#like every other school night its like 11:30 and later but on fridays?? In bed at 10 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sunflowerhae · 4 years

Text

-> Forgotten Love [M.L]

Requested by • @sweetie-yoongi7 hope you like it bb!✨🐌🍄

•3.7k

warnings• slight verbal abuse, language, a fight 👊💥😤

“Write about an experience where someone you love hurt you. Explain the situation, what was done or said, how you both responded, and what the outcome was. Must be 5 full pages long, and in MLA format. God, how annoying is that? I mean, what do I write about, my mom not letting me get McDonald’s one time because we had food at home?” You scoffed while pushing yourself back into your chair at the cool, air conditioned coffee shop you currently found yourself in. Summer was just officially ending, and October was creeping it’s way into the year, which meant the air wasn’t exactly hot, but it definitely wasn’t cool enough to walk around with a jacket on. You found solace in the beige and dark brown toned drink house, that smelled like coffee beans and lured in customers with its smooth jazz playlist. You were thankful Mark picked this place to have your little date in between classes, for the chill ambiance calmed down your irritated interior.

While you loved your creative writing class, and you absolutely adored your professor, you couldn’t help but be slightly pissed off at the writing prompt she randomly assigned you. You stared at it for what seemed like hours during class, no specific moment like described coming to your conscious. You were still thinking about it as you finally looked up at Mark’s shrunken frame, and the prompt was easily forgotten as worry took over your emotions.

“Babe? Are you okay?” At your concerned tone, Mark lifted his head to meet you eyes, before quickly looking back down at his coffee. He kept glancing between your eyes and his drink, while you patiently waited for him to explain what was bothering him.

Mark scratched the back of his neck, before looking back up at you one final time, and huffing out a soft sigh. “I know what you can write about.” He had barely even mumbled it, so neither of you were surprised when you asked him to repeat himself.

“I..know what you can write about.” The way Mark refused to look you in the eyes, and the tone of his voice, lead you to believe you knew what he was talking about, and you knew he didn’t want to say it.

You and Mark were an amazing couple.

You liked the same music, you both had the same sense of humor, and you were both equally loving towards each other and your friends. You were the two oldest people in your younger friend group, and two of the youngest in your older friend group. You both balanced it out quite well, and set an example for both groups as a healthy relationship while you did it.

But that’s not to say you were perfect.

It was a year ago, to be exact. You were both at the beginning of your sophomore year of college, and the priorities were starting to stack for both of you. Mark -being a music major- had to write a song and collab with the dance majors to make a dance for the song in about two months and turn it in as a beginning of the year exam. Meanwhile, you -being a film major- had to make a small movie using the theater kids as your actors; due in a month. To top on to all the stress, you had both recently moved in together, and had barely started unboxing before the projects got thrust at you.

You hadn’t noticed he was distancing himself from you, at first.

You were so distracted with your project, that every time he would blow off eating dinner together, or would stay at the school until well into the night, you didn’t complain much; just trying to finish your project and get a good grade. It wasn’t until a month later that you started to see that something was wrong. You had finished your project and had gotten amazing grades, and all you wanted to do was go out on a nice date with your boyfriend; something you hadn’t done in about a month. You texted him the time and place to meet you at, to dress nice, and that you’d be waiting with a surprise. You had seen the small “read 3:14pm” under the text, and while you were a bit puzzled as to why he didn’t respond, you didn’t worry about it too much - seeing as lately that was his thing - and just got ready for the night you hoped would be just as amazing as the day was.

You thought you looked pretty beautiful.

Your hair was nicely done, your nails were painted marks favorite color, and the black, tight dress with sleeves hanging off the side accentuated your body and breasts perfectly. You had even sent Haechan a picture to make sure it was “hot,” to which he replied that Mark’s a lucky man, which made you smile. You were looking fine tonight, and while you had had a reason to celebrate, you couldn’t wait to give Mark your all tonight.

{for more effect, I suggest playing It Happened Quiet by AURORA here}

You took your seat in the dimly lit restaurant that was definitely too expensive for a music and film major, and waited for your water that was requested to the waiter to arrive. With a quick glance at the time on your phone, you realized Mark wouldn’t be here for another ten minutes or so. So you just sat there, trying to distract yourself from the excessive amount of bread on your table, and watched the clock count down until 7:30, when Mark should be arriving.

7:40 rolled around and you couldn’t stop yourself from staring at the door like it just did you super dirty. While it was just 10 minutes late, Mark was never one to be late.

Okay, that’s a lie, but he was never late to these type of things. And you perfectly timed it so that he would have time to get home from school, change, and then get to the restaurant. You quickly shot Mark a “you on your way?” text, before setting down your phone, trying not to be the clingy girlfriend, and keep your hope that Mark would be there soon.

Yet, by the time the clock struck 9, and your bread was stale and you had drank enough water to definitely get a bladder infection if you didn’t pee soon, your hope was completely dead. You silently got up from your seat and gave a small smile and nod to the hostess - who shot a sympathetic smile to you - before pushing the door of the restaurant open and walking toward your car.

You tried not to cry on the way home, but when you walked through the front door to see a dark and cold apartment, indicating that Mark had not yet come home, you couldn’t help but let the tears fall at the thought of something happening to him. You had called and texted him multiple times, and when he answered none of them, you even called the hospital to see if they had seen a patient that fit Mark’s description, or had someone named Mark Lee come in. You called all the hospitals in your area, in fact, but nothing came up. Your last hope was someone you actually didn’t want to call. Not because you didn’t want to call her, but because you didn’t want what you’re thinking to be true. But when all of your friends said they hadn’t heard from him, you had almost no choice.

“Hello?” Her chipper voice on the other end made you want to cringe, but you held it together.

“If Mark is in the room, don’t say my name. It’s y/n. Is mark with you?”

Yerim honestly didn’t know what to say. She stuttered a bit on the other end, before clearing her throat and mumbling a, “yes”.

You sighed and gave a half hearted, “okay, don’t tell him I called or anything, okay? Can you just, like, pretend you never even talked to me? Thanks Yeri,” hanging up the phone before she could answer.

You didn’t know how you felt about Mark working on a school project with his ex. When you had met Mark, it was at a college party during freshman year, around a year or so ago, actually. He had just been through a terrible breakup with his high school sweetheart who was - you guessed it - Yeri. If you were being honest with yourself, you knew you were the rebound. You just, fell so hard for him in the short time you had known him that, it didn’t really matter. You guessed somewhere along the way, Mark actually did fall for you, because he stayed, and he said he loved you, and you moved in together. Because of this, and because of the fact that Yeri was never brought up, you didn’t feel too insecure about your relationship.

But now that you’re sitting on the couch in silence, thinking about the fact that your boyfriend ditched your date to hang out with his ex, you can’t help but feel a bit unconfident in where your standing was with Mark. You slowly started realizing that Mark had, in fact, been distancing himself the past month; choosing to instead spend time with his ex-girlfriend instead of the girl that he claimed he loved.

Jealously and insecurities bit away at your insides when you heard the door slowly being unlocked from the outside. Looking at your phone, you realized it was 11:32pm. You had called Yeri at 10:15, so you suppose she honored your request to not tell Mark you called.

Mark was surprised to see you sitting on the couch when he walked in. He had figured that you would have gone to bed already. It was quite late for a Friday for you, seeing as this was the day you usually went to bed early; tired from the week. He felt guilty looking at you, so he choose to train his eyes on anything besides your crumbled figure on the couch. Meanwhile, you stood up, trying to catch his gaze.

“Mark. Where were you tonight?” Your harsh infliction made Mark slightly flinch. He wanted to apologize, because he knows what he missed. And when he finally did look at you, he felt even more guilty, because you looked quite upset about the situation, and you also looked absolutely beautiful tonight. Your black dress fit your body and extenuated your curves perfectly. Your hair was done gorgeously, and he could tell you spent a long time on your makeup. Mark did want to apologize, but when you said,

“Do you even care about this relationship, I mean it seems like all you’ve done lately is ignore me-”

Mark had almost seen red. Every little thing bothering him lately just...boiled over. He wasn’t thinking before he spoke, which never worked for him; this time wasn’t so different.

“God, shut up! Just shut up! All you do is talk! This is why I prefer to spend my time with Yeri, because she’s not so extreme like you always are! You’re not even half the women Yeri is, and you’ll never be! Sometimes I wish I hadn’t picked you to be my rebound for her an-“ Mark stopped himself from talking by clamping his hand over his mouth with wide eyes.

He hadn’t meant that.

He had not meant that.

He was just so upset by everything lately, and he spoke without thinking, like an absolute idiot.

But you didn’t know that. The tears streaming out of your eyes and the wobbling chin showed that for him. He reached out for you and took a step forward, only for you to take a step back, which basically broke Mark in half.

“Y/n I...” Nothing was said between you too, what was there to be said? To you, Mark had finally shown how he had really felt for the past month or so. You gave him one last look, before walking past him, putting on your heels - which were the fastest thing you could slip on - and quickly opening the door.

At the sound of the door, Mark snapped out of his daze, and rushed after you. “Y/n, no! Give me the keys, you can’t drive right now!”

Your tears had, in fact, gotten worse, but you said nothing to Mark as you picked up your pace to the parking lot of your apartments. Mark almost caught up with you, but you sped up even faster, which silently baffled him because you were wearing heals.

You finally got into the car and quickly got in to the drivers seat and locked the door just as mark arrived at the door. He was practically begging you not to go, and pleading to open the door. You just cried more and put your keys into the ignition, before backing out and driving out; Mark feeling like he was watching his whole life drive away from him.

{for more effect, I suggest playing Forgotten Love by AURORA here. You may have to play it multiple times.}

It had been three months since that incident. Three months since you and Mark talked. Three months of you being single. You, unfortunately, had a basic math class with Mark, and while you two used to sit in the corner together, you now both sat on opposite sides of the classroom. Or you in the front - him in the back. Wherever the first one in sat, the other sat on the opposite side.

Mark felt like he went through hell and back in those three months. He felt incredibly bad for what he said to you, and the fact that after that night, he didn’t try to get you back at all. The Monday after, you just sat on opposite ends, quietly agreeing that it was over. You had gotten all your stuff from the apartment, and luckily Haechan had a spare room you could live in.

Speaking of Haechan, your friend group was absolutely baffled when you both told them you had broken up. It had seemed like just a month before, you two were completely in love with each other; on the same page and everything. Then a month later; it’s over. They didn’t know who they should invite where, but you both reassured them (seperately. You both were just secretly on the same page still, without knowing it.) that you would be fine at the same social events.

You, of course, didn’t factor in that you would be watching your ex-boyfriend bring girls up to random rooms in his friends frat during parties. And that at bonfires, you would see him kissing random girls cheeks from across the fire. Or that, when you all had a group study date, he would bring a girl that none of you knew. You didn’t factor in that your ex-boyfriend would actively go out of his way to hurt you.

Truthfully, Mark didn’t do it to hurt you. He did it because if he didn’t hook up with girls at frat parties, he would drink too much and end up trying to kiss you. And if he didn’t flirt with girls at bonfires, he would spend the whole time staring at your from across the fire. And if he didn’t bring a girl to the study dates, he would break his pencils in anger when jaemin would wrap his arm around you in affection. But, at every event, no matter who he was with, Mark always failed.

He couldn’t stop stealing glances at you from across the fire while you laughed at something Nayeon - Johnny’s girlfriend - said to you. He couldn’t stop himself from breaking his pencils under the table when jaemin played with the tips of your hair. And he always ended up leaving the girls before anything happened at frat parties because he couldn’t stop wishing it was you.

It was actually at a frat party that Mark had gotten you back.

You were trying to have a good time. You didn’t come to the frat parties much, because the pain of seeing Mark lead a girl upstairs hurt you so much, you felt like your chest was on fire. But Haechan had all but begged you show up to this one, and you would have never declined anyway; It was Taeil’s birthday, after all.

You were dancing with Dahyun and Chaeyoung when you felt two hands grip your waist. You expected it to be one of the guys, so you turned with a smile on your face, only to come face to face with a man you had never met. The smile on your face dropped, and you took a step back from his grip.

He gave you a sick smile, and moved forward, back into your space.

“Hey, pretty girl. Wanna dance?”

“No.” You exclaimed disgustingly, before trying to move away from the unknown man. However, that proved difficult as his grip on your wrist was quite violent, and strong. You winced, and kept tugging on your hand, to no avail.

“Leave me alone, I don’t want to dance with you.” You kept pushing your arm back, but he just tugged you closer to his chest. You could smell the alcohol on his breath, and felt sick to your stomach at what was about to happen. At the thought, you started wiggling out of his grip at a faster speed.

“Bitch, stop moving-“

“Call her a bitch one more fucking time, asshole.” You opened your eyes to see a small group has formed around you, your mystery creeper, and..Mark?!

“Get lost, man. This ones mine.”

Mark was seeing red again.

“She’s...not ....PROPERTY!” and with that final statement, Mark swung his fist and you ducked just in time for the weirdo to be struck in the face and loosen his grip on you completely. You pushed yourself forward, and ran behind Mark, to the open arms of your friends, who - as you understand - ran to get mark the minute they saw you struggling.

Mark fought this dude almost twice his size for a minute, and he was about to be taken out, before he locked eyes with you, and the power surged through him. One final punch to the unknown asshole, and he was on floor. Everyone cheered, and some people were already picking up his body, chanting “POOL! POOL! POOL!” But the noise faded out as Mark strides up to you, takes your hand, and drags you upstairs. He pushes you both into a bathroom, where you suddenly take charge as you force him down on the seat, and look through the cabinet for a first aid kit.

You and Mark say nothing as you rub his cut with alcohol. At the sudden sting, Mark hisses and places his hands on your hips, gripping them harshly to push himself through the burn. You can’t help but let your eyes flutter shut at the feeling of the love of your life’s hands on you again. You felt like you had lived a thousand years without water, and were suddenly given a water bottle.

You didn’t realize how long you stood there, relishing in the feeling of Marks hands on you. Mark had opened his eyes, to see you with your eyes closed and you hands clasped together in front of your chest - the cotton ball resting in your hands. Mark pulled you closer to him with a whimper, and when you opened your eyes back, you saw that you were significantly closer to Mark, and that he had tears threatening to fall.

With a cough, you looked back at the first aid kit and pushed yourself out of Mark’s strong grip. Another couple of minutes went by in silence, before Mark finally let out a soft, “I’m sorry.”

Your movements halted, and you couldn’t bring yourself to look down at the sad boys eyes.

“I spoke before thinking. I didn’t really mean the things I said, I was just stressed out from school, a-and, fuck I don’t know, y/n. I just..”

Mark was crying now, and he leaned down and placed his hands in his hands. You stepped back in surprise with wide eyes. “I just want you back. I want my girlfriend back. I want to love you again and spend a decade and then some apologizing for what I said. I’m such a fucking idiot I know I don’t deser-“

You shut him up by pushing his shoulders back up, sitting on his lap with your legs on either side of him (terribly hard to do on a toilet, but you’re a master), and kissing him like a woman starved. Mark quickly falls into your lips, and brings his hands up and under your butt, effectively scooping you up a bit.

You don’t know how long you and Mark sat there kissing, but when Yuta walked into the bathroom to pee and had to see two twenty year olds kissing, he never let you live it down.

You smile fondly at the memory, before looking back up at your lover, awkwardly sitting across from you. Before you know it, you’re leaning forward and taking his hand in yours.

“I’m not going to write about that. That was a personal thing between us, and I honestly don’t want to relive that moment longer than I have already. I’m going to write about the time my cousin stole my DS.” You laughed, and Mark visibly relaxed at hearing you weren’t going to write about it. While he had suggested it, that was because he wanted you to feel like you could talk about it if you wanted, but the truth is he hated reliving those three months too. He remembers what terrible state he was in without you, and he doesn’t like to think about it.

You knew he was dwelling on it, so you stood up slightly from the table and leaned down to kiss Mark - who saw what you were doing and met you half way. You both gave each other a few more pecks before you whispered, “I forgive you, always and forever. And I love you.”

123 notes · View notes

drippinl0ve · 4 years

Text

truth or dare

—idol!haechan x reader

summary: you are the assistant for nct dream and they have all grown fond of you, especially one ray of sunshine.

genre: fluff, confession, friends to lovers

word count: 1.6k

warnings: idk maybe swearing and mention of sexual acts? its really just fluff tbh

You have no idea on how you scored your job as NCT Dream's personal assistant. There you were, just a kid who came straight out of high school, working at a café in the fall. The university of your choice had advised you to wait one more year until you turn 18, for "maturity reasons". When you took your interview for the university last spring, you apparently "didn't have the composure that they were looking for", as restated by your high school principal. Sure, you may have been giddy and extremely excited for your interview, but that doesn't mean that you are too immature for university just because you are an age younger than everyone else. It turned out fine in the end though, because that same giddy and excited energy is what landed you the job at SM.

The job description you were handed was very intense, due to the special circumstances. They basically needed someone for the Dreamies to hang out with and to confide in, therefore there was a lot of liability contracts to sign. The SM managers believed with your feverish attitude and your seemingly caring nature, along with your age, you would be a perfect fit to keep the boys preoccupied. Along with the job came rooming and all expenses paid for by the management agency. You, of course, got a small dorm that wasn't too far away from the Dream members'.

When you first arrived the boys were distant, not knowing how to react to a new person around, especially a pretty girl their age. It wasn't until you ran into Chenle in the hall late one night that the distance was broken. You were just on your way to get your late night pizza delivery from downstairs when you saw Chenle trying to sneak back into his room. He knew he was busted since he can't be out past 10 but the clock currently read 11:30. You assured him his secret was safe and even invited him to eat pizza with you out in the hallway. You guys briefly discussed each of your individual backgrounds that got you both to where you were now. To Chenle's surprise, you were his age and yet still so chill? It just kind of blew his mind that he now has a girl friend. He also helped introduce you to the other members.

After a few months at this job and being with them every single day, you have made a special connection with each one of the boys. Jisung and you always love to pull pranks on the older boys just so Jisung could say "maknae on top", Chenle and you just enjoy each other's presence and try out a lot of new restaurants and cafés together, you love to go on outings to art museums and galleries with Renjun, and Jeno and Jaemin almost never leave your side and are constantly trying to push you to do new things with them. As for Mark and Haechan, you do see less of them as they have to go to NCT 127 and U practices and such, but Haechan always seems to find time in between to come and hang out with you and the boys.

The boys took a fast notice to Haechan's reappearing presence after you came, and they simply put the pieces together. One day when you had left to your dorm to go shower and get ready for bed, Jeno, Jaemin, and Renjun all bombarded into Haechan's room.

"So... Haechan it seems that you have been spending more time than usual with us instead of with the 127 hyungs, why is that?", Jaemin slyly asks.

Haechan tried his best not to tense up and replied calmly with, "I guess I just love you guys".

Renjun was quick to retort, "I bet we are not all you love", a grin spreading onto Renjun and Jeno's faces.

Haechan swallowed the apparent lump in his throat, "W-what do you mean?", he let out a dry laugh, "are you accusing me of loving Y/N?".

"Hey! You said it, not us!", Jeno countered while pointing at him.

"C'mon, admit it. It's written all over your face whenever she's here", Renjun whined.

Haechan took a seat and rubbed his face to prevent exhaustion. He hadn't even come to terms with his feelings. All he knew was that he thought you were spectacular and he loved being around you. Every time you needed to run an errand for the boys, such as coffee pick up or groceries, he would insist to come with you. He loved helping you pick out your clothes and when you would give him a mini fashion show of the options in your hall. He always made sure that you were standing right off stage waiting for him after a performance, as your mere presence calmed his jittery nerves down greatly. Every stressful moment he has had where he wanted to quit being an idol, you were consistently there to help him get through it.

Haechan sighed, "I guess I do like her", he quietly mumbled.

Ever since that confession, the boys haven't left Haechan alone, but alas, they did promise to keep his secret. Chenle and Jisung aren't in on the secret, as you are too close with Chenle and Jisung can't keep a secret to save his life.

It was currently 11 o'clock on a Friday night and you stuck inside with the Dreamies (minus Mark since he could actually go to some music ceremony), but Haechan had decided to stay with the boys after he heard you were bored inside with them. After growing tired of watching the ceremony live, Jaemin had mischievously suggested on playing truth or dare. With Jaemin, Jeno, and Renjun giving each other sly glances, Haechan knew that something bad was going to come out of this game. Haechan quickly tried to stand up, saying he was tired from the full day he had, but Chenle pushed down on his shoulder to get him to reluctantly stay.

"Please hyung? You never hang out with us!", Chenle whined.

You made a pouty face towards him while giving your best, "pretty please?".

Haechan sighed while fully knowing deep down, he couldn't say 'no' to your face.

After getting Renjun to admit his love for Ariana Grande, daring Jisung to touch a cockroach, and forcing Chenle to be tickled brutally so Jeno could get a video of him laughing to post later, it was finally Donghyuck's turn.

Jaemin gave him a roguish grin as he asked "truth or dare?".

Haechan knew that if he says 'truth' then he will be forced to admit his feelings towards Y/N, so confidently he went with 'dare'.

"Okay hyung", Jaemin pondered, "I dare you to give Y/N a lap dance".

"WHAT?", was all that managed to come out as you were choking on your soda.

"It's no big deal really", Jaemin calmly stated, although he had a devious plan in mind.

Chenle and Jisung were shocked as their hyungs have never been so dirty before, and Renjun and Jeno exchanging nervous glances while Jaemin sat with full confidence staring at Haechan. Haechan was shocked, he could never do that to Y/N!

"I p-pick truth!", was all that managed to come out of his agape mouth.

"Hmmm", Jaemin absent mindlessly thought, though he already knew what he was going to say. "Tell us who you like".

"And no lying!", Jeno quickly chimed in.

Haechan stuttered and avoided eye contact from everyone, "I-I can't".

Jaemin rolled his eyes, knowing Haechan had to fess up eventually, "well, you either have to do the dare of performing a very sexual act or you can merely tell us all who you like".

Haechan glared at Jaemin as he sat there with the biggest smirk on his face, knowing exactly what he was pushing at.

"What's wrong, Donghyuckie?", you say completely oblivious to who he likes, "don't you trust us?".

His face immediately softens towards you, but before he can reply Renjun counters with, "it's not that he doesn't trust us, he just doesn't want to tell them".

Your face filled with confusion as you look around the dorm, but it is only the six of you. "Are they here, hyuck?", you ask cluelessly.

He gives you a shy nod while still looking down. Chenle and Jisung's eyes widen as they look at you. Then only did it hit you, this lovable ray of sunlight had a liking towards you. You let out a small chuckle as you think about how kind and generous he has been and you now know why. While you sit there smiling like an idiot to yourself, Haechan is still avoiding eye contact and is physically shaking. You stand up and grab his hand, pulling him up with you, as you lead him to the balcony.

The view of Seoul was breathtaking, you let it linger in your head before you started speaking.

"I like you too, Donghyuckie", you say while still looking out into the city.

His head slowly rose and he was speechless. Everything seemed to add up. You looked so beautiful with the city lights reflecting onto your skin as the light breeze blew into your hair.

"You make my days better just by your presence, you always seemingly know how to make me feel better, you and your stupid jokes time and time again make me laugh", you pause to let out a small laugh just thinking about his jokes, "you really are my ray of sunshine, Hyuck". You finally get the nerves to look over at him, only to see him staring with his mouth agape, you can't help but giggle he's so precious.

"Y/N, you don't know how long i've been waiting for this", he says eyes filled with amazement as if he just saw a shooting star.

"Well then don't wait any longer and take me out", you say somehow radiating confidence, although you're holding back a laugh.

"You read my mind, Y/N".

86 notes · View notes

euphoricdumpsterfire · 3 years

Text

To the Moon and Back (Peter Parker x Stark OC) Chapter 3

Master List

Warnings: Curse words

Word Count: 2218

A/N: Guys, I’m so sorry I know I said I’d post by Friday but I had a lot of schoolwork. But the good news is, THE ORANGE MF LOST! I get to keep the small amount of rights I have as a WOC. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and have a great day <3

Summary: Spiderman and Moonflower know each other’s identities. Nixie realizes she has a thing for Parker.

“So...” Peter trailed off.

“So...” Nixie did the same thing. Awkwardness filled the air as they both sat on the edge of a building in the middle of the night after they had fought a bunch of bad guys.

“How’d you find out that... I’m Spiderman?” Peter asked as he looked at the mask that he was holding onto.

“Oh it was actually simple. I saw you in Chemistry mixing up something and I kinda stalked you the whole day-”

“THE WHOLE DAY?!” Peter cut off Nixie and she glared at him for not letting her finish, “Sorry... Uhm continue.”

“So anyways, I saw you lift up that whole row of lockers, and your stash... But of course that wasn’t enough, I stalked you for several days after school and found out where you hide your backpack and put on your suit.” Nixie said.

Peter looked at Nixie with a confused face but he was also impressed that Nixie simply found out about Spiderman in a matter of days. “But why did you do all of this?” Peter asked.

“What specific thing are you talking about?” Nixie replied

“The whole stalking and showing up as Moonflower...” Despite things starting to unravel, Peter still can’t comprehend what exactly was happening. It’s as if he was having a fever dream.

“Oh that! It’s all part of my mission that my dad assigned.” Nixie answered. Peter’s jaw dropped as he finally started putting the pieces together.

“W-wait so you’re telling me... THE Tony Stark sent you here to go look for me?!” Peter exclaimed and Nixie nodded plainly, his heart felt like it jumped off a building. He never expected that a billionaire/superhero would set his eyes on a simple friendly neighborhood Spiderman. But one thing still didn’t make sense to him. “If you’re Moonflower, how come you never told the public like your father?” Peter asked.

“Because then the world would have their eyes on me all the time, and I don’t like that. I’d rather separate Nixie from Moonflower, it makes me feel like Hannah Montana.” Nixie smiled and Peter chuckled at her statement. While they were having a casual conversation, a car slowly drove by the building and stopped. Nixie looked down and realized it was a familiar car. The door opened and a huge man got out wearing sunglasses. “Hey Happy... Isn’t it too dark to be wearing sunglasses right now?” Nixie said cheekily.

“Your dad called TEN times already and I said you were at the grocery buying whatever it is that you need for your period. Now GET DOWN NOW and let’s get you home!” Happy said impatiently.

“Sorry about that, he’s always pissed for no reason.” Nixie said looking at Peter who seemed intimidated by Happy. “Happy, I met Spiderman!” Nixie said looking down.

“That’s very nice, but we need to go NOW!” Happy exclaimed.

“Geez, alright...” Nixie rolled her eyes as she put on her eye mask and looked back at Peter, “See you tomorrow?” Nixie said.

“Yeah, see ya.” Peter waved goodbye and Nixie used a vine to climb down the building and finally left. Peter looked down as the car drove away making sure his friend traveled safely and then, he went back home.

***

“You should’ve seen it Happy, it was so COOL!” Nixie said as she sat at the back of the car trying to explain what had happened earlier.

“You know what would be cool? If your dad would stop calling because he’s been awfully suspicious of your whereabouts and sooner or later he’ll find out, and we’ll get in trouble and...” Happy continued to talk but Nixie couldn’t focus because she started seeing another vision. This time it was with Peter again but they were at an airport in full suits going against an extremely tall figure the size of two tall buildings stacked together. Nixie couldn’t see it well but it was making her head hurt.

“Nix? Are you okay? Did you get hurt while fighting those guys?” Happy’s angry tone turned softer as he looked back at Nixie with concern.

“No, it’s alright, I think I’m just tired...” She answered.

They eventually got back to the Avengers Tower at 11:30 pm. Nixie and Happy hopped on the elevator and got to the top. The doors slid open revealing Tony with his arms crossed. The tv can be heard playing the news as the reporter said, “This just in, Spiderman and Moonflower were caught fighting armed men on a street in Queens. CCTV footage shows Moonflower tying up all of the men next to a stoplight. Thanks to this surprising team-up, our neighborhood is saved once again!” Tony held the remote and turned off the tv as Happy and Nixie got off the elevator.

“Grocery eh?” Tony said looking at Nixie as she held onto the strap of her backpack.

“I may or may not stumbled upon a serious situation and decided to help out our golden boy.” Nixie suggested with a grin on her face,

“I would suggest celebrating but now’s not the right time...” Tony trailed off as he walked back to the tv and Nixie jumped on the couch.

“Why not? I found Spiderman, so I get to be an Avenger now!” Nixie said confidently.

“Well... It had just dawned on us that the government doesn’t exactly trust us superheroes. Now we have to sign a contract.” Tony said as he handed Nixie an ipad showing the contract. “The huge problem here is that Cap won’t do it.” Nixie scrolled through the multiple pages of the contract and stopped halfway.

“I mean, I get why he won't... This contract basically makes all of you guys government puppets.” Nixie said as she noticed her dad looking more worried as ever.

“That’s not the point Nix, we don’t want innocent people involved in whatever it is that we do. With these accords we can make sure not one civilian gets hurt.” Tony’s usual smug face was gone and it was replaced by anxiousness which Nixie rarely saw. From the action packed news about Moonflower and Spiderman teaming up, the news switched topics on the Sokovia Accords.

“I’m just gonna head to bed now.” Nixie got up and grabbed her backpack,

“Night Moonie.”

“Night dad.”

Hours have passed, it was now 3 am, and Nixie lied on her bed in complete darkness as the visions kept showing up. “Maybe you should tell your Dr. Banner.” A voice said. She turned to the small succulent that stood on her bedside table, whom she had named Grizelda.

“For the millionth time, Banner’s not here Griz.” Nixie answered.

“Then what about Peter? He is the one you see in your visions after all…” The plant replied.

“That’s fucking stupid. I can’t just go up to him and say “Hey dude, I’ve been seeing visions of you and me together and it’s kinda weird!”, he’s gonna think I’m into him or something.” Nixie said glaring at the plant.

“Well aren’t you?” The plant retorted.

“JUST SHUT UP!” Nixie exclaimed as she covered her ears with the large pillow beside her and ignored her plant friend. After that quick banter, Nixie spent a sleepless night, rolling back and forth trying to fall asleep, from white noise, to sleeping pills, none worked. She wanted the visions to stop but it seemed like it could go on forever until she died. Then came the morning. FRIDAY turned on the lights and opened the curtains revealing the bright sun that hit Nixie’s tired face. She sighed and got up from her bed, she did her usual routine and headed to the kitchen where she only saw Natasha.

“Had nightmares kid?” Natasha asked without looking up at Nixie who was walking sluggishly to the dining table.

“Not necessarily.” Nixie replied as she sat down and poured herself a bowl of cereal.

“Saw what you did last night with Spiderman, how was it?” Nat asked,

“Turns out I was right, Spiderman’s Peter Parker.” Nixie shoved a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

“The Star Wars dude?!” Nat exclaimed, she wasn’t totally surprised that Nixie’s hunch was right, but hearing the kid from her stories, he seemed like he would just be stuck in the lab making experiments or just plainly binge-watching every single Star Wars film there is and not the type to go out at night fighting crime. But of course, some people are just plainly good at hiding their powers.

“Nat, when do you think Banner’s gonna come back?” Nixie asked

“I-I don’t know. I’m not even sure if he’ll ever come back after what happened in Sokovia.” Nat’s face turned gloomy at the thought of him.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

“Kid, don’t worry. I know you miss him, we all do.” Nat’s eyes started to tear up.

“But not as much as you.” Nixie felt bad she had ever brought up Banner, but with whatever she had going on, she had wished he was here.

Later that day, Nixie was in chemistry sitting next to MJ. She was listening to the lecture intently while taking notes but then she felt something hit the back of her head. She looked around and saw a paper airplane that had a small note on one of its wings that said “open”. Nixie unfolded the paper airplane and inside was another note written down.

Wanna go on patrol tonight?

She looked behind her where she saw Peter looking at her with bright eyes, hoping she’d agree. “Fine, but only until 9:30.” Nixie whispered loudly.

“11?” Peter pleaded,

“9:30.”

“10:30?” Peter suggested again,

“Ugh, 10, take it or leave it!” Nixie said and Peter had a huge grin on his face as a sign of approval.

“DEAL!” Peter whispered loudly.

Nixie turned back to face the board but she noticed from her peripheral vision that MJ was looking at her. “Are you and Peter…” before MJ could even finish her sentence, Nixie immediately replied.

“No. NO! Definitely not. It’s just that we’re volunteering at a retirement center in Manhattan.”

“I would ask if I can go, but talking to old people isn’t really my thing.” MJ said which made Nixie feel more relieved.

***

It was 9:50 pm, there weren’t really any extremely dangerous situations for Moonflower and Spiderman to stop. The most they did was help a bunch of kindergartners walk across the street, stopped a guy from peeing on the sidewalk, and returned a lost cat to its original owner. As for the rest of their remaining time, they sat on the edge of the same building once again, talking, laughing, and getting to know each other.

“Wait, so you’re telling me Flash Thompson got kicked out of your preparatory school?!” Peter exclaimed,

“Yup, he was caught cheating several times and I was outside for cheer practice when the whole team heard his mom yell at him.” Nixie said and Peter laughed so hard he almost fell off the building, luckily for him, Nixie caught him right away. “Dude you need to chill.” Nixie laughed.

“I never really asked you about it, but how’d you get your powers?” Peter asked.

“It kinda just… Showed up. I was 11 and I was in Washington with Pepper when I just found out I can literally just make a plant grow out of nowhere. My dad and Dr. Banner eventually found out that I’m a mutant.” Nixie answered.

“Is there anything else you can do besides the whole plant thing?” Peter asked,

“It only happened once and it was during one of Banner’s tests, I was sitting in a small clear box and I sat there for hours until I started to have trouble breathing… I wanted to get out but Banner left to go to the toilet. It felt like every second my lungs were getting tighter and tighter and it was getting hard for me to breathe. I used up all my strength and then suddenly the blonde streaks on my hair glowed and I blacked out. Once I woke up, Banner told me that everyone heard a loud explosion from the lab but when they got there, the box was gone and the floor was just covered in moonflower petals.” Nixie replied,

“So that’s where you got the name!” Peter said and Nixie hummed in agreement. Nixie looked over at her watch and realized it was time for her to go.

“Welp, that’s all the time I’ve got for today. Gotta go now.” She said as she got up.

“Nix, is this gonna be a regular thing now?” Peter looked at Nixie with his doey eyes and she couldn’t help but melt at the sight of it. It was a weird feeling she had, she couldn’t comprehend it, but she liked it. She smiled at her friend and nodded.

“Sure Spidey.” She said,

“That’s great!” Peter exclaimed, “I guess I’ll uh… See you tomorrow, partner!” He waved goodbye and swung through building by building. Nixie looked at him from afar as she still tried to comprehend what she was feeling.

“Looks like she has a thing for the human bug.” She heard whispers from the nearby plants, she rolled her eyes and ignored what the plants were saying and headed home...

3 notes · View notes

nazariolahela · 5 years

Text

Something Domestic: Chapter 2

A/N: Hey y'all! This is a new TRR AU I’ve been working on. This story is told in first-person narrative, from Riley’s (MC) POV. There will likely be smidges of canon in this, but not too much. Thanks for reading, and please leave feedback, and/or if you would like to be tagged.

Catch up here

Series Tags: @burnsoslow @aworldoffandoms @dcbbw @ladyangel70 @texaskitten30 @sunandlemons @jlynn12273 @drakesensworld @badchoicesposts

Synopsis: When Riley Brooks takes a new job as a nanny for the affluent Rhys family in New York’s Upper East Side, she assumes she’s just going to care for the children of the couple who hired her. But instead of just school pick-ups and afternoon snacks, she also finds herself spending time with Liam, the handsome divorced dad. Can Riley control her feelings for Liam while still performing the job she was hired for?

All characters are the property of Pixelberry Studios. Thanks for allowing me to borrow them.

Chapter Summary: Riley gets the grand tour of her new employer’s home.

Madeleine walks me through the rest of the penthouse, showing off each room. We make our way to the second floor where the bedrooms and bathrooms are located. The second level has the best view, in my opinion. At the top of the stairs, the floor splits into two wings. Down the west wing, she points out a playroom, and Charlotte and Philip’s rooms, a large bathroom with a soaking tub, and a walk-in shower that’s probably bigger than my entire apartment.

There are doors on either side of the bathroom that lead to the kids’ rooms. We continue down to the end of the hall to the guest room, which has its own half bath. The size of this room makes me think it’s the master bedroom, except for the tiny bath. Looking around, I notice a book and a cell phone charger on the nightstand next to the bed. There is also a bathrobe hanging on the back of the door. This room looks pretty lived-in for being a guest room, and I wonder to myself who else is staying here.

Making our way back, we head down the east wing of the penthouse, and she shows me Liam’s office and the master suite. In the middle of the tour, Madeleine’s phone buzzes and she excuses herself to answer it. Letting my curiosity get the best of me, I slip in through the slightly ajar door to see the most amazing sprawling master bedroom with a four-poster bed. There’s a massive walk-in closet full of designer clothes and shoes.

A single framed photo sits on one of the nightstands. I make my way closer to inspect it and see that it’s a wedding photo. Awkward.

I inspect the photo. Liam looks like the happiest man in the world. Of course, Madeleine isn’t smiling. I’m pretty sure the woman is incapable. I step away from the photo and examine the rest of the bedroom.

To the left, is the five-fixture en-suite master bath. A sliding glass door leads out to a triple-wrap terrace where a fire pit sits in the middle of an eight-piece outdoor sofa set. The view from the balcony is absolutely stunning. The New York skyline sits in front of me like a priceless painting. I slip through the sliding door and make my way across the balcony. As I take in the view, I peek over the railing to see the bustling street below. A girl could get used to this.

“Enjoying the view?” A voice says from behind me, and I jump. I turn around to find Liam standing in the doorway, watching me. Good lord, this man is stunning. I need to control myself if I'm going to be working for him.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be out here. Madeleine was giving me a tour, and she had to take a phone call.” I say as my cheeks burn.

He smiles at me, shaking his head. “No biggie. She got a call from work so she asked me to finish giving you the tour. But it seems you’ve already found your way around the place. What do you think so far?”

“This place is incredible. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a home.” I say, turning back to stare out at the cityscape. I feel him behind me, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand.

“It is a pretty spectacular view,” he says, striding across the balcony toward me. “One of the reasons we bought this place is because of this. I fell in love with it the minute I saw it.”

I nod, looking around the balcony. “I can see why.” I don't even know how much he paid for this place, but it’s totally worth it. Note to self: Look up the value of his home on Zillow later tonight. I turn to him, “The place is amazing. Even though it's so spacious, it feels so cozy." I pause. Do I bring up the guest room? I don't know why it's necessary, but before I can stop myself, I blurt out the question. "Uhmmm..one more thing. Just curious if anyone else is going to be living here. I noticed the guest room looks like someone’s been staying in there.”

His body stiffens and he looks down at the ground as his hand rubs the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah. That’s actually what I wanted to speak with you about earlier, but the kids were in the room.”

I cock my eyebrow at him. “Oookay?”

He takes a deep breath and his steely blue eyes stare into mine. God, I could get lost in them. His voice wavers as he speaks. “Madeleine and are in the middle of a divorce. That’s her room.”

My own baby blues widen. Well, this just went from zero to awkward AF in about 2.5 seconds. How did I not notice that beforehand? The cold looks she shot him during my interview. The way she sat separately from her family. The martini at 11 o’clock in the morning. “Oh...I see,” I reply, averting my eyes back to the skyline.

“We haven’t told a lot of people yet. The tabloids don’t even know. The only people who know are our families and close friends. And, well you, now. We’re hoping to make this as civilized as possible without upsetting Charlotte and Philip too much. Once everything is finalized, we’re going to tell the kids and she’ll be moving out. In the meantime, she stays in the east wing with the kids.”

“So, what’s up with the wedding photo on the nightstand?”

He sighs deeply and runs his fingers through his hair. “I guess I haven’t gotten around to putting it away yet. Part of me hasn’t accepted that our marriage is over.”

I swallow, not entirely sure how to respond. He's opening up to me, and I don't know how to comfort him. Come to think of it, why does he feel the need to tell me this? I'm not family or close friends. I'm just a stranger. His kids' nanny, actually. I understand why he thinks this is important information for me to know, considering I’m going to be a part of his family’s lives for the foreseeable future, but it seems so personal. I wonder to myself, not daring to ask what happened. As if he’s reading my thoughts, he answers my question.

“She cheated on me. Slept with some stuffy suit from her PR firm. Rashad or something like that.” He turns to me and I catch him watching me out the corner of my eye.

Holy shit. Talk about a scandal. My heart breaks for him. I think to myself how someone could do something like that to someone they supposedly love. Especially someone as good looking as Liam. Even when he’s heartbroken, he looks so kissable. Damnit, Riley. Stop it. This is bordering on inappropriate. The man’s wife betrayed him and he's your motherloving boss, you horny bitch! I push the thoughts back and nod. “I'm sorry to hear that. Forgive me for overstepping, but why are you telling me this?”

He laughs in a rich, deep tone, the sound reverberating through my body. “Well, since you’re practically a part of our family now, I figured that you should know. I’m sorry if it feels like I’m pouring my heart out to you. I just wanted you to be aware of the situation in case it comes up.”

I give him a weak smile and rack my brain, thinking of something to change the subject with. Think Riley, think. After what feels like forever, I speak up. “So, other than your kids and your company, what do you do in your spare time?”

A grin spreads across his face. “Not much since the kids were born, but my best friend Drake owns a tavern a few blocks from here called The Double Tappe. I try to get down there once a week for a drink.”

“Oh my god! I love that place,” I reply. “It’s my favorite Happy Hour spot.” It’s more than that though, It’s practically the hottest dive bar in town for the under-30 crowd. I grin recalling that Hana and I spend every Friday night there sucking down $5 Whiskey Sours and singing karaoke. I rack my brain, trying to think if I’ve seen him there before, but given that I’m some form of intoxicated most of the time, it’s no use.

He nods. “Yeah, it’s gotten pretty popular over the years, much to Drake’s dismay. For a guy whose business thrives on customer service, he’s not the most outgoing person.”

“Drake,” I say to myself, trying to picture him in my head. “Wait... Dark brown hair, always wearing flannel and turning his nose up at anyone who orders something other than whiskey?”

Liam chuckles, “That’s the one. He’s kind of a stickler when it comes to a good spirit. I told him when he opened the place that not everyone drinks whiskey, but he didn’t want to hear it. He almost had to close the doors a few years back because he refused to serve any other drinks. Thankfully, he came to his senses and expanded his menu, but it took a little kicking and screaming for him to get there.”

I giggle. “Well, I’m glad things worked out for him. His bar is great for broke postgrads like myself. Great atmosphere and the drinks are cheap.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that along,” Liam smiles.

We both stand there listening to the sounds of the city before my stomach rudely interrupts. I smile and look at the time on my phone. It’s already past noon and clearly, I’m starting to get hungry. “Well, if there’s nothing more to show me, I suppose I should take off. Thank you again for this opportunity. I'm really looking forward to getting to know you and your family."

He reaches over and places his hand on my arm to stop me, then pulls it back. "Hey...if you don't have plans, how about we go get a bite to eat?"

I eye him warily. Did he really just invite me to lunch? He's extremely attractive, but he's also my boss. One lunch won't hurt, right? However, what would the agency say if they found out I was taking private lunches with employers? As I wage an inner battle with my thoughts, he clears his throat.

"I'm sorry. That was inappropriate. I don't want you to think I'm making a pass at you. I know how seriously you take your job."

I smile back at him. "Oh, no. It's fine. I'm actually supposed to meet my roommate in a little while. Umm...but I'll see you bright and early Monday morning."

He smiles and leads me back inside through the penthouse and back to the elevator. As I reach the foyer, I turn back to him and catch his eye. His gaze bores into me and my breath catches in my chest. Why do I suddenly feel flushed? Before I let my hormones take over and do something stupid, I extend my hand out and shake his. "Okay then. See you on Monday!" I say again a little too enthusiastically. The elevator door dings and I exhale, thanking the Gods for getting me out of this awkward situation. As I step in and turn around, I catch him smiling at me as the doors close.

Once the elevator makes its descent, I pull out my phone and immediately dial Hana. She picks up on the second ring.

"Hey! How did it go?"

Hoo boy, that's a loaded question. Do I tell her about the last sexually-charged hour? Shut up, Riley. It wasn't like that. Was there really chemistry between us or is it all in my head?

"Great! How about you meet me at our spot in half an hour and I'll tell you all about it over lunch?"

Her bubbly reply rings through the speaker. "Can't wait. See you soon!"

I hang up the phone and take a deep breath. When the elevator stops, and the doors glide open, I gather my thoughts and stride out into the lobby. The same receptionist is still at her perch, still catching up on her celebrity gossip.

Hmm...I notice that Liam and Madeleine are on the cover of her magazine with their children, looking like the perfect family. I frown as I think about how their situation really is. The receptionist looks up from her magazine, side-eying me as I wave goodbye and make my way out the front door to the busy sidewalk outside.

I stop for a moment and take a deep breath as the city buzzes with activity. I wave for a cab, and as one slows in front of me, I reflect on the last hour. Did all of that really just happen? Something about the way his eyes sparkled when he talked to me. I wonder if he felt it too. Either that or I totally imagined it and that’s just how looks at everyone. Maybe that's why Madeleine cheated. No, Riley. You don't know the whole situation so stop making assumptions. I swing open the cab door and climb inside. As I give the driver the address to the restaurant, I look back at the building and say a silent prayer for my sanity.

#trr au #trr fanfic #liam rhys #madeleine karlington #riley brooks #the royal romance #playchoices fanfic #something domestic #nanny au #nazariolahela fanfic

75 notes · View notes

turtlepated · 4 years

Text

Beetlejuice x Reader - Lonely Like Me

Part 2

This one’s waaaay longer than Part 1, and I cranked the angst up to 11 and broke off the knob, so tread lightly. Don’t wanna upset anyone. Thanks for reading!

@imtherain

---------------

Beetlejuice was invisible for a long, long time before Lydia came along. He hated it, but he got used to it because he had no choice. Now he’s got his own weird little family thing going on and he’s the most content he’s ever been. But then he discovers that someone else can see him, too, and he just has to check it out.

Your life wasn't much, but you did all right.

You didn't like your job very much, but it wasn't without it's perks. It was certainly a step up from ten years' worth of minimum wage drudgery in one department store after another. It was still far from your dream job, but you could get by. You tried hard to remember that.

Your social circle was... easy to keep track of. Over the course of your life you'd had really good friends from middle school on up through senior year. You'd been close with a couple people in particular, but as you all got older and your lives became more hectic, people spread out and lost touch. You understood that, it was only natural after all. You did think more than once that maybe you ought to reach out some time, just to touch base and catch up.

But then the thought would occur to you that if they really wanted to talk to you, they would do it. It seemed to happen sooner or later with every friendship you made. One day they just... stopped answering your messages and you figured that was that. It bothered you sometimes, but you were used to it. Life went on for everybody.

But not for you.

Things began changing the day you almost crashed your shopping cart into that strange man at the supermarket. You had never seen another person like him in your life, at least not in living color and outside the glow of the TV screen. He'd been dressed in a black and white striped suit in such a state of distress that it looked as though he'd fallen down a ravine while wearing it. And his hair! Brilliant green locks that stood straight up from his scalp as though electrified.

You'd apologized, of course, offering him a smile and heading on your way. You'd glanced back over your shoulder as you rounded the next aisle, but he wasn't there? No way you would have missed such an outlandishly dressed person, but it was as though he'd disappeared into thin air. Strangely, the black-clad teenage girl he'd presumably been with was still standing right where you'd seen her before, apparently talking to herself. You shrugged it off. After all, you often talked to yourself too.

Ever since that day you've had this feeling like you were being watched. It would be the barest flicker in your peripheral vision, enough to make your pulse speed up a little bit. But there was never anything there. Even your cat would apparently just stare at a random area of empty space. Which was, admittedly, not unusual for a cat.

You did your best to put it out of your mind. You had plenty of other things to concern yourself with than imaginary visitors. Your job was monotonous, it was repetitive. There were days you dreaded going to bed at night because you knew that in the morning you would have to go back there for nine hours with no escape. You tried to make your cubicle into your haven from the mind-numbing tedium. You tacked goofy little drawings and memes and poems all around your walls. You decorated it with seasonal trappings: fake flowers in the spring, pumpkins and leaves in fall, fairy lights and garland at Christmas. Some days it was enough to distract you. And some days it wasn’t.

One week, for no particular reason, it’s bad. You start out every day frustrated for no definable reason, and then you have to go to work where it only gets worse. From Monday to Friday, everything is awful and it sends you spiraling down a dark pit into despair that try as you might, you can’t seem to pull yourself out of. The hours drag by with unbearable slowness, each passing second seeming to cost you more than you knew you had to give. You soldier on as best you can, wanting more than anything to simply go home and collapse into someone’s comforting embrace and just cry. But no matter how fiercely you want it, how desperately you wish for it, no one will be there. You will spend the night as you always have; alone, aching, and drying your own tears.

Finally, blessedly, you leave work for the day and you would have the whole weekend to try and recover from this terrible week before doing it all over again. When you step through your door a short while later you find the house utterly empty save for yourself and your cat. Ordinarily shutting the door behind you after a long day would bring on such a sense of relief. You would pet your cat and change into your pajamas, sit on the couch and relax. But not today.

You kick your shoes off at the door and leave them there, slinging your coat over the back of the couch as you pass by it, dropping your shoulder bag on the floor as you begin shucking off your clothing, stripping right down to your underwear and crawling back into bed, pulling the covers up over your head. It only takes a few seconds before it begins to get stuffy in your cocoon, your face growing hot as your eyeballs burn. At long last tears come, soaking your pillow, coating your cheeks as you curl into as tight a ball as you can, trying to stave off the gnawing ache in the center of your chest.

When it becomes too difficult to breathe you sit up in bed, raking back the hair stuck to your damp face, sniffling, your eyes red and raw. God dammit, you’re being ridiculous. You’re an adult, for crap’s sake, you’re supposed to be stronger than this. Yet here you are, bawling your eyes out, wishing so damn badly just for someone to sit next to you and say everything will be ok.

Your phone rings loudly from its place on your headboard and you jump, your heart leaping into your throat at the unexpected sound. Curious, you raise it up to see who’s calling. The screen reads: “UNKNOWN – 2383543873”. You roll your eyes, clearly a telemarketer or robocall, and silence the phone before setting it back on the headboard. You take a deep breath, filling your lungs til they felt they might burst, and let it all out in a harsh exhale between pursed lips. You actually do feel better, at least, after the crying session, sort of emptied out. Your head jerks round as your phone rings again, “UNKNOWN – 2383543873”. What in the world?

You don’t silence it this time, but you don’t answer it either. You sit there watching the phone, and sure enough a minute later it rings once again: “UNKNOWN – 2383543873”. This time you pick it up, swiping your finger across the screen to accept the call. “Hello?” you say tentatively. Silence is your only response. “Hello?”

After nearly 30 seconds of no answer, you lower the phone to hang up. At the same moment your thumb hits the Call End button, you think you hear a voice on the line: “He-…Hello?” It’s low, raspy and gravelly and it sounds surprised, but before you have time to react you’ve already hung up the phone. Barely a minute later it rings again and you pick it up immediately. “Who is this?” you demand, the beginnings of real fear tightening in your chest. You can hear what sounds like heavy breathing on the other end of the line, and that same gravelly voice in your ear, “Holy crap, is this really working?” “What do you want?” There’s a burst of maniacal laughter that makes you snatch the phone away from your ear. “I can’t believe it, it is working! Hiya, babes!”

You’re completely dumbfounded. What is going on here? Who is this strange man (because by now you’re pretty sure it’s a man’s voice) and why is he calling you? Is he drunk? High? Some combination of the two? “Is there something I can help you with?” you ask him, interrupting his gleeful giggling and babbling, getting frustrated with this whole crazy situation. “First things first, sweet stuff,” he says in a sing-song tone. “I’m gonna need ya to say my name, and then I can help you.” You frown, confused by the request and a little unsettled by the eagerness in his voice. “All right, weirdo, I’m hanging up now,” you say flatly. “Have nice night or whatever.” As you lower the phone you hear him sputtering in alarm. “Wait wait wait wait!” With a sigh you raise the phone back up. “I know this is weird and I didn’t mean to piss you off, but I just wanted to say everything’s gonna be ok.”

He says it all in one breath, like he’s afraid of being cut off before he finishes speaking, so it takes you a minute to fully process the onslaught of words. But when you do you can’t help feeling a little unnerved. “What?” you ask dumbly, thinking maybe you’ve misunderstood him. “I know you’ve been havin a hard time, doll, and I just wanted to letcha know everything’s gonna be ok.”

Your breath catches in your throat. How did he-? “Are you… watching me??” There’s a pause before he answers. “Is there any possible way I can say yes to that question without you getting mad and hanging up on me?” You scoff, angry at the invasion of privacy, afraid of what his motive might be, and hang up at once, scrambling out of bed to put on more clothes. You feel unbelievably vulnerable, what if he’s watching you right now?

You throw on a t shirt and pajama bottoms, peering out through your blinds to see if you can spot anybody watching your house. It’s already dark, but as far as you can see there’s no one around. The phone rings again, the same number, the same Unknown caller. You ignore it and soon enough it stops. But then it rings again, and again. You snatch up your phone and turn it off. It’s not a permanent solution, but maybe it’ll buy you some peace of mind for the night.

----------------

Sorry for the massive angst-dump, but hopefully Part 3 will make up for it when Reader finally gets to meet the Ghost with the Most!

PS: there’s a little bit of an Easter Egg slipped into this part. If you figure it out, you get a high five!

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice x reader #beetlejuice x self insert #beetlejuice musical #beetlejuice the musical #beetlejuice broadway

20 notes · View notes

the-fushiguros · 4 years

Text

50 Questions You’ve Never Been Asked Before

I was tagged by @agoodafternoon Thanks so much!! These are fun!

1.What is the color of your hairbrush?

My hair is way too curly for a hairbrush. I just run my fingers through it in the shower. Otherwise it just breaks all my hair.

2.A food you never eat?

Onions! I know it’s a little childish, but I’ll sit there and pull all the little chopped up onions out of a dish before I eat it.

3.Are you typically too warm or too cold?

Too warm!

4.What were you doing 45 minutes ago?

Reading the paper. I do that every morning with a cup of coffee. Because my soul is really 85 years old.

5.What is your favorite candy bar?

Hershey

6.Have you ever been to a professional sports event?

Yup! I prefer college-level sports though and I go to basketball games at my school pretty often.

7.What is the last thing you said out loud?

"Physical Graffiti is the best Led Zeppelin album. I’ll fight you”

8.What is your favorite ice cream?

As much chocolate as you can fit in a bowl. Add brownies. And chocolate sauce. And marshamallows.

9.What was the last thing you to drink?

Coffee

10.Do you like your wallet?

I just have a purse. And I don’t like it that much, actually. It’s too big. I usually just shove my keys/credit cards in my pocket when I go out.

11.What was the last thing you ate?

Two hard boiled eggs and a cup of strawberries with hand-whipped cream. My usual breakfast.

12.Did you buy any new clothes last weekend?

No.

13.The Last sporting event you watched?

Sports have been cancelled with the pandemic. I think the last thing I actually sat down and paid attention to was a WNBA game.

14.What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?

Movie theatre butter.

15.Who was the last person you sent a text message to?

James

16.Ever go camping?

Not, like, sleeping in a tent kind of camping. My family takes yearly trips up to a pretty secluded lake but we stay in a cabin.

17. Do you take vitamins?

No.

18.Do you go to church every Sunday?

I think I’ve gone to church about three times in my life. All for other people’s weddings or funerals.

19.Do you have a tan?

No.

20.Do you prefer Chinese food or pizza?

Both? Depends on the mood.

21.Do you drink your soda with a straw?

I don’t drink soda. I don’t like the fizz. And yes, I know that’s weird.

22.What color socks do you usually wear?

Black

23.Do you ever drive above the speed limit?

Yeah. I don’t think I know anybody who only drives the speed limit or under tbh.

24.What terrifies you?

Real talk? Dying young because of my diabetes and its complications.

25.Look to your left, what do you see?

My guitar and amp

26.What chore do you hate?

Cleaning the bathroom. It’s just...yucky

27.What do you think of when you hear and Australian Accent?

No thoughts really? It’s not my favourite accent. Not my least favourite either.

28.What’s your favorite soda?

None

29.Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?

The drive thru

30.Favorite cut of beef?

Okay. Okay. I have a very strong opinion on this. Steak fillet, cooked on the stove after half an hour sitting in a sharp red wine. Thinly sliced. Served with a baked potato. And peas. That’s my go to meal when I’m trying to impress someone.

31.Who’s the last person you talked to?

My mother. She’s the one I was arguing with about the Led Zeppelin albums. Quarantine has exhausted our other topics of conversation 😂

32.Last Song you listened to?

What You Do to Me: John Legend

33.Last Book you read?

Cover to cover? The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

34.Favorite Day of the week?

Friday. I don’t have class and it’s usually my one day a week to relax.

35.Can you say the alphabet backwards?

Nope!

36.How do you like your coffee?

Super sweet. I usually take mochas or something like that where there’s more milk than actual coffee.

37.Favorite pair of shoes?

I have a pair of brown ankle boots that I love! I don’t wear them too much though because most of my wardrobe is black. And you just can’t wear brown shoes with an all black outfit. You can’t.

38.At what time do you normally go to bed?

I try to stick to around 11. But that hardly ever works. Catch me up at 3am suddenly intent on writing a full-length novel.

39.At what time do you normally get up?

7:30. My dog won’t let me sleep any later than that.

40.What do you prefer sunrise or sunsets?

I think sunrises are prettier. But I’m hardly ever in a position where I can just sit and watch one. My mornings are usually hectic.

41.How many blankets are on your bed?

Two

42.Describe your kitchen plates?

Plain blue and brown. Got them from Ikea. On sale.

43.Do you have a favorite alcoholic beverage?

Whiskey. Two shots of whiskey almost always start my nights out when we go to a bar.

44.Do you play cards?

Yes? And no. I play cards a lot with my family and friends but we never play Poker and I know that’s what most people think when they say they’re playing cards.

45. What color is your car?

Silver

46. Can you change a tire?

I thought I knew how. And then a few months ago I had to change one in the middle of a road trip and things...didn’t go well.

47.What is your favorite state/providence?

I’m going to say New York, but only because if I do end up staying in America, NYC is the only place I can see myself happily living.

48.Favorite job you’ve ever had?

I’ve not really had a real, adult job yet. But I really enjoyed working at the zoo for a few summers.

49.How did you get your biggest scar?

Kitchen knife. The scar goes nearly all the way around my forearm.

50.What did you do today that made someone else happy?

My dad and I like to read the comics in the newspaper together, share the ones we liked best.

And i tag @a-secretkey @cibelica @snazzy-pickle and anyone else who wants to do it!

#rook speaks #answered

4 notes · View notes

golden-van-fleet · 5 years

Text

Class Ring

A/N: Hi this is my first “published” writing? And I don’t really know what I’m doing? I thought it was cute, and I really want to keep writing, I hope y’all think it’s as cute as I do :)

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2.2k

You’ll never forget the chaos that surrounded your junior class receiving their class rings. Constant debates on which style was the best, the “classic” look or the newer, modernized versions, engravings, the intricacies that made each ring unique, every detail that made it yours. You didn’t want a huge ring, just one with the year you’d graduate written somewhere on it. Joe, however, was all to pieces to make his ring perfect.

“I’m just saying, I’m about to pay for a ring that I’ll probably have for the rest of my life, I want it to be perfect. Literally. Perfect.” He flopped face first onto your bed to emphasize his point.

“Joe, no one wears their class ring outside of high school. Especially if they get a class ring in college. It’s not as big a deal as you want to make it.” You took the initiative to fall on the bed next to him, but laying on your back against the pillows as opposed to Joe’s awkward diagonal position across your bed. He rolled onto his left side to face you. You’d be lying if the face he gave you didn’t make your heart skip a beat. Or two.

“If I tell you this, do you promise not to laugh at me?”

“Depends what it is. I’m your best friend, I have the right to laugh at anything and everything you say.”

“Well,” he started, a faint blush gracing his cheeks, “I’ve kind of always wanted to be able to give my class ring to that “special someone,” you know? Like in Grease, when they’re at the drive-in. It seems so outdated by today’s standards, but that’s something I’ve always found really sweet. Like, hey, I want to give you something that means a lot to me, I’m just not ready to get married or anything quite yet. Here’s this piece of me, more or less,” he finished, his words beginning to run together as he thought out loud. You couldn’t stop the smile that spread across your face. You’d also be lying if you said that you weren’t hoping that special someone could be you, even if it was years and years down the road.

“I mean, it does seem pretty cheesy, but you’ve always been pretty cheesy,” you said, his eyes searching yours for validation. He rolled his eyes.

“You are absolutely no help, Y/N.” He let out an exaggerated huff and rolled onto his back, the weight of his torso on your feet.

“Okay, and you didn’t let me finish,” you teased, reaching down to pinch his cheek. “It’s sweet. I understand where you’re coming from. But my only question, is why make it so “perfect” if it’s eventually going to be worn by someone else? What if you break up?” You didn’t mean to sound so morbid or even so harsh, but reality was harsh, and it was something you couldn’t stop yourself from asking.

“Ideally, it would go to that perfect person. It would stay with that perfect person. And one day would be replaced by an engagement ring,” he answered, his eyes glancing at your hands, which were crossed over your chest. He thought you didn’t notice. You pretended not to.

“You didn’t answer the second part.”

He thought for a moment. He finally responded, saying, “I suppose I’d let them keep it if they wanted it. Even if we don’t stay together, they would still mean enough to me to get it in the first place.”

You couldn’t help the feeling in your chest at that point. Your whole life you’d grown up with Joe as your best friend, your confidant, your partner in crime. You never, in a million and a half years, would’ve thought you would ever develop a crush on him.

What you didn’t, and couldn’t know, was that Joe felt the same way. He wanted this ring to be perfect because he wanted to give it to the one person he had ever thought was perfect, his best friend. You.

As you went to college (and received your college ring), you’d forgotten about that day in your bedroom when you both were 16. Being best friends since birth, Joe still had a major role in your life, coming to visit you whenever he could bear the 15 minute drive to your apartment, which, by the way, was multiple times a week.

You’d both dated other people, your mutual longing never fading but never coming to fruition in that time. In fact, Joe had met a new girl, Hannah, at an audition he was at a few months prior. Despite how much your heart hurt, you were truly happy that he was happy. But when he invited you over to meet her, you couldn’t help but notice the necklace she was wearing. A sapphire class ring sat on a silver chain, hanging almost daintily around her neck despite its size. You grit your teeth and forced a smile you hoped seemed genuine. And to her, it did. Joe knew otherwise, but bit his tongue.

So when he showed up at your door at 11:30 on a Friday night a few months later, you knew something was wrong. With every girl he’d dated, he made a point to spend as much time with her as possible without cutting you out. But Friday nights were his date nights with Hannah. This particular Friday night, you’d returned from a date with a guy you’d met in passing while on your lunch break that you probably wouldn’t call back for a second date. Nursing what was left of your cup of tea, you snuck a glance to the storm in full force outside your window. You’d just barely turned your attention back to the movie that was playing when a pounding on your door scared the living daylights out of you.

Opening the door, you were met with the soaking wet form of your best friend, who walked through the door and almost collapsed into your arms.

“She cheated.” Your breath caught in your throat. You started plotting the ways you’d ruin her life without Joe knowing it was you (while knowing full well said revenge would be carried out by none other than his best friend in the entire world). Something fell to the floor, and as you shut the door and began leading Joe to the bathroom to get him a towel you caught a glimpse of what it was. Only after Joe was in the shower to warm up did you return to the door to retrieve it.

“I want you to have it.” Joe’s voice broke the silence, making you jump and almost drop the damned thing. Was his shower that short? Were you really looking at it for that long?

“What?”

“It’s yours. I don’t want it. But I can’t bring myself to throw it out, or to sell it, or hell, even give it to my mother as a keepsake.” He was fuming, it was evident in his voice. But when your eyes met his, his expression was the opposite of what his voice indicated.

“I’m not going to keep it just because you don’t want it,” you spoke softly. You remembered the conversation the two of you had about it, over 15 years prior. “You said it should go to that perfect person, that special someone, the love of your life. Do you remember that?” When you finished, your voice was no louder than a whisper. You felt a lump in your throat form as you spoke, setting yourself up for the inevitable disappointment you’d feel by the end of the conversation. Setting the ring and chain on the table next to your keys, you crossed the room to continue the conversation.

“I do remember that. I remember thinking how badly I wanted you to have it one day, you know.”

“You can’t come in here and say that after showing up at my door and saying that your girlfriend cheated on you. It went to her. She had to have been perfect enough to receive it in the first place.” You wanted nothing more than to send Joe either home or to sleep in the guest room and curl up in bed. You’d failed to notice the stray tear that began to fall down your face, but Joe didn’t. Silently, he wiped it away and pulled you into a hug. He wanted you to know he’d never been in love in the first place.

Every time she laughed at one of his jokes, he couldn’t help but notice how different her laugh was from yours. When he looked into her eyes, they weren’t as kind or as inviting as yours were. Just the way she said his name made him wish it was your voice instead. And of course, initially he’d thought it was because he’d been single for so long. You were the closest thing he’d known to true love without knowing what it was, and he thought maybe it was that driving him to make so many comparisons. He tried to love her, he really did. He wanted to want to wake up next to her, to love her with every part of his being, and yet for whatever reason, he couldn’t. She noticed, too. She could tell by the way he spoke about you that no one would replace you. He never answered her calls as quickly as he answered yours, or talked nearly as long with her as he did with you. As unjust as a reason as it may have been, she went to find love elsewhere, hoping Joe would go to you to do the same.

“I’ve loved you since we were kids, Y/N. And I let you get away for too long, and for that I’ll never forgive myself. The ring is yours, it always has been. I couldn’t love her simply because she wasn’t you.” You looked up to face him, eyes brimming with unshed tears and those that had fallen had soaked into his old sweatshirt you’d had that he changed into.

“I… really?” You couldn’t quite tell what you were asking about. It was a lot to process, and he knew that. With that, he began leading you back to your bedroom, guiding you towards the end of the bed where you could both sit and talk. Before he sat down, he ran back out to the hallway to get said ring, the very item you didn’t know if you could bear to see.

He came back to find you already laying in bed, half of the comforter folded back as an invitation for him to get in bed next to you. It was an unspoken rule between the two of you, and had been since you were small. He faced you, admiring all of your features and choosing his words carefully.

“I mean it when I say I love you. And I know by the way you responded that you love me, too. I’m not demanding anything from you. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. I want you to know that you have always been the one for me, the one that I want to wake up next to, the one that I want to grow old with, the one that I want to remind every day just how much I love her and how much more I’ll love every day. I’m not asking you to marry me, at least, not right now. Maybe we can get there one day,” his eyes met yours as he finished his spiel.

“I love you too.” Finally, the words you’d wanted to say and mean in such a context were out into the world for all to hear, even if it was just between the two of you. He took your hand and set the ring in it, closing your fingers around it and kissing your knuckles. “I’ve always loved you.” You moved to be closer to him, your head tucked under his chin. “I want you, forever. Hell, I’ve wanted you for what feels like forever,” you added, pulling back to meet his eyes.

And then he kissed you.

The ring fell out of your shocked grasp, despite your conscience telling you that this was going to happen the entire time. You took his face in your hands, holding onto him for dear life.

“I’ve been waiting so long for that.” He smiled the warmest smile you’d ever seen, and you knew the smile across your face had the potential to put his to shame. Joe picked up the ring and set it on the nightstand beside him. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. I just want you to have it until I can replace it with another one.”

“I’ll wear it until the chain breaks, Joseph. Don’t underestimate me,” you joked, kissing his cheek softly.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

He kept his promise about the other ring, too. A year and a half later he presented to you a gorgeous sapphire engagement ring, and a year after that you had a wedding band to complete it. His class ring stayed on the chain, hung up with your other jewelry, front and center, to remind you of the perfect man who insisted on the perfect ring for the perfect girl.

#joe mazzello #joe mazzello x reader #joe mazzello imagine #y'all i'm so nervous for this lmao #my writing #bohemian rhapsody #i really don't want to tag this wrong

90 notes · View notes

byebyechloe · 4 years

Text

So I’ve been contemplating writing this for awhile...

about.... let’s see, I need to do the math.

we broke up January 15th.

Then we talked until, what would you say? the third Monday of February?

Yes, February 18th. I remember that night well. It shook me to the core, that's when our break up... really began to be our break. up.

but then let me throw this at you. this low low low LOW number.

18 days. (That’s how many days you had me blocked. I’m assuming... if not less. I accidentally came up on that realization one day. So who knows.)

I took the ballsy choice of adding you back on snap, being subtle. you added me back the same night, and thats when it all began again.

well... kinda, took us until, when? probably like 2 Fridays later? I slid into your texts to tell you about a artist I liked and thought you’d vibe too. Ironically, you already fucked with him too.

Then that next weekend I gave you the entire snapchat tour of the 2nd Ben Rector concert we didn't attend together, but this one we had planned too...

and then I think... the next Friday is when I took a huge risk on my mental health and dropped sam off at Julies and off I was! back to the place in the middle of the damn trees, just to spend a night with you again, that I thought would just be a random hook up, and then we’d just let it all go again. but no.

I left that bed with plans to be back the next weekend, and then plans to hangout when you moved home for the “short” time you had planned before “moving away back east”, that ended up being an entire summer, and you ended up being A LOT closer than you planned when you did finally move away again in October. But this moving away didn’t happen of course, until after another big “I'm sick of you!” argument from us both (after an ironically, perfect Saturday with you. I still think about that night. so cute and romantic in the weirdest, not romantic way.) and then we talked on and off for another time. this was a little longer than 18 days, but wasn’t longer than 3 weeks. And you were back around, and I was stronger alone, but so was my strong belief in the damn signs I've been getting the last fucking YEAR of us doing this ~thing~ of ours from the big guy up there (imagine me pointing, yanno me, i’m an awkward bitch who points, bet you can imagine my torn up nails too. you always remind me to stop biting them. thanks for that.)

Oh.. yeah, hey, happy 1 year of crossing paths (again, if you count the years we didn’t really /know/ each other, but were in the same friend circle... somehow. idk.) and taking away my right to say “i’ve never fallen inlove like for real for real!” (my words, not society’s.)

But yeah, when I sit here and type, I realize I won’t get as much out as I will whenever you give me the chance to say it all out loud (if you could be /so/ kind), but let me get to my favorite part of the last 365 days.

I’ll start with the fact that... that night.... I almost cancelled on you 3 fucking times. This was before I caught on to God’s lessons that he embedded in our encounter and friendship. Now I see this was his small beginning and it was with the fact that we both come from two different lives and backgrounds, that being symbolized by the fact that I usually eat dinner at like... 5 pm. and you are a more 7 pm guy. By 6:30 I was not only hangry, but beginning to let my anxiety and trust issues from my past start to creep in. “He is really gonna pull this? after 3 weeks of us talking? AND its the day before my birthday? how rude.” I thought. I even told my friends twice I wanted to drop the date, and they both said to do what made me happy. But yanno what I did that I never do? especially in that season of life I was in? (this was “fuck guys, none of them deserve me anyway) phase, by the way. I’m still in it, but you’re an exception.)

I just said... “no. I’ll give him 10 more minutes”.... three times. But yanno what?

It was the best decision I ever fucking made in my ENTIRE life. (other than that one time we... yanno... had sex for (my) the first time (ours together). Sorry but I mean you saw this coming right?)

You kept me talking and laughing from the moment I walked out of my front door that night... all the way until, well, that night we broke up in January. Yet, I think you still made me giggle a few times before we finally hung the 3 hour phone call up.

OH! Our first date was November 15th, 2018. Crazy... we broke up literally... 2 months after our first date. That’s super weird. This isn’t the first time that dates have aligned like that in my life. It’s whatever, ANYWAY.

Back to the story! So. Yeah. Best night of my life. seriously. Going out with you that night was the best decision I ever made. It was so fun and sweet and carefree and I was so happy.

Bro-- you make me /SO/ fucking happy.

Even after all the shit we’ve gone through, I’d still pick you over any guy on this damn planet, and that says a lot about me considering you’re very deep into your “bachelor szn” of life right now. Which I’m happy af for you for, that is a sick time of life, and you deserve to live it. I just appreciate you keeping me around for the nights you want someone to hold and kiss and watch movies with. (the dinner was an added bonus, and very sexy. so keep it up for me pls. I promise I will reciprocate my thanks.)

But anyway. The 1st date, it was the night I think God sealed the deal of the whole “you’re gonna fall inlove with this guy when y'all kiss” thing. I never really believed in that shit, partly bc I hated hallmark movies and hated the entire feeling of love after what I thought I knew from my last big relationship before you, but I was so wrong.

I still think about our first kiss a lot, and I hate to admit that because I am not that OOZY with love and emotions. But I do. And I never realized that was the night I fell in love with you, I realized that the last night you and I stayed at Julie and Camden’s... yanno before you met some new girl and started seeing her like 3-4 nights a week? yeah same. I wasn’t a complete mess though, I worked on school and fell in love with the art of teaching, so that was cool. But yeah. That night. You and I literally had so many nights like it this summer, but, yet, THAT night is when I was trying to fall asleep and the memory of our first date was like “yo what up bitch time to relive this day again.”

and I did. and it was amazing. and then when it got to that kissing part (Sam was so annoyed by us, I think. I don’t really remember. it was THAT good of a kiss my dude.) I really realized that is when I began to believe in the fact that a man could possibly love me, or care for me, or just like me again. I was so happy.

I have learned so many lessons from this whole 365 days (and counting) experience. Let me explain.

- be patient. (THIS was the biggest and hardest one, and its ongoing. I want to say I’m doing better.) I've had to really stop myself from getting upset and remind myself, “God wouldn’t keep him around in my life like this if he didn’t have a reason too.” He’d give me all the signs to leave. I’m not too blind to look at both sides, I just see more promise in the good side than to be dramatic and listen to the bad side. I see dedication and hard work on the good side.

- be trusting. (Now I know you get me when I say, trust issues take up your whole damn life. Maybe not as much anymore because we both are/have gone through the stage of life where you learn “people only take as much as you give. So give a little at a time.” which is what your doing now, and is what I learned to start doing... then I met you and ended up dumping all my trust into you. but not in the way you may think, it has taken this entire year for me too. so you’re welcome). I have really started seeing how much I trust you, and how much you deserve it. But I won’t lie and say there aren’t times you don’t deserve me, and I KNOW that. But I refrain from screaming it at you, because.... what is that going to help at this point? The time isn’t here yet, if it ever comes, but if it does, you’ll know I’ve waited to say it, followed up with the whole hearted reason I never let it be why I gave up, because I never will give up on you.*

* When you and I started dating (11...24...18.... yeah. you get why I put it in numbers, right?) You told me in text that night to not give up on you, because you’re still young and still learning. I said I understood and wouldn’t, because you made me (and still do) the happiest girl on this earth. no cap, boo. You also said it and say it almost every time you are drunk and next to me in bed. “Don’t give up on me baby. please.” and my most favorite time, which was Christmas, “Don’t give up on me baby and I swear, I’m going to make our life together so damn great.” and yanno? I still believe it. and Always will. (scouts honor, boo.)

- Be understanding. (This one is gonna get deep.) So, I know, most movies will show you a girl who is a friend of the girl in love, or the guy who is the best best friend of the guy who is also in love tell one of the two that they need to just man up and say how they feel to the other one, even if that other one doesn’t want to believe it. Or better yet, tell the person THEY don't see how inlove they are with a person. Now I won’t sit here and act like I haven’t wished I could come across you with the desire in my heart to just tell you “don’t you see how fucking perfect we are for eachother?” because thats not realistic. That would of pushed me away from any man (and actually has before) who said it to me. SO WHY would I ever try to make someone push you to believe it? Let alone myself? You will realize it yourself someday, or maybe a friend will notice it and mention it to you, but I won’t ever be the one to tell you I think you are dumb for not seeing our potential. I’m fine with waiting until you figure it out. As far behind as you are in the feelings and independence stage in life... emotionally... I am in the independence and living stage... physically. We just did things backwards.

This is getting long (if it wasn’t a surprise) but...

I love you, boo. I always will, and apparently have since the first night you took me to chilis. So let’s just say this has been a wild year, but I can’t wait for the rest of the others.

Have fun with whatever/whoever you’re doing, Hope to see ya soon and get my face wash back that I “forgot” two weeks ago.

love,

your future wifey, hehe. ;)

jk.

love always, Chloe. (or when you like to make me mad, Coco.)

#jeff #cbjournals

1 note · View note

rulers-of-night · 6 years

Text

Finding My Way To You

Chapter 11 has arrived! yes it took longer than i hoped but it’s here now and waiting for you to read it. Some cute Feysand things happen in this chapter

Feyre is in a toxic and pretty shitty relationship with her boyfriend Tamlin. The same boyfriend couldn’t be bothered dropping her home one night from a party she was dragged to and ended up having to walk home. Feyre pissed off and cold wonders home at some ridiculous time in the morning when the people she meets are less than pleasant. Faced with a potential rapist Feyre runs to a house, hoping anyone will give her safety. I wonder who lets her in? Who does she meet?

Chapter 1 . Chapter 2 Chapter 3 . Chapter 4 . Chapter 5 . Chapter 6 .Chapter 7 . Chapter 8 . Chapter 9 . Chapter 10 . Chapter 11 . Chapter 12 . Chapter 13 . Chapter 14 .

The sound of him breathing and the shaft of warm buttery sunlight on my face awoke me from my deep slumber.

I examined my room through groggy eyes and found everything messed up. Our clothes were thrown everywhere, my bedside lamp was on the floor and the duvet was half on Tamlin, half hanging off the bed.

Had last night really been that rough? The memories I recalled from last night were all intense – heavy breathing and loud moaning. It was amazingly pleasurable but didn’t have the same relief it usually did. It felt as if something was missing. Like a piece had broken between us and now we didn’t quite fit together – like we used to.

I sighed as I manoeuvred my way out of Tamlin’s firm grip – even when sleeping he couldn’t let me breathe. The spot between my legs was tender and sore as I sat on the edge of bed and grabbed the first piece of clothing I put my hand on – Tamlin’s oversized green shirt. On my way out I saw not one, not two but three condom wrappers on the floor.

Great!

Why was it that every time we had a fight we resolved it by sex? We never actually talked about our issues. The sex was great, but it really wasn’t a healthy way of resolving anything. I’d have to talk to Tamlin about it when he woke up though I would doubt he would think anything was the matter between us. He was so caught up in the old us that he forgot to see that we had changed – that I wasn’t the same girl I used to be.

I surveyed my messy living space, there was paint and paper and random sketches everywhere, there was also bits of charcoal on the floor, half crushed. And a stack of canvases piled in the corner. Why was my life so messy? I loved the mess sometimes, but it was moments like these when I felt like my life was falling apart that mess freaked me out.

Tamlin’s sleeping form haunted me from the next room, he’d be pissed if I woke him up and even more pissed to wake up and find that I wasn’t safely wrapped in his arms, ready for morning round of tumbling in the sheets.

I looked to the clock sitting against the wall on the kitchen counter, 8:30. Uni campus would have opened an hour ago, and I really needed to get my paintings evaluated by my professor to make sure I was on the right track, especially because I hadn’t been on campus for a few weeks. Could I leave Tamlin alone in my house? I didn’t really have a choice, I needed a new scene and to get out of the house before Tam woke up. It was a necessity that I got out of the house before I went crazy. I was struggling to breathe.

Before I could talk myself out of this or wait for Tam to wake up, I snuck into my room and fetched some leggings, a wool jumper and my old converse (that were falling apart bit by bit). I tied my hair into a bun at the top of my head and as quietly as possible collected up my art supplies and stacked my three canvases in the car. I quickly scratched a note to Tamlin, letting him know where I’d gone and left it on the pillow beside him. I felt slightly guilty for deciding to go to uni, he’d probably planned on spending all of Sunday together and I’d just messed up his plans.

As I left my bedroom I stopped to survey his naked muscular chest. It was gorgeous. His muscular planes were rendered even more magnificent by the delicate sunlight. His blond hair appeared magical in the warm soft glow of morning and his face was ethereal in its beauty. For all of Tam’s faults he sure was handsome. How did someone like him end up with someone like me? I looked at my emerald engagement ring and sighed shakily.

Then I left him asleep and drove off to the Uni campus, relieved to see the tall oak trees lining the entrance of Velaris University, the leaves vibrant reds, oranges and yellows.

The windows of my car were down, and I breathed in the cool morning air, allowing it to cleanse me and calm me. It was refreshing. Uplifting. Revitalising. I parked my car near the art building and carried my equipment into my favourite art studio. Velaris had an extraordinary art program, obviously not as good the Rainbow Art School but that was fine by me.

The Uni had invested in a number of advanced art studios equipping each with amazing tools ranging from paint to clay and all of the above. But the studio that I loved the most wasn’t necessarily the largest or cleanest, it was one of the few old studios still left after the huge renovation.

It was slightly overcrowded with easels and tables but had the best view and lighting. The studio overlooked the massive oval and ancient stone water fountain and had these towering windows to let in all the natural light. Many of the other students didn’t come here, not knowing what a tressure it was. I lined up each of my canvases on easels and set them next to each other, surveying them in the natural light. They seemed to all connect together, as if telling one story. I loved them and thought they were amazing I just need to make sure Mrs. Suriel, my art professor, felt the same. She was quirky and a complete gossip – always keeping her ears open. She seemed to be all knowing and I was constantly intrigued by the sheer amount of knowledge she crammed into her brain. Mrs. Suriel was definitely my favourite person here. I had never been great at making friends so during my entire time at uni I’d been a bit of a loner, only knowing a few other students and that was only because we had completed a few group projects which had been absolute torture – I didn’t like working with others when it came to art. It just felt wrong and I had a certain way of painting that the others hadn’t really agreed with. It was frustrating.

As I reached for my pencil to begin sketching the Illyrian form onto a scrap piece of paper just to make sure I had his form absolutely perfect before transferring it onto the canvas my phone buzzed from my back pocket.

Have you missed me yet? The phone screen flashed, an unknown number next to it.

I started texting back before my mind could register what I was doing.

Who is this? I shot back.

Only your most favourite person in the entire world

Well that solved the mystery – it was Rhys. I’d been lost in ridiculous fantasy’s wondering when I was either going to bump into him again or he was going to text me. It was ridiculous, I didn’t really know him, not when you thought about it. But, Cauldron, there was something about him that made my heart melt.

How could I forget about my most favourite person in the entire world? I texted back.

I am offended you didn’t know it was me and will expect you to be on your hands and knees begging for my forgiveness

I’m sure you would love me on my hands and knees

On the contrary I wouldn’t want you any less than my equal

My cheeks heated at the last text. Damn, he was such a flirt and the worrying thing was that I secretly loved it.

When I didn’t reply Rhys sent me another text.

How are you anyways?

I’m fine, why?

Just making sure that everything’s alright

Cassian told you about my breakdown, didn’t he? I knew Cassian had probably informed him on what happened on Friday. My heart broke at the idea that Rhys, who didn’t really know me either, was worried about me. I couldn’t remember the last time Tamlin had asked me if I was okay.

Yeah and I just wanted to make sure you are okay

I’m pretty good actually. I texted back, though that felt like a lie. I didn’t feel pretty good I just felt fine – if fine was a feeling.

That’s great to hear. What are you doing today? Rhys asked.

I had planned on spending the day painting and waiting for Tamlin to eventually call me or rock up at the campus pissed because I left him that morning, but I had needed to get out. That house was too messy, too wrong and I didn’t know if it was because Tam had spent the night and I felt dirty about giving up on our fight, letting out bodies do all the talking. However, the idea of hanging out with Rhys today filled me with excitement and joy – an emotion I hadn’t felt regularly these past few days.

I’m at Uni painting, though would you like to do something later? I asked, feeling bold and brave for being so direct with him.

I would love to do something with you today Feyre, how about I pick you up at noon and we can go out for a nice lunch or we could even go for a walk. Just as friends of course, I do remember that you are engaged :)

I would love to hang out with you Rhys. I texted back before turning my phone off, squealing like a little school girl. I was engaged to Tamlin and yet felt warm and giddy at the idea of seeing Rhys.

Cauldron save me, I was in some deep shit.

. . .

I was sketching the Illyrian form onto the canvas, struggling with his face as I didn’t have a model to copy from, when Mrs. Suriel waltzed into the room, humming a merry tune.

“Oh Feyre, how are you? It’s been a few weeks,” she exclaimed.

“Great thank you, I have my third painting half completed,” I said, excited to show her my work and yet equally nervous. I hoped she would like them.

“Oh, Feyre these are marvellous,” she said coming around the easels to view them. “How did you come up with the last one,” she asked.

“I had some inspiration from another artist,” I said, cheeks turning red.

“Well, whoever that artist was, they must have been fantastic!”

“She was,” I whispered before turning back and continued to sketch the Illyrian form, immersing myself in the strong form.

“Who are you painting?”

“I’m painting an Illyrian, but I’m having difficulty with the face,” I disclosed. I needed a model for this painting desperately. His face had to be strong and harsh. At first interpretation he’d look terrifying, wrath incarnate; but if you looked close enough you would see the beauty of his face. The wings flared not to hurt but to carry from danger. You would see that he loved more than any other and he dreamed of a better world.

“Well you better find someone soon; the paintings are due in just over a week.” Fuck. “Also, Feyre, a little birdie told me that you got engaged.”

“How did you find out about that?” Clear shock ran through my voice. I knew Mrs. Suriel knew everything – that’s what she was renowned for – but seriously. “I have my sources. Let me see the ring,” she demanded as I stuck out my left hand. “Tamlin’s your fiancé?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said though I couldn’t fight my cringe at the mention of Tamlin and fiancé in the same sentence.

“Looks like you aren’t all that happy that you are to be married to him. If it’s any consolation, I never liked him. I think he’s too controlling and cocky, but that’s just me.”

“You’re telling me. He can be a real ass sometimes,” I joked, but we both knew I wasn’t joking.

“But Feyre,” she said, the seriousness returning to her face. “If you need to talk about anything you know where to find me.”

“Thanks Mrs. Suriel,” I mumbled as she waltzed back out of the room. It was as if she had never been there in the first place.

#feyre #feysand #rhys #rhysand #the dream court #the night court #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #reading #finding my way to you #feysand fanfiction #mor #cassian #azriel #sarah j maas #feyrhys

60 notes · View notes

fromstraykids · 7 years

Text

musical genius | school series 4

characters: you x jaehwan

summary: from strangers to friends to lovers...along with some music involved

quote: “i want to be more than friends”

school series: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

7:36 pm – friday night

There was something about the guy performing at the cafe you were at. Maybe it was the way he effortlessly hit the high notes of the ballad or the way every note he sang sent chills to your skin, making you want more.

He finishes his song and announces that it was the last song, making you frown. He packs his guitar and makes quick eye contact with you as he walks out.

“Who was that?” you ask your friend. She looks at you as if you were crazy.

“That was Kim Jaehwan. The Kim Jaehwan that got first place in the international singing competition,” she explains as she takes a sip of her frappuccino. “But even though he won all that money he decided to go back to school and study music. How have you not heard of him?”

You shrug as you repeat his name in your head.

10:34 pm – dorm

After a tiring day of lectures and studying, you were more than excited to finally go back to your dorm. You greeted your roommate, who was watching reruns of Full House and paid little attention to your existence.

You stepped out of the room to go get a drink in the vending machine, which was by the boys' side of the floor. While punching in the code for the sweet tea you wanted, you hear a weird sound coming from one of the rooms. It sounded like a mix of a squawking bird and a squeaky door, making you wonder why in the world there would be such a sound. After grabbing your drink, you decide to go to the source of the sound and found it to be in a room with its door ajar. Opening the door slightly, you caught sight of a boy rolling around in his bed, laughing his head off.

Once he caught sight of you, he stops. “Hello?” he says as another boy greets you.

“Sorry, I just heard something weird and thought you were trouble,” you explain. Jaehwan chuckles slightly.

“I guess I must’ve laughed too hard.” He rubs the nape of his neck. “Minhyun here just showed me a really funny video online, so that’s why I was laughing like a maniac.”

“Okay then, I guess I’ll be going.” The awkwardness of the conversation left you cringing at yourself, wishing you didn’t come into their room at all.

“Good night!” They wave goodbye as you shut the door, fanning your red face at the awkward conversation you just had. You quickly headed back to your room and went to sleep even though it was still early.

7:30 am – monday

You headed to the kitchen on your floor to make yourself a cup of coffee before heading to your 8:00 am lecture.

“You like the dark roast coffee, too? My friends say that it’s too strong, but it gets through my 8 am lecture, so I’m good,” a voice says, taking the pot of hot water and pouring it in his tumbler, adding the instant coffee packet. You see Jaehwan standing next to you and recall the conversation you had with him a few days ago.

“8 am lectures are seriously the worse, especially on Mondays. I rather be in bed,” you reply, twisting on the lid of your cup.

He follows after you to the elevator, attempting to make a light conversation while you head down. “Weren’t you the one who was in the cafe while I was playing?” he asks.

“Yeah, that was me. And you might get this a lot, but your voice is literally so beautiful. When’s the next time you’ll play?” He looks surprised for a moment at your compliment and clears his throat.

“I’m playing again next Friday if you want to come and watch,” he says. The elevator door open as you two get out. You make a reminder in your head to go to the cafe Friday night.

“Of course, who wouldn’t want to miss out on your performance? I’m y/n by the way,” you introduce yourself.

“I’m Jaehwan,” he replies. Of course, you already knew his name thanks to your friend.

“I guess I’ll see you later?” He stretches the last syllable as if asking a question.

You nod. “Hopefully, if not just watch that video Minhyun showed you and I’ll know where you are.” He lets out a chuckle and waves goodbye as he walks in the direction of his lecture hall.

4:30 pm – walking around campus

You had already finished your classes at 2:30 but you decided to walk around the campus, something you hadn’t done in a while. As you pass by the music hall, you hear a guitar strumming along with a voice singing. You recognize the song to be Downpour by IOI and follow the source of the sound.

The source came from the practice room, its window was wide open, which was why you could hear the singing. You catch sight of Jaehwan as he continues to belt out the notes, leaving you awestruck. When he finishes, you start clapping, making him jump at the sound.

“Oh! I didn’t see you there, y/n,” he says, setting down his guitar as he walks over to the window, leaning down until he’s at eye-level with you. “What are you doing here?” “Just walking around campus,” you explain as you notice scratching his throat. “Are you okay?”

He waves off your concern. “Just a little tickle, that’s all.” He smiles as he meets your eyes again. “My session is almost done, want to walk home together?”

You nod as he grabs his guitar case and backpack before walking out of the door to meet you.

“I really like your singing,” you say as you walk in the direction of your dorm.

His face brightens up. “Really? Then you should sing a duet with me!”

His comment takes you aback as you shake your head. “I can’t sing.” He looks at you with a shocked face.

“I doubt it, everyone can sing! Trust me, I bet you’re a better singer than Minhyun.” You laugh at his comment as you two enter the dorm, trudging up the steps to get to the second floor.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!” He waves goodbye to you as he heads into the other direction to the boys' side of the floor.

“See you tomorrow.” You start walking to your room before you heard Jaehwan saying ‘Wait!’ and running footsteps.

You stare at him confused as he leans down to catch his breath. He didn’t even have that far, but he was acting like he just ran a marathon. “Can I get your number?”

You nod yes as you hand him your phone. A light blush shows on his face as he types in his number. “I’ll text you tonight,” you say when you get your phone back. He nods as you wave goodbye to him.

As you headed to your room, you didn’t notice Jaehwan skipping giddily into his room, leaning the back of his head onto the door as he smiles widely.

4:50 pm – jaehwan’s practice room

“How’s your throat?” you ask as he finishes his session. He stuffs his music sheets into his folder.

“It’s getting better, why? Are you worried about me?” he teases as you blush.

“Maybe,” you say as you punch him in the shoulder. He grabs his shoulder dramatically as he fakes pain. He pouts as he finishes packing his bag.

“You’re coming tomorrow right?” he asks as you two leave.

“I promise.”

8:30 pm – friday night

When you came back from Jaehwan’s practice room at 5:00, you decided to take a short nap before changing, because honestly, classes are tiring, especially when they’re in the wee hours of the morning. You turn on your phone to check the time and jump up, shrugging on a jacket as you leave. You were very late to Jaehwan’s performance, which was at 6:30.

You decided to head to the cafe first, hoping his performance didn’t end yet. But much to your dismay, the stage was empty and you quickly went to the barista, asking him about Jaehwan.

“His performance ended at 7:30,” he answers, quickly shooing you out of the way to serve the next customer. You walk out of the cafe with a deep sigh as you hurry back to the dorm, quickly running up the steps and heading to the boys’ side of the floor.

“Jaehwan! Open up!” You shout as you knock on the door loudly. The door opens a crack, revealing Jaehwan’s tearful face before it is closed again.

You start to knock again. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t make it! How can I make it up to you?”

The door opens again, wider as Jaehwan pushes past your way to go to the stairs. Minhyun shows up at the doorway. Before you apologize again, he speaks up, “I know you’re really sorry. But he went through a lot tonight.”

He continues after seeing the information register in your head. “A representative from a really famous entertainment company came to watch his performance tonight, but his throat wasn’t in the best condition. Then in the middle of his song, his voice cracked.”

Your ruffle your hair as you process the information Minhyun told you. You thank Minhyun and begin to run in the direction of the stairway.

As you exited the building, you looked left and right for Jaehwan and found him sitting on the bench near the dorm. He was still in his performance clothes as you silently took a seat on the opposite end.

“I can’t imagine how you feel right now, having your voice crack in front of a company representative, probably feeling like you just lost your last chance to be an idol. I can’t imagine how much you went through after you won first place in the international singing competition, beating thousands of singers because your voice is that good, but your company didn’t let you debut, so you decided to go back to college. You probably went through a lot, Jaehwan, and I can’t feel what you’re feeling, but I can see it.” At this point, you see his shoulders start shaking slightly as he bends down and covers his face with his hands, sobbing quietly. “And I want you to know that no matter what you do, I’m proud of you and I will always support you.”

You slide over to his side as you pull him into your arms, letting him cry into your shoulders. “And I’m really sorry I couldn’t make it.”

When he dries the last of his tears, he smiles softly at you. “Thank you. For everything.”

The next morning, you opened your door to see a small stuffed bear holding a toy guitar with a note attached to it.

Thank you for supporting me.

2:30 pm – jaehwan’s practice room

You ran as quickly as you could to Jaehwan’s practice room. Taking the spare key Minhyun had lent you, you unlocked the door and found it empty, most likely the person who reserved the room before Jaehwan had already left. You take the now cold cup of tea you made this morning and set it down on the stool, leaving a note on the lid of the cup before exiting the room. You hid around the corner of the music hall as you waited for Jaehwan.

He had his guitar slung over his bag when he passed by you and entered the practice room. You saw him stop at the stool as he read your get well soon note and smiled softly. He slips your note in his pocket as he takes a long sip of the tea before he started to take out his music sheets. His voice sounded better than the week before’s, which meant he was getting better already. After taking one last look at him, you turned around and walked back to your dorm.

Jaehwan smirks as he sees you leave. A bush was not the best hiding spot.

4:30 pm – Wednesday afternoon

You sang the lyrics to Downpour by IOI as you went up the steps to your floor. But unbeknownst to you, another figure followed you up the stairs to your floor.

“So you can sing!” Jaehwan exclaims when he catches up to you as you head to your room. You let out a shriek when you see the accusing boy.

“When did you get here?” you ask. He waves off your question.

“You told me you couldn’t sing, you liar! You have to do a duet with me now,” he exclaims excitedly.

“A duet? With you?! You’re the best vocalist out there! How could I be on par with you?” you spew out questions.

He holds your hands as he gives your puppy eyes. “Please? Just once.”

When you finally nod, he jumps excitedly. “Great! Let’s start tomorrow!”

3:00 pm – practice room

When you enter the practice room, Jaehwan was already handing out music sheets. “Which song?” he asks.

You scan over the list of songs and hand him the one you liked. He smiles when he saw the song title, “I wanted you to pick that song, too.”

4:00 pm – end of practice

A smile is plastered on his face when he looks up to you as you two finish the song. After countless times of practicing the song, you two finally get the lyrics right. “You know what we should do?”

You shrug at him before another bright smile shows up on his face. “We should play this at the recital!”

You think about his suggestion for a minute before nodding. “Let’s do it.”

6:00 pm – a month later – recital

After several weeks of practicing, you were finally able to perform your duet. You weren’t going to lie if you were asked if you had feelings for him because you realized that your heart would not stop beating around him and that you felt butterflies whenever he stared at you with the dreamy eyes of him.

He stands next to you as you prepare to get on the stage. “Nervous?” he asks.

Nervous couldn’t describe how you felt. You felt your heart pounding through your chest and butterflies flying in your stomach. You let out a deep sigh, in which Jaehwan notices and takes your hands. “You’ll be fine. Just pretend that it’s just you and me in the practice room,” he reassures. You felt more calm as he leads you to the stage.

He sits opposite of you and whispers ‘good luck’. He begins to strum the familiar melody of Dream and started singing.

“Dream, that I can never have again That was really sweet I think you are just like the dream Dream that I get to keep thinking about all day – That was really sweet That’s you”

As you end the song, you saw Jaehwan lean towards you, pressing a soft kiss on your lips. The crowd cheers loudly as you’re unable to hide a blush. He smiles softly at you as you two exit the stage, crowd still cheering.

“I-”

“I like you, too.” A look of surprise flashes on Jaehwan’s face as he takes your hands and jumps giddily. He sets his guitar aside as he pulls you into a hug.

“We might make good duet partners, but we make an even better couple,” Jaehwan whispers into your ears before dissolving into his signature laugh at his cringy words.

#y'all his 3 minute boyfriend is so hilarious #and also jaehwan singing dream is so dreamy #tbh i don't even know what to write anymore #jaehwan #kim jaehwan #wanna one #wanna one scenarios #wanna one imagines #Produce 101 #produce 101 scenarios #produce 101 imagines

174 notes · View notes

newstfionline · 6 years

Text

Where Brexit Hurts: The Nurses and Doctors Leaving London

By Katrin Bennhold, NY Times, Nov. 21, 2017

LONDON--Tanja Pardela is leaving London. Her last day is Nov. 26. She wells up talking about it. She will miss jacket potatoes, and Sunday roasts, and her morning commute--past playing fields, small children in school uniforms and a red telephone box--to the hospital where she has been a pediatric nurse for 11 years.

Ms. Pardela does not want to leave the country she came to over a decade ago. But that country no longer exists. On June 24 last year, she said, “We all woke up in a different country.”

Seventeen months after Britain voted to leave the European Union, many Europeans are voting to leave Britain--with their feet. Some 122,000 of them packed their bags in the year through March, according to the latest figures available, while the stream of new arrivals has slowed.

In London, a city long sustained by European bankers, builders and baristas--“a place that makes you dream,” Ms. Pardela said--the departures are beginning to hurt. Construction companies and coffee shops are struggling to recruit. Top universities worry about retaining talent. And nowhere are the concerns more elemental than in Britain’s treasured and already overstretched National Health Service.

Long before Brexit, the N.H.S. suffered from chronic staffing shortages, and today the country has 40,000 nursing vacancies. But recruiting nurses from the European Union had helped plug the gap--especially in London, where the share of nurses from the Continent is about 14 percent, or twice the national average. King’s College Hospital, the massive institution where Ms. Pardela works, is short of 528 nurses and midwives, and 318 doctors.

Brexit seems certain to make it harder and costlier to recruit from the Continent, assuming that people will still want to come from there. Even the legal status of European Union citizens already living in Britain remains unclear, entangled in the stalled Brexit talks between Brussels and London. Many fear they could lose rights, job security, pensions and access to free health care.

This uncertainty is one reason that some European health care professionals are either leaving, or thinking about leaving. In the year following the referendum, almost 10,000 quit the N.H.S. The number of nurses from other European Union countries registering to practice in Britain has dropped by almost 90 percent.

As yet, there is no mass exodus back to the Continent--the number of European Union staff in the health service even grew slightly in the year after the referendum. But the trends are unmistakable: The number of Europeans leaving the system is rising, and the number joining it is falling.

“With London in the grip of its worst ever staffing crisis, nurses are being pushed to breaking point on understaffed wards,” said Tom Colclough, regional spokesman for the Royal College of Nursing in London. “If those E.U. colleagues who have not yet left are not given an unequivocal right to remain, the very safety of the capital’s care settings will be under threat.”

The N.H.S., with its philosophy of free universal health care, is a pillar of postwar British identity, once described by a former minister as the closest thing the English had to a national religion. When London hosted the 2012 Olympics, a highlight of the opening ceremony was a dance performance by real nurses whose bodies eventually coalesced into three giant letters: N.H.S.

During the Brexit campaign, an argument about the N.H.S. helped tip a tight vote. Brexit advocates said leaving the European Union would allow the government to repatriate 350 million pounds a week from Brussels--about $463 million at current exchange rates--and spend it on health care. It was a powerful promise, plastered in bold across the side of a campaign bus--but it was false: Britain pays only about £166 million a week net into the European budget and there was little chance that even a lesser amount would go solely to the N.H.S.

“It was clearly the most effective argument not only with the crucial swing fifth but with almost every demographic,” the chief strategist of Vote Leave, Dominic Cummings, wrote in The Spectator earlier this year. “Would we have won without immigration? No. Would we have won without £350m/NHS? All our research and the close result strongly suggests No.”

Founded in 1840, King’s treated shell shock victims during World War I and victims of German air raids during World War II. More recently, survivors of London’s terror attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire were treated here.

The hospital is a complex of two dozen buildings in southeast London with Europe coursing through its circulatory system. Dutch workers built the state-of-the-art helipad on the roof. Eastern Europeans are helping to build a new intensive care wing and serving cappuccino as baristas in the four coffee shops. Of the 9,300 clinical staff, one in seven holds a non-British European passport.

Brexit is forcing a stark reassessment in every department. In the emergency room, Cyril Noël, a French doctor, is wrestling with how a country he loved rejected him. He describes the grieving process as the Five Stages of Brexit. In critical care, Georg Auzinger, an Austrian physician, has built a world-class facility but now worries about finding enough doctors and nurses.

Many worry that a health service they cherish may be existentially at risk. During a recent Sunday service in the hospital chapel, the priest said a prayer to guard against the “effects of Brexit.”

“The N.H.S. is in Britain’s DNA,” said Shelley Dolan, chief nurse and executive director of midwifery at King’s. “Europe is in the DNA of the N.H.S.”

When Dr. Noël, the French emergency doctor, started his shift early one recent afternoon, the department was already two dozen beds short. He surveyed the scene: seven stroke patients, two casualties from traffic accidents and a couple of stabbing victims. An elderly lady had been run over by her own car after forgetting to put on the hand brake. A toddler had swallowed a fridge magnet. A man had almost died after being punched in the face.

And the emergency room was four nurses down.

“Just a regular Friday,” said Dr. Noël, 45, as someone behind him mopped up the blood stains in Bay 4.

Working with Dr. Noël that Friday night were a Czech doctor and nurses from Ireland, Poland, Spain and Portugal. Several had spent their summer vacations scouting job opportunities in their home countries. “Everyone is nervous,” said Alexandra Cunderlikova, a senior nurse from Slovakia.

Ms. Cunderlikova came to Britain in 2003, a year before her country joined the European Union. She remembers lining up outside the Home Office at 4 a.m. for her work visa.

“I wonder,” she said. “Will it go back to that?”

There are still more Europeans migrating into Britain than leaving. But, as in the N.H.S., arrivals are slowing and departures accelerating, said Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, especially among Eastern Europeans like Ms. Cunderlikova.

The day before the Brexit referendum, feeling anxious and powerless because he was not allowed to vote, Dr. Noël did something he had never done before: He placed a bet.

Dr. Noël wagered £200 on Brexit. “That way, I thought, if it actually happens, at least there is one positive thing in it,” he said. To his dismay, he won. The £1,500 he made would roughly cover the fee for a British passport. But Dr. Noël is in no mood to become British--at least not now.

“I feel very strongly European,” he said.

He grew up as an Anglophile in the Jura region of France, near the German border, in a family badly scarred by two world wars. When he was 5, he paraded across the local market, pretending to speak English. At 30, he fell in love with a British student who had come to France on the Erasmus program, the European Union’s university exchange scheme. Twelve years ago, they moved to Britain and Dr. Noël instantly felt “at home.”

But now, when he works outside London in places where people voted for Brexit, resentment rises in his throat.

“I’ve had very torn feelings about helping people who expressed the wish to get rid of us,” Dr. Noël said.

“Psychologically Brexit has had a huge impact,” he said. “You feel rejected as a group.”

He talks about the “five stages of Brexit.”

First there was shock, he said. Then there was denial. (“Don’t worry,” he would tell the young nurses from Portugal and Spain in his department who fretted in the months after the vote. “Nothing is going to change.”) Eventually, Dr. Noël reached the anger stage, following a cascade of nasty news reports: about a government request for companies to compile lists of foreign nationals (later retracted); about a man being stabbed for speaking Polish; about a Finnish professor who, along with scores of other Europeans, was served a deportation notice.

The notice was a bureaucratic mistake. “But after Brexit, such mistakes are not easily forgotten,” Dr. Noël said.

If the N.H.S. has consistently managed to produce health outcomes comparable to countries with vastly more resources--like France, which has a similar population but more than twice the number of hospital beds--it is in large part because of the people, said Dr. Noël, who has worked in both systems.

“The N.H.S. is an incredibly resilient system,” he said. “People are so dedicated. When the system is squeezed, they work even harder.”

But Brexit has made many European employees reconsider. If anger was the third stage of Brexit, and depression was the fourth, Dr. Noël said he had now reached the final stage, acceptance.

For him, that means leaving Britain early next year. He has a new job at a hospital in Dubai.

Up two floors from the emergency room, down a warren of hallways and through a pair of locked wing doors is the liver intensive care unit.

Dr. Georg Auzinger, the clinical head of critical care, was checking on two patients who were recovering from emergency liver transplants on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a pioneering bypass technology. Their blood, liters of it, was being drained from their bodies, oxygenized in an external pump and then reintroduced. Anywhere else in the world they would have been kicked off the transplant list and have died.

The liver department at King’s is world famous. It is also very European. “The English are in the minority,” Dr. Auzinger said.

Dr. Auzinger, a lanky 51-year-old from Salzburg, Austria, has a clipped accent and speaks in Briticisms (“I was gobsmacked,” he says of the Brexit result). The liver department’s clinical director is Irish. Its academic director is Spanish. The hospital recently tried to hire a German as academic head of department, but he declined: He had been awarded a high-value European grant that he could not take to Britain after Brexit.

This worries Dr. Auzinger, who has to hire 407 nurses and doctors for the hospital’s new intensive care wing. Last month, not a single European applied for an advertised position as a senior consultant. “Before, at least a third of applicants were European,” he said.

Dr. Auzinger is happy to hire qualified Britons. “But there are not enough doctors and nurses in this country,” he said. “The numbers being trained do not cover the needs.”

In March, the government announced a plan to hurriedly train more British nurses. Yet in September, enrollment at nursing schools dropped, because the government also cut grants to nursing students. That is one reason Peter Absalom, associate director for recruitment at King’s, is now trying to replace one immigrant group with another. “We are looking to the Philippines, Australia and India,” he said. Three major recruitment drives are planned over the next 12 months.

Every time Mr. Absalom hires someone from overseas he has to pay for their visas and a collection of other charges, which add up to more than £4,000 per person over three years. It can take a year before the nurses start work. Europeans could be hired with no visa costs and no extra paperwork. Over the last five years, nurses from Portugal, Spain, Ireland and other European Union countries have accounted for about a third of the total intake.

Now King’s has stopped its hiring campaigns in the European Union.

“What is particularly difficult is that we cannot give candidates any certainty on their future status,” Mr. Absalom said.

Dr. Auzinger has been in London for 18 years. He, too, would consider going back to Austria if he could transplant his job there, but he cannot. He thinks the way Brexit is affecting the N.H.S. is symptomatic of a poor treatment plan. Britain is ailing. People are angry. Brexit was the treatment offered to them. What worries Dr. Auzinger is the lack of a diagnosis.

“If you think Brexit is the medicine, my concern is that you’re treating something blindly,” he said. “If you don’t have a diagnosis, you cannot treat the patient properly.”

Ms. Pardela, the pediatric nurse, still needs to stop by the post office so that her mail can be forwarded to Germany. She is keeping her British bank account open because she hopes that one day the pound will rise again. It has lost as much as 20 percent of its value against the euro since the referendum. So have her savings.

After the Brexit vote, a British colleague urged Ms. Pardela to apply for citizenship. Her skills were needed. No way, she answered. “I respect the vote,” she had said. “But I’m not going to bend to it.”

Last September, she called an old friend from nursing school and asked about job opportunities back in Germany.

“Brexit was a trigger,” said Ms. Pardela. “It makes you reassess your life. You find yourself thinking: ‘I’m working really hard. I haven’t had a pay raise in four years. Now they’re telling me they don’t want immigrants? Why am I still doing this here?’ “

“And then you think: ‘I’m 45. I better move now. It will be harder when I’m 55.’ “

In her small apartment, now filled with moving boxes, Ms. Pardela was packing photos of Big Ben and the London Eye, as well as a series of trashy romance novels that helped her learn English. Still on the fridge was a magnet featuring Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing in Britain: an Englishwoman who was born in Italy and trained in Germany.

One reason Ms. Pardela thinks the N.H.S. is one of the best health care systems in the world is that it empowers nurses. “The range of opportunities and responsibilities is much greater here,” she said. In Germany, many of the things she has been doing--assessing blood results, adjusting treatment plans for transplant patients--would be handled by a doctor.

On Ms. Pardela’s ward, a third of the doctors are European. Twice a year they hold an International Food Day where everyone contributes dishes from their country. This year, Ms. Pardela brought sausage and sauerkraut. A Greek colleague made tzatziki. An Italian cooked spaghetti.

When the latest bout of cost savings required the department to cut one nurse from every shift, Ms. Pardela fought hard to win the role back. It took a year. In the end, she was successful.

“The irony,” she said, “is that now we can’t find anyone to fill it.”

The position has been empty since September.

#Britain #Brexit #NHS #National Health Service #EU citizens in Britain #doctors in Britain #NHS doctors

7 notes · View notes

mitchellkuga · 6 years

Photo

A Stay at the Taco Bell Hotel in Palm Springs

Published by Conde Nast Traveler

Does the fast-food tycoon have any business running a hotel in Palm Springs?

I went to bed hungry at the Taco Bell hotel.

To be fair, I checked in at 10 p.m., an hour after the kitchen had closed. As a chalupa fanatic in high school who now eats Taco Bell maybe twice a year, drunk, I entered the pop-up hotel feeling apprehensive about participating in a Taco Bell commercial come to life. I imagined entering into a Baja Blast of Fyre Festival bros fist-pumping around mountains of Mexican Pizzas and Quesoritos and Triple Double Crunchwrap Supremes, which I wrongly assumed could all be delivered via 24-hour room service. In Taco Bell parlance, I was expecting a Diablo but got slapped with a Mild.

When I arrived, small groups were congregated quietly around the pool, the only visible food a single tortilla chip glistening on the pool’s floor. I struck up a conversation with someone named Tyler who had the Taco Bell logo shaved onto the side of his head; he said I could find him on YouTube by searching “Taco Bell Singer.” Another person in the pool introduced himself as the Taco Bell Sommelier. Around 11:30 p.m., a hotel staffer very politely asked that we go to our rooms. The Fire Pool had closed thirty minutes ago. Live mas?

What was The Bell: A Taco Bell Hotel & Resort? On one hand, it was a four-day takeover earlier this August of the V Palm Springs, a fully functioning hotel kitted out with more than 70 Taco Bell-themed rooms, and a Taco Bell menu, gift shop, and salon. On the other, it was a massive scale tribute to Taco Bell’s sauce packets—Mild, Hot, Fire, and Diablo—which came in the form of room keys, pillows, yoga mats, pens, portable phone chargers, towels, cookies, pool floaties, hair accessories, keychains, wall paper, sunglasses, framed art, board shorts, bikinis, and a Fire sauce packet ribbon cutting ceremony with Palm Springs city council members. Existentially, it was a marketing stunt that elevated readily accessible Tex-Mex into a highly exclusive lifestyle experience, providing Instagram catnip to Taco Bell fanatics who travelled to the scorching foothills of Palm Springs from 21 different states. Rooms, starting at $169, sold out within two minutes. Security was tight. Only those with reservations were allowed onto the premises.

As bonkers as it may all seem, it’s a logical step for the fast food chain founded in Irvine, California, by entrepreneur Glenn Bell back in 1962, when tacos were just 19 cents. Today, Taco Bell is no longer just a restaurant, but a place to get drunk, go shopping, and get married, though not necessarily in that order. And for four glorious days, it was also a place to live. (It’s not even the first time: In 2016, Taco Bell transformed one of its restaurants in Canada into a one-night-only “steakcation” equipped with bunk beds and couches to promote a new menu item called the Steak Doubledilla.)

I woke up on Friday, put on my Fire sauce board shorts, and made it to my hair and nail appointment at the Taco Bell Salon, housed in a makeshift hotel room. Two hours later, I emerged with braids called the Cinnabon Delights and a gel manicure that involved tacos and the word “FIRE.” I looked like an investigative journalist who had gone too far.

I snagged a seat at the bar behind the pool, ordered a pickle-green $14 cocktail called the Cucumber Crush and struck up a conversation with three women sitting next to me. “When I was in high school… every day I would get in my friend’s brown Camaro and we would drive to the Taco Bell drive through to get lunch,” said Michelle, a sports journalist based in the Bay Area. “I am just a way back Taco Bell girl,” she said. Michelle was most excited about trying the exclusive food items, but cautioned, “We will have to pace ourselves. I know I bought Tums.”

Everyone here is connected by a harrowing two minutes on June 27 at 10 a.m., when tickets for The Bell went live on Taco Bell’s website. Ashley and Ethan, a married couple who work at an education company in Gainesville, Florida, told me they had “an army of our college interns” lined up on computers. When one got through, she froze in shock. Nick employed 12 of his workers at West Diagnostics in Detroit to stare at their phones and hit “refresh” on his command. Jon had two screens open at his job in human resources and compared the experience to being on drugs, while Raj, a Chicago-based data consultant, used his three monitors and said he “pretty much blacked out” once he got through. He inadvertently booked three nights (most guests could only snag one) and later questioned if that was too much time. “I thought it was kind of easy,” said Van, a marketing consultant for car dealerships in Orange County, who was there with her boyfriend. “But we're sneaker heads. We're used to that process.”

Everyone here is also connected by a feverish love for Taco Bell, and beyond the $88 Taco Bell bikini tops and $10 Fire Fades were tender stories about love and youth and home. Tarun, the aforementioned Taco Bell Sommelier, told me that when his mother immigrated from India to Perryville, Maryland, in 1981, Taco Bell was the only vegetarian fast food option that reminded her of home. “Now it's a hip thing, but growing up it was just something that you ate,” he said. “Like how do you feed a family of four? Taco Bell was the thing for Indian immigrants.” He was there with Priya, who he took to Taco Bell on their second date. They got married a week and a half before we met at The Bell. “My mom wanted to come,” said Tarun, who’s based in Washington D.C. “She said, ‘If your wife can't go, I'm coming.’”

By the end of the day, the effect of living in a “tacoasis,” to borrow The Bell’s jargon, was by turns exhilarating and kind of normal, the way that relaxing at a hotel feels kind of normal. Around the pool, which was the centerpiece of the hotel, people mostly lounged and ate and drank, the way you’d do at any hotel in Palm Springs. You’d kind of forget that you were participating in a brand experiment until the famous Taco Bell gong sounded and waiters wearing see-through fanny packs stuffed with sauce packets emerged carrying trays of free food. Or the pool was cleared for synchronized swimmers wearing Fire Sauce bikinis.

That suspension of reality is what made The Bell such a genius brand activation and only a subpar hotel, at least for this crabby journalist with a tenuous relationship with the franchise (and fast food in general). When that Taco Bell gong sounded and full-grown adults cheered, I felt the unexpected stirrings of what it meant to be 15 again, eating Mexican Pizzas at the local mall in Hawaii. And when I posted what felt like my 2,000th Instagram story, I got a narcissistic glimpse of what it meant to have access to an experience that felt FOMO-inducing and ephemeral. And when I spoke to the sixth South Asian person who told me that Taco Bell was their gateway into American cuisine—and by virtue, American culture—I understood how a fast food chain could represent something more than just food.

I left the hotel that second night more than full, having scarfed down only-at-The-Bell menu items that included breakfast tacos, the avocado toast-ada, jalapeño chicken poppers, and the fan favorite, a toasted cheddar club served between layers of chalupa bread and a side of nacho cheese. I had entered The Bell hungry, and a true skeptic. But when I checked into another hotel a few blocks away, I sat around a pool free of errant tortilla chips and hot sauce floaties and half-expected that gong to ring. Sadly, it never came.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

Originally published by Conde Nast Traveler.

0 notes

wasilly1 · 5 years

Text

2/7/2019

On the 7th of February, 2019 I was admitted into the hospital for severe dehydration and diarrhea. It's a long story. Let's talk about it. It all began on Wednesday 6th Feb 2019. It was a normal day when I came back from school in the evening my stomach started acting weird. I had a few episodes of diarrhea, I didn't think much about it. At around 9 pm I got a fever and I took an Advil for it. I honestly didn't feel too bad, I just felt a bit sick. 1:30 am 2/7/19 It was a restless night and I woke up at 1:30 am. I went to the bathroom and that's when it all went south. You know when you feel like something is really bad is about to happen. Yeah, that's basically what happened. When I got into the bathroom I collapsed on the counter. I was too tired and I had no idea why. I looked at myself in the mirror. I knew there was something horribly wrong with my body. My breathing was fast paced and my heart rate was spiking. I was too exhausted to stand up. I truly felt too tired to do anything. I felt like giving up and staying there, but I knew if I stayed there the situation would get much worse. I would pass out. My dad came to check if I was ok and I was only able to muster out a few words. I told him I am feeling too tired. As I was walking out of the bathroom I passed out on my parents. They pretty much got the message and they immediately called 911. My feet were turning numb and my head was spinning. I had a huge headache. It felt like the world was spinning. All that was running through my mind was, "What is wrong with me." The paramedics came and they helped me down the stairs. I could see my unfinished homework laying on the table and my computer still on. It was like a moment frozen in time. I was carried onto the driveway where they put me on a stretcher and then loaded me on the ambulance. When you're going through something like this, everything feels so foreign. Walking down the stairs of my own home felt so different. Looking outside of my house seeing my whole neighborhood felt foreign to me. Everything was moving so fast. Within a few minutes I had been fine and now I could barely walk and I was getting in an ambulance. I was thinking about friends and family and what was next for me. Everything that had been on my mind earlier had been replaced with this reckoning fear of what was occurring. The next thing I knew the ambulance was driving towards the hospital. I have always been intrigued by what it feels like to ride in an ambulance because the last time I was in an ambulance was when I was really young. It's not exactly fun when you are in pain and you are having a horrible headache. I watched as familiar streets zoomed past me. The paramedics monitored my heart rate and blood pressure. My mom was right there in the ambulance watching it all unfold while my dad was following us in his car. 2:00 am 2/7/19 I reached the hospital at 2:00 am. I was taken into the ER where they took my blood and they ran some tests. They asked my parents a bunch of questions on what had happened. They asked me how I was feeling. I had no idea what was happening to me. All I could tell them was that I was too tired to do anything. It was the best response I could give them. They decided to insert an IV and put me on fluids. Everything was happening so fast. Not long after that, I got a fever and I had to take more pills. I went to sleep. Over the years I have faced many fears. From watching horror movies to being pranked from my friends. All of these have given me a jolt, but do you know what scares me the most. Probably what scares a lot of people the most. It's the fear of not knowing what is wrong with you. That is the worst feeling. When you are down on the ground and you have no idea what's wrong with you. It was that fear that was taking me over at the moment. I woke up sometime later I thought I was feeling better, but apparently, my body didn't think the same way. A lady came into the room where I was being kept. She was the head of the observation unit and she wanted to admit me into their care. An observation unit is where the doctors keep you in the hospital for 24 hours (the longest they can hold you without you being officially admitted) and they basically, you guessed it, observe you. Me thinking that this would be a quick and easy thing was a big mistake. The reason they said they need to observe me was that my blood pressure was very low. My heart rate was also dangerously spiking. It hit 130 BPM at points. They had no explanation for this. All they could say was that it was probably because I was severely dehydrated. Several things clicked in my mind when they said that. I had heard, in books, about all of these things happening when you are severely dehydrated. Extreme fatigue, heart rate spikes, BP drops. They said that this stomach virus had turned my body into a war zone within a few hours. It had already caused me to get several fevers. I stayed in the ER for a really long time. In the time I spent there I met a really nice child-life specialist. Child life specialists are incredible people whose main mission is to make you happy and play games with you. She brought a pack of Uno cards, a book, and some coloring pages. We played a game of Uno while we chatted about our favorite movies. I enjoyed that. 4:00 pm 2/7/19 A few hours later they put me on a wheelchair and they moved me to the observation unit. There they continued to monitor me and check my vitals. I stayed there for multiple hours. There were multiple times when my blood pressure dropped and when my heart rate spiked. As more and more fluids were being pumped my condition was slowly improving. I was beginning to be able to walk, and I thought I would be out pretty soon. It was quite a boring wait. I didn't do much. They had a TV and I watched some Friends on it. Talking about friends, I also got in touch with some of my school friends to tell them about what I was going through. Everything was going pretty good until I started to get fevers again. 7:30 pm 2/7/19 While I was able to walk and stuff, my BP and heart rate were not normal yet. Whenever I woke up my heart rate would abnormally spike and my BP would be really low. They were unsure why and looking at my history of cancer, they didn't want to let something like that just fly by their radar. The same lady who had visited me in the ER came to my room again to talk to my parents. She said that I would need to be admitted into the hospital and that I would need to spend the night. There were many other doctors who stopped by to talk to me and my family. There also ran a few EKGs to find out what was up with my heart. 11:00 pm 2/7/19 I WAS MOVING. I was sleeping and I woke with a startle. They were moving my bed up to the seventh floor. They rolled me down a bunch of hallways and corridors. Not going to lie, I kinda enjoyed that ride. I got to my room and they checked my weight and ran a few more tests and they just went over some details about what would happen while I was admitted. The room was huge. There was a section for two beds and there was a large bathroom. There were also two nice TVs so that meant more Friends. 5:00 am 2/8/19 I was again woken up. There was a nurse checking on my vitals to see how I was doing. 7:00 am 2/8/19 Did you know that you can't sleep in a hospital? I was again awoken by a nurse monitoring my vitals. I decided to stay up from that point. I was feeling much better because I had been hooked to the IV for the entire night so I had received quite a lot of fluids. My dad brought me some breakfast from the hospital's cafe and I had a chance to take a shower. Here's a fun fact. - Taking a shower with an IV is not very easy. 10:00 am 2/8/19 I saw many different faces that day. All of the doctors were there to help me. At one point they had the entire team come to check on me. They do that with each admitted patient. There was a group of around 15 students, interns, and doctors who discussed what was next for me. They talked about how I was doing better and how they may discharge me later that day. I also heard a helicopter landing on the hospital's helipad. That was cool. 1:30 pm 2/8/19 It was a miracle! I had been given my discharge papers. They had given me the clear to leave the hospital. My heart rate and BP was much better and I wasn't severely dehydrated anymore. As I was walking out of the hospital into the parking garage I could see patient passes stuck onto the walls of the garage. There were hundreds of them. Each one was different. A different person. A different patient. A different room. In a sense, it was a celebration of each person's discharge. A celebration that signified the strength of each and every person in that hospital. Conclusion This entire experience had been so crazy. Starting on Wednesday and ending on Friday, my entire system had been flipped on its head. It was a scary experience. There is still some time until I fully recover and return to a hundred percent, but I am glad that I am feeling much better. I want to thank all the doctors/nurses who helped me, and every single person who made me feel better and who made my recovery possible. These people work so hard and spend long hours helping others and I believe they deserve a lot of credit for that. I also want to thank my family and my friends who were there for me when I was at my lowest and who wished me well. I guess a major takeaway from this is to drink a lot of water. Read the full article

0 notes

crazykendal · 7 years

Text

Bored, Single, and Dead

1. What was on your mind mostly today? MOVING ON from some people and why my right arm feels fucking wierd

2. If someone looked on your bed, what would they find? oh shit idkk

3. What’s on your schedule for tomorrow? im going to Tahoe

4. Are you nice to everyone? no

5. Is it possible to be single and happy? for me, no

6. Is it easy for people to make you cry? no but once someone made me cry when I heard them SING for the first time YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE

7. Did you sleep alone last night? I had a sleepover with my sister

8. Do you play with dead bugs? ew no wtf

9. Honestly, are you dating two people? im not even dating one person wth

10. Do you think things will change in the next 3 months? yeah, im going to be dead ass lonely or dead

11. Have you ever slept in the same bed with someone other than family? nooo

12. Do you want to see somebody right now? yeaahhhh

13. What if you had a baby with the person you like? that's not physically possibly

14. Are you happy? not right now nope

15. Have you ever tripped in public? trippin is my game

16. Is there anyone who doesn’t like you? I sometimes think everone secretly hates me

17. Have you ever sat in the back of a police car? nope

18. Are you stubborn? veRY

19. Do you tend to hold a grudge? yeah, and it can get baddd

20. What’s a fact about the last person that texted you? oh, well.. they're a scammer

21. Has anyone called you perfect before? nope

22. Where is the biggest scar on your body? my left ankle. I shaved a huge chunk of my skin off and it was baddddd haha

23. Have you ever been told you were amazing? no

24. Would you date someone who was addicted to drugs?

immediate no

25. Are you trying to avoid liking somebody at the moment? well guess what YES and its killlling me

26. Do you trust all your friends? no I cant trust any of them 27. If you could go back and change something in the past 5 months, would you? haha well yeah

28. What pissed you off today? my sister scratches up my arms and it looks like ive tried to cut myself or something

29. What was the last thing you cried about? this one person

30. Who was the last girl you talked to? ^^ same person as ^^

31. Do you know anyone who drinks a lot? no

32. Who sits next to you in English? SCHOOLS OUT BITCHES

33. Ever talked to someone who was drunk? no

34. Have you heard a song that reminds you of someone today? yes everything is about them and its driving me crazy

35. How late did you stay up last night and why? I stayed up til 12:30 reenacting Stranger Things scenes with gummy bears with my sister.

36. Do you know how to properly use grammar in a sentence? kinda? 37. Are your parents very protective of you? yeah

38. Will you be in a relationship in the next couple months? I fukin wish

39. How many drugs are in your system? can a Capri Sun count

40. The person who hurt you the most calls and needs you, do you go? bitch no

41. Is it easy to pretend everything’s okay for you? yeah, I do it every day

42. Are you afraid of losing the last person you talked to on the phone? uh that was my dad, so sure

43. Do you think you are a good person? oh god no, if hell existed i’d be going there

44. What do you want right this second? I WANT A FUCKING RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE

45. Do you think it makes him weak if a guy cries? no

46. Have you ever cried cause you were so mad? yeah

47. Could you last in a relationship for over a year? yes

48. Who were you with on your birthday? i don't really remember or care 49. Have you ever crawled through a window? I feel like I have but don't remember

50. First person to talk to you in 2014? how the fuck am I supposed to remember that, it was 3 years ago

51. Do you miss your past? Not really but I dont regret meeting some sweet ass people

52. It’s 4 in the morning, your phone rings, who is it? a telemarketer, I have like no friends so no one ever checks up on me, by the time someone does I might be dead.

53. Do you have anything interesting planned for the next week? VIDCON I get to meet Sara Rubin, Ashly Perez, Allison Raskin, Gaby Dunn, Stephanie Frosch, and Bria and Crissy and maybe Simply Nailogical haha

54. Who was the last person to text you?

scammmmmmmmer

55. What were you doing 4 hours ago? i dont remember

56. Is there a certain song that you can’t stop listening to atm? Secrets by The Weeknd

57. Tell me 3 things that your friends don’t know about you. well well well I cant say

58. What is something that people often give to you as a gift? honestly nothing

59. Do you tend to hold on to a lot of stuff you don’t need, just because it has sentimental value? yeah then a month later I can get rid of it

60. What is something that reminds you of your ex?

well guess what i havent even dated at all so nop

61. Has the last person you kissed ever cried in your arms? my cat Bub has not cried in my arms

62. Which would you prefer to receive as a gift - flowers or chocolate? chocolate

63. When did you last take a shower/bath? Do you wash your hair every time? I took a shower like 2 hours ago, yeah I was my hair every time.

64. Would you prefer to be somewhere else right now? yep

65. Do any of your followers on Tumblr have your phone number? yeahh

66. Will you be going out tonight, or staying in? staying in listening to Alone by halsey because it’s relatable.

67. How many times have you been in love? ONCE and maybe I still am but I need to fix it BECAUSE SOMEONE ISNT GOING TO MY HIGH SCHOOL NEXT YEAR and im going to be so fcked and messed up so pray for me

68. If you were heartbroken, who would help you pick up the pieces? ususally myself of this one friend I have she’s cool and she bacically proved I was bi. No it’s not you olivia sorry dude

69. Apparently, it’s very common to crave chocolate around the ‘time of the month’; do you ever get that craving? no

70. How would you feel about dating someone who had a reputation for being a player in the past? Do you think that players will ALWAYS be players, or is it possible that they can change? I’d give them a chance but idk Ive nvr fcking dated at all so whaat

71. Did you sleep well last night? sure

72. Is your bedroom big enough for you? sure

72. Are you looking forward to seeing someone soon? imexited to see Sara Rubin on Friday because she actually screwed up my love life and I dont even want to get started with that because it’s actually funny but will make me cry.

73. Ever had a one-night stand? nope

74. Is anyone flirting with you? I wish

75. Have you ever felt pressure to do anything you didn’t want to, like smoking, drinking, or losing your virginity, before you were ready for it? If so, how did you deal with that? all the time, like when the teacher tells us to do homework like wth hahahahahahaahaha idk

76. Do you consider yourself to be an intelligent person? Why/why not? no im really stupid and can have absolutely no common sense its actually really funny

77. Who would you most like to be stuck in a lift with? Ashley Nicolette Frangipane

78. Is there anyone you’d HATE to be stuck in a lift with? oh my god yeah like the chick who plays Enid in the walking dead, and like my whole school.

79. When did you last talk to the person you love/like? What did you talk about? pff what lemme look... a hour and a half ago ahahahahahah

80. Have you ever seen your father cry? no

81. How would your parents react if you got pregnant? well i dont know because I dont really want kids

82. Do you/did you keep to your school’s uniform/dress code? sure

83. If the last person you kissed said you were the only one they wanted, would you believe them? Bub is a mean cat to my other cats and I wouldnt believe it

84. What was the highlight of your summer? cant rememeber

85. The last time you threw up, was it because you were hungover? idk

86. Have you ever seen the film ‘Wake Wood’? What did you think of it? never heard of it

87. Are you confused about anything atm? Is there anything bothering you? Or, is everything good? some people and their lies

88. If you say ‘I’ve had enough’ or ‘I’m done’, do you always mean it? no haha

89. Who was the last person that invited you to their house? honeslty scammer because I have no other friends

90. Have your parents ever told you about any alternative names they considered for you, or the name they would have chosen, if you’d turned out to be a boy? ASHLEY

91. Are you friends with any of your exes? n/a

92. Have you ever had to make an emergency phone call?

93. If you’re in a relationship, how is it going? If you’re single, are you looking for someone? *cries*

94. What language do you like the sound of? english ;)

95. Think about the last guy, outside of family, that you had a conversation with. Do you find him sexy? ew no wtf

96. What do you think is an assumption that someone could make about you, just by looking at your Tumblr? Would this assumption be correct? idk

97. What’s the most attractive physical feature of the person you love/like? HA I’d rather not write an essay right now

98. Do you consider yourself to be a strong person? Why/why not? .kindaaa?

99. Tell me about a special moment you’ve had with the person you love/like. just convos

100. What are you doing tomorrow? Im going to tahoe

#alone

3 notes · View notes

howrealityruinedme · 7 years

Text

Christmas Break

This is going to be long so bare with me.

Friday, the 16th, I didn’t need to attend school, so I stayed home. I slept in. Once I found the energy to get ready, I did and I finished Christmas shopping. I remember spending my entire day out shopping. Once I finished, I went home and got high. That was the first time, I got high in roughly a month, so it was much needed. That was my sum of Friday nothing too great.

Saturday, the 17th, this was probably one of my worst nights of the year, but it was probably one of the best nights of the year as well. I don’t remember Saturday morning, but I remember getting ready for MJ’s birthday party. I left around 7:30 at night and head out. I remember the drive being so long, but I brought some patron with me. I stopped by a sonic near the hotel and poured the patron in my drink. Once I got inside, it was all boys and just Kaylee, Grayson and I. There were no signs of drinks or anything around. I remember Alicia and MJ walking in with pizza. All the girls that were there decided to play dirty jenga and of course I pulled the one that had me make out with someone. The girls chose Caden, so I walked up to him and kissed him then lingered around. I left him and went back to playing. The boys then took out drinks and more people started appearing. I don’t remember drinking too much, but after I went out to smoke with a couple of people, I don’t recall much of that night. I spent most of my night with Alicia and we both planned on rooming with MJ that night, but I woke up in my bed the next morning.

Sunday, the 18th, this was MJ’s birthday, but when I woke up, I recognized my surroundings too well. I was at home, in my bed. I felt fine and was questionable, so I went to my sister’s room, where she explained that she had to pick me up, because I got plastered and was shaking uncontrollably. I spent this day throwing up and regretting everything from the night before. I know I played dirty jenga when I wasn’t sober. I just have no idea what went on that night. Sunday sucked.

Monday, the 19th, this was the first time in a long time, that I rekindled my friendship with Alyssa. We just ended up going to the movies and watching Moana with my sister.

Tuesday, the 20th, Alyssa and I spent the morning in Dallas. We went to petland, where I fucking died, because all the dogs are just adorable. We went to steel city pops afterwards, because she's never had it. After SCP we went to go walk around downtown Dallas. We both had work in a couple hours so we headed back home to make some crepes. We both went to work and afterwards, I picked her up to spend the night and we spent the night drinking. I probably drank like three sips, but ended up smoking.

Wednesday, the 21st, I don’t remember how this day started, but I remember working all night and coming home to noise and walking in to about 15 people from Pei Wei. People were just sitting around and drinking when I got there. About 10 minutes in, Wesley and I went to go buy some cards. Once we got back home people were still drinking and see were getting ready to smoke. I joined outside to smoke and was literally high all night.

Thursday, the 22nd, I remember waking up to people still at my house, but they all left within an hour or two. My sister and I spent the day cleaning the house from any evidence. My oldest, bitchass sister showed up and all she could say was “this house smells like alcohol and sweat” and “you’re going to want to get candles” god she ruins everything. She eventually left and my sister and I picked everything up and got rid of any evidence. Afterwards, I remember going to MJ’s, because he got shoulder surgery again the day prior. I remember getting there and Stephen, Tyler and Lexi were already there, so I felt uncomfortable at first. I loosened up and became friends with Lexi. I only stayed for like 30 minutes, because I had to leave to go somewhere. I can’t remember where I went, but I came back about two hours later. It was just MJ and I for about 20 minutes, because Stephen was on his way back from work and Lexi and Tyler went to go get cookies. Later on Rain and Destany came over to MJ’s. Everyone left and it was just Lexi, Tyler and I remaining and we all went home around 1 or so.

Friday, the 23rd, This was the day I got my tattoo and my nipples pierced. Fuck this day was the worst day of break, because of the pain I was in. I was going to head over to MJ’s afterwards, but the pain was unbearable, so I went home and fell asleep. When I woke up I was still in awful pain, but went over to MJ’s for about an hour. He literally wanted me to be in pain because he kept hitting my boobs.

Saturday, the 24th, I worked in the morning and went home and fell asleep because I was still in pain from the piercings. Once my sister got off of work, we went to go shopping to eat stuff for Christmas. I feel like that is all we did that day, because after the grocery store, we went home and watched movies.

Sunday, the 25th, ITS FUCKING CHRISTMAS. it was kind of sad, because it was just my sister and I, but we made the best of it. We literally went to the movies to go watch collateral beauty, which was such a good movie. We went home and made dinner, then went to go visit my sisters deceased best friend at the cemetery. We ended our night by going to Main Event, because I had two fun cards. Afterwards we went home and watched movies did our gift exchange and made some hot chocolate.

Monday, the 26th, I worked in the morning and once I got off we were chilling with Priscilla and went to her mum’s restaurant. We went home and waited for Karla. We all started drinking a little bit, but I didn’t want to drink too much because I was planning on hanging out with MJ, but that didn't happen. Around 11:30 my oldest sister came and made the biggest scene because we wouldn't let her in. This was the day my sister and I knew we were screwed and would hear it from dad. So shoutout to my oldest sister for fucking ruining our lives. About two hours later when everything ended, we chilled for a bit and cleaned a tiny bit. Priscilla and I just ended up smoking where I literally passed out afterwards.

Tuesday, the 27th, us girls woke up and we found out that my oldest sister’s boyfriend gave Priscilla a flat tire, where she had to get new tires. While we waited for the tires we went to Dallas, to Petland. Once we head back I had to go straight to work. Once I got off work, I headed home and waited for my sister to get off. Once she got off we went to IHOP with Alfredo. We stayed there for about two hours and headed to our house, where he lingered for nearly an hour just talking. Once he left, my sister and I just went to bed.

Wednesday, the 28th, my sister and I started the day off by cleaning the ENTIRE house, because our parents returned that day. We spent about 3-4 hours cleaning literally everything. Afterwards, we got ready and visited her best friend again, because that marked 2 years since she passed away. We were at the cemetery with others for roughly 45 minutes. Afterwards we went to go get tacos again from Priscilla’s mum’s restaurant. We got it togo, because w told Alfredo we would go to his game. We made the last three minutes of his game, which thank god, because it was freezing and we were wearing no clothes. We ended the day by getting frozen yogurt. Once I got home, I hit Alyssa up for a late night drive, because they're a necessity. Once, I had to take her home, MJ invited me to Main Event, so I joined. I saw a couple friends there, and Whit personally invited me to her NYE party. Afterwards we went over to MJ’s, but no one stayed too long. I was the last one there with him, but had to leave because my parents were 25 minutes away from being home. I got home and got ready for bed and forced myself to sleep.

Thursday, the 29th, I stayed in bed all day with my sister, because we both woke up feeling absolutely awful. We both got up, because we had to get ready for work. We went to work. Once I got off of work, my sister and I went to Whataburger with the twins for about two hours and went home and slept.

Friday, the 30th, I dragged Alyssa to come to the mall with me to find an outfit fro NYE. We went to the Grapevine Mills mall (which I don’t like) to find thigh highs that Kylee said were cheap, but with my luck I didn’t find ones I liked. Once we left we went to go try a new boba, which was okay, not great, but not bad. I dropped her off and then I went home and took a nap. Later that night, I went to MJ’s, but there were a couple friends there, who I didn’t expect. More people started showing up and we just talked and played board games. I had to leave for awhile to go to IHOP. I went straight back to MJ’s and only three people remained. So MJ and I went to our every day position, literally. I’d lay on the far left of his bed and he’d be in the middle, slightly more towards me. We’d just be under a blanket and I would intertwine my legs with his and he would demand me to scratch his leg. This is literally how it went every single time I would come over. It was around 1:30 s I knew I had to go home.

Saturday, the 31st, my sister and I woke up and went to get our nails and eyebrows done. We just went home and chilled. I waited for my parents to leave so I could go to Whit’s. Once they left, I decided to start getting ready. Once I was ready I headed out, which was around 9:30 and I got to her place at 10:00. Once I got there, no one was really there except about 15 people people. It started off slow, but then a swarm of people came. Then Rain and I went to go buy some ping pong balls. When I got in the car, she told me she was on coke. We went to four places before finding the balls and heading back to Whitney’s. Once we got back it was about 11:20. I just stood by the table and watched people play BP and then MJ came behind me and just stood with me. Then something I died, when I saw was when I turned my head he was leaning on the counter and our faces were aligned. I’m just saying this nigga shouldve kissed me right then and there. He went to grab a chair for himself and i just sat with him. We were together the entire time, except when I went to the bathroom and got back. I had no clue where he went, but I just sat down in his seat and about five minutes later he came back and rested his arm on my head and told me to move and I could sit on his lap. 12:00 quickly approached, it was 11:55 and we all told Whit to turn on the TV for the countdown and ball drop. I remember seeing the time say 11:58 and Anna, Stephen’s girlfriend, said “so are y'all going to kiss for new years?” and MJ looked at me and said “you down?” and I said bet. There was less than a minute so we all rushed to the living room and MJ sat in a single couch and just told me to sit on his lap. At 12:00 we kissed, but it was so awkward and unenjoyful. I don't know, like it was unplanned and messy. Like we didn’t know what we were going to do and just wung it. Afterwards, I got up awkwardly and went to the kitchen to get a water. Once I was walking back I could hear Lexi talking to MJ and all I heard was her say something about me and MJ replied “idk it just happened.” I walked past them and sat down with Caden and Kendrick. Kendrick got up about a minute later to grab his bottle, and then Rodney tried squeezing in and told me to scoot over and so Caden and I were closer and Kendrick was hinting at us and I was like yikes no. I got up and Rain told me to go upstairs and grab her stuff with her. Her and I went up to Whit’s room and I did coke with her. Coke is actually kind of cool. It just gives you more energy and only lasts like 30 minutes. After doing it, I went back downstairs and sat back where I was and kendrick was next to me and then MJ squeezed next to Kendrick. Kendrick left and told us to hide his bottle and cigar so MJ and I squeezed next to each other. I put my legs on him like I always do and we were just chilling for a bit and I told him I did coke and he was worried for a split second and just said “You’re wild Yanely” we were just chilling on the couch and were almost holding hands, but seemed like neither one of us wanted to make the move. Our hands were just touching. I could feel the coke kick in and I was ready to leave because I felt energized. We all followed Julian to another party and I was walking out with MJ and we were totally flirting, like no way we weren’t. I departed to my car and MJ said come with us and I asked where and he said idk and I said I’ll go for a little bit but I’m driving my own car. I started heading to my car and then I hear MJ saying “hey guys, I’m going but I’m riding with Yanely.” and then he came towards my car and we followed them. The car ride I thought something would happen like a kiss or a conversation about what happened, but nope we just conversed casually the entire car ride. We pulled up to the house and it was fucking sketchy. All the lights were out but there was loud ass music. WE walked in and there were fucking sophomores. I had to go to the restroom, so Whitney and I went and once I got out, I saw someone walking towards me and just heard “C’mon we aren’t staying here, let’s go” and he grabbed me, but I knew it was MJ. We left and were heading to another party, but on our way it got busted, so I drove MJ home and went home myself. I think this was my favorite night of the break. But I do think I might’ve caught some feelings for MJ again, which I’m going to mask, because I don’t want to ruin our friendship.

0 notes