#so its just like three frat bros and their weird dad | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mor-beck-more-problems · 4 years

Text

Are You Lepre-Kidding Me || Morgan & Mina

Making friends is hard. #cursed

@drowningisinevitable

Morgan was relieved to have another shot at a normal work friend with a normal work lunch. The whole dishonesty about magic and beautiful weirdness thing wasn’t a fun time, but it was a bargain she was familiar with. Familiar could be comforting. And Mina seemed so nice. Morgan was happy to venture to the maths and engineering quad where a thai fusion truck liked to park and catch the hungry students coming out of their four hour labs. Morgan rocked on her heels as she stood in line, trying to figure out if Mina was already there. She fidgeted with a new pendant she’d crafted for herself, amethyst wrapped in gold, and checked her phone again, sending Mina a quick message: In line! Trying to will the sun back with floral prints.

Mina had been in the quad for about five minutes (five and a half, but who was counting?) and had already ordered a bowl of shrimp and fried rice when she got Morgan’s message. She sent back quickly that she’d snagged a table in the back right corner of the quad and settled in to wait for a few more minutes. She was excited; Mina’d always had a bit of trouble making friends. She and her dad never really settled anywhere for too long, and, if they did, never for longer than a year and a half. She’d thought she’d make more friends as she settled in to White Crest, but she was always feeling that niggling in the back of her head about her promise to her father, and, yeah, there was a small (very small, so small) piece of her that didn’t want to have to fulfill it anytime soon. It made her wary and awkward around people, never knowing what to expect from them. It was time for a change, though. It was time to connect with people.

Morgan stiffened with nervousness. Mina was already here. Morgan searched the tables as the line shifted up and ordered the noodle special. She paid for her food and wandered around until she saw her. Something about the way she almost vibrated in her seat reminded Morgan of her messages. She stopped, smiling hopefully. “Are you Mina…?” She asked. “It’s Morgan. Me. I’m Morgan, hi!” She gave another cursory look around the tables, just in case she had it wrong. There was a weird sound in the bushes, she thought, but perhaps it was her own anxiety manifesting its own soundtrack. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to happen to her lately.

Jiggling her foot, Mina’s head whipped up as the other woman walked up to her. She smiled brightly. “Hey! Hi! Hey, Morgan! Yes, I’m Mina. It’s really nice to meet you. In person. Nice to meet you in person.” Okay, stop talking, she told herself. Something rustling in the bushes caused her to pause, just for a second, before she turned her attention back to Morgan. Birds, probably, she thought, though she felt a bit… off. The off feeling wasn’t coming from Morgan, though, and Mina really couldn’t be more grateful. She’d have cried if Morgan had been Fae. She really would have. “Have you had food from the thai truck, yet? I know you’re probably usually on the other side of campus, but they’re actually really good!”

Morgan beamed with relief and took a seat across from Mina. “Oh, good! It would’ve been really awkward if I’d put all that energy out at a random person. Not that I haven’t done it a few times before, but, you know.” She smiled brightly and looked the girl over, trying to get a better sense of her. She seemed even more anxious than Morgan, even more eager. Morgan wondered what she had to be nervous about, if it was her brain working overtime or if something had happened to make her expect something to go wrong. She knew both impulses well, and it made her feel a little endeared to her. “I haven’t, actually. I’m usually at the soup place on the arts quad, but this looks so yummy! Highly recommended by my freshmen, but they eat just about anything, I think, so I’m not sure how much that’s worth.” She sniggered into her noodles and took a bite. “It’s a shame we haven’t run into each other before now. It’s so stuffy in the office space, and it’s just medievalist and modernist bros making themselves feel superior. Well, less so, now that some of them are uh, missing with this eternal night thing.” And less so since she’d threatened one with murder. Morgan hadn’t thought she’d been very convincing, but the novelty factor must have worked in her favor. This, however, didn’t seem like making-friends material. “But what about you! I don’t picture it being very different in the math department, but, you know, it’d be nice if it was.”

“I understand the feeling,” Mina said with a smile. She was constantly putting out too much energy and hoping it went out the right way, and she often ended up screwing up. One time, she’d brought her father someone that she thought was a vampire but clearly wasn’t a vampire, and he’d only barely managed to catch her mistake in time. After that, they’d stuck to having her identify Fae. Speaking off, she was feeling something strange, but… no. She was imagining things. “Oh, I know all about freshmen appetites.” She wrinkled up her nose a bit. “One of the frat boys I tutor said the other day that a friend dared him to eat spray cheese on a marshmallow, which he did, of course, and he liked it. However, the Thai truck is no joke really good! I almost always grab a bite from here unless I pack lunch.” She frowned as Morgan talked about some of her coworkers. “Yeah, the, uh, the math masters program is, I’m sure you can guess, quite small. Quite. Most of my colleagues are… very nice gentlemen at times.” Most of them really weren’t bad, but there were two or three that she really wouldn’t mind just taking home to Dark Score and not drowning them. Not completely, at least. Mina gave Morgan a big smile. “But it’s certainly nice to meet someone outside of the department and outside of tutoring! I’m all about differential equations, but… it’s nice to not think about numbers!”

Morgan had no problem believing Mina had problems with awkward first impressions. But whatever the cause, there was something kind under it all. Morgan smirked about the frat boy, and her colleagues. It seemed pretty clear there was a whole other word besides ‘gentlemen’ that she wanted to use. She smiled warmly at her as she gathered another scoop of noodles. “That’s fair. Although I do know something about those too. And, much as I can and will talk about books all day, it’s good to just, you know, be normal sometimes.” Or normal-ish. Normal-ish for humans, anyway. “I don’t really have any gal-pals up here. And I’m not really sure the TA bros would even get some of of--” Morgan never finished her thought. With a strangled yelp, her head snapped back, and just before she hit the ground, she saw a strange, wormy-gray looking critter leap on top of her forehead and reach for her neck.

This was nice, Mina thought as she ate a bite of shrimp. Nice company, nice food, a nice day (well, night). She could do this. Really, she could. “Right, you also teach some chemistry classes, yes? That’s really cool! But, I agree, it’s very nice to be normal.” Mina felt something kindred with Morgan, especially when she mentioned not having any gal-pals around. Mina didn’t have any pals at all, really. She agreed, and she would have told Morgan as much as soon as the other woman stopped speaking, except for one (or, rather, several) small problem: leprechauns. Brave ones, too, as one immediately took to Morgan, leaping on her. “No, no, no!” Mina yelped. She looked around the courtyard and, wow, just them and the leprechauns. Lunch must be over for most. There were too far in the back for the food truck guy cleaning up to see them, not in the dark, and-- Leprechauns. Mina needed to focus on the leprechauns. “Hey! Back off!” They wouldn’t bother her, not with her Fae blood, but Morgan was another story. Mina attempted to grab the one that was on Morgan as she told the other woman, “Iron! Need iron!”

Many, many strange things were happening at once. For starters, Morgan was on the ground, staring at a new upside-down world peopled with more strange gray faces, like something out of a scary children’s movie. They were toddling towards her, making strange noises that set her teeth on edge. Then Mina was there, throwing one off her and calling for...iron? Wasn’t that just a supernatural know-how thing? But Morgan didn’t have time to think. She was too busy scrambling onto her knees and looking for something, anything, to transmute. Her catch-all bag was too far and now there was one pulling on her ankle. Morgan screamed and tore out her hair clip and slammed it on her cuff, making--one tiny rod with a pointy end, not even the full length of her hand. Morgan held onto it tight as she was dragged back by too many tiny hands. She hooked one arm around the leg of the picnic table and thrust the other out to Mina. She seemed to know what she was doing. The why part could come later.

Mina’d already tore a section of the bottom of her sweater off and wrapped it around her hand as she watched the leprechauns bearing down on them Of course, of course, the one time she actually begins to enjoy lunch on campus, and leprechauns decided to come along and ruin it. The one that she threw off of Morgan was looking at her in complete confusion, unable to comprehend that she’d chosen the other woman over a fellow Fae. Mina snatched the rod of iron from Morgan, grateful that the other woman was a magic user as she watched the hair clip transmutate, and it felt hot even through the cloth around her hand, but it was a familiar burn, and she should be somewhat protected. And, then, she went for one of the leprechauns around Morgan’s feet, lashing out with the rod. Many of them panicked at the approaching metal but seemed resolute in hounding their quarry. In their focus, they weren’t quite as fast as normal, and Mina took her chance, grabbing one and shoving the iron rod under its jaw and through its skull. Then she went at another one. To Morgan, she said, “I don’t suppose you can find a way to do that again?”

Morgan scrambled up and onto the table as soon as she was free, pulling her bag up with her. She wasn’t sure what the plan was besides ‘don’t get maimed,’ But seeing the pointy end of her rod go through one of the little gray head made her yelp and spill everything from her catch-all bag. Less rummaging. More doing. “Uhh, sort of?” She found the rod she’d been gifted and held it up like a bat. Only-- right. They were all at her ankles, and the second Morgan jumped down from the table, they were at it again. She swung down hard, batting one away. The sound the iron made sent cringe down her arms. Cold iron really was no joke. “What are these things?” She asked, swatting away another. “What do they want?”

“They’re leprechauns,” Mina said. “And not the kind of the cereal box, unfortunately.” She grabbed one by its abnormally large head and twisted. If Morgan wasn’t around, she’d decapitate the thing with her claws. However, she just snapped its neck, knowing it probably wasn’t dead. “They like stealing things, rare things, expensive things. They’ll kill to get it, too. And they travel in packs. Iron and decapitation are the two ways to dispose of them.” She recited what she’d been taught years ago, and she’d actually put this knowledge into practice. Leprechauns were not what her father considered humanoid Fae, the kind that she should be targeting in White Crest, but they were definitely the kind that she’d gone after with him when she was younger. “They’re also quite heavy so-- oof!” Apparently, Mina was no longer Fae enough to protect as one of the leprechauns threw itself at her. She grunted under the weight and kicked it off. “So watch out!”

“Rare things?” Morgan asked, taking another swing. “But I don’t--” Shit. Morgan hopped back on the table and pulled on Mina to come with her. She took off her necklace (oh earth, and it was some of her best work, too) and dangled it on the end of her rod. “Is this what you want? Seriously?” She tossed it down to the ground and braced herself while the leprechauns inspected the newfound ‘treasure.’ Morgan waited, tense, and reached for Mina’s arm so they could make a break for together if they had to. “Will that make them go away?” She asked in a whisper.

Mina tensed as Morgan grabbed her arm, but she kept her gaze steadily on the leprechauns. Four. Eight. Twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Fourteen of the foul creatures, all surrounding Morgan’s necklace. “I don’t know,” she said lowly. “They usually kill when they get caught.” The clicking sounds they made caused a shiver to run up Mina’s spine. Though they couldn’t speak any sort of human language, she knew that leprechauns weren’t to be underestimated. They were smart, quick, and nimble, and they had a nasty habit of making and using their own tools. Plus, there were so many of them, and though she was impressed with how Morgan had handled herself so far, Mina didn’t know how the other woman would be able to take on fourteen of the bloody creatures.

The leprechaun critters were plotting, negotiating, maybe even laying claims on who got to eat which toe for their lunch break. Carefully, Morgan stuffed only her essentials into her bag and slipped it over her shoulder. “We should run?” She mouthed to Mina, clumsily pantomiming their great escape with one hand. She eased onto her knees and inched back, balancing the cold iron in her grip all the while. It might have even worked if it hadn’t scraped on the edge of the table. The leprechauns turned their heads her way, their grim, tiny faces unreadable. Well, so much for being sneaky about it. “Yep! We’re running!” She leapt off her perch and sprinted away, leg throbbing with each step.

Though she would have loved to stick around and tear into the rest of the leprechauns, Mina followed jerkily after Morgan. She turned around and bared sharp teeth at the wretched little creatures, hoping that would deter them. If they figured out that Morgan was under her, another Fae’s protection, they might leave her alone. Whatever the case, Mina planned to come back at a later date with one of her father’s swords and slaughter the remaining leprechauns to ensure they didn’t do this to anyone else. She followed after Morgan, and, when she felt they were far enough away, she stopped the other woman. “We’re-- I think we’re good. Are you alright? Did they hurt you at all?”

Morgan slowed, staggering, to a stop. “Uhh...not too badly, I think?” She patted herself down carefully. There were some tender spots on her back from where she’d fallen, and a nasty scrape where she’d been dragged along the ground, but given what else had happened to her lately, Morgan felt like she couldn’t really complain. “At least I don’t need another hospital visit. I can’t stand Nurse Denise judging me again. What about you? Are you--” For the first time since they’d been disrupted, Morgan actually took a good look at Mina. There was something else in her, something firm and stringently capable, something like the iron, which she held with a hand wrapped in fabric. Morgan stared, trying to make sense of the last few minutes. “Mina, are you okay after all that?”

Mina ran a hand through her hair, taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh. “I’m glad you’re alright. They really tried to--” She stopped herself. What they tried to do was kill Morgan. All for a necklace. She really hated leprechauns. “I’m glad you’re alright.” She was concerned about the need for a hospital trip, though she didn’t say anything, it probably showed. Another implied that there had at least been one, in not multiple. “I’m fine,” she said. The leprechauns had barely touched her due to what she was, and the few scrapes and bruises she had would easily be taken care of when she got home. She looked at the iron rod, covered in bits of leprechaun and still in her wrapped hand. She wiped it off on her shirt. “I’m quite used to things like this. I grew up taking care of monsters like them.”

“T-tried to--?” Morgan prompted, eyes wide. She already had a decent idea from all the other times she’d almost-died recently, but there was something so strange about the prospect of getting her head dashed on the pavement over a bit of gold and amethyst. She’d heard by now of a few kinds of fae critters that subsisted on humans or thought nothing of hurting them, but it was different, feeling the ghosts of tiny leprechaun hands on her. Morgan shivered and tucked her rod back into her catch-all bag and took the one she’d transmuted from Mina. She touched it to her wrist to bring back her hair clip and distracted herself by fussing with her hair, wincing only a little in pain at the way it irritated the scrapes on her back. “Right. So, I don’t think there’s any point in pretending we’re normal by human standards,” she said, a little unsteadily. “Me, alchemist. You--? I mean how do you grow up uh…’taking care’ of leprechauns?”

“They don’t usually let people live when they get found out,” Mina said quietly. She felt uncomfortable saying the words out loud, making them real. As long as she had her way, though, those leprechauns wouldn’t be touching another person. She unwrapped her hand and flexed it. Thankfully, the iron handed touched her flesh at all, so while she’d felt a bit of discomfort, she was still fine and human, if in appearance only. She did laugh a bit as Morgan stated that they weren’t normal. “And here I thought all adjuncts had the chemical know-how to transmute a hair clip into an iron rod.” Mina played with the strip of cloth in her hand. “My father, he hunts creatures, creatures that hurt human beings. He raised me to do the same. I try to protect humans from the evils in this world, like those wretched things.” She jutted her chin in the direction that they came. “They would have killed you, Morgan. Without a thought and without a care.”

Morgan nodded. This was all kinds of not good. First leprechauns, and now--a Warden? Morgan lost her grip on her hair and had to start over. The last thing she needed was another complicated not-friendship with a kind of hunter. And yet here Mina was, young and nice and sweet in her own peculiar way. Everything had been fine until a short while ago. But who knew what she would do in front of a fae that was less critter, more person. “I um, I get that,” Morgan said at last. “And I’m grateful that we both made it out okay. Thank you, Mina,” she said. “Really.”

Mina ran a hand through her hair and sighed. From Morgan’s reaction, she had an awful feeling that she’d done or said something wrong. She couldn’t really understand it, couldn’t figure out what she’d said wrong. “Of course. There’s no need to thank me, really,” she murmured. “Just, ah, doing my job.” She gave a soft smile. “Lunch was nice, you know, before the leprechauns showed up. If you’d-- I mean, you don’t have to, obviously. But, if you’d like, we could do it again sometime?” Whether Morgan said no or not, Mina made a vow to herself that she’d watch out for the other woman, especially around campus. If she’d ended up in the hospital multiple times, she was either accident prone or a target for supernatural shenanigans, and Mina wanted to make sure she was okay. She was so kind, after all.

Morgan smiled back at Mina, if only because she didn’t know what to do. She had turned sheepish and anxious again. She knew something was wrong, maybe she knew that Morgan understood exactly what and who she was looking at. Maybe she was starting to guess Morgan knew fae, maybe other supernaturals who could end up on her menu. And she was being so earnest about it, so gentle. Morgan felt for her even as she felt the impulse to bolt cord through her body and she inched away. “Um, maybe sometime, yeah,” she said with a noncommittal shrug. She couldn’t find it in her to be harsh about leaving, no matter how rattled she was inside. “After I have a chance to uh, live all this down. A little. And somewhere probably inside. Maybe without shiny things.”

“Right, of course,” Mina said quietly. It wasn’t a no, but it was close enough. She was resigned to making sure Morgan stayed safe from afar. Whatever she’d done wrong, it was enough that the other woman likely wouldn’t want to see her again. Perhaps it was stabbing the leprechaun the way she had. She should have been less violent with it. Or maybe… Was it possible that Morgan figured out she was Fae from the way she’d had to hold the iron rod? Mina truly hoped not. She just wanted someone, anyone, to see her as human. “Do be safe, please? I think you’re right. Ah, stay inside, stay safe, avoid the maths and engineering quad. I would… it wouldn’t do, like you said, for you to end up in the hospital again.” She pretended to check her phone. “Goodness! I need-- I’ve got to-- Class! Tutoring! I should just-- It was very nice to meet you, Morgan, truly. I really do hope I see you around!” Before the other woman could say another word, Mina darted off. She could study a bit, or, she could go home and prep for the night. She was going hunting.

#wr mina #wr chatzy #wr mina chatzy #wickedswriting #are you lepre-kidding me

11 notes · View notes

mysearchforwisdom · 6 years

Text

Online dating “Journal entry”

A few days ago I singed up for an online dating website. Let’s call it match.com. the catalyst for this decision was the hours I spent at my sister’s wedding. It was a beautiful affair. The night was planned perfectly. Everyone was dressed beautifully. My sister was a hand full of very amazing people she gets to call friends. My parents called in family form all over. My mother got to spend time with two of her three sisters. My dad got to hang with all his frat brothers from the 70s. I was one of the groom’s men, I had gotten hired by this great company and had a cool job but I was a new hire. So, I wasn’t able to do any bonding or hanging with the other groom’s men. My new brother in law is a good dude and his friends are all ok guys. I was in a tux in a large ball room. Surrounded by ordinary people covered in the best rented fabrics. The night was spectacular.

I sat alone most of the night. Everyone was coupled up in these fascinating relationships. Each and every soul aboard this occasion had a hand to hold or a heart to share. I was alone there. This is not a new thing for me. I have not had a very successful time in relationships. Nor have I ever had a serious connection with women. I blame the years I spent in school as a clown or a fool. I was the kid that the guys would use as an example against. For instance, “what’s the worst thing you can imagine? Oh, I know 2 minutes in a closet with Jared. Ewww grose as iff” that’s not a fun experience for a guy with poor self-esteem. I think I got over those years. I came out of high school with a poor image of myself.

Its provably true that there were times when I might have had a good experience with a girl or two but my self-esteem or my general lack of confidence left me ill equipped to navigate conversations with heavy undertones, flirting was never a thing I was ever going to be good at. There were girls, in times when I was my skinniest or my happiest who caught that faint sent of something normal but when I came to realize their attention I had sunk my chances in ignorance or outright oblivious teenage dismay. This trend followed me through my teens into my 20s when I had jobs with girls my age who gave off real signals. But like I said I was unaware.

This is not a pity party nor should it be. There or places in china or India where there are whole ghettos of single men who have never or will ever see the inside of a girl’s room or know the inner workings of their hearts and that fine. Deeply depressing but still fine. There’s this trend of men in japan, they are called hikikomori, which you can look up on your own time let’s say some guys force it on themselves and others just aren’t built like the rest. I’m not sure where I fall but I know its somewhere on the spectrum and again that’s fine.

I know for a fact that girls are not magic and guys or not a cure for loneliness. I know that we are all just people. But I think that we can all agree that being alone is not as much for as being together. There are so many exceptions that making that statement seams cruel or insensitive but who am I? I can only draw on my own experiences or that is to say form the things I see in my family. My parents have been in what seams like a pretty good relationship. And my sister mirrors the sort of connection that I think my parents have. They all seam happy and they all seam together. I have seen them all have fights and arguments but they always find their way back to leave head and a good time.

I think I suffer from envy. Envy of what I have seen but never felt. I came to this realization sitting at the end of long table in a country club. A graduate form a pretty good school. Possessor of a pretty good job. Tall, blondish, and deeply invested into a plethora of nerdy hobbies. That by their nature gains me access into a slew of subcultures that are at their core accepting of gluttony, apathy, depression, and narcissism.

I spent a great deal of my life beneath the clout of an online profile in a gang of videogames. I am very good at first person shooters that’s not a brag that’s just the way of things. I am ok at puzzles and I have fantastic at untying knots. That’s the last time I will brag about myself. Having spent so much of my life in a digital environment I have limited my access to living people. That is to say human contact. I have met and played with thousands and keep in touch with a few of them on a regular basis. I think I am using my hobby as an excuse and it think I might be a good one. But its not faire to clump the experience of gaming as an altogether reason for loneliness which I don’t think is true. Many if not all of my friends who played excessively, with me have or have been in good healthy relationships. So, it can’t be the only reason.

I thought all of this nursing a miller light wearing a suit jacket and swirling some six dice in my jacket pocket. I have ADHD but I don’t like to take my medicine. I don’t feel like myself when I do. I feel to real or too normal to much like DR jeckl and not Mr. hyde. So, to counterbalance my need to yell or be weird I roll dice or play with a yo-yo or chew gum its all normal. Noticing my drink was empty I went over to the bar and ordered another beer. My sister had sprung for an open bar, what a saint. Standing they’re at the bar was one of my dad’s frat bros. he is the one I know the best. He Is a bald man with two daughters both my ageish. He is so utterly unlike my father that it is amazing that he is his best friend.

Well deep into the new beer and maybe into the one after that he tells me some things he has been thinking about. He tells me that he considers me to be his son. I tell him he is a kick ass bald uncle. He took the joke well and then launches into, “you’re the type of guy who doesn’t let people know your smart” fair. “I mean you play dumb until you know how all the pieces fit together and you just do it and don’t tell anyone about it” yes. “you’re a lot like your father and that’s cool but you know he is big and strong and good with people” yup. “your smart but your big and strong and you and he don’t talk about stuff that’s important to you” agreed. “if you want you can call me and talk about the stuff you can’t talk to him about” such as. “you know things he wouldn’t find interesting just stuff that you don’t have an outlet for” thanks uncle ill do that. My sister in her wedding dress come up to the bar hugged me and I took my que.

She pulled me to the corner saving me from my uncle and his machinations. She thanked me for coming and asked my how is was doing and if I seen and prospects in attendance, she said. “don’t worry bro you will find yourself a girl, someone nice and nerdy and smart and we will all be back here again for your wedding” I sipped my drink agreed and she got pulled into a conversation with some other people.

So, I made a mach.com profile and here I am

2 notes · View notes

atlaswriting · 5 years

Text

She hasn’t stopped glaring at me since we both squished into the back of the Prius our uber picked us up in. Her jaw clenches subtly and I finally decided to reach over, knot our fingers together and pull the back of her hand to my mouth. My lips leave a dark pink imprint on her skin. She sighs and pulls her hand away, “You could’ve just said who he was.” She tells me, using her skirt to wipe the lipstick off.

“Not funny, Elise.” She tells me, lower lip puffing into a pout. “Using your sick sense of humor to deflect isn’t a healthy coping mechanism and if you’re starting to feel sick again—,”

I breathe out sharply just as our new home comes into view, “Up on the right will be fine, thank you.” I tell the driver, she nods and pulls up. I look over at Laney, “Listen, I’m fine. Nothing is wrong, it’s just best we stay as far away from Abram and his jailbait princess as we can.”

“You sound jealous.”

Rolling my eyes I thank the driver and leave, watching as the movers bring the last of our things inside.

“Elise,” something in Delaney’s tone immediately breaks my conversation with a mover and I look over, “you spoke to soon.”

Brows knit together; I trail her stare slowly until my eyes fall on them. “Oh I’m going to kill Ellie.” I step forward but Laney’s hand curls around my wrist. “I’m not literally going to murder her, Delaney,” her features soften, “I have nowhere to hide the body if I do—I suppose I could just throw her out to sea, but that would make things complicated for Brighton—,”

“Elise!” Laney chastises.

I lean over, press a kiss to her cheek and take her hand, “They’re almost done. Let’s go say hi to our new neighbors.”

/ / / / / / / /

My calves are burning by the time we reach the others on the beach, heels held delicately between thumb and pointer I brush my hair out of my face with my free hand—“Aunt Elise!” Brighton wiggles free and runs toward me, “Momma said you were coming, but I wasn’t supposed to tell.” My frustration melts away the moment she’s in my arms and I squeeze her tight, not allowing my thoughts to linger toward Theo—wonder if he’d be as big as she is, wonder if he’d be as smart.

“I didn’t even tell daddy,” she announces proudly.

I nod, kissing her cheek and letting her drop into the sand, she looks closely at Delaney who smiles at her and waves. “Brighton,” I begin, “Can you tell me where mommy lives?” she laughs a high-pitched squeal, as if I’d told her the funniest joke before pointing to the house we were standing behind. “And can you tell me where Uncle Abram lives?” another laugh followed by an aunt elise, that’s a silly question. “I know bug, but enlighten me.” She points again.

Something heavy settles in my gut and chugging my iced latte felt like a bad idea as caramel and espresso fight their way up my throat.

“When you said I’d be living close to you I thought maybe a block or two,” I say to her flatly, “I didn’t think I’d be in your backyard. Ellie, you should have—,”

“Who’s hungry?” She claps her hands together.

“Ellie.”

“Elise,” one of her eyebrows quirk and when Abram isn’t looking she offers me a sly smirk.

I sigh, “Fine. I’m hungry.”

Delaney snaps her neck in my direction, reaches for my hand and parts her lips to speak but Ellie beats her, “Perfect. I’ll have dinner ready in twenty minutes.”

/ / / / / / / /

“I didn’t know you lived here.” I say to Abram. Laney sits on the floor with Brighton coloring while Stassi focusing on braiding their hair. “If I’d known—,”

For the first time in five years I catch his eyes. Heartbreak is an old friend that sneaks back into my house, sits on the porch and digs her nails into my skin. Unanswered questions nip at the tip of my tongue, turn rancid and no amount of wine in my cup makes it easier to swallow.

He parts his lips, casts a careful glance toward Stassi and then back at me.

Before he can say anything that will disarm the both of us, I load my gun, cock it and fire, “If I would have known, I wouldn’t have moved in.”

Breaking eye contact, I pull myself up and down the glass of wine before moving into the kitchen.

“I hate you,” I say to Ellie while rounding the island, “I hate you.”

She rolls her eyes, tosses together a salad and puts it on the table, “Hate me all you want, but hate me in that beautiful house.” As she stirs together something in a pan I lean against the counter, pouring another ( very full ) glass of wine.

“This is so fucked, El. You get that right? We’ve both moved on—this isn’t some—,”a knot tightens in my throat, chokes me quiet and my eyes magnate toward the floor.

“Have you, though?” Her voice becomes quieter, “Moved on, Elise. Have you? You can kiss whoever you want with your eyes closed. But is it her you’re really thinking about before you go to sleep?”

I glare at Ellie, wishing then that looks could kill. I can’t respond because she yells supper and Brighton runs into the dining room, trailed by the other three.

Sitting at the table between Brighton and Delaney, I fork around the food on my plate.

“I don’t want to make this weird,” Stassi giggles in-between bites of food; her glass of wine hardly touched but her face is flushed. “But I love your book. I’ve read it like five times.”

“I’m so happy the—,” words weren’t too big for you, is what I want to say but Laney delivers a soft kick to my ankle; “subject matter wasn’t too disturbing for you.” I smile, but my teeth are time bombs that I clench to keep calm. A pause, “Are you even old enough to drink?”

Abram stares at me from across the table, rolls his eyes and says, “As if you waited to drink?”

“So, Abram,” I say turning my attention onto him, “I’m surprised to even see you here, no big golf game today?” Fingers tighten around my fork, “Maybe you should join a tournament, you sure have practiced enough.”

It becomes impossible to breathe—locked in a chamber with no air its fight for flight: I look over at Ellie, “Thanks for the dinner, Els. But Laney and I have got to go finish unpacking.” I lean over and kiss the top of Brighton’s head, “Come over whenever you want, Bug, door’s always open for you.”

/ / / / / / / /

( via twitter @lislaire )

If her favorite show was Hannah Montana, she’s too young for you bro.

I get the feeling the @lakings dynasty is going to end with @siohair…. Anybody else?

Was just about to drunk tweet something but @doakes took away my phone. So now I’m drunk-typing like a heathen!

Tbh, I don’t think about you enough to hate you anymore.

/ / / / / / / /

When I told my dad to bring a few friends to make the event a little less dull, I didn’t think he’d bring half of the motley crew Kings team behind him.

“Dad,” I say sharply, “This is not a frat party.”

He pulls me into a tight hug, “It’s for charity. Besides, who’s better to bring to something like this than guys with pockets too deep and too little sense left?”

Delaney is mid-conversation with Doughty and Toffoli when I sneak my way in. Their ties hang loose around their necks and judging by the dark circles under Drew’s eyes he looks like he’s been hung-over for three days in a row. “I’m just saying, don’t they look identical?” He asks.

“Who?”

Drew points out Adrian in the corner talking to a small brunette and then at Abram who starts walking toward us, the sleeves of his button down rolled to his elbow. I tighten my grip achingly around my champagne glass.

“Dyer and Kempe?” Tyler takes a drink of his beer, “I just don’t see it, dude. I think you’re still drunk.”

I leave Laney again, this time in Anais’ safe keepings, as I seek out the bathroom. I thought I could do this. Thought I could re-live my trauma, thought I could survive it this time. But his name still holds me by the throat, still bares their nasty teeth and bites down.

‘ It’s for a good cause ’ I repeat: again and again until the words no longer feel. Hands grip the cool porcelain of the sink. I tell myself that the money raised tonight will help women in worse situations survive the baby that didn’t survive them. There’s a knock at the door and part of me hopes its Laney, hopes she could sense my desperation to leave—to run, but when I open the door it’s Abram.

“God, Abram. Now isn’t the time.” I half-beg, turning back toward the sink, I grow increasingly aware at how short the hem of my dress is. He closes the door behind me, “Merde! Are you kidding me? There’s another bathroom, you know.”

#thread: ablise #thread: all

0 notes