica Riley, formerly Emily’s best friend, to the lodge for the anniversary of his sisters’ death.  Despite tensions between members of the group and reservations about returning after the tragedy that occurred, all seven accept Josh's invitation but this winter getaway isn’t going to go as planned...
[Status: COMPLETE]
New chapter on Wednesdays between 6 & 7pm CEST  (chances are high that chapters might get delayed every now and then, sorry)
Words: 26.9k
Chapters:
Chapter 1 - Friendship 
Chapter 2 - Darkness 
Chapter 3 - Dreadful Play 
Chapter 4 - Curveball 
Chapter 5 - Desperate Repentance
...
NB: This fic’s sole reason of existence because I’ve been in denial ever since I first watched a let’s play of this game when I was in middle school (if you know why you know why) and I have been heart broken ever since bc of the fate of a character and I finally came to doing a rewrite lol 
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rosslovesramen-blog · 7 years
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I Want You To Stay // PT. 2 (Zach X Reader)
a/n: what up everyone I finally got to writing part two thanks for all the love on part one you guys are cute!!
warnings: cursing, punching (??? do you tag punching idk)
part 1 is here !!
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A whole week had passed since your fight with Zach. The weekend flew by, so when you arrived at school on Monday you knew avoiding him was going to be a challenge. He was everywhere. You spent the whole week at school taking the longer route to your classes and even eating outside alone to avoid him in the cafeteria. It seemed like this week was lagging, but when Friday hit you were more than ready to return back to seclusion at home...that was until your friend Jessica approached you when school let out. "Hey (y/n!)" she chimed as she walked in a steady pace to catch up to you. Jessica was off too, the same way Zach and the others had been. So you were surprised when she approached you in such a pleasant way. "Oh, hey Jessica." you responded with a small smile. "Listen, I know this has been a shitty week for you, but it has been for a lot of us also so i'm throwing a party to get everyone's mind off of everything." she said as you two walked out of the school. You stopped in your tracks once you realized Zach and the others had been waiting a few feet away, probably for Jessica. "(y/n)? are you listening?" Jessica said breaking you out of your trace. "Yeah sorry...a party? I don't really know if im up for that right now I just-" Before you could finish Jessica cut you off suddenly. "No, you're going you need to get out and drink and laugh. Everyone at school is coming and that includes you okay?" she said with a grin. You had to admit she was right, seclusion wasn't going to help how you were feeling but was getting drunk at a party with your ex in the same room such a great idea either? You shrugged and let out a small laugh. "Fine, i'm sold text me the details okay?" You said before Jessica let out a small high pitched squeak and pulled you in for a hug. "It'll be fun I promise!! I'll see you tonight (y/n) I have to go." You gave Jessica a smile and wave goodbye while she took off and for whatever strange reason, Zach had his eyes on you the entire time.
"This is a horrible idea, a really fucking horrible idea." you said to yourself quietly as you approached Jessica's house. You had to admit you looked good, you had on a cute black dress that hugged you in all the right places and decided to pair it with your infamous denim jacket and a pair of converse so you didn't look too over dressed. As you stepped inside the loud house, you noticed it was more crowded than usual. Jessica wasn't kidding when she said she invited damn near the whole school. "(Y/N) you made it!!" Jessica yelled from the other side of the room and immediately all eyes were on you. She stumbled over to you and handed you a drink and impulsively you chugged most of it down. “Let’s get another!” You cheered forcefully before making your way over to the drinks. You felt Zach eying you as you passed him without saying a word. You didn't wanna worry about Zach or being sad anymore, you just wanted to have fun and that's what you did.
Later on as the party progressed you found yourself drunk with Monty in the backyard behind a shed. You two were making out heavily, you didn't know where Zach was and in the moment you didn't care. "Wait---Monty...." You said as he started to put his hand up your thigh. Things were getting heated and you were suddenly uncomfortable. You quickly pushed it away but his hand made his way back up your leg, "God fuck off Monty!" you said as you pushed him off of you and gave him a slap in the face. "Chill (y/n) I thought we were having a good time, guess you're really not over Dempsey huh?" Monty said with a grin on his face. You rolled your eyes and stepped from behind the shed only to find Zach standing there, angry. You looked at him with a horrified expression, had he been there the entire time? "What the fuck are doing with him (y/n)!?" Zach said angrily as he shot a look to Monty. He looked worse than he did when you two last spoke and you didn’t think that was possible. You were confused as to why he was there in the first place but before you had a chance to speak Monty chuckled as he walked past the two of you. "Don't worry Dempsey she's all yours, thought she'd be easier to get with after you were done with her." Within an instant Zach punched Monty in the face and grabbed him by the shirt "You stay the FUCK away from my girl." Zach growled before pushing Monty away. He stumbled off bloody and mumbling something under his breath. You stood there stunned at what just happened. "So i'm your girl now, Zach?" you scoffed while you looked down at the ground avoiding his stare. "(Y/N) I---just let me explain, please? I wanna tell you everything, but I might lose you after I do." You listened to his words and thought about what he said for a minute. You'd already lost him once, at this point one more time wouldn't hurt. "I wanna know everything Zach, I can handle it." You said as you looked up at the tall beautiful boy that stood in front of you. Even with his tired eyes and scruffy face you couldn’t help but still be in love with him. "Okay...come with me." He said softly as he took your hand. The fate of you two seemed up in the air at this point, but you were finally going to get the answers you deserved.
and that’s it!! part 3 is coming very..very..soon :-) lemme know if you wanna be tagged!
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fanficgirl429 · 4 years
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Scott Reed Imagine 
Y/N glanced around the crowded foyer as she walked through the front door of her best friend, Scott’s, house. The party was in full effect as her classmates were laughing and drinking alcohol. Normally, Y/N would pass on a party this large but Scott had insisted that she come. He had been gone for a week on vacation and tonight was his first night back. Some guys on the baseball team had decided that it was also the perfect night to throw a party...at Scott’s house. The rest of his family was at the beach and would be returning in two days. Y/N knew that she would be helping clean up the mess but she owed Scott. He had helped clean up the remains of her birthday party before her parents had arrived the next morning. 
“Y/N,” a deep voice called from behind her. 
Turning around, she saw Scott standing in the middle of the living room, a red solo cup, in his right hand. She waved and started to walk towards him, pushing through her classmates. When she reached him, he pulled her into a hug, both of them excited to see each other. 
“How was the beach?” she asked, grabbing the drink out of his hand and taking a sip. 
“It was good!” he said. “I missed seeing your beautiful face every day though!”
Y/N laughed, playfully slapping him on the arm. It was true though. They did see each other everyday. The two of them were inseparable. It was known among their friends that wherever one was the other was close behind.
The song playing over the speaker changed and Y/N squealed, beginning to dance. Around her, others began to dance as well. A pair of hands were placed on her hips from behind, and she instantly knew it was Scott. She grinded her body against his, swaying her hips to the beat of the music. As the songs changed, they continued to dance together, their bodies sweating. Y/N could feel Scott’s erection pressing against her back and turned around to face. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she whispered, “I think you have something going on down there.”
Scott chuckled, not even phased a bit that she had just pointed it out. She laced her fingers with his and pulled him through the room and out to his backyard. As they walked, he stayed close behind her, not wanting others to see what was happening. 
His backyard had a fire pit with couches around it. Surprisingly no one was sitting at them.  The two of them sat down, their backs against the party, leaving that world behind for a bit. 
“I’m glad you’re back,” Y/N told the brown haired boy. 
He smiled. “Me too.”
They sat quietly for a few moments, Scott wrapping his arm around Y/N’s shoulder. She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, his warmth radiating onto her. 
“How’s your situation?” Y/N giggled. 
“Oh shut up, it’s fine now,” Scott replied, rolling his eyes. 
It was quiet outside, the occasional sound of the music drifting out. 
“I’m sorry that I missed going to the dance. Was it fun?” Scott asked. 
“Yea it was ok. Not as much fun since you weren’t there.”
Scott pulled his phone out of pocket and began scrolling. Moments later a song began to play. It was Y/N’s favorite song. 
“May I have this dance?” he asked. 
Y/N nodded, placing her hand in his. He pulled her up and placed his hands on her sides while she wrapped hers around his neck. They swayed with the music, forgetting that there was a party happening around them. 
Y/N rested her head against Scott’s chest, feeling his heartbeat. Right here, right now was better than going to the dance with him. They had privacy even though there was a party going on not far from where they were. For some reason, no one had bothered to come outside, even though the weather was perfect. 
As the song ended, neither of them bothered moving away from one another. They stood there, Y/N’s head against Scott’s chest, his arms wrapped around her waist. 
“Y/N…” Scott began. 
Y/N glanced up at her best friend, seeing concern in his eyes. “What’s wrong?” she asked, afraid that he  was giving off the wrong impression. 
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you but I was never sure when the right time was. I told myself I was going to do it at the dance but then the baseball team had a tournament so then that messed everything up,” Scott said, his words starting to get strung together the more he talked. 
Y/N could tell Scott was nervous. Whenever he got nervous he always rambled and talked fast. It was rare that he was nervous around her but she had seen it plenty of times around other people, mostly people that he didn’t know too well or a girl that he was into. 
He took a step away from her, beginning to pace back and forth in front of the couch. Y/N sat down on the couch and watched as her friend walked back and forth, occasionally running this hand through his brown hair. 
“Scott what is going on?” Y/N finally asked when she couldn’t take it anymore. 
Scott stopped where he was, looking over at her. “You have to promise you won’t freak out if I tell you?”
“Promise.”
Scott took a deep breath. “Y/N, I like you, like more than friends.”
Y/N’s felt her mouth drop open at his statement. Her heart began to race as she had been waiting to hear those words for a long time. Standing up, she walked over to him, lacing her finger’s with his. 
“I like you too, Scott,” she told him. 
“You do?” Scott asked, stunned. “Why did you never tell me?”
Y/N shrugged. “Well for a while you like Lindsey and I didn’t want to mess that up. I figured after a while you would figure everything out.”
“Wait, did you like me while you were with Monty?”
“I had to try to get over you somehow but it didn’t work. He eventually figured out that I had feelings for you which is why we broke up. He also told me that you had feelings for me but was afraid to act on it.”
“He never told me anything. That dick.” Scott laughed. “So you wanna go on a date tomorrow?”
“Absolutely,” Y/N replied, gently squeezing his hand. “Should we head back inside?”
Scott nodded, leading towards the backdoor and back into the party.
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kurottsukii · 9 months
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On My Own | 13 Reasons Why
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The murder
You weren't the same after what happened, I mean who could have been? Zach thought for a while he killed Bryce but he was just a part of it, the reaction to Dominos falling row by row. No one apart from Alex and Jessica knew you were there when it happened, you wanted it to be that way.
Why? Because you tried to save him, you didn't just stand there like Jessica when Bryce was pushed in the water, you tried to save him. Jessica tried to hold you back when it happened but you pushed her off and jumped in the water.
You remember the water being so cold it felt like you, yourself was dead. You would've been if you continued to try and save him that night but it was impossible, his body weight was half the size of yours, he was weak, scared, in pain and so were you; scared. He was already dead when you were trying to swim up to the surface with him but you held hope. Hope that if you can make up to the surface, you can save him but again. It was already too late, his dead weight was practically pulling you down with him till you had no choice but to let go, watching as his body sank down.
You walked home that night, you couldn't bare being in the car with his killers. As much you hated Bryce, with how much pain he caused you; the secrets, the rape, the manipulation. Everything he did to you, you should've wanted him dead more than anyone. Maybe at first but now? You wished you could've taken that thought back. He didn't deserve to die like that, and you definitely didn't deserve the trauma his death brought you.
After hearing Ani blame the murder on your ex-boyfriend Monty and his death in prison, you snapped. Liquor and drugs became your best friend, at first it was weed and Hennessy then weed got replaced with shrooms, then Molly and acid and soon it was meth, and any pill or alcohol you could get your hands on. You would even bring them to school, drinking and swallowing or injecting between classes to get by.
As you were spiraling down to a dark path, so was Clay and Zach but never Alex and Jessica. You wondered why what happened didn't affect the actual guilty but instead the accessories to murder. But then again, you stopped caring.
After Clay and Justin busted you over your drug use, you were on 24/7 watch, in fact the whole group had to watch you. Jessica and Ani would make excuses to sleep over at your house; Tyler, Clay and Justin would walk you to your classes and Tony and Zach would take turns being with you after school. That part backfired though. Soon Tony ended up getting busy with his fighting, leaving you and Zach alone all the time.
You two ended up finding comfort in each other, you two were both broken beyond repair so you two became each other's bad influence. Zach would keep secrets about your continuancely drug use and you would keep drinking with him. Drowning y'all's sorrows with any alcohol imagine and sooner rather than later, your two bad habits became intoxicated hookups.
It became a daily occurrence that you ended up finding yourself into being sexually connected with Zach more than the drugs. He was your drug but you weren't his. During the time that you were getting better, he was fucking some other Bimbo from school.
You were hurt by this, yes. But were you really that surprised that it'll happen? No. Once again you were on your own. You began using again, this time you were skipping school.
Everytime Clay went looking for you, you were at every party imaginable rather it be highschool parties at other schools, or frat parties at colleges, you were there. Always high, always shit faced, always in danger. Rather it was you being a danger to yourself or to someone else or they were a danger to you. You were just fucked up you didn't care anymore.
It was like you drowned that night with Bryce. Maybe you should have.
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chapter eight
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“Okay, these questions are way too easy,” I said, taking a sip of my water. “Everyone knows Cheddar is played by multiple dogs.”
Brad laughed and nodded. “They all look different, too!”
“Exactly.”
The scores showed up on the screen ahead of us, and Brad and I were second.
I frowned. “Who’s ahead of us?”
Brad and I looked around, and saw a couple closer to front doing a little happy dance and clinking glasses.
“Alright,” I said, turning back to him. “That’s who we have to beat.”
this one will go up on thursday! we’re spicing it up!! read it early here (and get access here!)
also i do feel the need to warn that it’s about to ramp up and get more complicated and angsty so uh...good luck charlie
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13-reasons-ideas · 3 years
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requests are still open yay! MontyxOc, Oc dated Monty a year ago.. things didn’t quite work out but her & Monty maintained a close friendship some say a little too close for ex’s. She stared dating (any one of the guys) but Monty continued to flirt with her she wasn’t stopping him either, She feels bad & tells Monty to stop flirting & trying to get with her... He doesn’t she starts to get fed up and on a class trip they argue over it.. the argument however ends much differently (smut)
A/N: This story contains SMUT. DNI if under 18. 18+ only. This is a long one you guys. Definitely bring a snack and a cup of tea to read it. I’m sorry if the spacing is weird. I can’t to hear what you have to say about it! Feedback is appreciated and much love as always. - Em
Friends Don’t 
I met Monty in the park. Things had been different between us recently. “Hey.”
“Hey.” He turned in my direction. I sat on a picnic table and watched him for a few minutes. He seemed like he wanted to say something but didn’t know how.
“What’s going on in that hot head of yours?”
“I don’t know. I don’t… I don’t want to mess everything up.”
“Well how will you know if you do, if you don’t take the chance?” I had a feeling I knew what was coming.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for this Reagan.” Even though I had a feeling, it still felt like a punch in the gut to hear him say it.
“For what?”
“Things to get serious.”
“Who said anything about serious? We are sixteen.”
“I don’t know. Do you want to pretend that I’m ready to date someone? That doesn’t seem very fair to you.”
I shrugged. He has a point. He’s not exactly in a great place right now. “I guess not.” Even though I didn’t want to, I felt tears starting to well up and the familiar prickle in my nose. I blinked a few times because I knew he was right. It just sucked to hear.
“I don’t want to not have you around though.”
“I know. I don’t want to not have you around either. You know me better than anyone. Best friends?”
“Best friends.”
“And if you ever need anything, I’m there. No matter what.”
“Day or night.”
“Always.”
ONE YEAR LATER
Monty and I stayed close. We kept our promise to be best friends. After all, we knew each other better than anyone. We hung out after school and got coffee. He came over and we watched movies. It was almost like we didn’t break up. Almost. For a while after our breakup things were awkward. We hadn’t really figured out where our boundaries were. After some time, we got comfortable again. Some people would say we were a little too close. It didn’t really matter that much to us if we still flirted or finished each other’s sentences.
It didn’t matter, at least until I started spending time with a certain other jock. Zach Dempsey had caught my eye before senior year but there was something about him that was different that September. He was still kind of cruel, but he was trying. He meant well. He just didn’t always know how to go about things in the best way. I knew what being forced to spend extended time with Bryce walker could do to a person. Zach and I had a few classes together over the years. Our friendship started like a lot of friendships did in school. You got stuck sitting next to someone and so you had to decide if you wanted to ignore them for the rest of the semester, or if you wanted to make your semester not suck and play nice.
We decided on the latter that first day of world history. He was late to class and the only empty seat was next to mine. I had spent time around him when Montgomery and I were dating so we were able to at least talk to each other. Our interactions consisted mostly of homework and school stuff for about a month or so. Then, slowly, we started talking about our interests and other things on our way to lunch. On one such walk to lunch, he told me about his dream of becoming a marine biologist.
“Seriously?” I asked him.
“Yeah. It’s cool. Why?”
“I don’t know. I just guess I pegged you as a guy who would want to do the athlete thing and get a business degree in case you didn’t get drafted.”
“Nah. That… that isn’t really in the cards for me.” I nodded.
“I want to go into social work.”
“No way, really?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t elaborate on why I wanted to. That was not my story to share.
“Zachy!” Scott called across the room when we got to the cafeteria.
“I- I should probably get going.” He stammered.
“Yeah. My friends are waiting.” I waved over at Jess and Alex. Zach started to walk away but turned around again.
“Did you want to get a coffee or see a movie sometime?”
“Like, together?”
“I mean, yeah.” He shrugged, trying to play it cool.
“I think I’d like that. Oh, and can you tell Montgomery and Bryce Cheerios is not lunch?” I laughed.
“But they are.”
“I guess we can discuss it over coffee.” I smiled.
“Wednesday after school?”
“Sure.”
I sat at a table with my friends. “So. I’m going on a date.” Jess and Alex looked at me with wide eyes.
“Shit. No way.” Jess smiled.
“Yeah. Zach Dempsey.” I explained, answering their unspoken question.
“Zach is nice.” Alex added.
“And he’s like… really good looking.”
“I know, right?”
“Tall.”
“Very tall.”
“Doesn’t have an anger problem.” Jess muttered under her breath. My smile faltered. I looked up and Monty’s eyes were on me. My phone vibrated. Cheerios is lunch pretty girl. I rolled my eyes. Zach said he has a date. Wouldn’t happen to be a certain girl in his world history class, would it?
I’ll give you details after. And why do you care?
On Wednesday I got a ride with Justin and Clay to school. My car was in the shop for maintenance and my house was on the way from theirs. After school, Zach drove me to Monet’s. I got to ride shotgun in the Audi. The wind feels different. Maybe it’s because this car costs more than my education will. He was a safe driver, I noticed. Soon, we had parked outside the cozy little café. We didn’t hold hands on the way inside.
Inside, I ordered a hot chocolate, and he got a cup of tea. “You like pomegranate?” I asked when we sat down.
“Yeah. It’s tart.”
“It’s pretty good. One of my favourite tea flavours.” We made small talk for a while. I wasn’t sure when the last time he had been on a date was. I hadn’t been on a real date since Monty and I broke up last year.
“Your opinion on Cheerios is wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“Yeah. It’s lunch food. Or breakfast food. Hell, even dinner food.” I shook my head.
“I will never understand boys.” He laughed and picked up his spoon. “What are you doing?”
“Just watch.” He breathed on the spoon and tried to balance it on his nose. I giggled and it stuck for maybe three seconds before falling to the table. I burst out laughing.
“Can I try?” I picked up my own spoon.
“Go for it.”
“Okay, okay how do I do this?”
Zach reached over and took the spoon, holding it in front of my mouth. “Breath on it.” I did. “Now before it dries, take it, and place it on the end of your nose.” I did as he said. It fell instantly.
“Try again?” He waved. I tried again and it fell, yet again. “One more. I think I know the spot now.”
“Go on.” This time, I was able to get it to balance for four seconds. “Does this make me champion?”
“Sure. Until we have rematch.”
“A rematch you say?”
“Yes.”
“I look forward to it. Mostly so I can win again.” I smirked slightly. We spent the next couple of hours just talking to each other about stuff. Mrs. Dempsey called him home around five.
“Yeah Mom. I’m just out with the guys going over some plays. I’ll be home soon.”
“I take it I’m getting my refill to go?”
“Yeah. It seems that way. I’ll drive you home.”
We went on like that for the next few weeks. We would meet for coffee or meet up to see a movie. Go for walks in the park or by the docks. It was nice. Different than what Montgomery and I had, but it was a welcome change. We went public at school before we decided to tell our parents. My parents weren’t exactly ecstatic about me dating in my senior year and I knew how his mom felt about girls in his life. I was still talking to Monty. All the while, we had kept up the flirty banter we had started a few weeks after our breakup. Zach didn’t seem to mind much. “Good morning Beautiful.” He said as he walked over to my locker that morning.
“Hey 85.” I smiled brightly at him.
“You look very cute.”
“Why thank you kind gentleman.” I grabbed my bag off the floor and shoved my geometry book in it. Zach threw his arm around my shoulders as he walked me to class. I rested my head against him and we chatted about our night.
“So, you guys are public now.” Monty said, walking up to us with Charlie in tow.
“That’s really cute.” Charlie said.
“Yes.” I smiled. I felt Monty’s eyes traveling my body and I couldn’t help the blush that crept up my neck.
“Yeah.” Zach said.
“That’s great.” Monty replied. When we walked away, he called out, “I’ll see you around Reagan.”
I turned and called back to him, “yes you will.”
In the following few days, Monty kept up with the flirting. I didn’t stop it. I found it kind of amusing. “Going to harp on my lunch choices again Rea?”
“No. You’re an adult. I trust you to make proper choices.”
“Now, Reagan. You should know I’ve never been good with proper.” I rolled my eyes. Oh, I know.
“Seems to have done you pretty well so far. How’s… uh… collarbone tattoo?”
“Katie?”
“Sure.” He merely shrugged.
“How’s Zachy?”
“Zach is good.” Zach said, sitting down at the table. I swatted Monty’s hand away when he reached for a cookie.
“And you should know by now to not touch my food Montgomery.”
“Oh. She full named you. What’s it like to be called out by your ex like that, man?” Bryce asked.
“You don’t get a cookie either Bryce.”
“Reagan.” He held his hand up to his chest. “You wound me.”
“That’s sad for you.” I shrugged. Zach turned to me and shot me a megawatt smile.
“Do I get a cookie?” I thought for a moment.
“You can get half a cookie.”
“It’s half more than I had before.”
“I’m his best friend. Can I have the other half?” Justin asked when he sat down.
“No. My cookies.”
“I’ll trade you my Milky Way for that half.”
“No.” I laughed. “You’re sure you’re okay to come to my place later?” I asked Zach.
“Yeah. It’s just your parents. Parents like me.”
“Did he just say ‘just your parents’?” Monty looked at me with wide eyes. I shrugged. “Reagan.”
“Monty.”
“Your dad threatened to shoot me.”
“My parents never really liked you though.”
“Gee, I wonder what gave you that impression?”
“What would have?” Charlie asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe when her dad threatened to shoot me.”
“Parents don’t like you. They’ll love me.” Zach beamed.
“They don’t like you because you ruined their daughter.” Bryce laughed. Again, I shrugged. Can’t really argue with him there. Monty merely smirked, proudly. Ugh men.
“Anyway. You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. And can you remind me again why we sit here?”
“You get to see me.” Monty chuckled.
“No. No I don’t think that’s why.”
“Hurtful.”
**
In the few months after Zach and I started dating, his mom had come around to the idea of me being in his life. I spent time at his house, mostly working on homework or helping May with hers. It was tense at first but she came around eventually. Once she realized I only wanted what was best for her son. My parents were getting more used to the idea of me dating again. They saw how we interacted and seemed to approve more than they did with Monty. I had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the fact that I wasn’t emptying the first aid kit my mom kept stocked every month or so.
Monty and I were still close. He had recently started seeing a girl named Kyla. I wasn’t sure how serious it was but figured it could be good for him. It didn’t stop him from flirting with me though.
“Good morning gorgeous.”
“Good morning Montgomery. Good night?” I laughed.
“Of course.”
“How was your date with Kyla?” I asked.
“It was good. She cooked for me.”
“That’s nice. Was it good?” Charlie asked, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.
“I mean, sure. Some kind of spinach something or other?”
“You hate spinach.” I said.
“Yes. And you hate tha-.” Monty started. I saw Zach walking towards us.
“Shhhh.” I cut him off. “Hey babe.”
“Hey beautiful.” Zach pulled me into a hug and placed a kiss on my head. “How was dinner at Alex’s last night?”
“It was good. His mom let me bring contraband in the house.”
“Contraband?” Bryce asked.
“He’s not allowed to have junk food.” Charlie explained.
“Something about healthy body healthy mind or something.”
“She’s not wrong Rea.” Zach said.
“I know but still. Let the kid have a candy bar once in a while. It won’t hurt him.”
“He prefers sour patch kids.”
“I know.” The bell rang and interrupted us. I sighed heavily and took Zach’s hand. He walked me to math and kissed me on the cheek as he left. I smiled brightly at his retreating form.
Monty texted me in math. As I was saying, you hate that you and Zach haven’t fucked yet. Have you even gotten to second base yet?
None of your god damn business.
I’ll take that as a no. Don’t worry. It’ll happen eventually. I could get Charlie to get Alex to talk to him. Or you could let me talk to him.
No!
What? You don’t want me to tell him all your dirty little secrets?
I swear to God, De la Cruz. I will wring your neck in your sleep.
You’d be doing my dad a favour. You’d at least get past the front door.
I’d wring his first. Now stop texting me and learn some shit.
Fine.
Zach sat with Alex, Jess, and I at lunch. Kyla was sitting with Monty. I got the impression that she didn’t really like me all that much. In order to avoid a catfight-as much as I think the boys would like to see it- I found it best not to sit with them when she was around. Plus, it gave me a bit of a break from all the sports talk I had to pretend to care about. I shared my granola with Jess. Alex ‘stole’ my gummy bears. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had the other bag in history. Zach kept my little secret. I felt him watching me out of the corner of his eye. He was talking to Alex about some video game. Jess and I rolled our eyes. “Boys.” We said in unison.
That weekend, Zach and I went for a walk along the docks. It was a beautiful day outside. We walked hand in hand just talking. When we felt like taking a break, we sat down on a bench overlooking the water and watched the waves. He put his arm around me and pulled me into his side. He was whispering sweet nothings in my ear. “Part of me wishes it was cold out, so I could offer you my sweater.”
“Me too.” I smiled.
“You look adorable in them.”
I giggled and hid my face in his shoulder. “I do not.”
“You do though.”
“Okay.” I blushed. He grinned at me as I peeked up at him.
We spent another hour walking and enjoying our time together. When it started to get dark, Zach walked me back to his car. He held the door open for me and kissed me before closing it. He is so sweet. The radio was playing softly. We sat in content silence for most of the drive. The purr of the engine lulled me into a peaceful sleep. “Reagan.” He whispered. I didn’t want to wake up. “Reagan. Baby, wake up for a second please.”
“Hmm?” My eyes stayed closed
“I just wanted to know if you want anything from Starbucks.”
“Sleeping.”
“You can stay in the car and sleep if you want.”
“Kay.”
“I’ll get you something.” He whispered and kissed my temple before getting out and locking the car. When I woke up, there was a cup of tea in the cup holder for me. So thoughtful.
**
I was in the middle of getting ready for a date with Zach when someone rang my doorbell. Running to answer it, my eyes widened when I saw Monty. His cheek was already starting to bruise and his knuckles were bloody. “Hey.”
“Uh. Hey there friend.” Blood was dripping onto my porch. “Just a sec.” I held up a finger and ran to grab a towel. He wrapped it around his hand before stepping inside. Thankfully there won’t be blood on the floor now. He stood in the entryway. “How’s the other guy?” I asked as I pulled out my phone to text Zach. Monty didn’t answer.
I’m so sorry. I have to cancel tonight. I think I’m coming down with a cold. I want to try to nip it in the bud and sleep it off.  
That’s okay. Do you want me to come over? I can bring you soup.
No, thanks though Zach. I’m just going to go get ready for bed and sleep so I can be better by Monday.
Okay. I’m just a text or call away if you need anything. <3
Thank you. <3
Now that my plans with Zach were taken care of, I was able to focus on the boy at my front door. “You know you don’t have to just stand there. You’ve been here before since we broke up.”
“I know. I just wanted to give you some space while you dealt with whatever plans you and Zach had.” He walked into the house further before adding, “which you didn’t have to do.”
“It’s not a big deal. I told you I would be here for you, whatever you need. Do you want some ice for your hand?” I dug around in the freezer for the tray. He tried to protest but I saw the thinly veiled wince when he flexed it. Sighing, I pulled out the freezer bags and filled one with ice. Monty accepted it begrudgingly.
“I didn’t need ice Reagan.”
“And I don’t need five million dollars Montgomery. If you don’t want it though, I’ll gladly take it back. I’m sure Kerba would love to hear about whatever bullshit reason you give for your hand being fucked again is.” He shut up and kept the ice.
“Think he would believe me if I said it was an exercise accident?”
“No.” I stated, shaking my head. Monty moved into the living room, settling in on the couch. Grabbing the remote with his good hand, he started scrolling through channels.
“You know if you hit the guide button, you can just pick a channel.”
“Yeah, but then you don’t complain about it and I can’t irritate you.”
“And I wasn’t done.” He didn’t respond, so I went into the closet for my mom’s first aid kit. She kept it stocked at all times. It was hard explaining why it was so depleted so frequently when Monty and I were together and even harder to explain why it was full after we broke up.
Walking over to the couch, I sat down and opened the kit. I grabbed some gauze and took his hand in mine. There was too much blood, so I had to go get a cloth. His lip curled when the wet cloth touched his cut knuckles. My brow rose but I didn’t say anything. Monty grimaced as I wrapped his hand. “Is your cheek okay?”
“It’s fine.”
“Okay. Have you eaten?”
“Yeah. You don’t need to feed me too Reagan.”
“Okay.” I let him continue flipping channels, knowing when to not push him. He never was very nice when I was patching him up. He finally settled on some old black and white film. Neither of us watched it. We just spent the night sitting in silence. It gave me plenty of time to think about the fact that I had lied straight through my teeth to my very nice, charming boyfriend.
A couple of weeks after I had patched Monty up, I noticed he wasn’t at school. I was walking to my locker with Alex that morning. Scott was talking to Charlie about something when we passed. “I don’t know where he is, man.”
“But we have a huge government midterm today.”
“It’s Monty. He probably just overslept or decided to cut first period.” I stopped walking unconsciously. Then where is he?
“You’re probably right.” Charlie said, as he adjusted his bag. He bumped into me when he passed. “Sorry Reagan. Guess I didn’t see you there.”
“Huh? No worries Charlie.” I smiled as he took Alex’s hand and nodded to them when they left me in the hall.
“He isn’t at school yet.” Scott said, behind me.
“Okay. I don’t know why you think I care but whatever.”
Scott looked at me seriously. “You care. Might want to look like you care less though. His replacement is coming this way.” I didn’t respond.
By lunch, I had started to worry. Charlie was right. We had a government midterm today. Monty couldn’t miss it. I scanned the cafeteria. There was no sign of him anywhere. He wasn’t in math this morning either. I couldn’t stop myself from texting him. I know you aren’t this self-destructive. Get your ass to school.
“Hey baby. Who’re you texting?”
“Just Bryce. I loaned him some of my government notes in first so he could cram. I just need them back.” Zach took my hand and we walked to the jocks table. Still no sign of Monty. I didn’t sit down. “Hey Bryce, did you get my text?”
“Uh. No?”
“About my government notes that you borrowed?”
“What-?” I gave him a look. “Oh. Yeah, I put them in my locker. Meant to bring them to lunch but it slipped my mind.”
“Can we go get them? I wanted to read over them during lunch.”
“Sure?”
“Great.” I nodded towards the door. He stood and followed me out.
“So, what the hell was that?”
“Did Monty stay at your place last night?”
“No. It’s probably nothing. You know how he is. Disappears sometimes.” We stopped walking and stepped into an empty hall.
“Yeah. It’s just that he knows this is important. I worry is all. Unlike you, he actually needs to get a scholarship.”
“I need to too Reagan.”
“You don’t. But go ahead and think that if it helps you sleep.” I shook my head and pulled my history notes out of my bag. “We’ve been gone a while. Don’t want anyone getting suspicious.” I texted Monty again while we walked in silence back to the cafeteria. If you aren’t in government I will drive to your house and kick your unfairly shapely ass. You better have a damn good excuse for not being here.
When I got to government for fifth period, I sighed in relief. Monty was sitting in his seat next to mine. “Nice of you to finally show up.” I grumbled as I sat down.
“I was busy.”
“It’s a Wednesday during school. During midterm week no less. What was so important?”
“Kyla got a new piercing a few weeks ago.” He smirked.
“You’re disgusting.”
“What? Have you and Zach still not?” My silence spoke volumes. He snorted. “No wonder you’ve been so bitchy lately. Want me to talk to him? Explain that you have needs?”
“No. I want you to not skip school to fuck your,” I paused, “Kyla. Because you aren’t a dumbass.” Even though I was pissed at him, I still waited for him until he had finished his test. We stopped at his locker so he could drop off his books.
Zach was waiting for me at my locker. We had rescheduled our movie date to today under the guise of making sure my cold was for sure gone and until midterms were complete. “Hey Zachy.” I hugged him and kissed his chest.
“Hey beautiful. How was your midterm?”
“Not bad. I think I did okay.”
“That’s good. How was it actually Monty?”
“Could have been worse. No one cried, which kind of sucks.”
“Good to know.” I put my stuff in my locker, failing miserably at the organization I had at the beginning of the year.
“I’ll see you tomorrow Monty. At eight. When you’re supposed to be at school.”
“Okay. We can go with that. You kids have fun now.” I shook my head and rolled my eyes. A blush had started to creep up my neck though. Maybe tonight.
When we got to my place, I left Zach downstairs to go change. I threw on underwear that matched my bra. Just in case. I settled on a pair of yoga pants that framed my ass well and threw on a low-cut comfortable tank top. Back downstairs, Zach was taking a bag of popcorn out of the microwave. I felt his eyes go straight to my butt as he heard me come down. I smirked slightly. I hugged him tightly from behind at the counter. “You’re cute.”
“So are you.”
“I’m not cute.”
“You are. My giant teddy bear you. Oh, and there’s a box of Mike & Ike’s in the pantry for you.”
“Thanks.” He grinned.
We scrolled through Netflix for a few minutes. Nothing looked really interesting until we scrolled past Beautiful Creatures. It’s good to make out to. And I like it. Settling in for the night, I rest my head on his lap. I sighed happily as Zach stroked my hair. It was so nice to just have a quiet night in with him. He adjusted his position slightly a while into the movie and I sat up to change positions as well. Falling asleep was not in the plans for this evening. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer against his chest. Leaning back, I rested my head on his shoulder. I placed a few soft kisses on his neck and jaw.
Zach’s breathing picked up when my lips ghosted over a spot just under his chin. There it is. I smiled against it and kissed it again. He sighed and I pulled away to look at him. His pupils were slightly dilated. I leaned in to kiss him. He leaned in and our lips touched. It was soft and gentle at first, but quickly became deeper and more intense. This wasn’t the first time we made out at all. But this time felt different. More meaningful. Maybe it was the right choice to change my underwear. His tongue ran along my bottom lip, requesting entrance. I was more than happy to accommodate it. His hand made its way around to rest against the back of my neck. My body shifted into a kneeling position on the soft couch, so I had a better angle. One of my hands rested on his chest. The other wound its way around the back of his neck to play with the soft hairs at the top of it. So soft.
Our tongues playfully fought for dominance. Neither of us seemed too keen on winning. We were just enjoying the moment. The movie was still playing in the background, though neither of us cared. My hand traveled down his muscular body as our making out intensified. I played with the hem of his shirt. I wasn’t wanting to take it off. But I also wasn’t not wanting to take it off. My boyfriend has a very nice body. Zach took control and began leaning forward. He continued until my back hit the cushions. After some readjusting, I was laying comfortably with Zach’s large frame above me. I smirked slightly when I felt his pants beginning to tent. He only pulled away long enough to sit up and pull his shirt over his head. Ugh that is the hottest thing any man can do. The blue shirt dropped to the living room floor unceremoniously.
He kissed me once more before moving on to my neck. The initial kisses were light and teasing. He was still trying to draw a map of where all the sensitive spots were. I gasped when he brushed over my pulse point. Zach smiled softly against it. The kisses turned much less light and teasing after that. It was both sides under attack now. It felt so good. I couldn’t stop the quiet whimpers from escaping. I moaned his name and ran my fingers through his hair. Why do men get the super soft hair? God. This feels amazing. “I love you.” He breathed into my neck. My breath caught in my throat. What? It wasn’t like I had never thought I loved him. I did. I was just surprised that he said it first. When I didn’t say it back immediately, his kissing faltered. I didn’t mean to hesitate.
“I love you too.” I smiled, even though he couldn’t see it.
We continued making out for a while until it got too close to my parents getting home. It was a long weekend, so they didn’t care much if he was over late. We were both adults. On weekends, they trusted us to be alone later. Even if alone meant ‘my parents are in their room upstairs or down the hall so shhh’. On school nights, Zach was gone by ten thirty. Even though they trusted us, none of us needed to experience them walking into the house to see their daughter and her boyfriend getting hot and heavy on their couch. Instead, we cozied up on the couch under a blanket and watched a couple more movies. “It’s getting late Reagan. I should head home. Mom will probably send Deputy Standall to come get me soon.”
“Okay.” Zach and I walked to the door and hugged goodbye. I stood on my tip toes and kissed him gently. “I love you.” I whispered.
“I love you too.” He whispered back.
The next morning, I woke up with tiny purple marks on the sides of my neck. He doesn’t usually leave marks. I like it. I wore my hair down so my parents didn’t see them. I may be an adult, but they still preferred I didn’t go around sporting hickeys all the time. Probably part of why they hated Monty so much. My mom felt it was anti-feminist. It was letting a man mark their territory and property. I usually challenged that with her wedding set. Dad just preferred not to think of me as being in a physical relationship. He was aware of it of course. Just preferred not to acknowledge it. Which, I mean, fair.
At school, I couldn’t leave my hair down. It was too hot. I threw it in a high ponytail in history. Zach breathed in sharply when he saw my neck. I turned and smiled at him. “Thank you.” His eyes widened and he coughed to cover a groan. During lunch, I could feel the boys staring at me as they arrived at the table.
“Damn Zach. Didn’t think you had it in you.” Bryce sniggered. I rolled my eyes.
“I did. You finally corrupted him, Reagan?” Justin wiggled his brows at us. I blushed and hid my face in Zach’s chest. I was never this shy about marks with Monty. Maybe that was because no one made comments like that when he did it. Because it was expected. And they knew he would rip their tongues out. I expected Monty to comment. He surprised me when he only quirked a brow. I was less surprised when he pulled me aside before history.
“Don’t let your parents see those. You seem quite attached to him. Wouldn’t want your dad to actually kill him. Maybe you should leave your hair down for a while. Wouldn’t want anyone getting any ideas, would you?”
I was stunned at the unnecessary hostility in his tone. Why the fuck does he care? He didn’t say anything else. I turned as he walked away, leaving me alone in the hall. I still put my hair down though.
Zach and I continued to explore the more physical aspect of our relationship in the coming weeks. Nothing too serious, just some semi-clothed touching. Maybe the rare under clothes touches. Only enough to tease. Never enough to lead anywhere. I was both grateful and frustrated by it. He didn’t leave anymore marks on me either. He could tell I was uncomfortable with his friend’s comments and wanted to avoid it as much as possible. We had agreed to wait until we were both ready. Neither of us were virgins. But it was still new. It did leave me with plenty of time to wonder what it would be like though.
When I wasn’t thinking about all the dirty things Zach and I could get up to, or Zach in general, or Monty, I occupied my time with college applications. My top choice had been UNC Chapel Hill for many years. Even before I knew what I wanted to study. I worked hard in school because of it. There were other schools I would like to go to, but none compared to UNC in my mind. I remembered when Monty and I had talked about what we wanted to do after high school, and he looked amazed but slightly skeptical at my goal. I knew he didn’t mean anything bad by it. We both knew how big of a goal I was. Zach had a different look on his face. He looked at me with complete faith that it would happen. It wasn’t even a question to him. He didn’t verbalize the thought, but I could see it in his eyes. I just hoped he was right.
Admissions emails were due to go out any day now. I both couldn’t wait and absolutely dreaded it. I had applied to seven schools. Statistically speaking, I had to get into at least one of them. I just wasn’t sure which one. Zach tried his best to reassure me that everything would work out. Our friends agreed with him. Monty also tried to reassure me. And keep my mind off of it with his incessant flirting. It was nice. I had a constant I could focus on. Monty flirting with me, as strange as it sounded, was keeping me calm. Zach tried his best to keep my mind occupied. We talked about anything but schools unless we needed to. It was sweet.  I just wasn’t sure it was helping much.
The pring of an email notification on my phone pulled my attention away from the textbook I was reading. I quickly grabbed my laptop and logged on. Pulling up Gmail, I held my breath. It could be any email. An email titled University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Office of Registrar Admissions Decision sat at the top of my inbox in bold letters. This is it. Holy crap. I was shaking so hard I opened the wrong email first.
Back on my inbox page, I took a very deep breath and opened the email. Dear Miss Reagan Taylor, thank you for your application to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We regret to inform you that you have not been accepted for admission at this time. I couldn’t read any further. There was more information, I just couldn’t bring myself to read any of it. My eyes had begun to fill with tears. I didn’t get in. I worked so hard. And I still didn’t get in. Numbly, I moved the computer off my lap and grabbed my phone. Unconsciously, I selected a contact and put it to my ear as I felt myself beginning to dissociate.
“Hello?”
“Hi. A-are you busy right now?”
“I don’t have to be. What’s wrong?”
“C-can you come here? Please?”
“I’ll be right there.”
I numbly walked out of my room and went to unlock the front door. In my room, I sat in the center of my bed and hugged my knees. Willing the tears to remain at bay, I screwed my eyes shut. That didn’t do much to help, because all I saw was a string of the words not been accepted running over and over again.
A knock on my bedroom door caused me to look up. I wasn’t aware of how much time had passed. He was standing in my doorway with his hands tucked in his pockets. “I didn’t get in.” I said softly. My voice cracked. His long stride had him at my bedside and sitting down within only a few steps. He pulled me close to him and I cried into his shoulder. He laid us back and he held me as I cried. I felt so vulnerable as we laid there silently.
It must have been at least an hour before we moved. It had started getting dark outside. “Thank you, Monty.”
“You needed me.”
“I know. I just,” I paused, “thank you.”
“I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” I walked him to the door and went to take a shower. When I got out, I saw that Zach had texted me. I love you and I hope you’re having a good day. I sighed to myself. I couldn’t bring myself to find the energy to text him back. Instead, I crawled into bed and fell into a fitful sleep.
The next day, I threw on a pair of sweatpants and one of Zach’s t-shirts. I was too upset about the email to really care about looking nice. I met Zach at his car in the parking lot. He had a cup of hot chocolate for me and had his adorable happy grin plastered across his face. “Morning beautiful.” I took the to go cup gratefully.
“Morning.” He put his arm around me as we walked, and I leaned against his large frame.
“How was your night?”
“It was okay. Yours?”
“It was alright. Anything exciting happen?” Exciting is not the word I would use.
“Uh, no. Not really.” We had reached my locker. I opened it and dug around for my stuff.
“Hey, Reagan.” Luke called from across the hall. I lifted my arm and waved at him without turning around.
“What’s up Luke?” I asked when he was at my locker. Some of the football team was with him, including Monty.
“You know, it goes. I heard back from UNC yesterday. Did you?”
“Uh.” I cleared my throat and tried to will away more tears. I didn’t miss the sharp intake of breath Monty made. “I uh… Yeah. I didn’t get in.” I muttered. There was confused murmuring all around me. The only one who didn’t say anything was Monty. I didn’t have to look up to see that Zach was glaring daggers at him.
“How did they not accept you?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t know Char. It was a long shot anyway. Their acceptance rate is twenty three percent total. It’s even less for out of state applicants. Applicants who aren’t being given sports scholarships anyway. No offence Luke.”
“None taken. I’m sorry Reagan.”
“It’s okay. I applied to other schools.” I cleared my throat again. “I have to get to class.
“I’ll walk you.” Zach said. I nodded and took his hand in mine.
We stopped on the way when he pulled me aside into an empty classroom. “You didn’t mention that you heard back from UNC.”
“I know. I just… I needed some time to process. Can we talk about this later? I have a reading due at the beginning of class.”
“Sure. I’ll see you at lunch?”
“Of course.” I kissed him on the cheek. I sat through my classes in an almost daze. Monty sent me a couple of texts that made me smile. Zach also sent a couple of goofy pictures to try and cheer me up. My smile didn’t quite meet my eyes as much. I attributed it to being upset about the admission decision.
I met Zach at the doors to the cafeteria and he hugged me. I smiled sadly into his chest. I picked at my lunch silently. I could feel Monty and Zach’s eyes on me. They were watching both me and each other. No one else picked up on the tension. “Did you want to come over after school Zach? My parents are at work.”
“That works. I’ll let my mom know we are studying after school.”
“Studying each other?” Justin smirked. I rolled my eyes. Zach threw a piece of cheese at him.
“Fuck off.”
“Why do you throw food at each other?”
“It’s fun.” They shrugged.
“Alright then. I have a free period so I’m going to finish a project. I’ll see you guys later.” I leaned over and kissed Zach.
A few minutes after I sat down and pulled up my assignment, someone sat next to me. “So. You didn’t tell Zach?”
“No Monty.” I didn’t look up from my computer.
“You didn’t tell him you called me either, did you?”
“No. But I’m sure it will come up tonight when we talk.”
“You’ll let me know if everything is okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. I have class so I’ll text you hot stuff.”
“You better.” I smirked.
Zach and I met each other at my place. My parents were at work and I think both of us knew this was going to become a fight, so I wasn’t surprised when he agreed to come over at lunch without a thought.. We danced around each other in silence. Neither of us knew how to react to the tension between us. With Montgomery it was easy. He would be in a mood or I would be upset about something, we would yell at each other for a while, and then… then it was fixed. I had never fought with Zach before.
“Why didn’t you tell me about UNC?”
“I told you. I needed time to process. To think. That was my top choice Zach. My plans literally changed overnight. That takes time to think through.”
“But I’m your boyfriend. I’m supposed to help you with that stuff. To be there for you.”
“I know. But I need to take time to process before I can deal, okay?”
“Right. Time to process. That’s why Monty knew?”
“How do you know he knew?”
“His reaction this morning. Plus, I heard him talking to Scott and Luke about it in class.”
“Are you mad I didn’t tell you, or are you mad I told Monty?”
“Both.”
“I don’t know why I told him okay?”
“No Reagan. Not okay.”
“I didn’t do it intentionally Zach. I just… dialed. I wasn’t even looking at my phone.”
“Is that supposed to make this better? That your instinct was to call your ex-boyfriend and not me?”
“No. I’m saying that I wasn’t even thinking clearly. All I knew was that in an instant my entire future was fading before my eyes.”
“So, you called Monty.”
“Yes Zach. I called him. I called him and he came. He dropped everything and he came to me.”
“What happened?”
“What do you mean?”
“What. Happened. Reagan?”
“Nothing. I just cried. And cried. And then he left. I was upset.”
“Why couldn’t you call me?”
“Oh my god, Zach. I wasn’t thinking. I can’t explain to you why I called him and not you. I just picked a contact without looking and it was his.”
“Do you still love him?” His question caught me off guard. Do I?
“No.” My voice sounded sure. My brain and heart didn’t believe me. Hopefully Zach would.
“You don’t. Why do you still flirt with him?”
“I don’t love him. As for the flirting, that’s just how we talk to each other. We’ve always done it.”
“Well, I don’t like it.”
“Noted.”  
Zach scoffed. “You flirt with your ex in front of me.”
“I don’t mean anything by it.”
“That doesn’t matter. Do you not think it’s weird that you’re still super close to your ex?”
“Not really, no. He is my friend. You can be friends with an ex, you know.”
“Most people can’t, actually.”
“So what? You’re mad that I’m friends with Monty?”
“I’m not mad Reagan. It’s just a lot to deal with.”
“Why?”
“Do you know how it feels to learn stuff about you, because your ex is talking about it? Or because you two are joking about something?”
“No. I guess I never really thought about it like that. It’s not that weird to us. But it does make sense.” I sat down on my couch. My adrenaline was leveling out again and I felt like an asshole.
“It doesn’t feel good.” He sat down next to me.
“I’m sorry Zach. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything.”
“I know.”
“I’ll talk to Monty about it. Tell him we need to stop the flirting and stuff.” Zach took my hand gently.
“Okay.” I rested my head on his shoulder and he pulled me into his lap. I was shocked that a fight had been resolved that easily and cleanly.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Monty and I met at the docks to talk after Zach and I fought. “Hey.”
“Hey sweetheart.” I grimaced slightly.
“Zach and I talked.”
“Okay. How did it go?”
“He was pretty ticked off that you knew about UNC before he knew. And that you came over instead of him.”
“But I’m your friend.”
“And he is my boyfriend. Also, for the record, you aren’t just my friend Monty. You’re my ex.”
“So?”
“So, you aren’t just my friend.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because. The way you talk to me, it’s like we never broke up. You’re the one who said you wanted to break up. That you weren’t ready for a serious relationship. Or any relationship for that matter.”
“Is it you, or Zach that has a problem with it?” My silence spoke volumes. “I see. Well, you go tell your boyfriend that we talked.”
“Monty. I do feel bad about it. It’s not fair to Zach to have to deal with you flirting with me and making moves all the time.”
“You know, if I believed that you felt bad, or that you were honestly asking me to stop, I would. But I know you. I know this isn’t coming from you.”
“Montgomery. You need to stop. I’m asking you to stop.”
“Fine. I’ll cool it.”
“Thank you. That’s all I ask. Still friends?”
“Of course, Rea.” He hugged me tightly. I felt like I would let tight hugs slide because I liked them. We walked to our cars together quietly. I didn’t want to have to go or have things change, but I knew that if I wanted to stay with Zach, they would have to.
Monty was true to his word for all of three days. We were still friendly. The flirting had stopped though. There was still a buzz in the air when we interacted. It was easier to ignore now. At least, I thought it had stopped. I was painting my finger and toenails in the bathroom on Saturday night. It was my weekly self-care night. My phone rang before I could decide on a face mask to do while my nails dried. I smiled but rolled my eyes a bit when I saw who was calling. “Hi Monty.” I tried to sound annoyed but couldn’t keep the smile out of my voice.
“Hey Reagan.” He slurred slightly. I could hear the sound of boys falling and goofing off in the background. Bryce is having a thing, I guess.
“What’s up Buddy?”
“Jus’ guys night.”
“You don’t say.”
“You sound relaxed.”
“And you sound mighty drunk. It’s Saturday.”
“Right. Right. Girly night.” He chuckled.
“Yes. Is there a reason you called?”
“Wanted to say hi.”
“Oh.” I thought we had talked about this.
“I miss you.” He slurred. Oh boy.
“Uh. Miss you too.” I grimaced. He was drunk so I wasn’t going to just pretend I hadn’t heard him. Montgomery wouldn’t remember this in the morning.
“I’m an idiot.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“I am. I let you go.”
“Monty….”
“I love you.” My eyes widened. No. I felt the corners of my eyes begin to fill with tears. Looking up, I blinked them away. I didn’t know what to say.
“I-.”
“I’m in love with you.”
“Monty.” I whispered. Why is this happening? We talked about this. At least he won’t remember this tomorrow. But I can’t just act like it didn’t happen.
“Buddy, get off the phone and come play.” Garrison called in the background.
“Gotta go.” Monty said before hanging up. What the actual fuck just happened?
I didn’t text Monty or Zach all day Sunday. I didn’t actually talk to or text anyone aside from my parents. I woke up on Monday dreading school. I just laid in bed and stared at my ceiling. I would see Zach and have to act like that phone call didn’t happen. And that Montgomery hadn’t said what he said. I would also see him. I don’t know if I can do that. He’s your friend. He was wasted when he called you. He won’t remember it. Taking a deep breath, I threw off the covers and got up. I stopped for a coffee on my way to school to try to calm my nerves, even though I was more of a tea person.
I walked into the school and as luck would have it, the first person I saw, was Montgomery freaking De la Cruz. Thank you, Universe. Instantly, I turned on my heel and walked out of the building before he could see me. Books weren’t important now. I had to avoid him. I power walked to the nearest exit and stopped by a large tree. Leaning against it, I took a deep breath and contemplated ditching school. That wasn’t going to be possible. Because the universe decided to say fuck Reagan today. Zach was walking towards me from the parking lot. He waved. I pretended I hadn’t seen it and ignored him. He stopped when he got to my tree. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Hey. Yeah. I’m okay.”
“You’re breathing kind of heavy. And leaning against a tree.”
“I’m fine Zach.”
“Okay.” He didn’t sound convinced. Before he could say anything more, I picked up my bag and brushed past him. I took the long way around to the back of the building to physics. I slumped in my seat and doodled through the whole class. I was doing well enough that the teacher wasn’t going to call on me.
I spent the next week avoiding Monty. I didn’t answer his texts. I took different routes to class. As far as I was concerned, he didn’t exist anymore. Except for the near constant string of text messages that I was getting from him. And his confession running over in my head any time I had a free moment to think. Why did he have to do that? I was getting on just fine. Zach and I were in a good place again. We agreed that we would just be friends. Fine. Fine. Fine.
I was also distant with Zach. I felt awful about it. You love him. He can say it to you sober. He loves you. If he saw me in the halls, he would come over and I would let him walk me to class. We would hold hands. My grip wasn’t as tight as usual. He would put his arm around me. I wouldn’t lean against him. I think he could tell something was off. Being Zach, he wouldn’t bring it up though. Since I was avoiding my two favourite jocks, I couldn’t exactly sit with Zach at lunch. I sat with Jess and Alex instead. Without Zach. They exchanged looks the first day but said nothing.
I went to the baseball game after school to support Zach. And to make it seem like nothing was wrong between him and I or Monty and I. I didn’t want people asking too many questions. Questions I didn’t want to answer. Monty’s drunken declaration had brought up feelings I had spent the better part of a year and a half, trying to bury. I was the one that wanted more from him. I was the one who needed more. When it was clear I wasn’t going to get more, I settled. And then when we broke up, I was comfortable in the fact that even though I loved him and I felt like he loved me, it would go unsaid and we could just be friends. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that was why we were so close and flirted with each other. While I wasn’t in love with him anymore, I still did love him. Even though I told Zach I wasn’t. Liar. You are still hopelessly in love with him. Maybe. But I can’t have him the way I want. And I love Zach. I just haven’t decided if I’m in love with him yet.
After the game, I waited to say bye to Zach and congratulate him on the win. “Congratulations 16. You won.” I smiled as he walked up to me. I was waiting at the bottom of the bleachers.
“Of course, we did. I had my biggest cheerleader in the stands.” He grinned. I couldn’t help but melt. Pushing away any and all thoughts of Montgomery’s phone call, I threw my arms around his neck and let him scoop me up into his arms as we kissed. My legs wrapped around his waist and his hands held my thighs.
“Get a room.” Bryce called out to us as he passed with some of the guys. The jocks cheered and whistled. I flipped them off and pulled away from the kiss.
“Two things. One, you don’t have girlfriends because you whistle at girls. We aren’t dogs. Two, fuck off.” I called back.
“I have a girlfriend.” Anders yelled.
“I know. She’s awesome. That’s two of twenty. Now shut up and leave us be assholes.”
“Yes Ma’am.”
Zach let out a loud laugh when they walked away. “That was amazing.”
“Yeah. It kind of was. Sadly, I have to go work on a project. Walk me to my car?” I said as I jumped out down.
“Lead the way.”
I was working on my project when Monty called me. I sent it straight to voicemail. He called again. I let it ring out. He called back. This man just doesn’t quit. Again, I let it ring. He called a fourth time. Jesus. I answered it on the second to last ring. “What?”
“Woah. Who pissed in your tea today?”
“You called me four times in a row. What do you want Montgomery?”
“Well, I was calling to see why you have been ignoring me. But now I’m going to ask why you’re being such a bitch?”
“I’m busy. And you called me four times in a row.”
“Busy with what?”
“A project.”
“Okay. I’ll keep this quick then. Since a project is apparently more important than your best friend.” I didn’t respond. “Why have you been avoiding me, Reagan?”
“I haven’t been avoiding you.”
“Bull. I haven’t seen or heard from you in almost a week. Are you mad at me or something?”
“No. I’ve been busy.”
“With Zach?”
“No. With stuff. I have a life outside of Zach Dempsey and you, you know.”
“Stuff. Okay. What stuff?”
“School stuff. Trying to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life. Stuff.”
“Alright. I don’t believe you though. Did I do something wrong?” Yes. You did. Something very wrong. That you apparently can’t even remember. Meaning you didn’t have to just be drunk to say it. You had to be wasted.
“No. I’ve just been busy.” I sighed.
“We’re okay?”
“Yes Monty. We’re okay.”
“Okay good. Did you want to do lunch tomorrow?”
“Sure.”
“Great. Rosie’s at one?”
“I’ll be there.” I threw my phone on my bed when I hung up. This man is infuriating. Why can’t I say no to him?
To no one’s surprise, Monty didn’t stop flirting with me. He made comments about my outfits or little things that he knew about me. It had finally driven Kyla away. I feared that Zach would be the next person he drove away. I didn’t fall into his trap anymore and let him bait me into flirting with him again. He tried hard. But I didn’t want to go back on my word to Zach. I couldn’t control what Monty did. But I could control how I reacted. So, any time Monty flirted with me, I ignored it. I pushed down the little flutter in my stomach and blush that threatened to creep up my neck. Zach would roll his eyes and smirk if he was around to watch the spectacle that had become Monty and my interactions. We both figured he would grow tired of not getting a response and quit eventually. I have no idea why. Montgomery De la Cruz never was one to back down from a challenge.
As the school year started heading towards its close, the big senior trip was coming up. Every year, the school sent the senior class on a trip. It was supposed to be educational and technically was fair game on any exams except our government finals when we got back. But really, it was to let us blow off some steam and get us into a different environment, so we were less likely to do a Senior Skip Day or senior prank. The only teachers who tested on it were the hard asses. This year we would be going to DC to “learn about the government and how our nation’s democracy runs.”
The senior class was abuzz with excitement about our trip to DC. It was fully paid for by the school due to it being a mandatory trip, aside from the few thousand we needed to fundraise for. It wasn’t cheer camp so people were more willing to donate for a bake sale, over Dollar Valentines. Typically, everyone shared rooms at the hotel. This year however, there was an uneven number of girls in the class. Meaning that one lucky girl, would get a whole room to herself for the week. To make it a fair draw, every grade twelve girl’s name was put into a raffle. A random teacher from the neighbouring school then pulled a name from the bunch, to keep it impartial. An email would be sent out to every girl, letting her know if she was picked.
I held my phone tightly all day on draw day. It was a week out from the day we were leaving. We weren’t told when the email would go out. Only that we would know by tonight. I hope it’s me. At dinner, my phone pringed. I shot up like I had been bitten.
“Reagan. You know the rules. No phones at dinner.” My mom scolded.
“But Mom. It’s draw day for the single room. I need to go check. Please? Thirty seconds. Promise.”
“Okay. Go check.” She waved me off. I ran to the counter and grabbed my phone. Opening the email, I read it intently. Reagan Taylor- Single room. I screeched in excitement.
“I got the single room! I got the single!”
“That’s wonderful honey. Now come finish your broccoli.” I quickly texted Zach. I got it. :) He replied while I was finishing dinner. That’s great. :)
I texted Monty after dinner as well. I got the single room. He replied while I was getting ready for bed.
Excellent. What better place for you and Dempsey to screw each other silly? Can’t wait to hear all the details.
You are such a creep.
You like it.
The Friday before we left, Zach came over after school to help me pack. My parents were having date night, so it was just the two of us for the foreseeable future. Ever the gentleman, he helped me carry my suitcase up from the storage room. The rose gold hard case set was laid out on my floor. I put Zach in charge of folding my clothes, since he was the self-proclaimed “master packer”. He pouted slightly when I said he couldn’t fold my underwear. I managed to sneak in a few more sexy sets as well. We would be gone for a week. A lot can happen in six nights.
“Do you like this shirt?” I asked him.
“It’s nice.”
“I could wear it to the Capital.”
“Yeah. Or dinner.”
“There’s going to be dinner, hmmm?”
He walked towards me and took the shirt from my hands. “There might be. There also might be a lot more than dinner.” Zach wrapped his arms around me.
“Oh really?”
“Mhmm. If you want more than dinner.”
“I do have a single room.”
“That you do. Bring the shirt.”
“Okay.” I felt a blush creeping all the way up to my ears.
After some more packing, we took a break. A very nice break. We were laying on my bed. The suitcase was still open in the corner of my room. Zach shifted so he was resting his head in his hand on his elbow. I looked up at him and grinned. He grinned back. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He leaned down and kissed me softly. I kissed him back and wrapped my arms around his neck. Zach smiled into the kiss and moved to climb on top of me. He straddled my waist so that I was on my back again. The more he kissed me, the more I wanted this to go further.
My hands left his neck and went to pull on his shirt. I was trying to pull it off without breaking our kiss. When it was halfway up his torso, he pulled away from the kiss and pulled the cotton over his head. I smiled demurely at him. He began kissing me again and our tongues did their playful dance. I moaned softly when he kissed my neck. He didn’t suck hard enough to leave any marks. I sat up to take off my shirt when he pulled it up my stomach. He kissed me once again and I carded my fingers through his hair. My breathing started to get heavier as his Zach’s hands explored my body. My hips bucked lightly. He unzipped my jeans and I wiggled them off. They were pushed to the end of the bed along with our shirts. I struggled with his belt a little. I wasn’t used to it yet. It still felt foreign under my fingers. Finally, I had removed it. I unzipped his jeans and Zach kicked them off. He moved his kisses down my chest, brushing over the top of my bra. I sighed. My hands moved to his to the front of his torso and I ran my fingers up and down his chest. The skin was smooth, but I felt goosebumps form where I touched. We were still in our underwear. This feel so… nice. Nice is good. So why does it feel like I have no clue what I’m doing?
We made out passionately. Our exploration of each other’s bodies continued. There was light teasing and nipping at spots. It felt good. Zach unhooked my bra and I pulled it off. It landed at the end of the bed with our other clothes. I gasped when he grew bolder and sucked a pebbling nipple into his mouth. His tongue flicked it a few times and I moaned his name. He used his other hand to roll and tease my other nipple. My hips couldn’t be stopped from bucking. I wanted more. I reached for his boxers. I was only able to brush his V-line. He pulled away from me.
“Did you want something?” He asked cheekily.
“Mhmm.” I moaned and reached for him again. My eyes were trained on the bulge in his boxers. They widened as he pulled them off and his cock sprang out. Reaching out, I grasped it in my hand. It felt hot and heavy. He moaned softly when I began stroking.
To make things easier and more comfortable, he rolled over so he was on his back. I sat up some and watched his face. Zach’s eyes were closed, and his brow was furrowed. He looked relaxed. I leaned down and kissed him. His fingers tangled into my hair as he deepened the kiss. My strokes became more confident and picked up speed. The quiet moans and grunts he was emitting were very encouraging. Soon enough, his hips were bucking. He sat up to stop me. I looked at him with dark eyes. He smiled at me and sat up, pushing me down on the soft mattress. Zach was gazing at me with the most kind and loving expression I had ever seen. My heart swelled.
I couldn’t wait any longer and reached to pull down my underwear. Zach pulled them down my legs and threw them towards the end of my bed. I got comfortable as he reached out for me. His fingers quickly found my core, and then my clit. My breath hitched when he rubbed it. He was gentle. I silently thanked him for that. Gathering some lubrication, he spent a little while trying different gestures and patterns as he ran his fingers through my core. There was some back-and-forth movement, as well as some up and down. It felt good but it wasn’t quite it. He tried circles and I moaned his name loudly. “That’s it. Do that. Do more of that.” My hips twisted. He leaned down to kiss me again while he rubbed me. Zach continued to rub my clit softly in circular motions. I moaned lowly as a finger entered me. It was slow and calculated. He continued to stimulate me for a few minutes, varying the speed and intensity of both his rubbing and thrusting. My hips wiggled in an attempt to get more stimulation.
Deciding I was aroused enough, he pulled away and looked at me questioningly. “There is a new box of condoms in my sock drawer.” He nodded and stood to grab one. Once the condom was properly and securely in place, he climbed back on top of me. I felt dwarfed by his large frame. He rubbed my clit and fingered me a few more times, before I felt his cock brush against my folds. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for him to enter me. I was expecting something quick. Like ripping off the band aid. Instead, he slowly pushed his way into my body. I groaned and my head rolled to the side. His breath hitched when he bottomed out.
“Shit.” He cursed in my ear.
After a few beats, he began to slowly thrust. I tried to match his slow, sweet pace. It just felt so different. Nice. Good. But still different. Zach started kissing up and down my neck again. I smiled and eventually, was able to match his thrusts. They began speeding up slightly and he intertwined his fingers with mine. I squeezed his hands. I closed my eyes when he kissed me. It almost felt like there was something missing. While I was trying to focus on the sensations coursing through my body, I realized that we weren’t just having sex. We were making love. I froze slightly but covered it by tensing up a little. I could feel my orgasm approaching anyway. I could tell it would be different than normal. I was both excited and a little scared.
As though Zach could sense my thoughts, he kissed me deeply and murmured against my lips, “let go.” His thrusts picked up speed and my hips stilled. I felt the knot in my stomach start to tighten and I clutched his shoulders. I moaned loudly as I felt the knot snap. My orgasm was different than it had been in the past. It was good, but it was less intense. There was no convulsing or extreme contortion. He continued to thrust, pulling me through my orgasm. My muscles relaxed and I slumped for a second. I could tell Zach’s high was in his reach. I began whispering dirty nothings in his ear and telling him that I loved him to try to get him to finish. I kissed his neck and nibbled softly. His thrusting became sloppy and he groaned loudly as he peaked.
With a laboured grunt, Zach rolled off of me and pulled me close to him. I closed my eyes for a second. Then I remembered I had to go to the bathroom. I rolled over and sat up slowly. When I returned to bed, Zach had discarded the condom and put on his boxers. I pulled his shirt on, along with a clean pair of underwear. Curling up in his arms, I rested my eyes for a while. “I love you.” I whispered as I drifted off.
“I love you too.” We woke up an hour later and finished packing, sneaking coy glances at each other.
Tuesday morning started unfairly early. We had to be at the airport by eight for our flight at ten. My alarm went off at five thirty. I protested as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Slowly, I made my way to the bathroom to shower. I didn’t need to look super cute, but I at least wanted to smell good. It was a five-hour flight. I double checked that I had everything packed while my hair towel dried. My dad knocked on my door and I grunted at him. The shower had done little to wake me up. “Morning Kiddo. I’m just going to take your suitcase downstairs.”
“K.” I muttered.
Downstairs after I got dressed, I poured myself a very large cup of coffee. I didn’t really like sleeping on planes. Plus, I could get a tea after we got through security. My mom had offered to drive Zach and I to the airport, so I called him to make sure he was up. “Good morning Baby.”
“Good morning babe.” He sighed on the other end of the line.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Jut tired.”
“Me too. Mom just wanted to make sure you were up.”
“I am. Stuff is by the door and everything.”
“Oh good. See you in half an hour?”
“Okay. See you then. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I hung up and texted Monty to make sure he was up. Get up loser, we’re going to DC.
I’m up. And it’s too early for bending Mean Girls quotes.
It’s never too early. He replied with an eye roll emoji. I shook my head and didn’t answer.
“Reagan, are you ready to go?” My mom asked.
“Yeah.” I grabbed my backpack and rolled my suitcase out to the car. Dad lifted it into the back and checked that mom and I were securely buckled. Have to make sure my girls are safe. He had said when I asked him about doing that when I was younger. I still didn’t let him see the way I smiled about it.
Zach was waiting on his front steps for us. It was still early and May was still asleep. He waved and mom opened the back hatch for him. I looked in the rear view mirror and smirked at the way his muscles bulged when he lifted his suitcase into the car. He kissed me when he got in and greeted my mom. “Thanks for the ride Mrs. Taylor.”
“Of course, Zach.” She smiled at him from the driver’s seat. Once we got onto the highway, traffic was fairly light. It was still pretty early so we beat most of the commuters. It grew heavier as we got closer to the airport. None of us were surprised. Especially given that an entire high school senior class was descending upon it.
Mom parked in the drop off zone for the airline. Zach got out and walked around the car to open my door. He hugged me tightly as I stepped out. I breathed in the fresh scent of his cologne. “Hi.”
“Hi.” I looked up at him and grinned. Throwing on my backpack, I grabbed Zach’s while he got our suitcases. Inside, we met up with our friends. Clay was basically dragging Justin through the airport. Alex and Charlie both looked very awake for seven forty-five in the morning. Must be nice. I nodded at Monty and Scott from across the room. They were talking to Bryce and Luke.
Getting our tickets and going through security went shockingly well. Since we had so much time to kill, the teachers let us roam the gate freely. We had to swear left and right we would be on the plane. I abandoned Zach with Justin and Alex to go in search of a piping hot cup of tea. “Reagan.” Monty said as he approached me.
“Morning Monty. It’s tea time.”
“I need coffee. I’ll go with you.” We walked through the gate silently. I could feel his eyes on me. He was trying way too hard to seem like he wasn’t
staring at me.
“Can I help you?”
“There’s something different about you.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“You seem… less tense.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.” He stopped for a minute. “Wait. Did you two finally?” I blushed. “You did. Was it good?”
“Yeah.” I replied. It wasn’t a lie. It was good.
“Yeah? Better than us?” I turned to him, perplexed.
“Is that trick question? How do you want me to answer that?”
“Is that a no?” He smirked.
“No. It’s not an answer. Because it’s none of your business.”
“Alright, don’t tell me.”
Tea and coffee in hand, we walked back to the gate to sit until our plane boarded. The minutes ticked by. Zach was watching YouTube videos on his phone. I peeked over my book at him. He looked up and smiled. I felt eyes on us and turned to Monty. He was smirking at Zach. I rolled my eyes, mouthed piss off to him, and went back to my book. The flight to DC was pretty boring. I was able to sit with Zach and we watched a movie for the first half of it. Afterwards, I listened to some music and read while he slept.
We spent the first night in DC relaxing after a long flight. I enjoyed having a single room. It was quiet and I didn’t have to argue with anyone about what bed I would get. Jess came to do a face mask and have some girl time. It was nice. “So, tell me. What’s new with you and Zach.”
“There’s not much to tell.” I fibbed. She saw right through me.
“Oh, come on Reagan. There is totally something to spill.”
“We finally had sex.”
“No way!”
“Yeah.”
“How was it?” I hesitated. “Girl talk.” She smiled at me and I knew none of what I said would get back to Zach.
“It was nice.”
“And?”
“Good.”
“Nice and good?”
“Yes.”
“That’s the best you can come up with?”
“I don’t know Jessica. It was nice.”
“But it’s supposed to be more than nice.”
“I know. And it wasn’t bad. It was just….”
“No. Don’t even think that. We cleansed. Remember?”
“Okay Ryan Shaver.” I laughed.
“Still.”
“I know. It was just different is all.”
“I get that.” She sighed wistfully. I tried to scrub the mental image of Jessica and Justin going at it like jack rabbits. Ew. No no. Bad.
We toured the Smithsonian on Wednesday and went to the Capital on Thursday to see Congress. I stuck close to Zach the whole time. Monty continued his flirting. It was as though he really had no idea what he had said to me last month on the phone. I did my best to ignore it. But it was starting to get on my nerves. I could tell Zach was growing frustrated as well. While it got on my nerves, I was having a harder and harder time ignoring the butterflies in my stomach when Montgomery tried to charm his way to me. He could tell. I just hoped Zach couldn’t. Our interactions had been tense since last month.
Tensions between me and Monty come to a head in DC. It was Friday night, three days into our weeklong trip. I was coming back from an evening coffee run with Zach and Justin. Monty was milling about with Bryce and Luke outside. I tried to ignore the pang in my chest when I saw them. Monty caught my eye and subtly nodded at me. No one in either of our groups noticed. I pulled out my phone and texted him. My room. 10 mins. He waited until we were inside the hotel to read my message. There was no response. I assumed he got the message and made to excuse myself to my room. “That was really great guys. I’m actually pretty tired and I still have to fill in my trip journal for the day. I think I’m going to head up to my room.”
“Okay, night Reagan.” Justin nodded. He seemed slightly suspicious. I chalked it up to him having his own experience with bullshit excuses.
“Do you want me to walk you up?” Zach asked.
“No, don’t worry. You hang out with Justin. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Alright. Text me when you get upstairs. I love you.”
“I love you too.” I kissed him softly.
Upstairs, I threw my backpack on the unoccupied bed and threw my hair up. Since I would be getting ready for bed soon anyway, I brushed my teeth and changed into my pyjamas while I waited for Montgomery. I was putting my toiletries back in my suitcase when he knocked on my door sharply. He was standing on the other side of the door, his hands once again buried in his pockets when I opened it. “You rang.”
“Hi.” I moved out of the doorway and let him in.
“What did you want to talk about Reagan?”
“No one saw you come up here, did they?”
“No. they didn’t. Is that what you’re worried about? Someone knowing that I’m in your room?”
“Of course not. Its just….”
“Zach. You can say his name. I’m a big boy.”
“I told Zach that he didn’t have to worry about you and I.” Monty scoffed, bitterly.
“Yeah. Nothing to worry about with us. Sure.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“If I was in his place, I would worry too.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean Montgomery?”
“Last month, you told me that we aren’t just friends. And you weren’t wrong. Because people who are just friends don’t look for each other in crowds. Or stop when other people are talking about them. The thing you forgot to mention is how unfair you were being to both of us.”
“I don’t do that.”
“Bullshit. I’ve seen it. And if I’ve seen it, so has Zach. He isn’t that oblivious.”
“Zach has a problem with our friendship.”
“Oh, so now you admit it. Least I got that out of you. Only took a month.”
“It makes him uncomfortable that we are so close. And I feel bad about it. I told you that already.”
“If you expect me to believe you care so much about how our friendship affects your boyfriend, then why did you call me about UNC as soon as you found out and not him? Why did you lie and cancel plans with him to spend time with me? Why is it that until a month ago, you flirted with just as much intensity as I did? Why did-.” I opened my mouth to stop him. “No. You don’t get to talk right now Reagan. It’s my turn to talk.” I closed my mouth and looked down. I was stunned and a little bit scared. He had never yelled at me like that before. “Why did you ask me to come get you when you got too drunk at a party on a college visit and not him? Even after you told me things had to change? Because I would love to hear you explain that.”
I was silent. I knew I couldn’t deny any of what he had said. We weren’t just friends. We didn’t know how to be friends. Or we never wanted to be. “Well?”
“I… you weren’t being fair to me either Monty. I’m not the only one at fault here. I wouldn’t have had to cancel on Zach if you hadn’t shown up to my house unannounced needing first aid. Again. You’re the one who started it with the flirting. As soon as you saw that I was moving on and could be happy with someone else, you fucking start flirting with me and talking to me like you had never stopped. Like you hadn’t broken my heart that day. And maybe I let it go on too long. Maybe I shouldn’t have reciprocated the flirting. But it made me feel good. And it was fun. Until it started having an impact on my actual relationship. With someone who is able to admit that he loves me. You want to stand here and talk to me about looking for someone in a crowd or stopping when people talk about them? What about when you drunk dialed me telling me that you love me? What about how anytime we are alone together you waste time leaving just so you don’t have to go? I’m not the only one at fault here. I asked you to stop flirting with me and you didn’t.”
“Is that phone call what did it?”
“I’m with someone who doesn’t have to be drunk to tell me that he loves me. And no. The call didn’t do anything. But it’s nice to know you remember it.”
“You want me to say it? I’m completely sober. You really want to hear me say it?”
“Yes.” I said loudly, exasperated.
“Easy. I love you.”
We were silent for a minute, finally aware of the tension in the air. I made the first move and kissed him. It was chaste at first. I was giving him a chance to take it back. When he didn’t pull away or stop it, I deepened the kiss. He wrapped his arms around me, picked me up, and placed me on the bed. His hands trailed down my body and played with the hem of my shirt. He sat on the bed beside me and pulled me on top of him. I straddled his waist and sat in his lap, slipping my hands under his t-shirt. When I traced his abs, he sucked in a breath. Everything with him felt so natural. So easy. I slipped my hands out from his shirt and pulled away from our kiss. He looked puzzled until I pulled off my shirt. I nodded at him and he pulled off his flannel. Next to go was his t-shirt. His pupils were blown. He was staring at me, not with hunger like I had expected, but in awe and admiration.
I kissed him again, but I quickly pulled away. I kissed down his neck, searching for the pulse point. We fell backwards in a mess of limbs and kisses on the plush hotel bed. His hands were on my hips instantly to steady me. I had found his pulse point and sucked at it harshly. There was sure to be a mark within the hour. I could feel him pulling at the waistband of my pyjama pants. “Yes.” I whispered in his ear. Monty pulled my bottoms down and off quickly. My underwear was still on and he snapped the waistband cheekily. “Bastard.” I said against his neck.
“You love it.” He moaned loudly when I bit his neck in response. I had to cover his mouth.
“Shhh. People could hear.”
“Screw people.”
With that, he flipped us over, so he was on top now. My hands went for his belt and I deftly undid it. My muscles still remembered the movements. The sound of the clinking metal as the hook hit the buckle. The way I had to tug a little harder to get it to come out of the loops because it stuck on the back one. Soon enough, his belt and jeans were strewn across the room along with the rest of our clothes. It was his turn to kiss me. He dragged his teeth against my bottom lip, pulling it slightly. I moaned lowly. His kisses traveled down my neck quickly. He always did prefer to leave marks on my collarbones and breasts. My neck was still fair game to him and he often left at least one mark on it at any given time. Just like he had so many times before so long ago, he left a clear bite mark on my décolleté. His attention was turned to my breasts then. He deftly unhooked my bra and pulled it off. It joined the ever-growing pile of clothes flung across the room.
The marks he left on my breasts were small in comparison to the one I had left on his neck. He is probably trying to hide them. I too, moaned loudly when he nipped my skin. He covered my mouth like I had done to him only moments before. The difference was that I grabbed his wrist in my hands like I was trying to hold onto him for dear life. I heard him chuckle and felt the stupid smirk against my chest. “Shhh. People could hear.” He mocked.
“Screw people.” He uncovered my mouth and pulled away for a moment. I gazed at him wantonly. I realized what he wanted a second later when he tried to both push and pull me further up the bed. Taking the hint, I shimmied my way up, so we had more room. Falling off the bed would certainly raise suspicion about what was happening in here.
Montgomery continued his journey down my body to my underwear. He stopped to place a gentle kiss to each of my hips. “Think you can keep quiet Kitten?” I melted at the nickname. I hadn’t heard it in so long.
“Yes.”
“Okay.” He pulled at the waistband of my underwear and they landed on the floor beside the bed. I sighed as he placed kisses to my pubic mound and my upper and inner thighs. Reaching down, I placed my hand on his hair. It felt so soft. Suddenly, he placed a kiss to my clit and my hips bucked. My fingers curled in his hair slightly. I moaned again, quietly this time, when he began to lap at my folds. My fingers curled in his hair more still. I couldn’t stop myself from tugging slightly. When he focused on sucking my clit I pulled on his hair. He moaned against my core and my body shook. When he added a finger or two to the mix, I had to bite my lip to keep from screaming. I had been secretly imagining this moment for the better part of a year. This felt so much better than I could have ever imagined. My orgasm began to build quickly. My walls started to flutter. Monty chuckled. He was well versed in my body’s reactions to stimuli. We both knew what was coming. His fingers thrust faster, and he stopped sucking my clit. Instead, he rubbed my clit harshly. I had to cover my mouth to keep from moaning too loudly. And then everything was bright and light for a second. I felt a, thankfully given our location, small trickle of liquid spill its way out of me. Monty gently slowed, and then stopped his thrusting and rubbing. I was panting and trying to catch my breath.
“Just give me a second.”
“Of course. Take your time.”
I looked down at him as he climbed up the bed. He settled beside me and reached down to palm at his hard dick. Once I had caught my breath, I shoved his hands out of the way and took over the palming. “You are so evil.” He grumbled.
“You love it.” I slipped my hand under the band of his boxer briefs. I hadn’t even touched his dick and he was bucking his hips already. He gasped when I brushed his dick with my fingertips lightly. I grasped it in my hand and stoked it. My movements were stilted by his underwear. After I took them off and dropped them next to my own underwear, there was much more real estate to work with. My hand was back to stroking right away. I was mostly just trying to bide time getting my energy back.
A little longer and my energy was back up to useful levels. So, I straddled his waist again and leaned in to kiss him. I wasn’t as conscious of my nakedness as I normally was. Our kiss was heated but I managed to pull away somehow. The trailing kisses down his chest made his breathing heavy. When I reached his cock, I licked a stripe from base to tip. I felt him tug at my ponytail holder. “I will never understand how this works.” I chuckled and reached up to pull my hair down. It fell in a cascade around my face. I tucked some behind my ear and repeated the same lick. The groan and hand that was winding its way in my hair told me all I needed to know. I smiled to myself before taking his cock in my mouth. I sucked slowly at first. I needed to take a few minutes to get used to the feeling. He removed his hand from my hair then, letting me do my thing. He put it back when I started to take more and more into my mouth and throat. I sighed softly when I managed to take it all. That last half inch was always iffy. His hand was wrapped up in my hair and holding it away from my face. I was surprised that he remembered not to tug when I started bobbing my head. Or maybe that wouldn’t be something a guy would forget. His hand traveled down to the base of my hair and rested against my skull. He started to buck his hips and I gagged slightly. Focusing on breathing through my nose, I kept my pace up. I knew he was holding back. I moaned around his cock and he cursed under his breath. I didn’t quite catch it. I stopped sucking to take a big breath of air.
Before I could resume my actions, Monty tugged on my hair. I looked up at him. There’s the hunger. He tugged on my hair again. He was trying to pull me up towards him without hurting me or being too demanding about it. I crawled forward towards the headboard. Kissing him again was the easiest choice I made this trip. I got lost in the feeling of his lips on mine and his tongue fighting mine for dominance. He took advantage of my distraction and rolled us over again. He always did like to be on top. “Do you have a condom anywhere?” he asked between kisses.
“I slipped one in the nightstand beside the Bible.” I breathed.
“You would put it beside the Bible.” He sat up and reached into the drawer, pulling out the blue foil packet. Once the condom was in place and the foil was discarded, he kissed me again. He was still kissing me when he adjusted our positions so he could enter me. My neck had always been a favourite spot to kiss. I gasped when I felt his cock enter me. It felt amazing. My body knew what to do instinctively as soon as he began thrusting. My hips were quickly able to match his pace. I gripped his biceps tightly, trying to convince myself that I wasn’t dreaming.
As his pace quickened, mine stilled. I was watching him. His brow was furrowed, focusing on this moment. I was pretty sure both of us weren’t sure if it would ever happen again. I reached up and brushed some hair that had fallen into his face away. Montgomery hit a particularly sensitive spot and my hand fell to his shoulder, squeezing and digging my nails into the skin. I moaned loudly and he kissed me to muffle it. “Shhh.” He cooed against my mouth. I whimpered. I felt my orgasm building again. It was coming on fast. My hips started to move on their own accord again. His thrusts started to falter, and I mewled. We were both on a rollercoaster that was speeding up to a stomach dropping fall. I covered my mouth so no one could hear the scream trying to jump from my throat. My eyes screwed shut tightly and my eyes rolled back in my head. The white light was so bright. As soon as my orgasm began to hit, so did Monty’s.
He pulled out of me quickly and discarded the used condom. All but falling over me, he rolled onto his back. We were both breathless. I was gasping for air. He was panting heavily. I rolled over onto my side, for some reason shy to cuddle up against him. It seemed silly to be concerned about that after what we had just done. But it felt like crossing a line. “Come here.” Monty pulled me closer to him.
“Are you sure we should be doing this? It doesn’t cross a line?”
“Reagan. We just had arguably the best sex of our lives and I told you I love you. I think we are way past being concerned about crossing lines.” I sighed, realizing he was probably right. Might as well get comfortable. “You need to go pee first.” I sighed again and excused myself. Back in bed, I curled up beside him again.
“We had to go and make everything complicated.”
“When has anything about us not been complicated?”
“I guess you’re right. Will you stay?” He checked his watch and thought for a minute.
“I can stay for a while if you want me to.”
“Yes please.”
I woke up the next morning alone with the blankets tucked around me tightly. There was a note on the pillow next to me written in Montgomery’s messy scrawl. I’ll be waiting. Remember that. I love you. I set the note in my lap and rubbed my face. I should check my phone. See if I missed anything important. Zach had texted me to say good night the night before, while I was… otherwise engaged. There was a text from Justin asking if I needed to talk. And Scott. He wanted to know if I knew where Monty was last night. Oh god. I forgot they were sharing a room. Oh shit. I need to face Zach now. Deciding it would be best to get it over with as soon as possible, I dragged my butt out of bed. I tucked Monty’s note in my suitcase while I got dressed.
When I looked in the mirror and saw the marks on my chest and neck, I rolled my eyes. I packed a heavy-duty concealer for my under eyes. I wasn’t planning on using it to cover hickeys that my ex-boyfriend left on me. Blending and layering took longer than expected but it was early enough that I was still done at a reasonable time. I had to leave my hair down though. Throwing on a pair of sneakers, I made my way to Zach and Justin’s room. I paused for a second when I passed Montgomery’s room. I shook my head. You can’t. Not while Zach is still a factor in the equation. I knocked on Zach’s door and he opened it shirtless. My eyes trailed down his body. I couldn’t stop the memories of last night from flooding back. “Good morning beautiful.”
“Morning Zachy. Can I come in?”
“Yeah. I’m just about ready.” I nodded and went to sit on his bed. Thankfully I wasn’t walking funny. When he was ready, we went downstairs hand in hand.
Monty was talking to Scott in the hotel lobby. I was shocked to see him awake and dressed at this time. The man likes his sleep. And we didn’t exactly get much last night. “Morning Scott. Monty.” Zach stopped to talk as we passed. I couldn’t look Monty in the eye.
“Morning lovebirds.” Scott replied.
“Zach. Reagan.”
“Morning.”
“No tea yet?”
“No.”
“I see. Long night?” I could hear the smirk in Monty’s voice. I hate you.
“I stayed up watching tv.” Zach began making small talk with the boys but I didn’t contribute anymore. I just wanted to get out of there and be alone with my boyfriend. Part of me hoped I could forget that last night ever happened. That didn’t stop me from thinking about it though. The longer they talked, the more I thought about it.
“Babe let’s go. Brunch is waiting.” I urged him to stop talking to Monty and Scott. Please don’t invite them.
“It’s not even eleven Rea. I don’t think it counts as brunch yet.” Scott laughed.
“Okay, then breakfast is waiting. Either way, I’m hungry and food that is far too calories dense to be considered a proper morning meal is waiting.”
“Did you guys want to come with?” My eyes widened. Did he just…? He did not just invite them with us.
“Uh.” Monty cleared his throat. “Are you sure you want to invite me?”
“Yeah. I mean, you and Reagan are friends. I’m going to have to get used to it somehow.”
“Why don’t we ask Reagan?” Monty turned and looked at me, raising an inquisitive brow.
“Um. I- uh.” I looked down, blushing. “I was kind of hoping we could go… just the two of us?” I asked Zach, raising my voice a couple of octaves.
“Oh. Oh, I’m sorry. I just thought…,” he paused and took my hand again, “of course we can go just us. I was just trying to be nice and make an effort.” He was looking at me so kindly that I had to look away. “Sorry guys.”
“Nah, no worries. Gotta get time with your girl.” Scott waved it off. He shot Monty a look that I didn’t like. It made me feel uneasy. Does he know? Before I could think too much into it, Zach was leading me outside.
Brunch was delicious. Zach was his usual slightly oblivious but in a cute way self. If he had any idea something was wrong, he didn’t let on. On our way back, we stopped to sit and look at the White House from a distance. “Why did you invite Monty and Scott to have brunch with us?”
“Well, I didn’t realize you wanted to go just the two of us.”
“That’s not what I meant. You don’t like Monty. So why invite him to hang out?”
“He’s your friend. As much as I don’t like it and I don’t like how he talks to you, he’s important to you. So, I’m willing to try to be nice to him.” Oh. Well now I feel like even more of an asshole.
“That… That’s really nice of you Zachy. Thank you.”
“No problem. What do you say we head back and watch a movie in your room?” He kissed my temple and stood, holding his hand out to me.
“My room? Could we maybe go back to yours? Mine is kind of messy. I had some trouble finding something to wear this morning.”
“Okay. I don’t think Justin is holing himself up in there today.”
Scott caught us when we got back to the hotel. “Hey! Can I steal Reagan for a few minutes? I need to ask her something about an assignment in Spanish.”
“Sure. We were just going to watch a movie.”
“O-okay.” I waved to Zach and trailed behind Scott to his and Monty’s shared room. “I’m hopeless at Spanish and you know it. What is this about?” Please tell me he doesn’t know.
“Are you going to tell Zach about last night?” Fuck.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“That’s crap. Are you going to tell him, or not? Because he deserves to know.”
“How do you know about it?”
“Monty didn’t come in until like two or three this morning. I hadn’t seen him for hours before that. When I saw him this morning, and the calling card you left on his neck, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. The concealer on your neck just confirmed my suspicions. Just be thankful Zach is too oblivious to notice it.” I sighed, knowing he was right.
“I will. Just… not while we are still here. I don’t want to ruin anything. More than it already is anyway. Plus no one wants to deal with anyone getting arrested on a school trip.”
“Okay.”
“Is that all?” I turned to leave.
“Yeah. Actually, one more thing?” I stopped just short of the door. “Monty really does love you. And anyone with half a brain cell can see that you still love him. So, you deserve to be happy.”
“Thanks Scott.”
I spent the rest of the trip trying to avoid Montgomery and hold my tongue around Zach. I slept almost the whole flight back to California. School the next day dragged on. It continued to drag on for the next two weeks. Senioritis had set in hard now that we were done the D.C. trip. No one wanted to be there. We were graduating in a month. Most of us were going off to college. The last few weeks of school were basically pointless anyways. Even our teachers didn’t care as much. It was hard, but I managed to stay pretty cordial with Monty. I kept up appearances that everything was fine for most of the two weeks following the trip with Zach. On Friday I woke up and decided that it was time. I had to end things. I had to be fair to him. I had to take a chance and see if Monty and I could make things work this time. I texted Zach on my way to school. Meet me at the docks after school? The water is beautiful this time of year.
Sure.
I sat in my car for ten minutes after I arrived, trying to talk myself out of talking myself out of doing this. Zach wasn’t here yet so I got out of the car and walked around, trying to find a secluded bench where we could talk in private. I found the perfect one under a tree in the shade. It had an amazing view of the water. I snapped a selfie and sent it to him. Come and find me.
Zach snuck up and slid into the spot next to me. I jumped slightly. “Hey beautiful.”
“Hey.”
“I missed you today.”
“Yeah, I had some stuff to do. You know, last minute projects and final touches on assignments.”
“I know.” We sat quietly for a bit, just admiring the view. “You’re right. The water is beautiful this time of year.”
“Yeah.” I picked at my nails nervously. Just do it. “Listen, Zach….” I started.
“Yes?” He took my hand in his. I stared down at it.
“I- I think that…,” I paused. “I think that we need to break up.”
“What? Why?”
“I think it would be the best thing for us Zach.”
“Do you not love me anymore?”
“What? No, of course I do. It’s just… things are changing so fast.”
“Then why?”
“We are both going away to school next year and it will be too hard. I don’t want you to be tied down to someone on the other side or halfway across the country.”
“How do you know it will be too hard, Reagan?”
“Because. I’ve seen people try to make it work. We are eighteen Zach. We have our whole lives ahead of us. College is supposed to be the time where we experiment and make mistakes. To drink too many mixed drinks and wake up in someone else’s bed. I want you to experience that. And you can’t do that if you aren’t single.”
“We don’t leave for school for another two months at least though.”
“I don’t want us to wait until a week before we leave to decide that going into college single is the best choice.” Zach was silent for a while. I felt so bad. It needed to be done though.
“I guess you’re right.”  I smiled sadly at him. “You’ll always be special to me, you know that?”
“I know. You’ll always be special to me too.” I squeezed his hand and he kissed me softly for the last time. Knowing he would need time to sit and process, I was the one who stood and left him on the bench.
In my car before driving away from the docks and Zach, I sent a text message. Four words. Eleven letters. I hoped he would know what it meant. I love you too. The weight of hitting send was unimaginable. I had spent so long denying it, that I didn’t know how to feel about it. I guess I would just have to wait and see what the future held.
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onlyy-yours · 5 years
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Are we not gonna talk about how its CANON that Clay Jensen writes fanfiction?
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sophiewritesworld · 5 years
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A Kiss To Change It All (Part 30) - Montgomery de la Cruz
Pairing: Montgomery de la Cruz x Reader; Jeff Atkins x Reader
Warning: Sadness again
Word count: 1.6k
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In that split second, that very brief moment you turned to look behind you and caught Montgomery casually flirting with the blonde, time seemed to be frozen as Jessica and Jeff almost stopped breathing in anticipation of your reaction. But there was none. You turned around, swallowing your tears and smiled at the two before you continued eating your lunch. Your abnormal calmness terrified your best friend, he knew you like the back of his hand and your current state was no good sign. You weren't one to be violent or very expressive when it came to your feelings, but what you had been through and what you were still going through made Jeff could compare you to a bomb, ticking and about to explode any time soon. "Wanna ditch?" He dared to ask as you both walked towards the lockers to get your afternoon class books.
"I have ditched enough classes for an entire lifetime, Jeff." You laughed as you shoved your books in your backpack. "I am fine." Seeing the concerned look on his face and knowing that he wasn't buying your terrible lie, you let a loud and shaky sigh escape your lips before you spoke. "I am not fine. But I can't run away from school forever, Jeff."
What surprised your best friend the most wasn't how you held your head high and made through your whole afternoon classes without losing it on anyone who whispered things behind your back or those looks you were given when Montgomery was just a few feet away from you, holding the blonde cheer close to him. What surprised your best friend was seeing you sitting by the bleachers when he jogged on the baseball field after school, just like you always did ever since he joined the Liberty's baseball team. After his car accident and everything that happened, you were rarely there, he couldn't blame you for wanting to stay away from the jocks as you but he wished you could see how much he improved since he recovered from the accident.
Truth to be told, everyone was surprised to see you there. But unlike the other times, you weren't actively watching them as you kept yourself busy going through your textbooks until a piece of paper fell from one of them. From the shining texture of it, you knew what it was as you bent down to pick it up. It was a picture you took while at the beach with Montgomery back during summer which instantly brought a soft smile to your lips and almost automatically you looked up searching for his gaze on you, but he wasn't looking. You already missed it. You missed catching him looking at you when he was supposed to hit the ball, distracted by your presence, earning whistles from his teammates. You missed him smiling and winking at you before he focused on the game. You looked back at the picture, running your fingers on the glossy paper on which Montgomery was smiling.
"I hate you (Y/N/N)" Your boyfriend groaned as he looked away from you but you were quick and managed to take a picture of him smiling at you while you were both sitting on a surfing board a few feet away from the shore, just chilling and goofing around.
A wide grin spread on your lips before you spoke. "That's not what you were saying last night, papi."
"She pulls the Spanish card on me, uh?"
"She knows you love it."
"Yeah I do but she is still deleting that picture."
"Baaaaabe" You whined, uncrossing and dropping your legs to the sides of the board so he couldn't move it. "You have tons of pictures of me, I barely have a few." That was a fact. Montgomery took countless pictures of you, at that point he probably had hundreds of them stocked in his phone, he found you beautiful no matter what you were doing or wearing, whether your hair was done or in a messy bun over your head. You were his beautiful girlfriend of whom he was proud and didn't hesitate to pull the cheesiest captions on the few pictures you allowed him to upload on his Instagram account.
He leaned forward, capturing your lips in a quick but sweet kiss. "'Cause you, mi vida, are the most beautiful human being my eyes have ever seen." The tone he used made your heart skip beats, how come he still had this effect on you after months and months of constant flirting?
"Lay it off De la Cruz!"
The sweet and calm voice of coach Patrick made you jump in your place and brought you back to reality. Shaking your head, you shoved the picture back into the textbook and looked up to see why coach Patrick was yelling and the boys whistling. Your eyes landed on Kimberly and Montgomery kissing in the middle of the field, right where everyone, you included, could see. Jeff and Zach were the only one not reacting to the scene before them, they both looked at you only you were already down the bleachers, textbooks in your arms as you didn't bother to put them back in your backpack, walking as fast as you could to reach Jeff's car in the parking lot. You felt humiliated. Everyone saw you there and now everyone would talk even more behind your back about how your ex-boyfriend was kissing another girl right in front of you. "Sweetheart..."
"It's how relationships work, right?" You wiped away the tears that were running down your cheeks as you nervously laughed. "I don't even know why I'm crying. I feel so stupid."
"You're not." Jeff cupped your face and pressed a kiss to your forehead. "He is the stupid one for letting such an amazing girl slip away from him and trust me, pretty girl, he will soon realize that you can't be replaced by a dumb cheerleader." That was how you called Kimberly and it made you chuckle that he said it too now. "Now, I want you to stop crying and give me that beautiful smile of yours." How could you not smile at such an amazing boy who did anything in he could to keep you happy and safe?
By the time Jeff dropped you home and made sure you were fully okay before he left, another surprise was waiting for you inside. You pushed the door open. Two suitcases were sitting by the stairs which make you frown and hope it was none of the dark ideas that were roaming in your head. Before you could move from your spot, you saw your father make his way down the stairs. "Dad!"
"(Y/N/N), sweetie." He engulfed you in a tight hug and kissed the top of your head. "You got me worried about you."
"I'm sorry." You mumbled as you pulled away from him, desperate to have an answer to your question. "What's this?" You looked at the suitcases behind your father and then back at him.
He sighed. "(Y/N)..."
"Don't tell me you're leaving." Hearing not response from him, you stepped back and crossed your arms over your chest. "If you leave, I leave too."
"You are not going anywhere, young lady."
Your mother was standing right behind the two of you. "And who might you be to tell me what I can and can not do?" Before she could speak, you did. "Oh yeah, the one who calls herself a mother but doesn't give a single shit about her daughter's happiness. If dad leaves, I am leaving as well, end of the discussion."
The words that came from your mouth were sharp blades to her, but you didn't care because she certainly didn't when she was destroying your relationship. You pushed past them and went to your room, grabbing the suitcase from under your bed and proceeded to shove your clothes inside. "You don't have to do this."
You didn't turn around and kept going back and forth between the closet and your bed, handfuls of clothes thrown inside the suitcase. "Don't talk to me if you don't want to hear anything that won't please you, mom."
"No (Y/N)... I'll leave. There's no need for the two of you to leave."
She did. She understood that there was no way you were staying under the same roof as her and it was easier for one to move out of the house instead of two. That night, your father ordered food and you had a movie night, putting your mind on something else than the problems that were surrounding you. By the end of the movie, none of you was asleep or wanted to go to bed. You sat in silence for a long moment before your father broke it. "Have you talked to Montgomery yesterday?"
The sight that escaped your lips was slow, as if your brain needed time to process what happened the night before. "I said things I didn't mean and by the time I realized what really happened, it was too late." You toyed with the remaining food in your plate. "I hurt him, and I am dealing with the consequences, dad. Proper teenage life I always wanted to live." You chuckled and made your hurting father laugh a little. You always complained about not being able to live like a teen of your age because of your health issues but now you had the whole broken heart and separated parents package right in your face. "I'll get over it, right? That's what teen my age do, they move on. He already did. I'll do too."
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Tags: @pllfanatic @namelesslosers
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thefudge · 4 years
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She just doesn't want to feel like an empty body anymore. Drained of all feelings and sensations. A weird hybrid between an object and a person. 
A weeping fountain, all dried up. 
If she's going to mourn for the rest of her fucking life, she wants there to be something else to cling onto than her useless grief.  
(jess/clay)
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