Location: The Huntsberg Villa
Interacting With: Daddy (Arthur Huntsberg), Mamá (Elisabetta Huntsberg), My Bae (Troy)
@Universorum
While her Prince Charming fumed in the driver’s seat of his car out front, Audrey Huntsberg was busy staring at her sideways reflection in the full-length mirror. She was pleased to see that the persistent bloating in her stomach had somewhat lessened after a day of nothing but a strict diet of water and almonds and a week of chicken, salads and water; so the faint dizziness she was feeling at the moment had been worth it. For the past six weeks, Audrey's body had been acting up for some reason she couldn’t quite explain. It had all started with that constant feeling of tiredness that had been plaguing her since two weeks after Domi’s party. She’d tried to justify it with her body trying to normalize its biological clock after a month of vacations, but after that the nausea had made its appearance to further mess up with her mornings. Being the stubborn female she is, Audrey merely sucked it up and continued to go about her daily life…
Until three weeks ago, when she’d began to throw up every morning. She begrudgingly decided to go to the doctor then, but after giving her instructions to get some rest and make sure to stay hydrated he dismissed her with claims that it had been that 48-hour virus that had been going around. But then the puking continued, and she’d noticed that even though she couldn’t keep any food down until mid-day her stomach had started to bloat. None of her jeans seemed to fit her right, and her tight clothes made her look eternally pudgy. Then there was also the time that she had to run out of the room to puke at the smell of seafood, and the coming-going feeling of sore breasts… Not even the missed period worried Audrey or gave her any sort of inkling to the thought of what might be her current ‘condition’. There was a nagging feeling in her that told Audrey this was something much more serious than what she considered it to be, but in typical Audrey-fashion, she continued to push these thoughts aside and carry on.
Making sure her makeup and outfit were flawless, Audrey gave herself one last once-over. Her dark brown locks were styled in soft waves, and fell down her back and right shoulder, while her makeup consisted of nude lipstick and a smoky eye to highlight her best feature. She’d opted to wear a silver necklace with a big pendant that resembled the sun, the diamond earrings that Troy had gifted her and silver pumps to bring attention to her dress: a short, ¾ sleeved model, made out of mesh and periwinkle-blue sequins with a plunging cleavage. Since the dress had mesh on the abdomen and was form-fitting, Audrey had made it her –successfully accomplished- mission to lose the bloating before tonight. Smirking in satisfaction, Audrey took her small evening bag from where it had been laying on top of her bed and confidently made her way downstairs. In a strange occurrence, her parents were excitedly waiting for her in the foyer, wanting to see their princess make their way to her last high school Homecoming ball. The couple usually went out for dinner on Friday nights, or were most often busy with work, so it was nice for Audrey to see them there. As she went down the stairs and headed in their direction, she gave them a bright smile.
“How do I look?” Audrey called out to them, doing a small twirl before stopping in front of her parents.
The first one to act was Audrey’s mother. “
¡Princesa! ¡Te ves hermosa!” exclaimed Elisabetta, hurrying over to her daughter to embrace her in a warm, tight hug. She smelled like Audrey always remembered: Chanel No. 5. “I am so proud of you! When your date comes, I will take many pictures!”
Arthur Huntsberg followed suit, giving Audrey a hug and a loving kiss on the forehead. “Your mother is right. You look stunning, dear.” He gave Audrey a quick once-over before jokingly declaring, “Maybe a little less mesh and cleavage would’ve been nice, but oh well.”
Audrey couldn’t help but laugh: leave it to her dad to make a half-joking, half-serious comment about her dress’ plunging cleavage when he made his living fixing up women to wear things just like Audrey was.
“Daddy, you’re too jealous.” Audrey told him with a good-natured smile. It was then when the doorbell of the Huntsberg Villa, and Audrey’s stomach filled up with excited butterflies.
“I’ll get it! That has to be Troy!” she told her parents with an excited smile as she hurried to the door and swiftly opened it.
“Well, hello there, handsome,” Audrey cooed, wrapping her arms around Troy and planting a quick kiss on his lips. before whispering in his ear:
“You look amazing, love. I’m so lucky to call you mine.” She waited for Troy to respond before adding the part she knew he wouldn’t like that much.
“And, also, my parents want to take pictures. So, can you come in for a second?”
Location: The Tomers- Jameson Residence
Interacting With: Shawn Tomers, Stranger at the Door
@SgtEasy
The last six weeks had been hell for Sierra Jameson. If the realization that she’d fallen helplessly in love with her best friend after swearing her heart was made of stone hadn’t been enough to make her question what the hell was going on with her, the fact that she’d realized this right has he was scheduled to leave for Korea for an undetermined period of time basically drove her to the edge. To make matters worse, Joo’s family were from a prominent position in North Korea, which meant that Joo would be unable to have any contact whatsoever with Sierra for the time he was gone.
She’d spent that rest of the day he was leaving holed up in her room, curled up in the fetal position in her bed crying her eyes out. Then the next day she’d gotten to school –her eyes all puffy and red- and opened her locker to find herself with the shirt she’d let Joo borrow that past day and a pair of gold earrings that when placed side by side spelled ‘Love You’ in Joo’s immaculate handwriting. Again, Sierra hand another breakdown, but she quickly pulled herself together and continued on with the rest of the day. That had been the last day she’d cried, but the emptiness and sadness that continued to plague her was channeled in other ways.
She’d stopped eating, playing video games… Doing any of the things she loved to do and made her Sierra. The only thing that remained was the smoking: nicotine had become her best friend. In a surprising move, she had even stopped her illicit relationship with Shawn, claiming that she was unable to feel anything towards anyone at the moment. At first, her mother Sonya had been delighted when Sierra finally went a whole week without getting into an argument with her, but when she noticed her daughter’s weight was rapidly dropping, she became worried. After confiding in Shawn, the pair tried to lift Sierra’s spirits, but their attempts proved to be futile. How did her parents expect her to feel, anyway, when her only friend in the whole world had to leave so suddenly and for God knows how long? They had even gone as far as to ask Sierra’s older sister Chloe to visit in hopes that seeing her sister would help her feel better, but after the visit the young woman still continued to do nothing else besides attend school and remain locked up in her room until it was time for school again or she had to use the bathroom.
It was now a month and a half since Joo had left, and Sierra was sitting at the kitchen island eating a sandwich: the first bites of food she had tried in a long while. She had slowly started to get better at eating regularly again, but she still struggled with eating more than a few bites out of anything. The once-prominent bones in her collarbone and hips were once again starting to disappear with healthy pounds, though she still looked a tad bit too thin. She was halfway done with her meal when Shawn strolled into the kitchen all dressed up for a party.
His recently-cut hair was styled back, his beard all neatly groomed and his muscled body covered up with a long-sleeved white shirt, ripped tan pants and tall brown boots.“Where are you going all dressed up, Mr. T?” Sierra asked him, giving him an appreciative smirk while she looked him up and down.
Shawn smiled good-naturally at his stepdaughter, happy to see that a bit of the old Sierra was finally showing after so long.
“I’m off to the school’s homecoming ball. Aren’t you going?”Sierra nearly choked on her bite of sandwich, and after a small coughing fit she looked at Shawn as if he’d grown an extra head.
“Did you seriously just ask me that, Shawn? Me? Homecoming? When have I ever expressed any sort of interest in stuff like that?”Shawn shrugged, scratching the back of his neck in a sign that he’d clearly made a mistake in asking her that.
“I just thought that, you know, you might’ve wanted to give it a chance this year, since you’re a Senior and all…”Sierra scoffed, chewing on the last bite of the sandwich. “Shawn, please. If I didn’t go to homecoming in the last three years when things weren’t as shitty as this one, why the fuck would I bother going to this one? It’s not like I have anyone to go with, anyway, or know anyone that’s worth me going there.”
Shawn shrugged again, but this time there was a mysterious smile adorning his handsome face, as if he knew something she didn’t. Sierra narrowed her eyes at him.
“What? Why are you smiling like that?” she asked suspiciously, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Shawn merely shook his head with the smile still on his face, but Sierra didn’t get any other answer from him, because at that moment the doorbell rang. The frown still in place, Sierra turned to look at the door.
“Who the fuck would be visiting at this time?”“Can you please get that, Si? I really need to get going.” Shawn politely asked his stepdaughter before disappearing in the direction of the garage.
Rolling her eyes in annoyance along the way, Sierra did as she was told. She diligently opened the door, and when her green eyes fell on the person who had been knocking on her door at 9:15 PM of a Friday night, she froze.
Shock filled her whole body, and she was unable to do anything else but to stare at that man she knew so damn well, standing in front of her after a month and a half of being apart...
“Oh my God…” Sierra finally whispered after a long minute of silence, her eyes still wide with shock. She couldn’t manage to say anything else, because what else were you supposed to do when
the man you were so madly in love with suddenly appear on your doorstep holding flowers and what appeared to be a
dress?
"Joo? What the fuck are you doing here?" Sierra asked before waiting in silence until the man spoke, looking at his face as if she’d never get enough of it.
"Come on, Josie! Hurry up! We wanna see how you look!" The girlish whine came from outside the door of Josie's room. The whole Thompson family (with the obvious exception of Henry Thompson) was eagerly waiting outside of Jocelyn’s room, all excited to see how their sweet, shy, darling sister (or daughter, in Judith’s case) looked before heading out to her first-ever Homecoming ball. Though there had been events like this in their old school, Josie had never attended them because she felt like she wouldn’t be able to enjoy herself. But now, the circumstances were different… Her two best friends in the whole world would be attending, and she would be arriving at the party with her
boyfriend.
'Boyfriend...’ Josie thought excitedly, still struggling to believe that, since two weeks ago, she called her life-long crush Alexandros Mossos the ‘B’ word. It had all started pretty much after their first unofficial date to the burger joint near school on her first day of school. They had taken the rest of the afternoon to catch up on their lives, and it had been obvious to Josie that her feelings for Alex remained the same even after all these years apart. Hell, the years had made him even more handsome than before! After their ‘date’, Alex had driven Josie to his house so they could surprise Ava, which had been a total success. The two girls had nearly cried in excitement at being reunited after so many years apart, and the rest of the afternoon and evening was spent catching up and reminiscing of old, good times. Josie had even been asked to stay for dinner by Balt and Adrianna, who were as happy as their children to see Josie again. They had loved her dearly, pretty much as a daughter, and to see that she was doing well and bringing back Alex and Ava some happiness delighted them.
Since they were reunited, Josie spent most of her free time in the Mossos estate. During this time, Ava and Josie had built a friendship with a new girl: Amity Bellerose, who was a well-known singer for a band called. The three girls grew to be inseparable, but there came a point in which Josie had started to feel left out. After a particular moment in which Josie had taken a moment to be by herself and collect her thoughts before going back to where Amie and Ava were, Alexandros had stumbled on her and asked what was wrong. Josie had confided in Alex, and after he assured her she had nothing to worry about, the pair had shared a soft, sweet kiss. Immediately embarrassed, nervous, confused and excited about what had just happened, Josie jumped up from her seat and hurried back to Ava's room after stammering an apology to Alexandros. They didn't speak or mentioned what had happened, but Josie noticed Alex had started to discreetly flirt with her, to which Josie responded with giggles and awkward attempts to flirt back.
The surprise came when, a week after this incident, Alexandros had asked Josie out on a
date. Not a 'date' with Amie and Ava tagging along, but an actual
'date' date where it would be just the two of them. Josie had eagerly accepted, and after a long talk of being careful (along with incessant warnings from Ava about not letting him take advantage of her and that she would break his balls if he tried anything indecent), eventually went with Alexandros to the local fair. It was safe to say they had a blast: sharing cotton candy, riding in all of the rides, making fun of each other at the House of Mirrors, Josie nearly cutting the circulation of Alex’s arm during their walk across the Haunted House, Alex getting Josie a huge stuffed bear after winning at one of the games, sharing yet another kiss on the highest point of the Ferris wheel –the glinting city lights over the bay made the experience all the more romantic... With a parting kiss on Josie’s doorstep, the date came to an end.
Fast forward to three weeks and a couple of dates later? During a beachside BBQ at the Thompson’s house, Alexandros and Josie announced to their families that they had officially started a relationship. Josie hadn’t been able to stop glowing and smiling since.
"Oh, darling, you look absolutely
amazing!” exclaimed Judith -the matron of the family-, throwing her arms around her eldest daughter and embracing her in a tight hug. The older woman’s eyes filled with tears at the realization that her little girl wasn’t so little anymore. Meanwhile, Josie beamed at her mother.
“You really do, JoJo.” Jonathan gushed, taking a chance to give a one-armed hug to his first little sister and kiss the top of her head affectionately when their mother had finally let go.
“Hey, Josie, give me a smile so I can send a picture to Dad,” James called out after Jonathan had had his moment with Jocelyn. Josie did was she was told and posed for the various pictures James took. After having sent the photos, James also gave Josie a hug and kiss, but his was on her forehead. “You look precious, Jos.”
“Your dress is
stunning, Sissy!” said an excited Julia, taking a turn to hug her big sister and bringing attention to the short ball-gown that Jocelyn had chosen for Homecoming. She’d acquired the dress on a shopping trip with Amity and Ava, and had fallen in love with it. The sweetheart neckline, the figure-hugging corset, the rhinestone details in (and general design of) the corset, the gold sequins, the beautiful contrast between the white and gold… The dress was perfection, and when Josie saw herself in the mirror after trying it on she knew that was the dress she would go to Homecoming with. The heartbreaking moment of the afternoon came at a glance of the price tag: it was too over her budget, even after saving up and working for weeks. Of course, Ava Mossos came to the rescue, and after some argument with the somewhat stubborn Josie over feeling bad about accepting the dress, convinced her to let her pay for the dress.
“Consider it a ‘getting my player brother to finally settle down’ gift,” Ava declared, letting out her usual cackle of laughter. Even though Ava had been the one to pay for the dress, Josie suspected that Alexandros had a hand in what had happened.
“Not just the dress, but your hair and face look so pretty too!” added little Julius, pushing Julia aside a little so he could
also hug his sister. Josie’s red hair was down in soft waves that fell down her back and shoulders, and she’d kept the makeup soft and bright so she could bring attention to her bold red lips.
“Awww, you guys are too sweet! Thank you all for the compliments. I love you all so much!” Josie told her family, stretching her arms so that she could embrace all of them at the same time in a family group hug. The Thompson bunch –as they affectionately liked to call themselves- continued to gush over various aspects of Jocelyn’s look when the sound of the doorbell momentarily quieted them.
“Oh my God! That must be Alexandros!” Josie couldn't help but let out a small shriek of excitement: her
boyfriend had finally arrived to pick her up! The teen hurried down the stairs, her high heels clacking against the wooden surface, until she had reached the door. She took a deep breath to calm the butterflies that were going off in a frenzy in her stomach before swinging the door open.
