[IC] CANCELLED.

[BrutalBx]

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Featuring: Gwen Morgan, Marci Atwood (Video Footage), Mitchell Morgan (Video Footage), Sam Morgan
Location: Morgan Residence, The Boneyard (Video Footage), The Tar Pit

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Gwens Internal Sountrack

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The silence was deafening. Gwen stared at the computer screen, her clothes and hair still damp from her dive into the pool and her make up smudged all over her porcelain face. As she downed yet another mouthful of tequila, the heavy metal queen grabbed hold of the corner of her desk, digging her long nails into the mahogany edge and allowing the burn of the Spanish water to sear a vocal cords. Letting out a great exhale from her aflame lungs, she slammed the bottle down and raised her head aloft to breath in even more of the silence she despised so much. Looking back to her screen with pale blue eyes, Aces reached forward and pressed play.

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October 15th

”Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Marci Atwood and I’m here at the Boneyard in South Philadelphia, home of the one and only Endeavour Records and I get the rare opportunity of interviewing the mad scientist of music, Mitch Morgan. How are you Mitch?”

Shifting in his chair slightly, Mitch scratched his bearded chin and awkwardly smiled. ”Yeah, no I’m fine. Little worn out but I’m fine” Mitchell’s strong Irish accent was like butter melting for many people. He didn’t consider himself handsome but many people despite the constant bags under his pale blue eyes and creases in his clothing.

”Well I bet being twenty seven, running your own label, being one of the most known faces in music AND being an expectant father is pretty exhausting. How is baby and mother to be?”

For a moment, Mitchell looked like a deer in the headlights, if there was one of the many many things he hated about fame was interviewers prying into his personal affairs. Privacy was a luxury that he could afford but they still wouldn’t let him buy. The Soulful Irishman shuffled in his seat again and reached out to something off camera. Pulling a beautiful peroxide blonde into focus with a huge baby bump, Mitch smiled as he looked up at her, a genuine smile from the ever miserable Mitch Morgan. Now that was a sight for sore eyes. ”They’re doing great, keeping me sane, making me happier than ever. Plus her brother can kick my arse so I have to behave”

”That’s right, Samantha your brother is AWE superstar Gethin Rhys. Bet your house is fun st Christmas. Tell us Sam, truthfully, what’s it like being with Mitchell? No frills, no typical answers. We want the truth”

Young Sam looked at her beau and they shared a loving smile. She rested her hand behind his head, running her fingers lightly through the back of his hair. ”It can be challenging. Mitchell’s brain runs so fast and so hot that he can be awake for literally twenty three and a half hours of a day like even when we’re in bed he’s scribbling something on a notepad but at the end of the day, it’s a small price to pay for the love of a genius” She grinned from ear to ear as she also placed a hand on her stomach. ”If I can shamelessly plug however, his new album, Parliament of Owls, is phenomenal and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it. He really poured everything into it, it’s his masterpiece” Sam was always the best hype man.

”High praise. So both album and baby drop next month. What’s the next step for Mitchell Morgan?

”Erm, yeah no. I think once the work is done I’ll just take some time to be a dad. You know? Music is my business and my passion sure but this woman and that little girl inside her are what I love. I can’t wait to be a dad. It’s the best adventure life can offer you know?”

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Two weeks after this interview, Mitchell Morgan was dead. Of course, Parliament of Owls went straight to number one and even seventeen years later most people on this good planet earth had a Mitch Morgan album, a favourite song or at least knew who he was. Death had made the man a legend, something if he were alive he would’ve hated. He was the Heath Ledger of music. The circumstances of his death, an overdose, sensationalised by the media painted him as a tortured artist. The reality was far more simple; anxiety and insomnia and a bad mixture of medication killed Mitch Morgan, not the music.

Watching her parents, young and in love, it increased the already unbearable pain in Gwen’s heart. Knowing full well how far they had fallen since those days, with tell all exposes and the transfer from the east to the west coast, more tears fell from her sparkling eyes.. She glanced down at her bruised wrist, every time she did all she could see was Cameron Hyde’s rage fuelled face. He had the face of an angel but there was something ugly eating away inside of him. She wiped the tears away and got to her feet, it was time to numb that damn pain. If Lee wouldn’t keep her in pills, somebody else damn sure would.

After a steaming shower to clean herself up, it was time for Gwen to go to bed and Hells Favourite Harlot, Aces Morgan to come out and play. She dressed herself in a tiny black dress, thigh high black boots and a dirty flannel thar belong to her daddy. Her make up was heavily dark as usual and her lips blood red. Hurrying down the stairs, she stopped in her tracks for second as she saw her mother asleep on the couch covered in papers. It wasn’t too late just yet but it wasn’t unusual for Sam Morgan to fall asleep while working. She worked harder than anyone to make sure she and Gwen were taken care of. Aces sighed through her nose and walked over to her mother, carefully removing all of the bits of paper and placing them in a neat pile on the coffee table. They may have their differences most of the time but Gwen loved her mother. She placed a blanket over the sleeping woman and kissed her forehead.

”Sleep tight Mom, say hi to dad in your dreams for me” She whispered before heading out of the door.

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The Tar Pit was one of those rat bag dirty joints on the dark side of Hollywood. It was a favoured hang out of Gearheads and Burnouts. The Heavy Metal Queen had scored herself some dirt sheep Oxy and was parking her perfect ass on a stool at the Pit drowning her sorrows in snakebites. The constant updates on her phone from BHHS couples and happier folks made her want to throw it at the wall. She washed down another load of pills with her drink before jumping from her perch and grabbing the nearest beer bellied trucker she could find.

Not for nothing but damn she could shake her ass. The world was blurring, the lines between euphoria and horror had blended and the feelings had all but become one mass of joy and sadness at the same time. Falling Into dark madness was enthralling for the gypsy goddess, Pour Some Sugar On Me was the perfect sleazy soundtrack for her descent. Madness was the emergency exit and she was giving herself up to it. At least she was until the song switched to the Velvet Underground’s Pale Blue Eyes, a favourite of her father’s.

She fled her chubby truckers arms and ran into the bathroom. Staring into her reflection, she placed a hand on either side of the wall and let out a howl.

All the best gypsy girls had daddy issues…

[smarty0114]

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_{A @smarty0114 & @Silent Observer collab
Featuring: Marshall Radley & Jamie Callaghan
Location: Atlas’ Peak}

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The night sky sparkled over Beverly Hills as Jamie’s car sped through town, one hand on the steering wheel, the other interlaced with Marshall’s. So far, their night had been perfect by all of Jamie’s standards, and now he was looking to really win some sort of fantastic date award.

In Marshall’s mind, that award was already won. Dinner was lovely, and their conversation had been even better. It was shaping up to be one of the best dates he’d ever had — certainly the best first date. Everything about being together felt comfortable and right, and this night was a much needed respite from the hell that was this week. Everything might seem like it was going to shit, but as long as Marsh could hold Jamie’s hand like this at the end of the day, everything would be alright. Everything was worth it.

Jamie had been keeping his lips sealed on where they were headed on the next stage of their date night. Marsh was happy enough to play along and be surprised, it was more fun this way. But as the sleek luxury car pulled down roads that took them away from the city lights and out into the hills, Marsh looked over towards his date with a teasing glance. “Jayyy~, do you think you can just wine and dine me into playing some backseat bingo?” He tisked. “What kind of boy do you take me for?” Marshall made a show looking out the window, as if he was disinterested, but the smirk on his lips betrayed him.

“Oh no! You’ve figured me out!” Jamie feigned embarrassment before looking over at Marshall, a grin spread across his face. “You’ll see where we’re going in a second,” Jamie assured him.

Atlas’ Peak was a lookout destination, high in the hills around LA, one with a clear view of the sky, and an even better view of the twinkling lights of the City of Angels. Jamie pulled his car into a patch of dirt and stepped out, grabbing a blanket from the backseat. He walked over to a small patch of grass and draped the blanket across the ground, before sitting down on it, crossing his legs. He looked over at Marshall, smiling and patting the spot next to him, before letting his eyes drift over to the sparkling city below them.

The entire scene was enough to make Marshall’s heart do flips in his stomach. It was so overwhelmingly romantic, the kind of thing that would make most people gag. For Marshall, though, it was perfect. To be expected, even, for the boy who chases the kind of love that you only see in fairy tales and movies. With a wide grin and eyes sparkling enough to give the city lights a run for their money, Marshall knelt down to sit beside Jamie. He sat close, leaving barely any space between them, hoping that they might close that gap before the night was over. Following Jamie’s gaze out towards the city below, he hummed in appreciation of the urbanic beauty. “That’s one thing LA has over New York. The views from the hills are unmatched.”

Jamie smiled and lead his hand over to Marshall’s, resting it on top of his. “There’s nothing quite like LA at night,” the young journalist said, taking a moment to appreciate the glamour of the city. “When my dad first moved to LA, he spent his first night here driving around, exploring. Somehow he found this place, and he stood here and looked out at the city and he says he just knew that he had to make it. That there wasn’t another option. I guess that’s why I like this spot so much.”

Marshall bit at his bottom lip softly when he felt Jamie’s hand settle on top of his. It was such a comforting gesture, sending waves of pleasant warmth all throughout his body. He tilted his head to watch as Jamie spoke, looking utterly like a lovestruck fool as he studied the curve of the other boy’s jaw below his ear. The clean, straight cut of it as it reached his chin. The smooth, tempting lines of his lips, moving with words that Marsh found himself struggling to focus on. Not for lack of interest, but for distraction. It wasn’t fair, it was like he was carved out of marble — gorgeous and artful. “That’s sweet. You must be pretty close with him, then… your dad?” He asked once the object of his adoration fell silent. Marshall wondered what that felt like, his curiosity buried in the pregnant pauses of his question.

“I am, yeah. I wish… I wish I could be more like him sometimes,” Jamie said, his eyes falling to the emerald stalks of grass on the ground, stalks that Jamie’s free hand found and pulled up. “He’s one of the few people in this town who hasn’t let it all change him, y’know? He grew up in New York, the youngest of six kids, and all of them are either on drugs, in jail, or both. But my dad got out, and he got rich, but he’s still that kid from New York. It’s hard to keep your head in this life, but he does it anyways,” Jamie continued, before turning to Marshall. His eyes scanned the soft, pale face, his immaculate dark hair. As serotonin flooded his brain, he asked, “What about you? I feel like you know everything about my family, and I know nothing about yours.”

“That’s because…” Marshall looked downward and away from him. Jamie’s gaze, although lovely at times, could be intense, especially when you were feeling slightly uncomfortable to begin with. “That’s because I don’t talk about them much. It’s not the happiest story, and I like to be the happy kid, you know? I make people smile and stuff.” The fingers of his free hand toyed with the edge of the blanket and he sighed. Relationships, if that’s what this was going to turn into, were about trust and openness, so he might as well start with the basics. “My parents are divorced. Marjorie, Marty, and me, our mom and dad are separated. He still lives in NY, they split right before we moved here, pretty much. That’s why we moved here, Ma had to get away from him for her own sanity. He cheated on her… like, big time cheated, got his mistress pregnant and everything.” Marsh chewed at his lip again, this time in less of a positive way. “That’s why I acted how I did with Owen, when the photos came out. I couldn’t believe it was happening again, that another man I looked up to could do something like that to someone that they claimed to love. I… didn’t even think about Owen’s truth, I just reacted. It was… stupid of me.” He sighed, his blue-green eyes focused on his own lap now. “Sorry… that was rambly. Anyway, yeah, I’ve got two half-brothers too, in New York. They live with dad and Olivia, his new wife.”

Jamie offered Marshall reassuring smile and gave his hand a firm, affirming squeeze. “I’m sorry you had to deal with all… that. I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like,” Jamie said. “But, if you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be here,” Jamie moved closer as the words left his mouth until he was only a couple inches from Marshall’s face. His eyes ran over his full lips, his piercing blue eyes, and he could feel the desire building in him. “With me,” Jamie finally said, piercing the dramatic silence he’d let hang between them, and closing the gap with a kiss, letting his hands roam up and into Marshall’s dark hair.

Marshall gasped into the kiss as a rush of endorphins flooded through him. The kiss was sudden, but by no means unwelcomed. Marsh loved how bold Jamie was, if he wanted something, he took it… and Marshall was all too happy to give. The scent of cologne and shampoo and whatever lotion Jamie used to keep his skin so fucking soft clouded Marshall’s mind as he was lip-locked into this moment. A moment that he wished he could keep in a locket to live over and over again later on, kissing the cutest boy in all of Beverly Hills under a beautiful starry night sky. And that wasn’t even the best part, the best part was held in the words spoken just before this kiss. “With… you?” He fished for clarification, butterflies doing laps around his stomach after he pulled a few centimeters away from Jamie. Dark eyelashes brushed the apples of his cheeks as he opened his eyes to meet the other boy’s heavy gaze. It was almost oppressive, but in a way that Marshall would be glad to be crushed by.

Jamie blushed and looked down for a moment, contemplating what he could say, before bringing his eyes back up to meet Marshall’s. “If that’s what you want, I mean…” Jamie said softly, holding Marshall’s gaze in his own as his heart began to race in anticipation of the other boy’s answer.

“I’m here, aren’t I?” Marshall responded with a sassy smirk. He accented the jest with a quick peck on Jamie’s lips. “But am I what you want?” The dark-haired boy pulled away from him coyly. He wouldn’t be satisfied unless Jamie said it. Call it smugness, or pride, or vanity — Marshall just liked to feel wanted.

Jamie smiled and looked over his date. He had imagined this day for months, and here it was, right here in the palm of his hand. So he did what any rational boy would do.

He took it.

“You are all I want, Marshall.” Jamie punctuated his words with a kiss, before pulling away once more. “So, does this mean, we’re dating now?”

Soaring on cloud nine, his heart had up and left his body. Marshall had never felt so wrapped up in his feelings before. Was this lust… or was this the real thing? Love. The only thing that he knew, was that this feeling was new, and he’d never get enough of it. Never. “Yeah…” Marsh replied breathlessly, the wind clearly taken out of him. He moved from his seated position on the blanket-covered ground and straddled over Jamie’s lap. “Boyfriends.” He confirmed with a grin. He traced the line of Jamie’s jaw with his thumb, the delicious line he’d been admiring so much earlier, before pressing a hungry kiss into his lips. He didn’t let up in his urgency and passion, not even when Jamie’s back was flush with the blades of grass beneath them.

[Silver Carrot]

_{A Collaboration Between: @Bee and @Silver Carrot
Featuring: Kazue Suzuki and Gary Reynolds}

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School was over, and Gary Reynolds, as usual, was deliberately holding back in order to stay average. He didn’t want to stand out as particularly smart even though he was actually a bright kid. He had no intention of going to an Ivy League college even if he was able to. He did not want that kind of pressure. He’s spent most of his life under pressure to be the model son, up until two years ago. He had a growth spurt at fourteen, getting slightly taller than his father. Something in him snapped. He realised that he didn’t have to hold himself to his father’s standards. He didn’t have to be the perfect gentleman at all times, or be the most talented at everything he did. He started to actively strive to do the opposite. It started as an edgy, rebellious phase, but he’s been at it for too long, and now he has become Gary. He might never be able to go back to being Gareth, and sometimes, he almost wants to. Not that he wasn’t happier like this. There were no expectations, and when he screwed up, nobody noticed. They only noticed when he let slip a glimpse of brilliance, and was rewarded for it. This was the correct way round. This was life as it should be.

Life had its ups and downs, but this week had been an up. That party was great. The dancing was fun, and the drugs were plentiful. There was a hunt for stolen clothes, and Gary made the discovery that dabbling in submissive humiliation kinks would be a dangerous slippery slope for him. The highling of the night, though, was Kazue. The Japanese transfer student. Not only was she cute, not only was she genuine, but she put up with Gary even as he became less sober and coherent as the night went on. As far as Gery was concerned, that was grounds for at least an attempt to get to know her better.

Kaz was floating through her day as was typical Kaz fashion. It was hard to be involved and engaged in school when you could barely figure out what the teacher was saying. Needless to say, her English wasn’t exactly up to par to hang with the other students. Despite her lack of strength in the English department, she was still able to realize that Gary was still a nice dude. Currently, Kaz was glued to her phone as she was always. She was texting some friends she had back at home who for whatever ungodly reason, was still up at this time of night. Kaz missed them dearly, but it was something she had to overcome in order to achieve her dream of becoming an American student.

Looking up from her phone for once, though, she saw a rather familiar sight. She could’ve seen that hair and dumb face from a mile away and recognize who it was. It was the man of the hour - Gary. As she got closer, Kaz got a little too excited and made a noise that no words could exactly describe, other than that it was rather happy and excited. ”Gary! Hello!”

Gary was slightly taken aback by that noise, and the surprise showed in his face. He never though repressing a giant grin would be so hard but that. Was. So. Adorable! He manage to keep in back, instead letting out a small, cool smile, and nodding at Kaz. ”Hey,” he replied, ”Kazue, right? From the party! What’s up?”

”I am good! You are?” Kaz beamed, her face lighting up brighter than the sun at the presence of probably the most handsome man around. ”It good to see you!”

The wide grin won, and Gary stopped trying to fight it and he smiled just a brightly as Kaz despite himself. ”Awesome! I’m good, but, I’m even better now! Wanna….I dunno. Wanna go somewhere and talk, or?”

”Where can we go? Do you know?” There wasn’t really anywhere Kaz could think of that would be appropriate. Maybe Gary knew a place?

Gay ginned, and even flushed a little. That was a yes. That was basically a yes. Maybe they both wanted this to become a thing. That would make everything so much easier! As to the answer to her question, though. Where could they go? A Gentleman should take a lady somewhere nice and fancy on a date, but Kaz didn’t want a Gentleman. She had been happy to see Gary, not Gareth. At the same time, his breeding and manners couldn’t allow him to take a nice girl to a fast food chain. It had to be special, but at the same time it had to be Gary. Then he remembered something. ”You know, I think I read something about some kind of movie night at Captain Cuddles tonight, and they do the best Pizzas around, man, It’s in a few hours, though, so it’s up to you if you wanna go there now, or do something else first like go to a cafe, or the park or something.”

”What is Captain Cuddle?” There was a little surge of happiness within Kaz as he gave her what she assumed was a location. Perfect. At least they had somewhere to go, but she wasn’t exactly sure what kind of place this “Captain Cuddles” was. She didn’t know what a Captain or a Cuddle was. ”Is good?”

”Captain Cuddles is an arcade, but it’s got a restaurant attached to it. It’s a bit of a stoner hangout, but the food is amazing.,” Gary explained, scratching his head nonchalantly. ”It’s a bit of a walk unless we get a taxi.”

”We walk. Save money?” Kazue nudged Gary along, ”Come on, let’s go!”

”Okay! Okay! I’m going!” Gary chuckled as he held up his hands and let her mudge him towards the door, before taking the lead. As they headed away from the school, Gary looked over at Kaz while they walked. ”Hey. I’m sorry if I already asked you this at the party, but can you tell me more about you? Where you’re from? What you wanna go onto study? That kind of stuff.”

”Goooo!” Kaz nudged, before following him out of the door. Stepping up alongside, she thought about the question she was asked. Well, it was pretty obvious that she wasn’t from here. That, at the very least, was obvious. ”Oh, uh, I’m from Japan. I am here to go to school.” That was pretty much the best way she could’ve put it.

Gary chuckled, and shook his head. ”Well, that’s not wrong. What I mean is, where in Japan are you from? Did you live in a city or in a small village? What subjects are you hoping to focus on?”

”Oh. I came from Tokyo. Biggest city in Japan.” Kaz shrugged when the subject of what she wanted to study. ”I don’t know. I just be here to go to school. What about you?”

”I guess I’m the opposite. I don’t want to be at school but I’ll get kicked out if I don’t stay until I graduate. I decided that BHHS is, for all its faults, a lot better than homelessness. I haven’t thought about my life once I do graduate. Hopefully by then, my dad’ll have backed off some and I can start making my own choices. Sorry...I dug a bit deep there….uh. So, Tokyo, huh? I’ve always wanted to go there one day.”

To be truthfully honest, a lot of what Gary had said had slipped through her mind, mostly because she didn’t understand. It was for the better, honestly. ”Tokyo very big. Too many people. I like here better. If you want to go, don’t go during the summer. Very hot.” Kaz shrugged, before abruptly shifting the topic, ”What is Captain Cuddle?”

Gary had to think about what Kaz meant by that, as she had already asked the exact same question earlier. Then, he had told her what kind of place Captain Cuddles was. This time, she was obviously trying to change the subject, so Gary decided he’d give her a different answer. ”You mean, why is it called that? I’m not actually sure. I think at some point, it was probably supposed to be a family restaurant with some arcade machines, or it could have just been a kid’s arcade. All I know is that word of the good food and classic arcade machines spread around BHHS and teenagers pretty much took over as the main demographic.”

”Is big teddy bear?” For whatever reason, Kaz had the the weird preconception that this Captain Cuddles was just one big giant teddy bear. She’d never seen it before, but she was looking forward to it. ”How long until we get there?”

Gary had to think about that question. He couldn’t actually remember if Captain Cuddles even had a mascot. ”I don’t think it’s a teddy. Wasn’t it like a cat or something? Either way, it should be a bear. Maybe a bear dressed as a pirate.” he then craned his neck as they walked along the street. ”It’s on this street somewhere, but I’m not sure if I can see it yet.”

”Why is it not a bear? You cuddle teddy bear when you sleep, yes?” Kaz sighed. It was a missed opportunity that she was sad to see. ”Is that it over there?” Kaz pointed to a brightly colored building.

Gary followed Kaz’s finger’s direction until he caught sight of Captain Cuddles, and then nodded. ”Yeah, that’s it! When we get there, we should definitely ask whoever’s in charge why they don’t have a teddy bear mascot.” he replied, chuckling, and casting a sidelong glance at the cute Japanese student as they walked side by side.

”I will fight them.” Kazue said adamantly, before turning her stoic face into a smile. ”Is there pizza?”

”Oh, yeah!” answered Gary, chuckling at just how cute that proclamation of fighting them was. ”This is one of the best places around for pizza. They do a thing called a ‘pizza bar special’ which is like a buffet of endless pizza, and it’s all good.”

”Pizza? I like pizza!” Kaz’s face beamed at the prospect of bottomless pizza. She was definitely excited for what was up ahead. Bottomless pizza was the most American thing she’d ever heard, and she was more than down for it.

[Bee]

_{A Collaboration Between: @Bee and @smarty0114
Featuring: Lawrence Townsend and Becca Helmsley}

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The dinner had gone better than Lawrence had expected it to go. Once everything was all said and done, the two were standing outside of the restaurant, where Lawrence had removed his jacket and slung it over their arm as they were figuring out their plans for the rest of the night.

”I had a great time tonight.” He smiled, glancing over to the soccer player.

“The night doesn’t have to end just yet,” Becca replied, flashing Lawrence a coy smile. Other people might find it hard, taking what they want, but for Becca, it was a run of the mill activity. When something, or someone, caught her eye, she was determined to get her hands on it. Tonight, that someone was Lawrence Townsend. “Unless of course, you want it to?” The dark haired vixen batted her eyes and ever so slightly pushed her lips into a pout, fixing her newest snack with a gaze that should’ve been illegal. This was a textbook Becca Helmsley move. The slight pout, the batting of the eyes, the sultry look. She was experienced in this art form, that much was clear.

Oh. So it was gonna be like that, hm?

”Of course I don’t.” Lawrence smiled. He’d always been one to end dates right around this point, but Becca - Becca was something special. There was an allure about her that Lawrence simply couldn’t resist. Could this bite him in the ass later on? Yeah, it could, but it was a price he was willing to pay if it got him some time with this beautiful specimen of a girl. ”What do you think we should do, though?”

Becca’s fingers found Lawrence’s tie and slowly but firmly pulled on it, bringing the football star closer and closer. Looking up at the football star, wearing her signature smirk, Becca replied in a manner that she figured would probably give Bailee a heart attack. “How about, I give you a ride, and you think long and hard about that one.” You could say many things about Becca Helmsley, but no one could ever say she wasn’t bold enough.

Lawrence blinked twice and tilted his bed as soon as the words that left Becca’s lips processed through his brain. Did she really just say that? Lawrence had to do a mental double take. A ride. There was definitely a ride he would’ve liked to go on, and the best thing was that the ride was right there, in front of his eyes, and in the flesh. ”Yeah? Why don’t you go ahead and get that ride?”

Becca smiled, content with Lawrence’s choice. She pulled her phone from her handbag and quickly sent a text to James, requesting a pickup. He was parked in a garage across the street, awaiting her text per usual. Only moments later, she spied her trademark black limo pulling out of the garage and rolling up to the curb in front of the pair. James stepped out of the driver side and hurried over to open up the door for Becca. Grinning, she gave James a nod to show her thanks, and proceeded to climb into the limo, pulling Lawrence in by his tie. “Take us home James,” she called out to her assistant, to which he replied by simply nodding and pulling out onto the street.

The limo maneuvered it’s way through traffic while Becca did her worst on Lawrence. The light touches, whispered words, and practiced neck kisses of a teenager who spent far too much time having sex considering her age. By the time the limo pulled up to the Helmsley Estate, she was confident she’d damn near melted Lawrence’s brain. Becca pulled off of the boy’s face as she felt the limousine come to a halt, and made a show of fixing her hair. “I guess I better show you around,” Becca said, punctuating her response with a wink.

Lawrence smiled like an idiot as Becca’s limo pulled up in front of the restaurant. Everyone and their mother knew what was about to happen, and it wasn’t like Lawrence was going to oppose it either. The ride to wherever it was they were headed was a rather enjoyable one, at least for Lawrence. The things they did on their way to the residence were things that were nigh unholy, but damn did Lawrence have a lot of fun.

By the time the limo came to a stop, Lawrence was washed over with a warm fuzzy feeling. He didn’t want to leave the limo, but alas all good things had to come to an end. Luckily, it seemed like this good thing was only just getting started. ”There’s more to show?” Lawrence chuckled, slowly getting up from his seat.

“There always is,” Becca responded, following Lawrence out of the limo, her heels clacking lightly against the driveway. The heiress strutted past the football star and up to her front door, which she pushed open with ease. With a sweep of her arm, she gestured for Lawrence to enter, and smirked as he took in the opulence of their foyer. “Welcome to Helmsley Castle,” Becca said. Truly, the estate really was a castle. The front of the estate, where the pool resided, stretched out behind them, while the main house towered atop a hill. Just from their elevated position at the front door, they could see for miles. “It’s kind of a lot,” Becca said, well aware of the effect her home could have on people.

”A castle?!” Taking a close look at the estate, this place was far more lavish and incredible than he could’ve ever imagined. He thought the house he lived in was fancy, but this was an entirely new level. He didn’t know that people lived in places like these. There was lavish, there was living it big, and then there was this. Helmsley Castle, as they had put it, was pretty much a compound full of nothing but the epitome of the baller life. ”Kind of a lot… I want to see what you consider a lot. Jeez, this is place is real nice.”

“Nothing but the best for the Helmsleys,” Becca said, her eyes flicking over to Lawrence and looking him up and down. Letting the door shut behind them, Becca lead Lawrence through the foyer, pointing out various points of interest along the way. “Outside is the hedge maze, and down that way is the west wing. That’s where Daddy’s study is. My room is upstairs,” Becca explained as she began to head up the stairs.

The second floor was no less extravagant than the first, but by now, Becca had foregone the tour. There was only one destination that mattered to her now. She strutted down a long hallway, and threw open a set of double doors to reveal a room fit for a queen. Becca walked in and picked up a remote and in a few clicks a fire was blazing in the stone fireplace. Another couple of clicks and the windows no longer showed the LA skyline, but instead the Eiffel Tower at night, lit up with warm soft lighting. Paris had always been Becca’s favorite destination. “Welcome to my inner sanctum,” the heiress said, turning to face Lawrence.

Maze, west wings… there was so much stuff inside of this castle that Lawrence had been a little disoriented. Luckily Becca was there to keep him oriented. He thought his place was nice, but the more he walked around the more his house felt like a shanty in the ghetto. There was a lot for him to take in in such a short span of time. However, before he knew it, he was somewhere a little more private.

Becca’s room was gorgeous. The sight was killer, but it didn’t hold a candle to the girl standing in front of him, who was honestly so radiant he felt like his face would melt off just from looking at her. She really was that gorgeous. ”This place is really nice… wow.” Lawrence then made a coy smile, ”But I’d like to explore your inner sanctum.

“Now you’re getting the hang of this,” Becca said, smirking and pulling Lawrence closer to her, locking her lips with his. Her hands came up to his hair, running her hands through it. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Townsend.”

---

A rather steamy session of the dance with no pants later, Lawrence flopped onto the bed and let out a heavy sigh as the two had finished. Lawrence took a huge breath, he was left breathless after the act ”Holy fuck.”

Becca grinned, pleased with Lawrence’s reaction. “I do tend to have that effect on people,” she said, sitting up in her large bed, holding the sheets to her chest. She’d been pleasantly surprised by this nights escapade. Of course she’d expected Lawrence to be decent, she wouldn’t have even slept with him otherwise. However, he’d exceeded decent tonight. She’d have to keep that in mind, while she searched for a replacement to Henry.

“This goes without saying, I’m sure, but the boys don’t need to know about this,” Becca said, referring to the Elite. Even though she’d made her way through two of them already, she had no desire for them to know everything she did. Some things were more fun that way. Plus, she preferred to gross her brother out with details of her sex life herself.

”The boys?” Lawrence was at an impasse. On one hand, the boys were life to him. There was nobody more important to him than the boys that also didn’t bear the Townsend last name. But at the same time, Becca was also technically a part of the boys, even if she wasn’t a boy boy. Was he going to honor Becca’s request? Or tell the boys his latest conquest?

”Yeah. Yeah I’ll keep this between us.”

“Excellent. That, deserves a reward.”

[McHaggis]

.

[BrutalBx]

---

---

Tonight he was serving as the personal driver for Lee and Stella’s date; it wasn’t something he as a man was terribly proud of, it wasn’t a job he particularly wanted to do but it paid well. It would do for the short term. He still had a few hours before he needed to make the eight mile drive from his home on the shores of Santa Monica to the glowing McMansions of Beverly Hills. Santa Monica itself wasn’t a bad place, the few blocks that Hyde called home however was not great. It was three blocks of hell on Earth which was overshadowed by a pillar to God.

St Patrick’s Cathedral was a monstrous building, old and protected by the gargoyles of lore. It’s visage was terrifying for a place that was supposed to be a house of the lord. It looked terribly out of place in the surf haven of Dogtown. Hyde had a perfect view of it from his basement bedroom. He had hung his boxing bag right next to the window so he could glare at the gothic tower whilst he threw his bombs; it was his version of a confessional.

”I’m not sure I can get through to him. He’s so filled with fury and foolish pride. I see his mind burning and his soul stained with the same darkness that took his father. Please, show me a light, show him a light before he is consumed. Forgive him his trespasses and protect him from the temptation”

The floorboards were thin and Hyde could hear every single word of his mother’s prayer. And with every one of those words, the monster threw another uncovered fist at his target. The fresh wounds on his knuckles began to split from the pressure and the white leather of the bag began to become stained with the blood of the violent king. He had nothing against religion, people could believe what they wanted. Hyde was not a believer however, if God was real, how could he let a family like the Hyde’s to exist? Mason Hyde was a murder currently serving multiple life sentences. Julie Hyde was an addict, who was always so desperate to belong that she would do anything it took to feel good about herself. First it was a constant string of boyfriends, then drugs and now the Catholic Church. She was a mess.

Drenched in sweat and blood, Cameron ascended the stairs to his mother’s kitchen where she was making yet another failed attempt to cook something fanciful for her son and prove to him she had changed and to earn his forgiveness for the shitty hand they had been dealt. ”What is it tonight ma? Beef casserole or salmon fillets? Don’t bother with either I’ll grab something while I’m out, I probably won’t be home til Sunday”

It had gotten to the point where mother Hyde knew that arguing with her son was a fight she was never going to win. ”Have you been taking your medication? Sticking to the routine like Doctor Leggett advises?”

”You know I don’t believe a word that quack psychiatrist says. I’m just a little boy who wasn’t hugged enough by his mommy and daddy, I’m gonna shower”

Julie drops her cooking utensils and turns to her son ”Why do you do this Cameron? Why do you put me through such hardship?”

”Only God forgives ma”

---

There were just enough dive bars in Beverly Hills for it to be trendy and then there were a few that were actually what they said they were; glorified shit holes that no one of a sound mind would find their way to. Hyde found himself in one such place, three drinks deep and with an itchy trigger finger.

”You slinging?”

”Not tonight” Cam polished off his current drink before continuing. ”Come back tomorrow and I’ll set you up”

”Man, I know you’re carrying, you’re always carrying, give me something” the addict was getting pushier and closer to the high schoolers face, he reached into his pocket and took hold of something, a fact that Hyde made a note of.

Glancing over the addicts shoulder at the group that was amassing at the exit, two men and a woman, smile curled on the lord of dogtowns lips and a fire began to burn in his belly. ”Alright, man. I might have something in my car. Follow me” Putting his glass down onto the pool table, Hyde lead the gang of miscreants out into the parking lot and to his car.

The warm, feeling in the pit of his stomach was getting hotter, his skin began to flush and his hears rang. What was this feeling? Fear? Excitement? Both. It was the glow, of course. The glow of violence. Reaching into the truth, he brushed passed a bag of something and gripped a handle tight. In one fluid motion, he span with toolbox in hand and smashed it against the addicts face, knocking him and most of the tools to the floor. Hyde was rushed and tackled into the trunk, hit by several blows to the face as he fell. This did nothing as a deterrent, instead it was further motivation. He kicked off the burly bastard atop him and picked up a hammer from the ground. He was armed and he was dangerous as the addict tried to get to his feet, Cameron brought the trunk lid down across his hand before reaching into his grounded foes pocket and pulling out the knife he had clocked earlier.

Hammer in his left, knife in his right and blood weeping from his face and hands he was ready to cause a riot. The distant and all too familiar sounds of sirens were enough to force the attackers to run. Hyde let out a guttural yell ”FUCKING PUSSIES! I’m number one” his voice became a hiss. This would’ve been the perfect opportunity to run buts not who he was, he was number one.

The two men got away but the woman, she had made the mistake of hiding. It didn’t take long for the devil to find her under the pier. ”God help me”

”If God wanted to help you, he wouldn’t have made me” Hyde threw the knife, it embedded itself in the woman’s thigh and took her to the ground. He was atop her in seconds, one hand on the knife, the other on her throat. ”Word to the wise; I’m number one. Tell your friends, they don’t fuck with me. If they try, they’ll get worse than you” Turning, he grabbed the hammer from his jacket and cracked it across her ankle, muffling her scream with his huge hand. ”Ssshh. Say a prayer for me, sweetheart”

---

Later in the evening, as he drove further into the night, the Z boy glanced at the clock, it was time to pick up Lee and Stella. His eyes moved upwards and he gazed at his torn up face in the rear view mirror and then brought his eyeline back down to the road, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. He paid no mind to his blood stained hands as he pulled up outside the McCarthy mansion and honked the horn.

It was time for date night

[Fabricant451]

Back in the day when her father was bout her age there was a meme about record scratches and wondering about how someone got into a situation and for some reason that was flashing in Divya's mind as she stood and stared stared face-to-face with the supreme statuesque superjock scrapper Sam Lassiter on the latter's home turf. Sure, it was probably more accurate to say that D.B. was staring lens-to-face but the effect was largely the same. Sam Lassiter, the girl who would probably go on to be in the AWE or something, was scowling at the pint-sized Punjabi. D.B. would like to say that she was there to take the challenge - that would presuppose that she knew about the challenge at all - but she wasn't and she was no good at lying even if a lie would be better than the truth.

For a good thirty seconds now, D.B. was hearing a record scratch and observing the ways in which a human face could grow more and more annoyed with each passing second; thirty seconds typically passed in the blink of an eye but under the aggressive gaze of Sam Lassiter every second felt like a year off her life. D.B. was pleasantly surprised that Sam wasn't blocking the camera with her palm both because that would be the dick move to end all dick moves and because Sam was like really tall and strong and her hand would probably crush D.B.'s camera like an aluminum soda can - and D.B. just got the camera out of the shop and she couldn't afford repairs again so soon.

Still, she had to say something. Sam had asked D.B. the most simple question and D.B.'s answer so far had been a prolonged 'Uhhhh' and a nervous shake of her camera that would have put Paul Greengrass to shame. Judging by Sam's foot tapping now extending to her index finger tapping somewhat aggressively on her crossed arm, D.B. figured she had about two seconds to start answering the question. The record scratch only grew louder and more discordant before coming to an abrupt start. "Record scratch. Freeze frame. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation."

In front of the camera, Sam's look of annoyance and anger turned more towards bewilderment, like she was expecting D.B. to say she was being pranked or something. From what Sam could tell, though, this strange girl was being serious. That made it worse, especially since she wasn't here to spar or train or do anything. "Yeah? That's...that's...what I asked you?"

"Well, it's kind of a long stor-" "Dude, are you narrating?" D.B. paused in her narration to inhale sharply and exhale in similar fashion to a sigh. _{"This is why I don't like working with amateurs."} D.B. was careful to speak soft enough to where Sam didn't hear...unless one of Sam's other superpowers was super hearing in addition to super strength and a super ass but one girl couldn't possibly be so fortunate. "Well...it's kind of a long story...meedley meedley meedley meedley..." D.B. was making noise and moving her camera in a zig zag pattern in front of an eternally annoyed Sam Lassiter. "That's...that's how you know it's...it's a flashback. We'll fix it in post."



It was a Friday night like any other for our hero, one Divya Bajwa - D.B. to her friends...as soon as she had those. A normal, regular Friday night...which is to say she was running a bit late for work to the point where she was tucking in her uniform shirt into her pants as she stepped through the sliding doors of the Guzz 'N' Go gas station. Her boss was busy seeing to a customer buying a lotto ticket with their gas along with a blue slushie. D.B. clicked her mouth at the amateur mistake. The blue slushie was less sugary than the red or the purple so you were just wasting potential; the only thing worse than the blue slushie were the crazy people who got the Coke slushies. At that point just get a regular Coke!

As usual, D.B. started her shift by grabbing a burrito and popping it into the microwave. It occured to D.B. that the reason her paycheck had so many miscellaneous subtractions was because of her fondness for burritos and her employee discount only going so far but she would take the hit to her pay if it meant burritos. Everyone had her vices. Hers just happened to contain melted cheese and beans and something that was probably at one point in the vicinity of meat. While the microwave was doing its duty, D.B. lifted the counter piece to the employees area with a soft wave to her boss - which the customer assumed was for him and so awkwardly waved back.

D.B. was in the back room a total of ten seconds before she came storming back out - just as the customer was on his way out the door already chugging away at his slushie. "WHY DID YOU TAKE MY HOURS OFF? I was scheduled for tonight until the overnight guy came in!" Had D.B. known that her schedule would just get erased like nothing, she wouldn't have nearly killed herself sprinting here and still being late. "What gives?"

"Divya, you're a teenage girl." Her boss was stating the obvious but Divya was going to allow him to continue without comment. She knew he wasn't being creepy about it and that there had to have been a point. "It's a Friday night and I can handle things here. You should be out enjoying yourself. Going on dates or something." The bearded manager spoke in a droning cadence, befitting of one who was regretting the choices in life that led to him being a manager at a gas station.

"You took my hours because you think I need to be out dating? What the heck gives you the right?" Sure, he might have been her boss and all but that didn't mean he could just...erase her hours. What if she had a date but cancelled because of work? What if she was going to see a movie but had to go tomorrow instead because of work? What if she made reservations at a fancy French restaurant just to try and pronounce the cheeses but couldn't because of work? Why was she internalizing these questions instead of vocalizing them in disgust?

"I'm doing you a favor when you really think about it. Look, just enjoy yourself tonight and I'll give you more hours next time. And you can have the burrito on me."

"I'm having two. Consider it hazard pay."



Normally D.B. was under the belief that it was impossible to be upset while having gas station burritos but she was finding that not every belief was true. By her own words she should be twice as happy since she was double fisting burritos as she made the trek back home, but not even the nuclear hot insides of melted cheese, re fried beans, and sour cream could heal the glaring wound in her heart. The wound of someone whose only human interaction, she assumed, was with the colorful people that still paid for gas on the inside instead of at the pump and who was now making judgments on her own affairs. Sure, he had a point that she wasn't getting any younger and most people at school didn't even know she existed even if they had been fans of the show she was on as a kid, but it wasn't his job to try and do her favors. She could get a date if she wanted to! She could make lots of friends if she wanted to! She just...didn't want to!

Both burritos were finished by the time she arrived back at the apartment complex that was her home. It's a good thing her mind was still distracted by burrito and the indignity of her boss as she opened the door of the apartment because it allowed her not to see that her father had company over. Company he was currently getting to know rather intently. With his mouth. But not, like, talking. Tongue was involved. Like, a lot of tongue. So much tongue. Like more tongue than a dentist's office. An incredible amount of tongue. She couldn't see hands but she assumed it was under the shirt. ("DUDE! I get it. Your dad was making out. That's kinda gross that you said tongue so many times.")

"Divya...!" The door being shut alerted Vijay to his daughter's presence and began the awkward shuffle one did when they were definitely caught doing something they expected privacy for. "Why aren't you at work?"

"Hey, Ruchika, good to see you again."

"Hello, Divya. I...your father was telling me about...feng shui." The same woman from a few days ago was clearly flustered and while Divya appreciated the need for the woman to lie, Divya wasn't a child, she knew what making out looked like and honestly she was glad that her dad seemed to be recovering from the ordeal with her mom. Plus, and this was D.B. being candid in the realm of her own mind, Ruchika was beautiful and well out of her dad's league. D.B. would be trying to make out with someone like that all the time if she were in her dad's shoes. ("Seriously, dude, do you wanna make out or something because holy shit.")

"Divya...did you get fired?"

"I wish. Well...I don't wish really. Mr. Kavanaugh took me off tonight because he doesn't think a girl my age should, like, miss out on dates or something. Don't worry, I'll be quiet. You two can keep talking about feng shui." D.B. was resigning herself for a night of watching old movies while hunched over a laptop monitor and munching on popcorn and chips which was typically how she spent most nights anyway, just without the popcorn and chips part.

"Do you not agree with him?"

"It you, dad-day?"

"I'm pretty sure it's 'et tu'"

D.B. didn't even parse what Ruchika said - besides which who even corrected something like that unless someone wanted to come off as the smartest person in the room even if it made them look like a monumental tool. She was too busy looking like her father had just plotted in her downfall like the salad guy. "I'm just saying, you spend a lot of time in your room. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if you made a friend or two."

"Like two days ago I had to beg you to let me go to a party and now you want me out of the house? What happene-oh." D.B. looked from her dad to Ruchika and back to her dad. Honestly if her presence was a dealbreaker how passionate could they be? She'd seen kids make out in the halls damn near every day, and probably more than that if she looked hard enough, but these adults couldn't get their make out on if she had headphones on and was watching a movie? Were they planning on doing more than make out? ("I swear if you say make out one more time, dude...")

"What about that boy you told me about? The one you met at the party?"

"Zach? I'm not gonna discuss feng shui with him that's for sure. He's probably...huh. Yeah...maybe." D.B. left the statement rather open ended as she hurried off to her room both to change and to make sure her camera was fully charged and ready to go. By the time she returned to the front entrance, her dad and his date were pretending to be interested in the television broadcast of a sitcom. "Going out. Be back later. Don't wait up." And she was out the door faster than she could say feng shui make out.

"And so I came here looking for Zach because I figured he'd be here looking for you or something."

Sam Lassiter looked like she had just run the equivalent of a marathon; both of her hands were on her forehead and she was wondering who she pissed off to be saddled with this strange girl for the better part of, like, an hour. "That's all you had to say. I didn't need your entire life story, dude. I don't know who the hell Zach is but he's not here. I don't even want to be here, I'm probably gonna see if Owen wants to hang or something, I just came because I left some shit here this morning. Sorry, dude. Don't you have the dude's number? Maybe he can help you with your weird make out obsession."

"Trust me, it's not me he's interested in making out with, which is good because I have to remain impartial. But anyway, since I have you right here, can you make a statement about Zach? He's...uh...I'm pretty sure you fought him like yesterday? Maybe it was this morning?"

"Oh, that kid? He brought me flowers." Sam cracked a visible smile that D.B. was sure to capture on camera before Sam's face returned to normal. "But he wasn't much of a fighter. Could barely stop his knees from shaking together. I went easy on him. Felt kinda bad. I mean...he brought me flowers...so...." Sam trailed off and behind the camera D.B. was beaming. One day, Sam and Zach were going to thank her for this.

D.B. hadn't gotten what she came for but she still found something worthwhile. She set her camera aside and stood up with a stretch. The night was young enough...she'd probably just go catch a movie or something and before going into the theater proper she'd sit in the lobby on her phone and act like her date cancelled last minute. No one would be any wiser. As D.B. stood, there came a knock on the door of the Combat Club and both girls looked towards the door.

"Who the hell is that now?"

D.B. continued rolling...maybe it would be a reunion of lovers...or something...

[smarty0114]

---

---

_{Featuring: Katie Callaghan & Alison Callaghan
Location: The Callaghan Estate}

---

---

As Scott’s car pulled away from the Callaghan residence, Katie looked her reflection over in the mirror, checking for any sort of indication that she had left the house. After a careful inspection,she flopped down on her bed, satisfied that her appearance wouldn’t give anything away. She’d made it.

Her reprieve would prove to be short lived, however, as her room was quickly invaded by one very angry Alison Callaghan.

“Katherine Elizabeth Callaghan, what the hell is going on with your brother?”

Oh. This was bad.

Katie propped herself up on her elbows, chewing her lip as she pieced together why Owen had come to her home. He’d been telling her mom about Jamie’s article. The nuclear option. She stalled for a moment, hoping to come up with some answer that would get her out of this without invoking her mother’s wrath, but also preserved her and Jamie’s sacred, no snitching, pact.

“I think he’s on a date with Marshall...” Feigning stupidity. A classic move. Too classic...

“Don’t play dumb with me! What’s with your brother? He’s been weird lately, is it because of this article? Because Owen Lyon just came by our house to let me know how much of an awful kid he’s been, and I don’t know what to do. I know you aren’t as in the dark as you want me to think,” her mother said, punctuating her words with a huff and a crossing of her arms. She meant business tonight.

Katie sighed. So, she’d been right. For once, she wished she hadn’t been. “God, I don’t even know where to start,” she said, closing her eyes and rubbing her temples as if the mere act of trying to recall all the events that had been surrounding her brother and his circle were giving her a headache. “I guess, it all started when Owen cheated on his girlfriend, Trixie. Well, supposedly cheated.”

“Trixie from the newspaper? The editor?” Alison asked, recognizing the name. Katie replied with a nod, before continuing.

“They broke up, but on Monday, Trixie asked Jamie to look into it. I guess at the Helmsley’s party on Tuesday, Trixie found out that her best friend staged some photos to frame Owen. It’s a mess, to be honest bu-oh my GOD you read the article, right?” Katie asked, exasperated by the endless complications that plagued the lives of her peers.

“From what Jamie told me, Trixie said that if he found the story, he could write the article. So, he wrote it. Trixie told him everything at the party, so if there’s anyone Owen Lyon needs to be mad at it’s his girlfriend. Owen’s hardly even in the damn thing. If anyone should be here telling you how awful Jamie is, it’s Ophelia. He did not go easy on her.”

Alison sighed, and shook her head. “You kids will be the death of me, you know that?” Having received a smidge of clarification on the topic, Alison turned to walk out, to go tell her husband and figure out a way to punish her eldest son.

Before she could pass through the door, Katie called out for her mom, stopping her in her tracks. She turned her head to Katie, her exhaustion clearly written all over her face. She wanted to mention Scott, but something caught her. Not yet. This was unfamiliar territory still, and Katie was determined to traverse it without her mother’s prying eyes… for now.

“I love you,” she said instead, offering her mom a supportive smile.

“I love you too, honey.”

[LovelyComplex]

---

---

_{Friday afternoon; En route to Captain Cuddles
Mentions: Damian & Wyatt
@Hey Im Jordan @smarty0114}

In the white escalade, her mama's carpool vehicle, Truly Bliss sat in the passenger seat, buckled and all, twiddling with her hands. This was actually happening. She was going to face her husband and reveal that she WAS the girl who wrote the creepy love letter. Staying unusually quiet, as she wide-eyed gawked at her galaxy skirt, her outfit suiting the 'Star Wars' theme by having stars, the small ginger waited for her inevitable doom. As she waited for her mother to find out more, because that's what Melody did, she pried, True recalled some of the advice that was told to her from her brother prior to leaving the O'Connor driveway.

don’t suck him off on the first date
That makes you a thot
imagine what you think I’d do
then don’t do that
make sure that there’s no unwanted
butt touching
It gets slimey, you know?
if you wanna touch him, then touch him
just don’t thot it up
put out on the second date.
and whatever you do,
do not invite him over
and remember, spitters are quitters.

'Spitters are quitters' True stared into space, literally, as her mind tried to prepare her for her first date with the love of her life.

"So." Oh man. Here it came. The interrogation. It always started with 'so'. All they needed was a blinding light in the freshman's face and this would be perfect. For Melody, not True. True watched her mother's face through her peripheral vision, biting the bottom of her lip, waiting with her tiny body full of nerves. If the date didn't make her nervous enough, here she was being SCRUTINIZED by her MOTHER! Even before Melody said anything more!

On contrary, Melody didn't ask her question first. First, she tapped her daughter's knee and chided, "Don't bite your lip. You're going to make it bleed. Here, put some of my lip gloss on." Still wide-eyed, True watched as her mother pushed her purse closer to her, signaling the location of the gloss.

"O-okay." Obediently, the littlest O'Connor rummaged through her mother's purse to get her light pink lip gloss out. Her mother should've been paying attention to the road, but she was too busy taking note of her rose-colored child. After bringing the sun visor down, with a mirror attached, of course, True carefully and with complete focus applied the lip gloss. 'Don't fuck it up! These lips are for him.'

Melody waited patiently for her daughter to finish her business, but once she was, the demand (not question) came in, like a raging bull, "Tell me more about this... Wyatt kid. That's his name, right?"

"How..." No, don't ask. Finding out how her mom discovered his name would only make her uncomfortable. There was a place True got her skill of detailed research from. That place was probably in the form of her mother... who was a person, not a place. "I, uh, met him at school."

"I figured as much, Truly." Melody's finger started tapping on the wheel, obvious signs she was getting impatient and may do something irrational when they arrived.

"It was briefly! But he was... nice. And I gained a crush on him. He's, uh..." Was this something her mother needed to know? Probably not, but she was going to tell her anyways! "He's in Damian's year. ^{Not a freshman.} But is in a vastly different clique than big brother! ^{The burners.} But, like just because he isn't one of the big dogs doesn't mean he isn't a big dog to me."

"Big dog?" The mother in the car raised an eyebrow.

"What?" True slipped the lipgloss in her dress pocket, crossed her arms, and gave her mother a perplexed look, which was enough to confirm there was no perversion in this story. Yet. Melody gave a sigh of relief.

What was her mother implying?! True puffed her cheeks. She wasn't like her and daddy. She didn't have an Alpha. Sure, Wyatt was her possession, but it was MORE than that. If anything, she was his bride and his number one priority! "...okay, well, he works at Wheels N Deelz, offered to teach me how to skate. By the way, mommy. I want a skateboard."

"Why don't you get your boyfriend to buy you one, hm?" Melody teasingly chuckled and it only worsened when she noticed True's cheeks beaming rosy red. Her baby was so cute.

"^{Mom. I-can't-do-that. I... how do I even ask?!}"
"Easy. Just ask and he'll tell you what he wants in return."

"^{What-if-he-doesn't-want-anything-in-return?!?!}" True was squirming in her seat. How could she possibly ask her beloved for a gift?! She was his servant! Not the other way around.

"Then aren't you a lucky girl. Now, back to the main topic. Mama needs to know if you'll need guidance tonight, so I have to know what this boy is like." Melody rested her left hand on her chest, with such a motherly need and desire, while her right hand stood on the wheel. Her mother was good at this... too good. How could she possibly withhold anything from her?!

"No, no. I don't need guidance mommy. I promise he's a good boy. He loves dogs and he attends film club, so he isn't like not active at school!" Use the big guns, True. Win your mom's approval. "Oh, and his family is like super duper rich. You actually read one of his dads' books... last name Durand."

"Oh my —"

"Yes exactly! I know how to pick them, right? Right?" True was getting increasingly excited. Maybe she should invite him over! Not allowing her mother to finish her words, True chirped, forgetting the whole spiel of Damian saying 'do not invite him over', "You want to meet him later? Like after the date? Maybe? Maybe he'd be okay with coming over! I mean... is that too bold? Should I not?"

As much as Melody wanted to geek about all the help books that really gave her a peace of mind, or that Wyatt's other father did work on a couple of people she knew, Melody had to focus on her daughter needing her to succeed and capture the flag! The flag being a Durand. Yes, yes. "Baby, if there's anything I've taught you since you could make an impression, like James Swartz said—"

"Who?"

"Don't worry about it, he's dead." A lot of people she referenced were dead... "Anyways, let me get a word in gosh dammit!" Slapping the wheel, Melody blew her bangs in frustration. Why was her daughter so... so... so like her?!

"Heh, sorry."

"Fortune favors the bold, my darling Truly Bliss. My only daughter. My beautiful, naive, sophisticated, newborn baby." She just quoted Parks and Rec... "Go get him tiger, and don't hold back! If there's one thing I regret, it's not chasing your father sooner. I didn't really make him mine until junior year and it was more like I was at the mall with Rhett."

"Mr. Aspen?"

"Yes, or what we called him back in the day, Rex. We had a school project or something, or I just dragged him to the mall because he never took a break and then... by fate, or by him being pure evil, your father was there too. And I was finally seen, so I had to do something about it." True nodded at her mother's story intensely, finding parallels in her own love story. Like mother, like daughter. Recently, she was seen too. This was uncanny! "I had two options. Say bye and let him keep fucking other girls, because god your father was such a manwhore."

"Hey like Damian!"

Melody's left eye twitched momentarily, before she proceeded, "... Or I could show him I'm the best girl he could ever be with. I chose the latter and now we're married." Pulling up in front of Captains Cuddles, Melody shifted her body more towards True and happily gleamed, "Be the best girl, because you know you are. Claim what's your's and don't let anyone ever take that away from you."

"Aye, aye captain!" With seriousness on her face, True saluted her mother, really liking the moment they shared. The conversation kept her so wrapped up in it that she forgot all about her anxiety of fucking things up with her lover!

"Now, are you sure you don't want me to come with you? I can." Melody put the car on park, forcibly, and looked at True expectantly.

^{"No-it's-okay-I-got-this."} Leaning forward, True kissed her mom on the cheek and then ESCAPED, before her mother actually did come along for the date. "Bye mommy, love you!"

"LOVE YOU MORE! REMEMBER SKATEBOARD AND INVITE OVER."

"OKAY." The door shut closed. Melody watched the backside of her daughter's red hair bounce, while the tiny little thing scurried into the building. Pulling out a handkerchief in the center console, she lightly dabbed her cheeks. Tears gracefully and gently slithering down. "My beautiful, tropical fish. They grow up so fast." Pausing in position, Melody narrowed her eyes. Why was Parks and Rec on her mind? After a moment of confusion, having not marathoned that show in a long while, she glanced up to see if True was still there. Melody couldn't help but crack a smile when she noticed True on the other side of the glass door death glaring her, and animatedly shooing her away, "I suppose I'll go meet the family for dinner now." As she drove off, another thought came to mind...

A sigh of relief left True's lips when her mother drove off.

Okay, now she needed to hide.

... "Where's her glasses?"

[Hey Im Jordan]

_{@Fabricant451 @Hey Im Jordan
Location: Henry’s Room
A Minry post
Time: Friday night during the Captain Cuddles event}

Henry and Min were lazing about in their room, and they had been since they’d got off of school — about two hours now. Why do anything else? Laying in bed together and almost snuggling was truth. They were almost snuggling for one simple reason: Henry was having trouble staying still. He’d rest with her in his arms, and then he’d roll around on the bed for a bit and end up with his head in her lap. He didn’t even know what was wrong with him, but staying put… it wasn’t working out. He’d been trying, but he couldn’t even focus on kissing up against her collarbone and neck. That lasted about five minutes and one finger before he kissed her nose and shifted around a bit more. He blamed the changing temperature.

It had taken him this long to remember that today was not just a Friday, but it was a movie night at Captain Cuddles. Usually, Henry didn’t show up to those just because he didn’t have a date — and if he did have a Friday night date, they typically came back to his room, not his father’s pizza place. Min-seo, however, was special. Which meant that he should probably take her to it… but only if she wanted to get dressed up. If anything, she was dressed down right now, with a discarded pair of jeans on the floor and bundled up in one of her boyfriend’s large shirts, specifically the one he’d worn to school that day; something simple and black with the white words on the front that said STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON.

He was comfortable...ish. She was comfortable. They were watching cartoons. Things were good. But, Henry had to ask, “hey, baby. Do you wanna get dressed up and go to the Star Wars movie thing tonight?”

In the relatively short time frame since they had been officially dating, Min-seo had truly come to enjoy the little moments shared between herself and Henry. The night watching tv with her falling asleep on his chest and waking up tucked under the covers with an arm around her, Henry not complaining when after some late night fooling around and cuddling Min-seo asked if she could have a midnight snack. Little things. Holding hands down the hallway in school, kissing while fastening her seatbelt, little moments. Tonight seemed prime for another of those moments, the two of them putting homework aside for the next day and making tonight just about them. Their unruly ‘daughter’ was off in the care of Brian and the television had an entire evening’s worth of entertainment for the both of them - and even if they weren’t feeling a particular show Min knew how to keep Henry from getting bored.

The unfortunate reality was, however, that Henry was finding it increasingly difficult to simply stay still. He was antsy, like a first time shoplifter constantly looking towards the cashier or for overhead cameras antsy. Min-seo had her theory and if it was correct then this weekend would be nothing if not...rocky (which was why Min-seo wanted to make this Friday nice and special) but in the long run it would make all the difference.

Henry’s question was a difficult one to ask. Of course going out on what would be a date date was a prospect Min-seo liked...but if Henry was going to be so...bouncy like this she wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea. Still...a date was always nice and they hadn’t really had the time to go on many. Granted they were still very much in the honeymoon phase of the relationship...which was all the more reason to go for it. “I don’t really….care about...Star Wars? But...I think...going out...will be...fun.”

I don’t really care about Star Wars.

Truer words had never been spoken, in Henry’s opinion, and never had a more attractive woman been in his room before. The simple fact of the matter was: his dad had awful taste in movies. At least when they used to (used to, because Hailey decided she was going to take them all for herself) have family movie nights, and the Hailstorm herself picked the movies, they saw some dumb shōnen anime film, like Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan… which they had watched maybe one too many times…

But Star Wars? Come the fuck on. At least the cartoon was good… “I wanted to see Robo Cop, but noooo, no one ever listens to Henry…” He shook his head and kissed Min-seo once more, before adjusting himself in his seat and nodding. “I mean, I definitely agree. I want to show you off, since I got the hottest girl on the block.” He bounced his way off of the bed, and looked toward the bathroom.

“Probably not a bad idea to shower. You know, like together. So you can wash… the spot I can’t reach.”

While Min-seo was of the belief that there were certainly prettier girls out there, the fact that Henry thought so highly of her and earnestly believed it made her giddy on the inside and all smiles on the outside - enough so that she initiated a second kiss before Henry bounded off the bed like it was full of bugs. Min glanced down at her attire for the moment; she couldn’t go out in a shirt that she was stretching out due to her penchant for pulling it down past her knees when scrunched up. She didn’t even know where Compton was or why she would want to be straight outta it.

“Okay, but I’m going to use a washing cloth this time…” Min wasn’t opposed to the showering plan, it was expedient to do it at the same time rather than one after the other and it was certainly large enough for two people. Of course, Min-seo’s words came with their own little nuggets of self doubt. She had said as much that morning about the hard to reach spot and she wound up using a loofah by way of where her taste buds lay. Regardless, Min-seo deposited her boyfriend’s shirt onto the earlier discarded jeans, both of which would be washed soon enough, and she quickly skipped over to where Henry was so they could walk together. It was a short distance, sure, but that didn’t matter for Min-seo and somehow she doubted Henry would mind.

By the time they finished the shower, the cleanest body part between them was Min-seo’s knees — she’d gone for the hard to reach spot with a bit more than a wash cloth by the end of things… the best part for Henry? It had been her suggestion; not his. Henry was beginning to have some regrets when he realized how long it was going to take for them to get ready to go, though. He was a boy — a splash of cologne, a quick second in the closet to find his outfit of the day, and he was ready to rock. Min-seo, however? Henry was mind blown that it could take longer than ten minutes to get ready.

It had been almost twenty already! “Baby girl? Look, don’t get me wrong, I’m not gonna be hurtin’ if we miss the beginning of Star Wars, but let me tell you I know my pops and he’s gonna put the good shit out before we get there at this rate.” She was never like this for school. Well, there was the very, very real chance that she blew his mind — she’d already did it once, and that was before she even knew what she wanted. But she had the whole gotdamn glow up squad and the castle then! “Hey, if you don’t wanna go, we can get back to where we were gettin’ when we were in the shower, you follow me?” Henry offered, looking into the bathroom where Min-seo had disappeared after grabbing an armful of stuff.

There was a distinct difference between getting ready for school and, to use Henry’s own words that caused such motivation to begin with, ‘get dressed up’ and ‘shown off’. Though she had been trying to keep as much of a low profile as possible (to the point where she was still surprised someone like Henry noticed her romantically at all) which meant that her more fashion focused clothes from back home were still back home. Fortunately she did go to a boutique of sorts for the yacht and that might have included her purchasing some makeup, and she might have brought a few outfits for more formal affairs. Like prom.

Her outfit for the evening might not have been her prom dress, but as a half hour passed before she left the bathroom with her outfit for the night’s date on and ready. She stood in the doorway like she was some kind of model, even though her face was cracking up at her own little gesture. Hopefully, the extra time to get ready was worth the wait. “”Do...do you not...want...to go out?” She blinked as her expression turned to confusion, the comment about going back to the shower lingered in her head.

While he had been serious about possibly staying home, Henry was quick to concede: “You’re a dime. You’re a double dime. You’re the hottest woman in the world.” Henry said, raising an eyebrow as he looked her up and down, moving across the way to put his hands around her waist and pull her out of the doorway she was in, and more snugly in his arms. “Let’s go show everyone that sexy little black dress, and then we come back, we can see how much better it looks on my floor.”

“It would...not look good...on..floor. It would...get dirt.” Min’s response was uniquely earnest; she might well have been aware that Henry was flirting but that didn’t mean she fully understood the nuances and intent of American flirtation quite yet. It didn’t matter anyway; Henry might have compared her to twenty cents but his words made her feel like a million bucks. After rewarding his words with a kiss, even with the risk that some of her lipstick might linger, she put a hand around his waist, ready for what was sure to be as memorable a night out as ever there was one.

“The idea, baby, is that the dress goes on the floor, because it slips off of your body, so I can get my hands on it…” Henry seemed happy enough to give an explanation of things, leading her out of the room and down the hall, toward the carport. Henry had been in a bit of a questionable mood earlier, but for now he was happy, or at least seemed it. “You’re gonna meet my dad, for like, the first time. As my girlfriend anyway. It’s different than just meeting him as the awkward foreign exchange student.” Henry explained, opening the passenger door for his girlfriend. He thought it was at least fair enough to warn her… “My dad can be a bit extra… well, really? All my parents can. But it’s most notable with my Mother and Dad.”

Min-seo had a moment of pause when Henry explained the intricacies of their night out; getting dressed up for a date that would include making peers take notice was quite different than getting dressed up to meet the parents, so to speak. Now she was just wondering if she had overdone it, if this dress was too short and showed a bit too much leg, if her hair was straight, if her makeup wasn’t caked on like a clown, a million little ‘what ifs’ filled her head as she lowered into the passenger seat. “Your father...is okay….with...me?” Her question was a bit loaded, but it was as much a question of reaffirmation than anything else. “Then I will...meet..him.”

“Like I give a fuck what my father thinks. Who cares if he’s okay with you? I’m more than okay with you. If he’s not okay with you, then he can stay fucked off from my life — I don’t even wanna meet the dude, he just owns the pizza place.” Henry shrugged after offering his explanation. It made sense to him — his father wasn’t a part of their relationship, that was between himself and Min-seo. If his parents had a problem with it? Then they could get fucked. He didn’t like them anyway.

It hurt Min-seo just a bit to hear Henry talk about his father in such negative language even if she could somewhat empathize. Her relationship with her father was rocky at best, though much of that stemmed from Min-seo being the product of an affair rather than just simply an unloving, overworked, stern father. Still, people only had one set of parents, truly, and Min was a believer that most parents did love their children even if the child thought otherwise. Maybe it was naive of her to think, but it was no less naive than her thinking she could help Henry in secret which was part of why he seemed so antsy earlier. Maybe she could help Henry with his father. Or maybe she was just being her naive self once again. “Henry...everything will be...good.”

[Bee]

_{Featuring: Sarah “Nova” Rosen, Tiffany Tran, and Ariana Song}

---

---

Sarah was out of her natural element. She was actually out of the house on a Friday for once in her life. After her parents decided that it was time for her to get out of the house, because god forbid she stay somewhere where she knew her safety was guaranteed, Sarah opted for the cafe that just so happened to be within ten minutes of her house. She lacked a driver’s license, so suffice to say that she didn’t have many options when it came to places she could go.

Using her parents’ credit card, Sarah bought herself a large hot chocolate and got settled in at a table. Because this was Sarah, she came well equipped for her venture outside of her room for once. As soon as she received her drink and got settled, she pulled out her laptop, mouse, and charger. Just because she was ousted from her room didn’t mean that she was going to go without the games that she loved the most. The screen lit up, as Sarah took a sip from her hot chocolate. Today felt like a League of Legends type of day. Maybe go in there and yell at some people through their chat for missing some skillshots or leaving their lane when they weren’t supposed to.

Queueing up, Sarah sat back in her seat. Luckily, she was allowed to be AD Carry this game, which meant that they had a better chance at winning, just as long as the rest of her team was willing to pull their weight and not be deadweight that Sarah also had to carry. Sarah chose Kai’Sa, which was her go-to for ADC. Eventually, everyone was locked in, and it was soon time to go. A smile grew on Sarah’s face, as she put her earphones in and got ready to get going on the virtual battlefield.

Tiffany wanted a quiet place to go. She’d somehow managed to slip away from a rather loud kickback with her friends and found herself in this cafe. She’d never seen it before, but it was worth having a shot. It was better than inhaling second hand vape and watching her girls snort fake ecstasy. At least here, she was getting what she paid for. There wasn’t a line, but there were a handful of people around. That had to be worth something, right?

Tiffany clutched her phone close to her chest, clearing her throat as she looked up at the menu. “Hi… can I please get your thai tea, please? That’s all for me.” The cashier smiled and placed it in the register, the price popping up in front of her face. ”Cool, that’ll be $6.75, please.”

The Asian girl flinched at the price. $6.75 for a cup of thai tea? This had better been the best cup of thai tea in her life. There was no way she could justify paying so much for a measly cup otherwise. Reluctantly, though, she gave the cashier a ten dollar bill, and got $4.25 in change. Placing the quarter in the tip jar, she turned around and waited patiently. She took yet another look around the building. Everyone here seemed to be hipsters who probably listened to music with less than 5,000 listeners on Spotify. It definitely wasn’t her crowd, but it was one she’d like to be.

Tiffany grew tired of having to take ecstasy and eat Korean BBQ nearly every damn week.

A particular image caught her eye, though. She looked down at the girl sitting in front of her, glancing at her screen. Was it a little nosy? Yeah, but Tiffany figured that if she was willing to put herself out there like that in a place like this, then wandering eyes were kind of inevitable. She was playing a game here, too, it looked like. It looked like one of those nerd games based on how focused the girl looked, but at the same time, she couldn’t bring herself to look away. It was just so colorful and the way that everyone was doing their powers and killing people, she was intrigued.

Tiffany wanted to know more.

”I’ve got a large thai tea here!” Someone cried out, which prompted Tiffany to turn around. At least it was big. Tiffany thanked the staff before grabbing the drink. The girl wanted to keep watching, but she couldn’t just stand behind the girl like a creep. So, she had to settle for sitting next to her. At least the table next to her was vacant for now, which Tiffany took in order to gain a good sight of her screen.

Sarah was rolling. She was catching on fire and obliterating everything in her path. She had managed to level up fairly quickly with her farming, so she was able to melt people in her lane with relative ease. Everything within eyesight of her was melted. It didn’t matter what the fuck they were or who the fuck they were, Sarah practically deleted them from existence. Repositioning herself in this cafe had worked wonders, because she had never played a game like this before.

The streamer was racking up the kills and assists, and hitting all the skill-shots she needed to hit. It was a spectacle to watch -- up until the point where she inevitably got a little too aggressive and was deleted in return after being ganked. Sighing, she had a timer to wait through. She was going to go around and see what the other people on her team were doing, but a tap on her shoulder had startled her and caused her to jump a bit. She turned toward the Asian girl who had a curious look on her face.

”AH- Hi, yes, hello…” What did this girl want? Was she going to be teased for playing video games in a cafe? She thought these places were a judge-free zone! It was 2043. Come on. ”Can I help you?”

Tiffany flinched just a bit at the girl’s sudden reaction. Maybe she shouldn’t have done that, but it was far too late at this point. Might as well just roll with it. ”Hey… what game is that? I’ve seen a lot of people play it but I don’t know what it is or what it’s about.”

”Oh, this?” Did someone really not know what League of Legends was? Did this girl live under a rock or something? Sarah was perplexed, but she didn’t want to be an asshole about it. ”This is League of Legends… one of the most popular games in the entire world. It’s like thirty years old or so, but people still play it today. It holds up!”

”Ohh, so what’s it about? Do you just go around killing people?” Tiffany asked curiously, sipping on her thai tea as she watched the figures move around on the screen. Based on how color returned to the screen, it was time for Sarah to get going again and get back to killing. She felt kinda like an asshole for asking so many questions while this girl was trying to mind her own business, but again, it was far too late to even take anything she said back. And hey, who knows? Maybe she would actually be open to talk about it. Maybe this girl was actually nice.

”Basically… yeah, but it’s not about killing people. Sometimes you gotta heal them instead… or basically support them, y’know? Teamwork makes the dream work?” Sarah shrugged, watching her champion plow her way down bottom lane to help out with a team fight that was just about to blossom. Hopefully that was an opportunity to use her ultimate and other abilities to win that team fight. This girl was interested in what she was doing, though. It was rare that someone take an interest in what she was doing, especially people like the girl sitting next to her. No offense, she just didn’t look like the type to be into video games, especially those like League of Legends. ”You see these giant statues shooting stuff at my teammates? That’s called a tower. We’re supposed to take those down in our lane and try to get to the other team’s base and blow their shit up.”

”Is that how you win?”

”Basically… or if the other team surrenders.” Sarah began clicking furiously and mashing buttons on her keyboard as she pulled up to the team fight. She managed to get a couple of kills as a result, finishing off people who were pulling away. ”Why don’t you watch me play for a bit? If you have any questions I’ll answer it.”

”Are you guys talking about League?” A voice popped up from the back, which caused both girls to turn their heads to see just who in god’s name had entered the conversation. It was none other than gamer extraordinaire, Ariana Song. She had also come here for a quiet place to be, but knowing that League of Legends was being played in the same building as her was something she was definitely not going to pass up, nor was she going to pass up a conversation about it.

The both of them nodded, before Tiffany shrugged. ”I’ve never heard of it before… so I just wanted to see what it was all about.”

”Oh! It’s basically about a bunch of champions going around killing each other. It’s so much fun and it’s so satisfying to get a win.” Ariana stuck her face in between the girls, looking at the screen before looking at Tiffany. ”I hate it. Don’t ever play it. It’s ruined my life.” Ariana shook her head, before going around the little fence area that was created to take a seat with Tiffany.

”Hey, do you guys go to BHHS? I’ve been looking for fellow league players.”

’Yeah! I think I’ve heard of you. Ariana, right? People talk about you sometimes and how you play all sorts of video games.”

”Yep, that’s me. You’re that streamer….. SuperNova, right?”

”Yeah… but call me Sarah. It’s weird if you call me Nova in real life.”

”I’m Tiffany. I also go to BHHS.” Tiffany put her hand on her chest, feeling a little awkward and excluded as the two new girls talked.

”Hey, are you guys going to Captain Cuddles tonight? I heard there’s something going on over there.”

”W-What kind of stuff? What’s Captain Cuddles?”

”To be honest, I have no idea. I just know a lot of people are gonna be there tonight. Do you guys wanna come with me? Maybe we can just hang out and… talk about league, I guess.”

”Uh, sure? I mean… I don’t have anything else to do.”

”I don’t know… what do you guys think? I don’t really do parties….”

”Ah, just stick with me, and you’ll be fine. If you’re uncomfortable, you can always just go home. No hard feelings.

”Okay… I guess I’ll go then. I just have to tell my parents.”

”How are we gonna get there, tho?"

”I’ll just drive y’all, I guess. Cool?”

”Cool.”

”Yeah. Sounds like a plan.”

[Silver Carrot]

_{A @Silver Carrot & @Kitty collab
Featuring: Charity Spencer and Trent
Location: Church, Friday Evening}

---

---

Charity was sitting straight, eyes forward, on a cushioned pew in the local church used by most of the devout population at BHHS. This was it. This was the execution of her plan. Or, at least, Plan A. If this worked, solving the issue of Miriam being blackmailed by Trent would most likely be a straightforward and simple, is maybe not easy, process. If it didn’t work, at least there were other options. As long as Charity didn’t blow it and accidentally reveal her true intentions, which Charity didn’t see happened. Trent will have no reason to suspect Charity’s story, as it will be for the most part, true.

She had sent Trent a text that simply read ’I’m worried about Miriam. As she’s my best friend, and you’ve started dating recently, I wanted to talk. I’ll be at the church at around 7pm.’ She hoped that would be enough for him to at least humor her. Besides, Charity was getting worried about Miriam long before Trent blackmailed her, and Trent’s actions would hardly make Miriam act more Christian around him. He would understand Charity’s ‘concerns’.

Trent sauntered into the church, hands in his pockets and his face neutral. If it had been up to him he would have skipped out on meeting with Charity. She wasn’t exactly ‘cool’ nor his type, but he dumbly left his phone on the counter while getting a snack after school and his mother saw the text. His mother being friends with both Charity’s parents and Miriam’s told him he needed to go, so here he was.

Walking to a pew in front of Charity he stood facing her, leaning on the back of the one behind him. “I’m here, what do you want?” He asked bluntly, crossing his arms. He thought Miriam was fine, then again he didn’t care about her emotional well-being… he was blackmailing her.

Trent’s blunt manner caused Charity to inwardly waver. As ready as she thought she was, Trent was intimidating, and now all the doubts were returning. What if he found out she was onto him? What if things didn’t go right? Her brain struggled to quell this paranoia and fear, but it ultimately succeeded. Charity looked up at Trent, and breathed a sigh of relief.

”I wasn’t sure if you’d come. Thank you for being here. Anyway, as I said in my text, I’m concerned about Miriam. She hasn’t been herself. It started before you two were going out, so maybe you haven’t noticed the difference like I have. I’m worried she’s heading towards a crisis of faith, if she isn’t having one already. I’m wondering if you’ve noticed anything.”

Trent stared at Charity blankly, he was slightly suspicious of her sudden concern but for the most part he saw her as the furthest thing from a threat. As he listened to Charity, Trent couldn’t help the amusement that crossed his face.

“You can’t be serious, you are asking me about if I’m concerned if she’s having a crisis of faith?” He scoffed, “Here I was thinking you were one of the nerds…” Leaning forward placing his hands on the pew and placing his face at the same level as hers. “Do you really think I care if she still believes or has faith? Do you even know who you’re talking to?” He got even closer, close enough to cause his breath to hit Charity’s face.

“It’s better for me if she doesn’t have faith. More fun if you know what I mean.” Trent laughed as he stood up straight. “I guess that’s something you wouldn’t understand. You are too much of a prude for it, not to mention the type of girl no guy would ever be into. Hell no girl would be into you.” Trent smirked, looking down at Charity. Her actual question long forgotten. Now he was just enjoying himself.

Charity clicked her tongue, and took some deep breaths through her nose. She gathered Trent was a vile person from Miriam, but this was worse than anything she could of imagined. And saying these things in a church, as well. How dare he. Even so, she couldn’t object yet. She could still salvage some kind of information from this if she played her cards right. Plus, she was not going to rise to conflict in this sanctuary. ”I can see now that you’re not concerned with her changes. In fact, you seem to welcome them. Still, as her boyfriend, you must care about her. So, just….keep an eye on her, okay? I don’t want to see her hurt and I know you must feel the same way. Also, I object to your insinuation, about a girl being into me. In a church, no less.” She added indignantly, clearly looking for an apology.

“Sure. I care for her.” Was all Trent commented on that front, “Now do you need anything else,” he paused, his smirk growing. “dyke.” Trent was just toying with her at this point to get reactions from her.

Charity raised her eyebrows, and had to take a few more seconds to compose herself. She didn’t want to blow this opportunity while there was still some hope of it bearing fruit, but Charity Spencer, for her deserved reputation as a prudish, saccharine ‘pastel cardigan’ Church Girl, was far from a doormat.

”Yes, actually. Just one more thing. An apology. My sister is the lesbian, not me. And I cherish my sister like I do all my family. But I am heterosexual. Do not bear false witness against me, Trent. Apologize.” There was a sudden undercurrent friction to her voice. It wasn’t quite powerful, and wasn’t quite furious, but it was still a jarring transition from the usually docile, sweet Charity.

“So the pussy has claws. Interesting, but I’ve gotta ask? Does your family know your sister is a disgusting dyke?” A flash of disgust as he thought of two women having sex. “What’s with the church and all the homos..” He muttered to himself as he pushed off the pew. “Nevermind if your family knows, I don’t give a fuck. You guys have nothing worthwhile for me. I’m out of here, you’ve only wasted my time. Don’t ever text me again or else you will regret it.” Trent sent Charity one last look before shoving his hands in his pockets and making his way out of the church.

Charity stayed behind. She needed the guidance of the Lord right now, and the peace and quiet would also help her calm down and gather her thoughts. Even so, she was now more than ever determined to bring Trent down. He was going to get what he deserved. She hadn’t learned anything new other than that Trent was a homophobe, but she could have guessed that. Perhaps that was what he was blackmailing Miriam with. Perhaps that was why Miriam had changed so much recently. Charity had seen what growing up LGBT in a strict Christian household does to a person. She had been the only one really there for Pamela for a good few years. But wait, Trent is disgusted by lesbians. He said as much himself. He wouldn’t blackmail one into dating him. No, there must be another answer...

[Kitty]

And

_{Location: Friday Night - Erickson Household}

---

---

“Duke, what should we do tonight?” Josie asked her dog as she sat strewn across the sofa.
Duke cocked his head, his ears perking up as he heard his name.

“Great idea. A lazy movie night while everyone else is having a movie night with their boo.”
Duke laid his head down on the couch looking up at Josie.

“No Duke I’m not jealous of all of them. Okay maybe a bit, I told you about DJ boy right… Yeah. I did.”
She looked at her dog who was staring back.

“Hey I get to think about him as much as I want when he stole my first kiss.”
Duke licked his nose.

“No I don’t mean stole in a bad way, of course it wasn’t horrible. Just not what I thought would happen. Why do you have to bring him up?”
A whine was heard in reply.

“Hey you asked me if I was jealous, so yes you are to blame.”
He licked her cheek.

“Ok, ok. No boys tonight, well minus you. We are gonna watch a musical and dance and sing our hearts out!”

Josie hopped up and ran to the kitchen, Duke letting out a bark and following behind her. She immediately got to work on dinner along with a bunch of snack foods for the movies. Once everything was complete she set everything out in front of the television in the living room and plopped down on the couch with Duke by her side.

“Mamma Mia or Greatest Showman?” The dancer looked at her dog and nodded looking back to the TV. “Great choice, Mamma Mia it is.” Starting the movie, Josie leaned back in the couch eating her dinner. Occasionally slipping food to Duke, other times accidentally losing food off the plate as she sang and danced along with the movie. Duke happily cleaning up after her.

It wasn’t until halfway through the second Mamma Mia movie that her night was interrupted by a video call popping up on the screen from the last person she expected to get a call from.

Seeing his name pop up on the screen caused Josie to squeal and immediately move the popcorn bowl she was eating from to the table. At the same time she informed her assistant to answer the call.

“TREVOR! MY FAVORITE BROTHER!!”

Trevor chuckled, shaking his head at his sister. “I’m your only brother JC.”

“Thus why you are my favorite.” Josie winked at her brother, a grin on her face. “So how’s my favorite army lieutenant? Any top secret missions? Like finally asking that mystery girl out?”

“What mystery girl? I have no idea what you are talking about. I can’t have a mystery girl to ask out when I have a girlfriend Jo.”

“You do too know what I’m talk-” She paused as what he said sank in, “YOU HAVE A WHAT!? It’s about damn time. With all those ‘I’m asking for a friend on advice with a girl’. You aren’t sneaky at all T. In fact it was hella obvious. Now what’s her name? What does she look like? When can I meet her?”

“Was it really that obvious I thought I was doing good at making it not so obvious… Oh well. But you will meet her and get to know more about her when I feel like our relationship is ready for that. I’ve never been one for something serious but this girl is different, I want to make sure we are good before bringing the family into this. Especially dad. I think you’d really like her JC, I know I do.” Trevor was smiling to himself as he talked about the girl he was now dating. All Josie could do was smile widely seeing her brother like this. When he looked up and saw her smiling at him, he immediately was confused. “What? Why are you smiling like a creep?”

“Look at my brother, being all romantic and shit. Who knew you had it in you. Well actually we all did, but I’m happy for you Trevor. That’s why I’m smiling. Now have you told dad?”

“Actually yes I have. Just got off the phone with him. He’s a bit skeptical but for now he is supportive seeing as she is a nurse. That sold it for him. But dad is why I called you sis.” Josie paled hearing her brother’s tone change. “He knows you were at the Hemsley’s party. He doesn’t know if you drank or did drugs or not but he doesn’t seem to care. He is pissed about you going to that party. He didn’t tell me his plans for punishment, but he said he is going to wait to do so until he gets home next week and can be there to ensure your punishment is actually fulfilled. My guess is something close to hell week, that is what I got out of his angry mutterings at least. Just prepare yourself for hell Josie. I’ll be just a text away.” The two bid each other goodbye and Josie was left to dwell on that information.

Josie sat there in silence after hearing what her brother had to say, her mind was working on overdrive and she had no idea what to do or expect. Her brother was right though, she needed to prepare for hell. Her father had always run the house like a military camp since her mother’s passing so there was no doubt about it...

Hell.
Was.
Coming.

[Grimoire Gaming]

_{Setting: Friday Night at the Radley Residence
Mentions: Jamie & Marty@smarty0114, Hannah@Undine, and Josie@Kitty}

---

---

Marshall licked at his bottom lip, almost able to taste the last kiss that was lingering there. Sitting in the front seat of Jamie’s car, parked in his own driveway, oh how he had wanted that final kiss to last forever. How he had wanted this perfect date to never end. But here it was, at an ending. Marsh brushed his fingers over his lips and turned to look at the silver car that was still idle in front of his house. Taking his fingers away from their gentle perch, he held his hand to his side and wiggled those very same fingers in a wave to say goodbye to Jamie as he pulled away.

The teen let out a soft sigh as he watched the taillights disappear into the distance. The brief disappointment was quickly replaced with a bubbly flutter in his stomach. This utterly giddy, cloud nine feeling that was overtaking him was the very reason that he meshed so well with the Candy creed. Marshall Radley was infatuated with the idea of love, even more so the prospect of it. Was he in love? It was too early to tell… right? Hannah wouldn’t think so — goodness, he couldn’t wait to tell Hannah all about his first date! None of the candies could gush quite like the two of them together could.

Spinning on his heel, Marshall practically danced through the front door of his house. Scratch that, it wasn’t practically dancing, he was literally dancing down the hall. A waltz with an invisible partner — though he had one in his mind’s eye. He bumped into his mother, as he had his eyes closed in all of his lovestruck revelry, and let out a surprised ‘oof’.

“Hi my baby boy, how was your night?” Margot said warmly, pausing in the hall briefly to talk to her son, whom she knew had gone out for the night with some new boy.

Marshall immediately spun her into a tight embrace. “Oh, Mommm, it was sooo amazing.” He said with his face buried down into her shoulder, emphasizing his words by squeezing his arms around her and rubbing her back. “He’s so lovely, Mom. I can’t wait for you to meet him, which you will, because he’s officially my boyfriend now.” He said gleefully after pulling out of the hug. “He took me to a fabulous I-don’t-even-know-how-many-stars restaurant, but it was probably the most, and then he drove me out to an overlook of the city and we sat under the stars. Don’t worry, no hanky panky or anything like that… uhh, mostly. It was so sweet, we talked about our families and pasts and just… enjoyed the starlight.”

Margot stroked her son’s cheek with her thumb. “That sounds wonderful, Marshie. Can’t wait to meet him. What’s his name?”

“Jamie.” Marshall replied quickly with a lovedrunk grin. “His name’s Jamie.” He said before taking his leave to head towards his bathroom down the hall. On the way, he passed Martelle, who was just coming out of her own bathroom with a towel in her hand, patting her hair dry. With yet another wide smile, Marsh tipped forward on one toe to leaned down and kiss Marty on the cheek. “Hope you left some hot water for me!” He said quickly and cheerfully before dashing into his own suite.

It wasn’t until he was in the shower, alone with his thoughts and the steamy water, that Marshall let himself truly dwell on the events of the night. Every kiss was seared into his mind as he remembered the heat between their lips, white hot and strong enough to brand him for life. Maybe that’s why the water was steaming, was it him? He couldn’t tell as he watched the vapors rise from his arms as his hands spread aromatic suds over them. Marshall’s vision blurred as he focused on his own hands traversing his bare skin, and then he closed his eyes completely, imagining that they weren’t his hands at all. He ran his fingers along his forearm, up his bicep and across his chest. With a small gasp, he stepped back until his shoulder blades were pressed against the cool tiled wall, offering him enough support to counteract the growing weakness in his knees. From his chest, his hand found his throat, gripping tightly enough that he had to tilt his head back against the wall and part his lips to suck in a breath. It wasn’t long before the heated moment was washed away down the shower drain, but the memories… the memories would stay.

Marshall toweled off his own hair as he brought his clothes from the night over to his hamper. He paused before tossing his blazer in with the mix of dirty laundry, and instead brought the garment up to his face. Inhaling deeply, his nose was greeted by the scent of Jamie’s cologne. In all of their canoodling under the stars, some of it must have transferred over, which brought Marshall nothing but smiles and euphoric joy. Carrying the suit jacket and his cell phone with him, Marshall tucked himself into bed. Having gone suddenly mia for the night, he had a few texts and notifications to catch up on, including one from his dancing partner, Josie. She needed his Candy services.

To: Dancing Queen
ooh girlll, im all ears!
lets go out for smoothies and a chat after dance tmw?

He briefly considered sending Ophelia a text too, but decided against that. It could wait until the morning, he didn’t want to dampen this night at all with drama. Positive vibes only. On that note, he rolled so that he was facing the soft glow of the lamp on his bedside table — it was good selfie lighting. With a head of messy damp hair pressed against his pillow, he took a few snapshots until he settled on the best sleepy-but-adorable pout that he could manage. The harder part, was coming up with a caption.

To: Jamie
wish you were here

Too forward? Probably too forward. Backspace.

To: Jamie
miss you already

Fuck. No. Too clingy. Backspace.

To: Jamie
Good Night ❤️

That would have to do. He clicked send and bit his lip in anticipation of a response. Before going to sleep, he had one more very important thing to do. The social medias. If you aren’t dating on Facebook, is it even real? No! So, Marshall switched all of his accounts to announce that he was in a relationship with Jamie and grinned into his pillow like a giddy schoolgirl. Now all the world could share in his joy, and that was a happy thought to go to sleep on.

[BrutalBx]

_{Collab with @Lovely Complex
Featuring: Stelee, Hyde, & Jasmine
Introducing Iris Snyder; Athena and Aries' little sister.}

The last showing of Take a Hint was about to start. The previews were playing right now. A rom-com about a try hard boy attempting to get his dream girl and going to great extents to win her over. The typical trope of ‘friendzone’ but with a pinch of stalker.

Two girls, one with dark skin and pink highlights, and the other with a complete hair of green and black lipstick, were the only ones in the small theater. Both wore burgundy vests over white blouses, and black pants. Their uniform. One of the girls was none other than Jasmine Fulton, token biker chick and cooking girl extraordinaire, and her uniform fit her ever so tightly because of her voluptuous form. Meanwhile, her coworker and friend, Iris Snyder, was scrawny to the point where the outfit looked a tad baggy on her. Her skin was as pale as a ghost, which her uniform only washed out even more.

Iris snapped her gum as she swept the area, while Jasmine was behind the candy counter, which was also the only register currently open to buy tickets (for those stragglers). She sat on the counter eating Buncha Crunch. Turning her body around, so her legs were dangling off the counter, she called out to Iris, “Hey! You hear that?”

The apathetic girl pushing the broom lazily glanced over to her coworker with dead eyes, “The song? Yeah, it’s like… the only noise in here right now since the tvs are off.” And Jasmine tended to blast music when mostly everyone else was gone. Bossman trusted them, especially her since she’s worked here for over a year. “This is so early 2000s…”

Hopping off the counter, Jasmine walked to the sophomore and grinned, “Do you ever just want to sing and dance?”

“No.” The goth girl said plainly. “I don’t dance.”

“Aw, come on. Everyone can dance.”

“Not true. I know plenty of people that think they can, but they can’t.” Before Iris knew it, her and the broom were pulled close to the candy rush girl and being manhandled to sway to the Outkast song. The Gothic 'witch' put up no fight because even if she didn’t admit it, she had that ‘Aubrey Plaza’s April from Parks and Rec’ kind of personality, she liked this. Having fun. Being spontaneous. “Kill me.” This was just how her shifts were. Jasmine got bored and put all her attention on the other person in the room, which was usually her, and they had adventures inside the movie theater. Like dancing in the lobby.

Prancing through the parking lot, Stella clinged to Lee’s arm and looked up at him with pure glee, “I told you we’d miss your movie if we left too late. Now we have to watch Take a Hint.” It was entirely her fault they didn’t leave on time because she wouldn’t get off of him… wrestling and all. Honestly? This was a win for her because she loved romance and comedy! Put them together, though? The best!

"Why do I get the feeling you planned this?” Lee looked down at his brown eyed beauty and shook his head. He of course couldn’t be mad at her for this. If anything, he respected the game she showed. She was most definitely after his heart and it’s a chase she was winning. "You Miss Locke might actually be an evil genius behind that big smile...I knew I liked you.”

Friday night was normally a working night for the Pacific Park Psycho Cameron Hyde; if he wasn’t out dealing he was usually holed up with McCarthy working on some new hustle or plan to earn some cash dollar. This Friday was supposed to be all about Dare Night. Date Night was Lee’s masterpiece. A single six hour period where the trust fund babies of BHHS would put some of their parents hard earned pennies on the line. The game was simple, teams of two or three, a set of random dares with increasing severity and a points system. The team at the end with the most points gets the cash. The con however was even more clever but that was their secret. Lee and Hyde had run Dare Night two times a year for the past three years. However this year they missed one because of McCarthy being away in NYC so the next game had to be the best ever. Yet here they were, outside a shitty theater with a girl they didn’t know on a date. Life is a mess right now, shit needed to be corrected, fast. "Lee, can we at least talk about Dare Night after the movie?”

"Cameron I swear to God if you don’t stop with that….listen we’ll talk about work tomorrow. You’re wound so damn tight all the time. Relax man or go wait in the car” It was times like this that the boy began to regret his association with the beast of the beach. Lee for one of the few times in his life, reaches into his jacket pocket and turned off his phone. No hustling tonight, not while he was with her. "So, the manager is a friend, I text him on our way and he’s going to have two tickets behind the desk waiting for us. Back row, center screen.”

After slowly blinking at her boyfriend, Stella looked from him and then to Hyde. The thought of where they were sitting was unimportant. Dare night sounded fun. “...what’s Dare night?” Their date didn’t have to end after the movie! They could play games afterwards. Now, Stella had to know and if Lee was learning anything about a Locke woman, they were persistent.

Walking through the classic double doors, the trio were met by the strange sight of a biker and a goth dancing to Outcast in an empty foyer; "Well fuck me like a nun” Hyde couldn’t help but stifle a laugh "Ain’t this something fun?" It wasn’t until he got a better look at the two that he realized that he recognized one of them; the pink haired one, she was the one that threw the eggs at him. He closed his hands into fists inside of his pockets: biting back at the urge to throttle her immediately.

"Hi. The manager left some tickets for us, name of McCarthy”

Stopping their fun, their bodies going to a sudden halt, Iris simply stared at the trio before her. Without looking away from them, she sluggishly pushed the broom back and forth. She recognized the girl, but kept silent.

Jasmine was the one that took initiative to talk, disregarding the Hyde boy. Here, he was her customer. That’s it. “Hey! Yeah, we’ve been expecting you, for sure. I’ll get your tickets.” Unapologetically her, not embarrassed at all for being caught dancing on the job, Jaz turned on her heel and made her way to the counter, going behind it, and one, turning down the music, and two, retrieving their tickets. Iris continued to watch them with no emotion on her face. She pushed the broom back and forth. Back and forth.

“Do you guys want anything to snack on? Or to drink?” Jasmine was laxed, it was late and this theater was probably the most down to earth place you could be. That’s why the majority of the employees were vastly different in appearance and more often than not had colorful hair.

Stella glanced up at Lee and directed him, “I’m only thirsty. We can share whatever you want. Also, don’t think for a second I’ll forget about the Dare topic. I want to know.” The elegant, filthy rich princess brought her attention back to Iris, “It’s good to see you! How are your brothers and sister?” Somewhere down the line of family, Iris and Stella were connected, but it was complicated. Stella’s father was the sperm donor to Evelyn Green’s children. Eve was the half sister to Amity Bellerose-Snyder, who was married to Jericho Snyder, who was the brother to Aaron Snyder. The father of Iris. There were family events, rare though, that they both were in attendance to. The Snyders weren’t fond of the more obvious wealthy gatherings, wine and cigars, primarily for business, they preferred the family barbeques. It truly was a small world and Stella and Iris were nothing but polar opposites.

“Aries may be joining a band, which is neat, I guess. Athena is in love, how exciting.” She couldn’t have said that anymore sarcastically. The subject of love wasn’t really something Iris cared for. “Apollo is just, well, him.”

“I just realized you’re the only non-A Roman god name! Why is that?”

“Because Aphrodite is stupid. so thankfully they were smart enough to not name me that.” Blunt and straight to the point. Her parents thought it was good to name their children Roman mythology names, that of the big gods, which was cool, she guessed. Luckily, she was the baby and there weren’t many other A names for her. She liked Iris. Iris was short and had a nice ring to it.

"Sure, can we get get a drink for the this one, whatever she’d like? and for me….large popcorn and bottle of water will do just fine. Thanks” Lee reached into his wallet and handed the mocha girl a twenty over the register. Of course his wallet was sparing in cash in these days of digital tender but it was filled with other things; mementos from his varied adventures, some that belonged to happy memories and others not so happy but memories all the same.

Looking down at his love, Lee offered her a smile "Tell you what, after the movie, we’ll go grab something to eat and I’ll fill you in on Dare Night, sound good?”

“Sounds perfect.” A wide, devious grin was plastered on Stella’s face, and then she brought her attention to Iris, who walked away, done talking, and then Jasmine, “Sprite, thankies.”

Hyde clenched his jaw tightly. He was going to bring HER in on Dare Night? This was their thing! They started it together, there was no room for her or anybody else. Cameron could feel his blood boiling and his ears ringing. He tried to breathe the fire from his lungs to maintain himself. "You two enjoy your movie, I’ll see you at the end” Turning swiftly on heel, Hyde hurried into one of the nearby bathrooms and splashed some water on his face. A few drops of stray blood from his fresh wounds dropped into the porcelain white sink to stain it slightly red.

The more time went on, the less welcome he felt in Lee’s life. Their friendship was one of necessity sure, Leighton was the brains and Cam was the brawn but there was something more to it than that; something Cameron couldn’t quite put his finger on. Wall Street McCarthy had created a rigid and routine based existence for the trouble youth, it helped keep the fire low, it stopped him from burning up. Unchecked and uncontrolled, Cameron was a monster pretending to be a man, he needed structure and it was slipping away because of this bitch.

In time, the two lovebirds had disappeared into the theater. Putting the broom up against the wall, Iris looked to Jasmine, “I’m going on a break.” She wanted to go to the nearby Mexican restaurant for nachos — better than theater nachos.

“If you want to head home too, that’s fine. I don’t mind closing shop!”

“Maybe… I’ll text you my decision.” Iris walked to the door. “After my break.”

“Sounds good.” While her coworker took her leave, the sound of the door closing echoing throughout the lobby, Jasmine took out her phone to check out her social media, forgetting all about the two lovebirds or that Hyde boy, who disappeared minutes ago.

Leading his Princess to their screen and seats at the back of the theater, Lee put his arm around her and pulled her close to his chest. He had never really done this; the classic date. It wasn’t part of the plan. To be honest, neither was falling in love yet here he sat in “Take a Hint”, a NY punk with an LA Goddess falling deeper and deeper as the moments drifted off into space like stardust. Trillions upon trillions of atoms, lost in time and connecting like they did; it shattered his philosophy of only betting on a sure thing; Stella was starting to make him believe in fate.

It seemed like only seconds that he had been in the bathroom trying to control his inner demons and clean up his face but when he emerged Hyde glanced over at the clock on the wall and was aghast that it had been well over half an hour. He looked around at the baron wasteland that was the movie theater and saw only one other soul immersed in her phone; that girl from earlier. He looked over the room once; no security or cameras that he could see; if he wanted to get back at this cow for throwing eggs at him, now would be the perfect time.

"You know what you did wasn’t funny. Throwing those eggs. I told you then we were just getting started” the violent teen flared at the dark skinned beauty, even though he was pissed at her, he couldn’t help but take heed of how nice she filled out that uniform, even if it wasn’t the most flattering thing in the world. She had curves in all the right places and was definitely more woman than that skinny skank that McCarthy was with. "It’s a shame you’re such a bitch because you ain’t bad doll.”

“It’s a shame that you think I care.” Glancing up from her phone, staring him dead in the eyes, Jasmine yawned in boredom, “News flash, I don’t.” Leaning up, pocketing her phone, she crossed her arms and laughed, “Oh please don’t tell me your poor widdle ego was bruised because of eggs.” She eyed his reaction and then covered her lips with her right hand, completely amused, “Oh my god, it was.” How cute. Cameron Hyde did enough to his rep by being a coward, taking advantage of those that can’t fight for themselves, but to find out the poor boy couldn’t handle mocking was just pure enjoyment on Jasmine’s part. Little did they both know, the quiet witch was lurking outside, watching. From her perspective, they looked intimately close. Iris didn’t know Jasmine had a boy of interest. What a complete misunderstanding.

"You think you’re getting in my head but you’re not” He hissed at her. "The only thing your doing is pissing me off. You may think you’ve got me figured but you don’t, not by a long shot. You have no idea who I am or what I can do” Taking a slight step back, Hyde shook his head lightly. The truth of the matter was that Jasmine was getting in his head, in more ways than one. Every fiber of his being was telling him to jump over the counter and put her pretty face through the popcorn machine. Yet there was a sliver inside that was telling him to leave her be, she was being a decent person and was stopping him being the monster that he was. "Normally this is the part where I either threaten you or I just straight up cave your skull in. This time, I’ll settle for an apology and we’ll leave it at that.”

“Wow.” Hyde thought hella’ high of himself, but her parents taught her to not take things personal. Water off a duck’s back. “I think you’d prefer if I meant it when I apologized, but I wouldn’t, so let’s settle with popcorn.”

A bowl of popcorn? That was her peace offering? Well he couldn’t deny that he did love that salted goodness. It was one of life’s great simple pleasures. "Fair enough.”

Jasmine had been working all night, so she wasn’t going to be petty, but she also wasn’t going to apologize when she didn’t think she was in the wrong. So instead, she scooped some popcorn in a bowl and pushed it towards him, not seeking money in exchange, just words, “Where’s your date? Or do you just tag along with your lover friends?”

He stuck his bruised hand into the bowl and grabbed a load of popcorn to shove into his mouth. "I’m just a driver. He pays, I drive. I don’t get to choose where and when” Cam threw the classic theater treats into his mouth and demolished them fairly quickly. He had worked up quite an appetite earlier in the evening. "Job is a job at the end of the day” He quipped with a mouthful of food.

“I get that.” In Jasmine’s head, there was no point in starting a war. Beverly Hills High had enough of that going on during the day. The night she could relax and not try to make peace. Here was a boy with a lot of issues, but hey, maybe he needed someone to talk to. Everyone needed that from time to time. Here she just was: “Jasmine, by the way. The name’s Jasmine.”

"Jasmine.” He thought on that name for a short little while. It suited her. She was beautiful like a flower and prickly like the thorn of a rose. Yeah, Jasmine suited her to a T. "Cameron Hyde, most just call me Hyde” Jesus, was the dark passenger of Beverly Hills actually holding a conversation? The world was changing. For this minute alone, it didn’t feel like a world of Gods and Monsters, of light and dark. For a change, for Hyde, it was a world of boys and girls talking in a movie theater on a Friday night.

"Haven’t I seen you working the diner too? I gotta say, you seem like a busy girl…”

Raising an eyebrow at his observation, Jasmine made a mental note to herself. Something she’d keep to herself. “The bakery, actually. The one owned by the Locke family. I do frequent the diner, though, since my family loves their burgers.” She grabbed a handful of popcorn, and placed one in her mouth. “The goal is to eventually bump into Remy Wells, to learn a thing or to by a master chef and baker, but I’m in no rush.” She shrugged to herself and plopped another popcorn in her mouth, “But you’re right, I am busy. It’s how I like to be.” And part of her felt like she had no choice because she didn’t want to burden her family with her money needs.

"I get that, not too dissimilar myself” Hyde grabbed another handful. "If I’m not busy with my work with McCarthy, I’m pretty much depressed or angry. Got to keep my hands busy or my head will burn up” He knocked his knuckles against his head like an empty glass bottle and for the first time in a while, a genuine smile crossed his angelic face. As he dropped the popcorn into his mouth, Cameron’s brain had an original thought, one he didn’t know if he would come to regret or not. "I’m hoping to slow it down one day though, you know? Get out of LA. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the surf but I hate the people. Gonna get me a ranch somewhere, live off the land and just forget the bullshit. The Great American Heartlands, that’s the dream” Why he was opening up to the pink haired temptress was anyone’s guess, Hyde certainly had no clue. She was disarming him.

"You know, we got something coming up, big business for us generally but more than that, it’s great chance to unwind but in a fun way; Dare night. If you’re up for a challenge, I can get you an invite. It’s a pretty exclusive evening”

Huh. Kindness went a long way and it allowed Jasmine to get a glimpse of the heart of her acquaintance. She didn’t question him. He obviously thought she was someone that could listen. She got that a lot. That she was a good listener. This was just… surprising, but not in a bad way. From their first meeting to now. They were holding a conversation and he was inviting her on a… date? “Sounds—” Jasmine stopped herself when she got a glimpse of her coworker, standing by a large movie stand of some superhero movie, like the creep that she was. Did she even get her nachos? Probably not. Really, she probably smoked weed by the dumpster or something. “Iris.”

“You should go. When was the last time you took a break anyways? Like an actual break? Not like your typical break where you hideaway in home ec to bake.” Jasmine’s reply was simply her munching on more popcorn. Guilty. Her social life was limited to a handful of people. “Exactly. Do it. No balls.” For a girl with a monotone voice and a straight face, her words were humorous, as she leaned against the stand, almost pushing it over.

“I’d have to tell my parents…” which would only lead to questions and she really didn’t need her parents in her business. That is unless she had her sister cover for her. It took dad… awhile to be okay with his baby girls hanging with boys. He still hasn’t fully accepted Mitch. KC’s boyfriend.

“It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Just say you’re going to my place. It’ll be cool.”

Bringing her attention back to Hyde, Jasmine chuckled, “I guess it’s decided. Sure, why not. I’ll play along.” She paused, before she teased, “Of course, only if you can get me an invite to this ‘exclusive evening’.”

"Well normally, if you don’t have an invite the buy-in is five hundred bucks...a small price to pay for rich kids looking to test their limits” Cameron glanced over at Jasmines green haired colleague; part of him was screaming that she didn’t need to stick her nose in and that she needed to get moving before he made her move and the other part was whispering that it might be a good idea to invite her too, keep on Jaz’s good side. It was always a constant fight in his haunted mind and most of the time, it was too difficult to predict which ghost would win. He looked back over to the mocha girl and made an attempt at a smile "Alright then, I’ll make sure you get invited. All you have to do is pick up the phone and follow the instructions. I’m not sure when it’ll be, you gotta be ready to go at a moments notice.”

Getting to his feet, he reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone. "Whack your number in that and expect my call” Sliding the phone across the counter, with his free hand Hyde pulled a joint from his pocket and plopped it in his mouth. "I only call once. You don’t answer, we don’t dance.”

Rolling her eyes, this was a roundabout way to get her digits, Jasmine courteously grabbed a napkin and cleaned her fingers, before grabbing his phone and typing her number in, “Oh please.” It’s been awhile since she’s had this much fun and perhaps it was because of how spontaneous and different he was from everyone else, or perhaps she simply felt drawn to find out his damage. Whichever it was, she was willing to take the risk to get to know him, for better or for worse. She’d blame the peacemaker in her later.

Sliding his phone back to him, Jasmine cooed, “You obviously don’t know me.” It was a rarity for her to not answer her phone. With eleven siblings, and family emergencies that could pop up any time of day, picking up her phone was an obligation. Too bad she didn’t have a smartphone with an Assistant, then she could send her contact information through bluetooth and with voice command. At last, her family was old fashioned, so she was left with no choice but to manually put in her number. He seemed to trust her enough to touch his phone, so she’d keep that in mind.

The game seemed easy enough, and because she had a bike she’d have more mobility compared to whomever else was playing. If anything, this seemed intriguing and for once, she could have something to talk about rather than her saying ‘hey, i worked and went home to bake and watch one of my shows’.

“Y’know, Jaz. I can clean up. Usually you let me leave early, but I wouldn’t mind staying so you can enjoy Friday Night Date Night.” Iris glided to the seemingly new couple. She wasn’t going to assume they were a thing but it seemed like the boy was asking her friend out. “It’s the least I could do.”

“...Is this a date?” Jasmine subconsciously responded, deeply staring into Hyde’s eyes, waiting expectantly.

Date. It was almost a dirty word in Hyde’s dictionary. He didn’t date, he hasn’t been in a relationship in a long time. Not many people wanted to spend time with him, at least not emotionally. Physically, Cam was always fucking someone, boy or girl it didn’t particularly matter to him. At the end of the day it was a release for some of his baggage. As far as actual relationships, he didn’t initially hate them, quite the opposite in fact. The problem was that once someone became Hyde’s North Star, he struggled to see beyond that. They became his world. Some would call it obsessive. Coupled with his anger at a world that let him down, it became apparent that Cameron Hyde was not boyfriend material.

"I can’t say that it is but I also can’t say that it isn’t. It’s Dare Night, anything could happen. What I can tell you is that where you’re going, it ain’t your world. You’re gonna have to be ready for anything” he glanced over at the witch and then back to Jasmine and took his cigarette out of his mouth, "That said, if you want to get out of here now…”

“Oh god, yeah. Give me a sec. Gotta’ change outta this.” Grabbing a black backpack from the cabinet under the register, Jasmine left Iris and Hyde alone for a few, awkward minutes with the desire to get out of her work attire, changing into something she deemed more comfortable. In that moment, Iris decided to put multiple pieces of gum in her mouth, all the while staring at the blonde boy before her.

Hyde watched the witchy looking thing before him and narrowed his piercing baby blues “You’re a strange little thing ain’t ya?”

Elsewhere in theater number 5, Lee sat with his girl curled under his arm, her soft hair brushing against his cheek. He was stuck in a dichotomy, he was falling asleep because Take a Hint was utter garbage, yet he was fighting it because he didn’t want to be without Stella for any amount of time. He yawned ever so lightly before looking down at the creature of light that he held so tight. The world works in mysterious ways.

The blissful blonde wondered whether or not she should tell her father yet about Leighton. Her boyfriend. Her mind wasn’t thinking anything beyond that and this moment. It was another perfect moment for her and it was because she had him. Stella glanced up at Lee intimately staring at her, which resulted into her twinkling and pressing her lips against his. She was sure this film wasn’t his scene but it meant a lot to her that he was willing to watch it for her. Softly, in a near whisper, she asked, “You like what you see?”

Her kiss was like fire, as gentle as it was, it sent a pleasant warmth through his body, through is veins and into his heart. “When what I’m looking at is the most beautiful thing in the world, you’re damn right I do, how could I not?”

Lee had all but convinced himself that looking for a girlfriend was not a venture that he wanted to undertake. Not only due to his secrets but also because of his theories. The hustler had three simple rules he lived by: Only bet on a sure thing. Only fools are kind and Never show them the hand you're dealt. Yet here Leighton was; breaking all of his beliefs because she made it easy. Stella was making the dark that much brighter.

Coming out of the bathroom, in a less revealing outfit than the first time they met, she didn't expect she'd be going out this night, Jasmine swung her bag over her shoulder and gestured toward the door with her head, “Ready?”

“Always” Cameron quickly typed a message in his phone, letting Lee know he had to leave and that they were without a ride tonight. He knew the boss would understand, since meeting Stella the American Psycho was turning into a Blissfull Idiot. Hyde looked her up and down and grinned, a little rattlesnake grin, before opening the front door for Jasmine like the gentlemen he wasn’t.

“Welcome to the dark side, hot chocolate.”

[Hey Im Jordan]

Collab with: @Lovely Complex

Damian, for what it was worth, could work fast. He and Joy had only been at it only for about four minutes, and her jeans were on the floor, and her shirt and bra were gone — somewhere near the foot of the bed. She was on top of him, and he was in nothing but his boxers, with his tongue down her throat and his hands wherever they wanted to be. Truth be told, he could be done in four more minutes… they could, realistically, be done with it before it was time to leave for the family dinner.

Geeze, they were the epitome of horny teens, huh? If Damian wasn’t liplocked, he might have laughed thinking about that; and he had a feeling that Joy would have too. There they were, going at each other like animals with the clock ticking against them. Not that Damian cared, really.

Even so, he wanted to take his time, Joy deserved a proper first time, and all things considered, Damian was in a position to give it to her… another time. Right now? He was just blue balling himself. Unless… Damian just… went for it. His hand slipped down below her waist, and his lips pressed against her neck…

“Damian, Joy, are you guys ready?”

...until the fucking door flew open, and Joy’s dad was standing there. “Dude! Knock!” Damian shouted, grabbing a blanket and throwing it over himself and his girlfriend. Was he ever going to get to have sex again?

Mortified. Why didn’t they lock the door?! Joy kept herself under the covers, hiding her face that reddenned every second her dad was in the room. Well, in his defense, they were trying to get away with sex before a planned dinner. Was she going to be a virgin forever?! Like what the fuck! “DADDYYYYYY.”

“What’s taking so long?” Jude appeared behind Ender, poking her head to look into the room. Dead. Joy was dead.

Ender took a long, deep breath as he slowly pulled the door closed until it clicked, muttering under his breath. “They’re kids. We would have done the same thing. Just kids. This is totally normal. I shouldn’t kill him.” Ender muttered, nodding along as he spoke to himself.

Eying her husband, Jude assumed what he was talking about and decided it was best if he and her waited downstairs. Maybe even in the car. “You can take your frustrations out, on me, later.” The beloved wife teased, tugging her husband to walk with her.

“Yeah, yeah… I’ll take you up on that,” Ender muttered, allowing himself to be tugged away from the room. The kids would be along soon, hopefully. Please, hopefully.

Meanwhile, in the room, Damian looked up at Joy and cleared his throat, with the stupid little smirk on his lips, “Hey, I don’t know what you’re yelling at me for. Ender’s the one that busted the door open without knocking!” He teased, grinning up at her. Damian was nothing if not a man of humor!

Pulling the pillow from underneath his head, Joy plopped his head, “Stupid.” But her smile matched his in playfulness. Taking the pillow off, she rolled her eyes, “Moods gone. Let’s go.” This was their fate. If they took too long, her dad would surely kill him.

“Give me two seconds. Mood can be back,” Damian grumbled dejectedly, though he sat up and lifted her up off of his lap, throwing his legs over the edge of the bed and standing up, walking over to the dresser to find himself a shirt. “Taught True to close the door when she leaves — didn’t teach her to lock it.”

While Damian was finding clothes to wear, Joy retrieved her scattered clothes and put them all back on. What a load of bull. She got naked for no reason. “There really isn’t a safe zone for us, is there?” To say Joy was disappointed was an understatement. There were so many girls already passed this point, and she still hadn’t popped her cherry! She was deliberately trying to. With her bra on now, she slipped her leg through one of her jeans sleeves.

Damian tugged on a shirt that was a little tight, but that was by design. What was the point of looking like he did if he didn’t wear shirts that showed off his chest and arms? “Uh… your Uncle’s house? Like, if we don’t show up at ten at night, you know?” Damian offered, while pulling on his jeans. Joy had a point… it was never this hard to get laid before… Of course, usually he wasn’t fighting against the girl’s parents, and his own mother… “I’m not gonna lie to you Joy. I’ll lock the door and risk dying if it means I can finally fucking fuck you.”

Looking over her shoulder at him, already buttoning up her pants, she tsked, “A little too late there, daddy. I got my pants on.” Joy preferred him alive, so they’d try again after the dinner. It was going to happen today, even if they had to do it outside. Wait, what?

“Don’t tease. Only call me that if you’re making a habit out of it,” Damian complained, sliding his belt through the loops of his jeans and pulled it tight. With that, he turned around to look at the mirror hanging above his dress. “Man… you fucked my hair up.” He grumbled, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a comb and a bit of hair gel. Looking into the mirror, he adjusted his hair with a bit of the gel and a few touches of the comb. “Do I look good, babe?”

Unenthused by his comment, Joy’s hair going every which way, she gave him a thumbs up, “Always.” Grabbing her blouse off the bed, she slowly buttoned up her shirt. Where were they going to eat anyways? Hopefully what she was wearing was good enough, she didn’t have a change of clothes and she wasn’t going to raid her godmother’s closet. Mel was too tall for her anyways. If she fit anyone’s clothes, it would be True’s.

Damian sauntered his way over to her, and draped his arms around her waist, pulling her up to him as he smiled down at her, “good. Because I’m going to be sitting next to you, and I’m afraid I’ll look like shit by comparison.” He kissed her lips, and added. “Like a rock next to a diamond.”

“Oh please.” She was a dweeb in comparison to him. He was the diamond. She was more like a shadow. She pushed herself up and kissed him back, “Our entire school would think otherwise. Do you know how many girls still want you?” A LOT.

“Do you know how many girls I want?” He brought one of her hands up to his lips and kissed it, “just one.” With that, Damian slipped out of their little embrace, and held her hand in his, leading her out of the room and down the stairs, to the car where his dad was waiting — Ender and Jude were already off and on their way, Connor had said.

Every so often, The Sunshine Diner had themed nights. Tonight’s theme? A blast to the past. The fifties. Where the waitresses rolled around in pink and red dresses with white roller skates on. Jude claimed a corner booth so they all could fit together. With her husband at one of the ends, she tapped her fingers on the table to the Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley. They’d been here for about nine minutes now and their waitress already was getting her drink, but they were still waiting for everyone. Jude was excited though, she was getting a MILKSHAKE. She had water for now. “Hopefully they get here soon, I’m starving.”

“I can’t believe he didn’t lock the door.” Ender said numbly, sipping at the cream soda he’d ordered. He was dead inside; he hadn’t needed to see that. What was next? He had to hear it? Jesus Christ.

Luckily for Ender, it wasn’t long before Connor walked in, with Joy and Damian behind him. The captain led his son and his probable-eventual-daughter-in-law to her parents tucked away in the corner. “Hey! We’re here. Mel should be here in just a sec, but I brought Damian and Joy. Or, as I’ve taken to calling them ‘a future homicide victim and the girlfriend that testifies.’ Unless, of course, Ender has quelled his murderous thoughts? It’s been a hot minute since you ended something, Ender. I’d prefer it not be my son, y’know? He’s got a lot of life before him, and like… look at that face.” Connor said, gesturing at Damian, who had the color rapidly draining from his face as he stood there, getting put on the chopping block by his own father.

“Fuck off.”

Jude was in her own world when she saw her milkshake coming. She barely acknowledged her daughter, her daughter’s lover, and her daughter’s future father-in-law. Priorities, man. She might have a nice bod, but she could never deny a Sunshine shake!

Rolling in, hating her attire, but probably the best skater in this diner, Miranda Warner, sister to the notorious Our Holy Lady, bifocales and all, pulled up to the table with a tray and a single milkshake. “Memory Lane Shake.” With ease, since she’s done this way too much for her own good, she quickly brought the big, very big, glass with pink substance in it and placed it in front of the grinning Asian. Her attention went to the new guests, “Hey, I’m Mandy. And I’ll be your server for the night. Do you guys need some time? Or can I get you something to drink?”

“I’ll have the May Contain Nuts shake .” Joy stared at her mother’s drink. It was a new shake. She’d have to try it sometime tonight. It’s been awhile since she’s been here, so she wanted her classic peanut butter shake.

Connor slid into the booth beside Ender and put an arm around his friend’s shoulder, squeezing it tightly as Ender just looked on, staring into the cream soda in front of him, while Connor looked up at the waitress. “I would love an orange cream float, and why don’t you…” Connor grabbed Ender’s cream soda, and sucked it down, “just get him the most monstrous, sugary, over the top, beetus shake you got, okay? He’s a man, not a barbie doll.” Connor knew what Ender needed to feel better.

Damian meanwhile, looked at Joy and shrugged. It was almost as if Damian felt like this would be the last time he’d ever look at her, and after a few moments he slid into the booth beside his father, before glancing at the waitress. “Can you get two straws for the Nuts one? I’ll share with her. And, uh, water. I like water.”

Not needing to write anything down Mandy nodded her head, her expression welcoming, friendly, but not too bubbly. The standard, chill kind of vibe. “The Nuts with two straws. I’ll just get water for everyone. And a Sweet & Salty Monster for the dynamic duo, number 4 and 77. Anything else before I go?” The only people Mandy recognized were the fathers at the table. Connor and Ender, known for the time they brought the Seahawks to absolute victory. Football, baby. Sadly, Ender’s run was short. Internally, though? This was awesome. Meanwhile, Jude was already deep in her shake as she watched her family converse with the impressive waitress.

“One cinnamon… wait, you guys don’t have a fancy name for the cinnamon roll milkshake do you? One of those for wife. She’ll be here… eventually, we’ll hear her before we see her. Just… tell whoever’s back there to keep it loose on the frosting.” Connor suggested, before he added. “Hey, don’t forget my orange cream float. I really just come here for soda and soft serve.” He warned, though the warm smile on his charming face betrayed that he was never going to hurt a fly. “Man, I love soda…” They never had much soda at the house — and what they did? The girls drank.

“I want you to know, that despite his playing it cool, my dad gets really excited when people recognize him. He’s gonna mention it in the car.” Damian piped up, glancing over at Connor, who huffed defensively.

“Damn right I’m gonna mention it in the car.”

“Right.” Mandy slipped. She was in front of one of her idols. Damn. “If only the Southside looked up to you like I did. Our team sucks.” ‘The Southside’ was the slang term for the public school ‘on the other side of the tracks’ from Beverly Hills High. “Well, I’ll make sure your float is extra fizzy—”

“I’M HERE!” Melody swung the door open. “Oh wow. I like what they’ve done to the place.” With the sound of the yelling woman, that was Mandy’s cue to get the drinks while they decided on what they wanted to eat. It didn’t take too long until Mel found her family, particularly her son. She rushed over.

Well, Ender could at least confidently say that they were never going to lose Melody. Even if they lost sight of her? A deaf person could hear Melody coming a fucking mile away. She had no semblance of shame, or the sanctity of public areas — which, Ender could say somewhat confidently, was the reason she and Connor had such a successful first date — but… her heart was at least in the right place. Ender was just in a mood, glaring at his lap as Melody walked up.

“Told you.” Connor said with a wink in Mandy’s direction before she could skate away. Once mommy dearest had joined the crew, Damian moved himself and Joy enough so that she could get in beside his father, and Connor kissed his wife on the cheek, “I didn’t know what you wanted, so I got you to the cinnamon shake. Because you’re my cinnamon roll.”

“Aw, Alpha.” Melody batted her flirtatious eyes at her husband and Joy visibly cringed.

“Mel, did you never teach your son to lock his door?” Ender asked, without looking up from his lap. It was a valid question, given the night so far.

“What now?” Melody snapped back, to face Ender.

“Dad… I don’t think this needs to be discussed at the table.” Time to play a card against her father. “So did you see True’s date?”

“Oh my god, no. I tried stalking her for a good ten minutes, but I think she knew. Well, hopefully she heeds my advice. She was so nervous, it was cute.” Melody grabbed a clean napkin and dramatically patted her face like she was crying. “My little girl is growing up.”

“I didn’t know True had a date. Did you dress her up?” Jude’s milkshake was almost gone. Was she even going to have room for food? Joy grinned at her father. Score. The moms were distracted. What? Sex was not a topic for the dinner table.

Ender looked at Joy and shook his head, but decided to concede the battle. He could beat himself up about what had happened later, but if she wanted them to have a calm dinner, then a calm dinner they would have. He chose not to speak though, and instead simply planted his head on Jude’s shoulder, waiting silently for the milkshake he didn’t even want. He just wanted cream soda.

“Don’t worry, True is gonna be just fine. I gave her a bunch of brotherly advice, and like stuff I would do and stuff I wouldn’t do. But I also told her not to do anything I would do. Or anything I wouldn’t do! I told her there’s like this space where she operates… I also told her to swallow because spitters are quitters and I knew my mama ain’t raise no bitch.” Damian said, and he seemed rather proud of himself, until he felt his dad’s eyes boring down onto him, and Damian added, “what? I gave her a condom too.”

“Man… come on, Dames.”

Before Melody could explode, because she always exploded, Jude was quick to react, “Oh, Mel. Try this. It’s delicious.”

“She gets to try it first?!” Joy was offended, but it seemed like the girls could handle the fiery rage that was Mel fine. The spoon was in Mel’s mouth to make sure no words came out, Joy forcing it in.

“Yes. How is it?”

Melody contemplated the taste and beamed, “That’s really good. Reminds me of Rosé, but without the alcohol. And a hint of cotton candy.” Like sex on the beach while the sun sets!

The way her godmother described the drink made Joy reconsider. Rosé was an extremely sweet wine. Add cotton candy? What even was that. As Jude went back in her seat, gesturing for Ender to put his head back on her shoulder, she decided she’d direct the conversation to a more desirable topic, “So, tell us, you two. How serious are you guys? This isn’t for show, right? My daughter isn’t secretly a slut, right?”

“What?!” Joy was baffled at her mother’s question.

Before anyone could react, Mandy appeared, while there was slight tension coming from the young girl’s general direction. First things first. “Your orange cream float.” She gave the legendary Seahawks quarterback his drink first and from there she gave the rest theirs in a counterclockwise motion. “Oh, she’s pretty.” Melody muttered to herself, which Mandy decided to ignore. She wasn’t that pretty.

When she was done, she rested the tray at her side, “Food yet?”

[LovelyComplex]

Collab with: @Hey Im Jordan

Food yet was a helluva question. They were in a bit of a spot right now. Damian was watching everything break down in front of him, with Jude demanding to know if Joy was a slut, his mother kind of being herself… and Ender wanted to kill him. Damian was having a helluva night, and as soon as the milkshake was put in front of himself and girlfriend, Damian took a huge slurp from it. He was stressed, his blood sugar was running low. It might be the last thing he ate! “Chicken tender basket. Well done. Ranch. Curly fries. Also well done. Please. And, uhm… that’s it actually.” Damian didn’t want much, he was just hungry.

“Sweet, dude. You rule.” Connor said as the orange cream float was placed in front of him, and he immediately began to stir it up. He wasn’t a monster, he liked his shit nice and creamy. “This is the best part, you know.” Meanwhile, Ender was staring at the monstrous milkshake placed in front of him with a look in his eye that could only be construed as ‘contempt.’ “I’d love a double bacon cheeseburger — with extra, extra bacon and triple cheese — with normal ass fries. Well done. Not the meat, just the fries.”

Ender looked at Jude side eyed, before offering to the waitress, “Just get me the same thing Connor is getting,” he grumbled through gritted teeth. Connor gave Jude a look.

Ender was in a mood.

Jude wasn’t going to forget her question she asked, and she hoped the children wouldn’t either. Acknowledging Connor’s ‘look’. That look that said take care of your man. Joy’s mother rolled her eyes and ordered her food, “Belgian waffles, with strawberries, blueberries, whip cream, and two sunny side up eggs on the side.” Her gaze carefully watched as the waitress looked at her, not writing any of this down, but never wavering from giving her a nod and a smile, “And a cream soda, please.”

“Got it. And you?” Mandy brought her attention to Joy.

With a grin, Joy told her order fast, already having decided what she wanted when they got here, “Stack ‘em High pancakes, some hash browns, give me like six pieces of bacon, some biscuits and gravy, and you know what, I’ll have a grilled cheese sandwich too.”

“Jesus. Isn’t that a little too much?” Melody’s eyes widened as watched her goddaughter a feast for just herself.

“Hopefully it all goes to her butt,” Damian muttered under his breath after his mother’s reaction to his girlfriend’s order. Unfortunately for him, his godfather’s ear did pick up the words he said, and it resulted in Ender’s eye twitching.

“Oh and please, please, PLEASE burn the bacon and the potatoes. BURN IT.”

“Well, Joy’s a growing girl, Mels. You gotta remember that.” Connor explained, shrugging his shoulders as he pulled a bite of ice cream out of the float and shoved it into his mouth. That seemed like reasoning enough for him, and he looked at the waitress. “Good luck.” He said brightly, shooting her one of his customary, trademark winning smiles, before he looked at his son, “I believe Jude asked you a question.”

Damian had one shot, he supposed. Leave to his father to make sure that he had to do it first thing, rather than give him a chance to build up to it and figure out exactly what the hell he was going to say. It was a loaded question. How serious were they?! They were kids! How serious could they possibly be!? He couldn’t use that as an excuse though, because both his and Joy’s parents had gotten together when they were roughly the same age — so that was out.

“I mean, I’d say we’re pretty serious. I’m me, and I haven’t looked at anyone else since New Year’s. I think that alone should win me some points, but I’m sure it won’t because Ender has had his mind broken by this, my mom is often a nutcase, and Jude plays 4D Chess with everyone she can. Dad, you’re alright, but you have a tendency to put me unjustifiably in positions I’d rather not be in, and I know you do that on purpose.”

Here, Damian paused, though not long enough to give anyone a chance to respond, just long enough for him to take another hearty sip of the milkshake he and Joy were ‘sharing,’ though that was really amounting to Damian stress drinking it, “and in regards to your second question? I would say no, she’s not secretly a slut. Not that I would really know, since we haven’t had sex yet — and that’s not for lack of trying, believe me. I’ve been trying to get inside of her pretty much every day since New Year’s but I keep getting cock blocked. When I finally do, it’s gonna be like a fire hose and she’ll probably launch off of me. It’ll be good humor.” Damian was done now, and he took yet another sip of the milkshake.

“And that is the situation that we’re currently in, boys.”

“Good choice of words.”

“Thanks, dad. I try. That about covers it, yeah, Jude?”

Mandy didn’t like to pry, but she had yet gotten the strawberry blonde woman’s order. There were some things she could’ve lived without hearing. She didn’t know any of these people and yet here she was hearing how this boy was trying to sleep with this girl, all being discussed at a diner table, with little regard to their surroundings. Opening her mouth to ask Melody what she wanted, she immediately closed it when the girl with the appetite cut in, “I can’t believe you’d think I’m a slut. I mean I want to have sex. With Damian. But rest assured, I’m still a virgin. For how long? I have no idea. We’ll see where things take us. And I’ve never had a boyfriend before so if anything, I’m serious, but I trust when Damian says he’s serious too or I wouldn’t have given him a chance.”

“Excuse me…” Mandy just wanted to go and get their food and they kept talking.

“Jude, Ender. I think this is true love.” Gag. Why Melody? Jude’s eyes twitched at her friend’s words. “If Joy plays her cards right, Damian isn’t going anywhere and I believe she’s smart enough to do just the trick. Don’t you want Joy to be with someone you guys know? Rather than some bad boy off the streets? So what if my son has slept around a bit! He’s been checked and he doesn’t have any STDs. I promise. And, he’s experienced which means he won’t hurt Joy when they first do it.”

Mandy cleared her throat, still everyone was too enthralled in the conversation.

“Why is it my daughter’s job to play her cards right? Damian should have the decency to treat her with the respect she deserves because I know for a fact my baby is the best he could have.” There was electricity, the shocking, violent kind between the mothers. Both defending their children and their children’s worth.

Ender had a white knuckle grip on the table as the two mothers spoke, and he looked like he was gonna explode. Connor opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Ender cracked. “Melody O’Connor, Jude Darling, you both shut the fuck up and give this nice young woman your goddamn orders so she can go get our food going before she has to hear more about our children’s sex life!”

“Sorry, er, uh… Mandy. Ender has a man cold.”

Shooketh. Mandy stood silent and Jude crossed her arms in silence, having already ordered and having a little of a ‘tude, and Melody profusely apologized, “Oh dearie, I’m sorry. Sometimes I get caught up in what I’m saying, but I take pride in my son’s accomplishments, so how can you blame me? Anywho! I’d like the tomato and green pepper omelet. That’ll be all.”

“Okay… thanks.” Rather than go over their order, like she usually did, before she went to the kitchen, she just turned on her heel and booked it. If that means she’ll lose tips, whatever. If her sister was here, she’d be eating all this up and having a ball. For Mandy? It made her feel awkward.

“Where were we?” Melody, unbothered and unperturbed, perked up and looked at all the faces at the table, and then immediately went back to addressing Jude’s comment before Ender flipped and rudely interrupted, “I don’t know about you Jude, but I know my baby is the best. So your statement is invalid because they’re both equally amazing.”

Part of Joy wanted to bail, but she also wanted her food. This family dinner was absolutely draining her. Killing any vibes for sex this night. Absentmindedly, she reached for the May Contain Nuts milkshake and put her lips on the straw only to suck in… NOTHING but the lingering remnants of a shake that was no longer there. Bringing her eyes to the empty glass, then to her boyfriend, she glared at him in annoyance, “Seriously?”

“I was stressed!” Damian protested, looking over at her apologetically. “Everybody’s runnin’ me down. ‘Sides, you just don’t get to drink a milkshake — I have to run twelve miles as a solemn punishment for drinking an entire milkshake.” Damian said in a heavy sigh, looking at the empty cup of regret. He’d make it up to Joy later, for now he just wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and tried to keep things as level as he could. Luckily for him, his father had no intentions of letting this situation go smoothly.

“The important thing to note is that Damian has yet to deflower Joy. We don’t need a shotgun wedding yet, guys. Everyone calm down. Damian, please don’t fuck her.”

What? Joy looked over at her godfather, getting exceptionally more angry and more annoyed because one, she was hungry, two, she had no milkshake, and three, this was all bullshit. “I don’t think that’s your decision, or any of you for that matter—” She glanced over to her parents, with only resolution in her eyes, “—to make. Did any of you ask permission before you fucked each other?”

Jude held her tongue not liking that Joy cursed. Well, not just cursed. Cursed at her.

“Team Jamian has made a solid point. Melody, Jude. How does Team Concerned Parents respond?” Connor had a float. He had some personalized drama… he was living life.

“I stopped getting on Damian’s ass when he peaked puberty.” Melody shrugged. “I’m honestly relieved he wants Joy and not like Becca or any of those other girls he’s played around with.” Her concern was more on his school reputation with him no longer being captain of the football team and getting detention and y’know, ignoring her for a week and staying at the Wells’ residence. “The best advice I can give is don’t get her pregnant because then Ender may very well kill you and I’m not going to stop him.”

“Happy to hear you’ve got my back, mom. Really. I appreciate it. Knowing that when Ender comes at me, you’ll just side step… it really means a lot. You ever read Harry Potter? I guess you wouldn’t protect me from a Killing Curse either, would you?”

“I’ve protected you enough. It’s time for you to take full responsibility for your actions and I’m sure you’ll handle whatever situation just fine. You are my child, yes, but you don’t really need me. Not for protection.” Melody sighed, coming to the daunting realization that he really didn’t need her. This week was enough to show her exactly that.

“Headlines read: Local boy found eviscerated at hands of godfather. Obituary begins with ‘Described as a pacifist by his close friends and family, Damian O’Connor never raised a hand to defend himself when the crazed Ender Darling came at him.” Damian sighed, and took his head, planting it firmly in Joy’s chest, where he could at least hide while the adults spoke.

“It appears young Damian has chosen to hide from his problems. Jude, I believe it’s your turn.”

Taking a deep breath in, and then exhaling it out, Jude grabbed the ends of her hair and continuously ran her fingers through it, “Do you want to have sex because everyone is doing it or because you actually want to have sex with each other? Do you think sex is going to keep Damian from looking at other girls? Or vice versa for you and boys?”

“Why does it have to be that deep? I like him and I’m not extremely well versed in the ‘sexual’ department, so sure, yeah, I’m curious why all my classmates are obsessed with it and literally find anywhere on campus to screw each other. But it breaks down to me just wanting him. Why is that a crime?” Melody nodded at Joy’s words. It was hard to resist an O’Connor. They were definitely godly men. While the women had some screws unloose.

“Did you question dad when you gave him your virginity?” Jude paused at her daughter’s question and chose not to respond. She couldn’t recall ever telling Joy her virginity story. It wasn’t a crime to want someone but it felt wrong to approve of reckless behavior. For once, she felt like she could relate to her own mother, Nana. The fear of this being a big mistake that could lead to hurt and pain. It felt like a lose-lose situation as a parent. Regardless of what they say, they’re going to do what they want anyways. If she approves, she’ll be a bad parent encouraging underage sex, if she disapproves, she’ll be a bad parent and forcing her ideals on her children when she didn’t even follow them when she was their own age.

Parenting was hard.

“I can say, with some degree of confidence, that Jude didn’t question anything. Ender got her drunk and high and took her back to his room and that was that. There wasn’t time for questioning. They had met roughly three hours earlier.”

The words coming from Connor’s lips caused Damian to furrow his brow, and slowly pull himself up off of Joy’s chest, and look at Jude and Ender, “excuse? You guys fucked after three hours!? I’ve known Joy since I was like THREE. And I took her out on a date before I even tried to fuck her. Sure, it was a party and all we did was play pool and bullshit, but it was way longer than three hours! Are you for real!?”

Connor was all smiles.

The devil. Connor was the devil in disguise. Jude’s cheeks flushed red. It happened fast, their first time, and yet she didn’t fight him. Aside from Troy, Ender was the first boy to actively like her and make her feel safe, even if it took a party for him to accept her as his tutor. “I was going through a lot, okay? That was literally the first party I’ve ever been to my entire high school career and things happen, whatever. Elysia gave me some clothes, because I was already starting to come to terms with my identity and you know what? I’m not going to blame the alcohol or weed. It was entirely my decision.” Pause. “Okay. I get it. You guys have made your point.” Dead. Why was she taking the punches for Ender again? Oh, yeah, because if she didn’t, he’d jump over this table. Where was the food when they needed it? Food would shut everyone up.

“Do you remember our first time?” Melody grinned at Connor, totally in her own world.

“Of course. It was in a movie theater. We were watching Suicide Squad. It sucked. So did you.”

“Dude…” Damian said in a soft voice, shaking his head. As far as he was concerned, though, he’d won a battle for the ages just by getting Jude to yield a bit. His dad, it seemed, was playing for him. At least one of the parents was on his side… Ender, meanwhile, looked up with a groan. This was the worst day of his life, and he only saw one possible solution.

“We’ll get you two a hotel room for the weekend. Just please… never at my house.”

“That’s fair.” Joy carefully watched her dad. Part of her was feeling guilty for wanting to have sex. She’d keep that to herself. Why did this seem so complicated? Being in a relationship? Everything else was easy. This felt like a tedious task. Did people really fight to be in a relationship solely because it made them happy?

“Use protection too. Joy we will be visiting a doctor next week so we can get you some birth control.” Hopefully, if they had sex this weekend, they used condoms. It was Friday night and gynecologists weren’t available during the weekend.

“Don’t worry. Damian’s backpack has Plan B in it.”

“Thanks, dad…”

The well known sound of roller skates came in of not only Mandy, but two other coworkers to help her bring all the food. As her coworkers held the trays of food, she distributed the food, “Sorry for the wait. Let me know if anything is off.” Nothing was. Before everyone knew it, they had exactly what they ordered in front of them. The last thing she placed was Ender’s cream soda. “Enjoy.”

[Bee]

_{Featuring: Lillian Henry}

---

---

So, that just happened. Lillian Henry, the self-proclaimed savior of BHHS was just punched by one of the biggest pariahs at the school. Lillian didn’t know how to feel about the fact that Camille Winters pretty much broke her nose. The creature that called itself a woman sure packed a punch -- and Lillian was still feeling that all these hours later. Sitting in her room, she had an ice pack on her nose, trying to mitigate the swelling that had come up as a result of the battery she was subjected to not too long ago. Did she deserve it? Yeah, she did. Lillian might not have agreed, but plenty of people would want to say otherwise. As a matter of fact, 99.9999% of the student body would have agreed that Lillian said something. That was why not a single word was uttered about the incident, nor did any witnesses turn up when she tried to bring it to a higher authority. As far as the whole school was concerned, it didn’t happen. Camille didn’t punch Lillian, despite the evidence right on her face. She probably just ran into a door or something and wanted to pin the blame on someone else. That was what she rationalized when she came to the principal’s inability to take action. She wasn’t in a good mood, to say the least.

Sitting against a wall in the far corner of her room, she had tissues stuffed up her nostrils as she stared at the dim light in the corner of her room. It was a Friday night, the moon was out and the stars were shining, and everyone at school was off doing something. What was Lillian doing? She wasn’t up to much. Instead of having a good time outside and enjoying herself on such a nice evening, she was inside, wondering what had gone wrong in her pursuit of righteousness. Was she wrong? Was Camille not defying the image of god by changing themselves into something that wasn’t what God wanted them to be? Lillian sighed, before she could feel the blood soaking yet another piece of tissue.

Pulling the flimsy piece of paper out of her nostril -- she had found that most of its white, pure nature had been consumed by a sickly, red color. She took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose and sniffling to keep the blood from flowing, before discarding the tissue with the others in a nearby garbage can. Lillian was pretty sure that Camille had broken her nose, but she had yet to bring up the issue with her mother. Her mother was nowhere to be found tonight. She was probably out coaching figure skating or hanging out with friends. Meanwhile, there Lillian was, sat up against the wall as she continued to stare at the only source of light in an otherwise dim room. She wanted to do something tonight with someone else. She wanted to be somewhere but here.

But - she didn’t have anyone to do it with. Lillian was reminded on a daily basis that her status as a zealot had rightfully turned away many people. It was just the price that came with being so devoted to being a good child in the eyes of God. It wasn’t like she was doing it to be a dick either. All Lillian really wanted to do was to make sure that God was going to smile and shine down on the school that she also called hers, instead of being surrounded by a bunch of sinners and having to realize that every single person that she ever laid her eyes upon at this school was going to go to Hell whether they liked it or not. Lillian didn’t want anyone to go to hell -- she just wanted everyone to have a better life after life ended. That was really it. Lillian was woefully unaware that her message came out in an incredibly twisted, malevolent manner that was most definitely going to put off the school’s rather liberal student body. But she didn’t know. It wasn’t what she was taught to be. She wasn’t raised in the same environment that these kids were. She were raised to believe this and that was a sin, and that sinners went to hell. Sinners were below human -- and they deserved to be treated as such and labeled as such. That was one of the many beliefs that had been pounded into Lillian’s mind growing up, along with other things such as vaccines causing autism, even though everyone in the Henry family having said vaccinations.

But there was always one question that was never answered for her -- could those people be saved? Was it possible to be turned from the path they were headed down, and change it toward a more positive direction?

She never bothered to ask the question, since she knew that her family probably would’ve reacted in a negative manner and disregard whatever Lillian said. The last thing she wanted to do was to be regarded as a sinner by her family. Being a sinner in the Henry family meant excommunication, being shunned, being cut off from the people she loved most in her life. It was a rather unfathomable notion, but Lillian Henry was in fact capable of love. She didn’t want to disappoint her family members. She was afraid of their disapproval. She was afraid to be ridiculed for such an innocent question. Such was life in the Henry clan. You either followed the word of God without question or you shut your mouth and put that blasphemy where the sun didn’t shine. That was how her grandmother was raised, that was how her mother was raised, that was how she was raised, and that was how her children were going to be raised -- assuming she was going to have children, of course.

Lillian hated rejection and being ridiculed. But what could she do in an environment that seemed to question and contest her every belief? Lillian originally wanted to keep things to herself, but with the mounting anti-Christian sentiment and attitude that seemed to be becoming more prevalent on campus, she just couldn’t help herself. She had to defend herself. She wasn’t just going to take that abuse and have her beliefs be slandered like that. Lillian wanted her perspective to be understood, but nobody took the time to do so. It was frustrating her, that nobody was willing to listen to her. She still failed to see how her messages came out of her mouth, but she was more than sure that if someone actually took the time to sit down and talk to her -- that she would’ve been better understood. Someone might actually see and agree with her perspective, instead of ridiculing her and calling her a “bible-thumper”. Lillian simply wanted to be understood but nobody was willing to take the time. Nobody would understand what she believed anyway, it wasn’t like there was anyone who could truly see and sympathize with her and interpret her beliefs in a way that was more… accessible to everyone around her.

The chances of that happening were just as slim as any other dream.

There were so many things that Lillian wanted in life, but she just couldn’t have it. God didn’t want her to, at least. Nobody was taking the time to actually hear her out and see her reasoning, instead opting to label her as a “vile bitch” up to no good. That was why she was sitting against a white wall, huddled up with her legs against her chest as she let the blood consume tissues by the boxful. This was the result of someone not willing to hear her out and get her message across. She just wanted Camille to pick a better path, one that would make them have a better life in the long run, one that would be more beneficial even past the mortal coil. But yet, they had resorted to physical violence. Violence was never the answer -- she would never resort to such a measure in dealing with such a situation. There were far more benefits of having diplomacy instead of having to resort to the uncivilized gesture of physical action.

What happened to just talking?

Lillian just wanted to talk, but nobody wanted to listen. At least, nobody she wanted to listen had the desire to hear her out. There was a boy at church that just always seemed to bug her. It wasn’t that he was annoying or anything like that, but it was clear that the boy wanted to be more than just fellow Church buddies. Lillian simply didn’t have the same sort of sentiment toward him, or for any boy, for that matter. Not even to that 6’8” piece of meat that used to be the starting quarterback for the BHHS football team. He didn’t do anything to her, and he was apparently one of the most talked about boys in the entire school. She didn’t see it. She didn’t see why he was so hot. There were girls most likely doing sinful things to the image of him, but Lillian was completely complacent in his presence and when thinking about him.

It was odd. She was sure she liked boys… but they just weren’t doing anything for her. No boy had ever made her jaw drop. No boy had ever been stuck on her mind for reasons other than how stupid they are or whatever sin they committed in front of her. She simply wasn’t interested in seeking out anyone of the male species, even if she was supposed to seek one out later down the line to bear children with and keep the family bloodline going.

They just weren’t her thing.

Maybe that was why Lillian was stuck inside her room tonight. Locked with her own thoughts, presence, and overall being instead of being in the company of someone else. Instead of being in someone’s warm, soft embrace and being surrounded by their company -- she was subjected to her own personal prison. A song slowly rising in volume from her speakers as she hit the play button on her phone. Leaning her head back against the wall, she took a deep breath, sniffling a bit as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. She closed her eyes to allow herself to be consumed by the darkness, submerging herself and denying whatever light that remained in the room the right to reach her eyes. Lillian was taking deep breaths through her mouth, careful not to breathe in the tissues that dangled from her nostrils as she tried to collect herself and keep herself from being too consumed from the darkness.

It didn’t seem like it was working, however.

A hand came up to her eye, making one motion over it before Lillian sighed once again. Opening her eyes again she looked up at the ceiling. A vast nothingness. Whatever light hit it had only illuminated the flat, white ceiling that sat above her. But that wasn’t what she was looking at. Maybe God was putting her through this for some reason. Maybe this wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing. Or -- maybe she wasn’t spreading his message right, as if God wasn’t satisfied with whatever she was doing to make sure his words were heard.

What else could she have done, though? There wasn’t much that could done about words that were falling on clearly deaf ears. Lillian didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to do about her message, she didn’t know what to do about Camille, she didn’t know what to do about her peers, but most of all, she didn’t know what to do with herself.

If only they knew her worth -- if only she knew her worth.

[Hey Im Jordan]

_{Featuring: Brian Helmsley, Ryan Helmsley, and Henry Green
Location: Brian’s room and The Stentorian Estate
Interacting with: Parker Ashford and probably Chae Min-seo by proxy @Fabricant451
Time: Friday Night Date Night!}

---

---

“I take it you did it.”

Brian was heavily focused on what he was doing, but when his father appeared in the mirror he was staring into, Brian was smart enough to turn his head to acknowledge Ryan. Adjusting the cuffs on his suit jacket, Brian looked over at his father and shook his head “No, I just thought I’d dress up and look at myself in the mirror.” Brian shrugged his shoulders, rolling his eyes. “Yes, I did it.” He confirmed with a nod, turning around to face his father with a slight smile on his lips.

Ryan folded his arms over his chest and nodded, “and how did it go? You kill it?” Ryan had a way of speaking that had persisted throughout his teenage years, and while he was able to mask it in more ‘official’ meetings… talking with his son was hardly one of those. Brian responded with a nod and Ryan stepped forward, putting a hand on Brian’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “Good job. Though… I have to ask. Why her? You can do better, you’re a Helmsley.”

Brian should have known this was where the conversation was going. Why would it go anywhere else? No one thought Parker was ‘on his level.’ “Because she’s different. She’s interesting and different and… she’s free, and so so happy. It’s refreshing and new for me. Isn’t that enough?” Brian looked at his father and raised an eyebrow, and Ryan took his hand off of his son’s shoulder and shrugged, seemingly satisfied. “I have one stop to make before I pick her up. Did you need anything else?”

“One last thing. Why, exactly, are you dressed in a suit for this? I thought the date was at that pizza place. Not exactly a suit and tie location…”

At this, Brian simply shook his head, “I don’t know. I’m always dressed up, so I figured this was no different. I went overboard… just in case? I don’t know what she’s gonna be looking like. You know?” Brian shrugged his shoulders and his dad nodded while Brian ducked past him. “I’ll call if we need anything.”

“Don’t need anything.”

“Wasn’t planning on it!” Brian called out, glancing over his shoulder as he headed out the door. He was sixteen years old; the time for needing his parents had long since past. Was he nervous? Yes, absolutely — it was his first date, for god’s sake. But, it was a date with the only girl he had ever saw himself with, since the first time he’d met her.

Parker Ashford.

And Brian didn’t really care what the other people thought of Parker. He didn’t care that some of the people in his family didn’t necessarily approve of his love for her. That people thought she was weird was irrelevant to her, he saw her differently. Brian saw Parker for the bright, happy person that she was. She was different from almost everyone — as as far as he knew (and he knew pretty far, considering Henry was one of his friends), Parker was so happily optimistic, all the time, no matter what.

It was beautiful.

That was what attracted him to her, though no one had ever bothered to ask why he liked her, only why he didn’t pick someone ‘better.’ In his opinion, Parker was the best option — far and away; and in this situation? His was the only opinion that mattered. That was why Brian was going over the top, to show Parker how much he thought she was worth. That was why he’d put on a proper suit, and that was why he was on the way to the first stop.

The first stop? Hummingbird Creations, where Brian had put in an order the day before, for a bouquet for Parker; as well as something special, a heart shaped box of chocolates for the lucky girl. An extremely expensive box of chocolates, but hey, everything in his life was extremely expensive — that was just a natural side effect of being one of the richest families on the planet.

After picking up his package, Brian took the quickest route he knew to the Green estate, letting himself into the gate. Once he arrived at the door, Brian hit the button… and waited. It always took a while for someone to answer the door at the Stentorian Estate, a fact that was sensible given the titanic size of the home. Brian was almost certain it wasn’t going to be Parker when the door was answered, and even assumed it would be a servant of some kind.

Which was part of the reason why he was so surprised when it was in fact, Henry Green that pulled open the door. “The fuck you want, nigga? Bro, are those chocolates for me!? Oh — SHIT. I forgot! Hold up here, yeah? I’ll go get her.” Henry gave Brian a nod and turned to jog off into the house, and before long, Brian could hear his friend’s voice emanating with a small echo from deep in the halls.

“Park, let’s rock and roll! Brian’s here to pick you up.”

And all of a sudden, Brian was a mess of nerves again.

[Hey Im Jordan]

_{Featuring: Read and find out?
Location: Mirage
Time: Post Captain Cuddles, Friday Night
Interacting with: No one yet.}

---

---

Zach was happy that he was finally getting some time to play games, even if it was at almost midnight on a Friday night. Sure, he was playing alone, sure he was probably going to regret it in the morning — did people work out on Saturday? He figured he’d soon know the answer to that question, for better or worse. He wasn’t about to not play video games. Who knew the next chance he’d get?

That was why he was up and queueing for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Mirage, of course. Who played different maps? Mirage was core — if you weren’t a pro and didn’t play like ESL or one of the other premium leagues, but nobody had money for that shit.

Waiting for the queue to pop, Zach took a sip from his trusty water bottle. Zach was used to the queues taking a long time, it was just part of the game. CS:GO had staying power — it’d been around for years now (and it didn’t seem like it was ever getting updated), sure, but it also didn’t exactly have an active community… especially not in the higher ranks that Zach was stuck in. ‘Stuck’ was a questionable word, since being in the higher ranks was a good thing, with the only downside being the queue lengths…

Which weren't very long tonight? Apparently, most people played CS:GO at midnight. Who knew? Zach clicked the accept button, and waited for the game to load up into the warmup round. Once the game started, Zach popped up in the voice chat, “mic check?” He said, trying to see if anyone else on his team had a mic. And they’d better, considering he was Eagle Rank. He was met with silence… which didn’t bode well for the game itself.

Being the somewhat bashful person that he was, Zach wasn’t sure he had it in him to shotcall an entire game by himself. It was a somewhat intimidating task… Recomposing himself, though, Zach prepared for the worst. It was Mirage, he was CT. It was gonna be an easy game, right? Disregarding the fact that he’d not played in almost two weeks, Zach decided to speak into the mic again. “I’m gonna go to A site, I guess?”

“Fuck off, retard, I’m going A. I wanna play stairs.”

“There’s plenty of room on the site for two people. I’m gonna go mid.”

Well, that was at least confirmed one thing for Zach: he at least two people on his team had mics. That was a good sign, right? “Does anyone know any CT smokes?”

“CT Smokes are gay. No one ever throws them, it’s just a waste of four hundred money. That’s like two kills, idiot.” The voice in the mic from before sounded off again, and Zach wondered if the next half hour or so of his life was going to involving being subjected to this.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re kind of toxic?” Maybe if he pointed it out… she’d stop. It didn’t seem likely, and Zach found himself not only waiting for the enemy to appear on his screen, but also for another uninspired quip.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re kinda GAY? Get off me, rocky.” Kit snapped into the microphone, drumming her fingers between W and D to move her character up and down the stairs. “Quit your whinin’ and hop in my backpack, ya? I’ll boost you, du— Hey there’s one palace.” Pop. “Nevermind, I popped his ass.” Pop. “I got his buddy too. You’re gonna be talking about my one taps.” Pop. Pop. “LET ME KNIFE THE LAST GUY FOR THE ACE, DUDE.” She yelled as she saw her teammate running up to the same place she was going. Kit rushed the enemy and succeeded in stabbing him in the face.

Kit moved her mouse around wildly as she hopped around on the map, having clinched the round with nothing but one taps. Her MVP theme played in the background, as a harmony to her while she sang.“One tap, two tap, three tap, four tap, MORE.” Kit said, knifing one of the terrorist's bodies as she hit the control key to crouch on top of him. “Easy game, BOYS. Don’t you worry, you mute monkeys. Me and yellow and blue will carry you. I mean, mostly me, but they have mics so I have to include them — I feel like yellow would cry like a bitch if I didn’t.”

“I would not!”

“Everybody calm down. We won one round, there’s still twenty-nine to go — you can still thro— Did Green just buy an AWP?” Brett frowned as he stared at the screen, looking across the way at the most talkative member of his team. She was loud — and annoying, but he could overlook that if she was good. Still, spending all the money she’d gotten on the first round was… questionable at best.

“Hell yeah I did, I’M GOING MID.”

“You sound like you’re twelve, holy shit. I never asked for this. Okay, fine. I’ll take your spot A…” Brett sighed, but turned his character’s head, to head toward the site while Green took his position from the last round. “Just don’t die, okay?”

“yOu sOuNd lIke YoU’Re tWeLvE. Fuck outta here, I just crushed them, I’m about to do it again. Who died and made you king? SHIT. You distracted me!”

As she was talking, Green got shot in the face, and Brett had to concentrate. “Shhhh. They’re connector maybe?” Laying off of the push to talk button, Brett muttered to himself, “is this girl for real? Holy shit, this sucks.” He squeezed mouse one and managed to kill two of the enemies before he died himself. “Okay, uh, I saw two more in connector, so there might be one jungle with Green’s AWP.”

Brett was more comfortable being dead anyway. CS:GO wasn’t his main game, but he was pretty good at it. Gamesense was sort of his thing, and he wasn’t half bad at the main rifles, which was the only reason he’d made it as far as he had, but CS still wasn’t what he was best at. He could relay information and make calls all day, though. He was born to call shots.

“Okay, purple got the guy in jungle with the AWP, but he’s lit. So, it’s up to you, Yellow and Orange. Oooh, good shot, Yellow. See, Green, you could have just bought a Deagle and been just as effective. Yellow can get one deags, why can’t you?” Brett was almost certainly spoiling for a fight as he picked on the girl who’d been shown to be

“SUCK MY FUCKING DICK, STEVE FUCKING HAINES!”

That one caused Brett to pause for a second. “Wait… was that a…”

“...GTA V reference? That’s old school.” Zach said, shaking his head as he dashed over to try and get an AK-47. He wasn’t even sure that they had one, but maybe he’d get lucky. Some people force bought second round, right? “Ooh, it’s my lucky day.” They had indeed force bought!

By the time the team reached halftime, the scoreboard had Green (Kitastrophe) — who was apparently a fucking prodigy, despite her attitude — at the top, followed by Yellow (Hey I’m Zach), and then Blue (FrozenReflex) pulling up the third spot. Orange and Purple… weren’t very good — almost like they weren’t a part of the team, but they weren’t heavy either.

“Yellow, buy me a P250. No wait! Buy me a Deagle. No, wait. Buy me a TEC-9. Wait, the TEC sucks… You know what? Don’t buy me anything.” Kit decided finally, talking into the mic with a mouthful of food as she chewed one of the pizza rolls she’d made during the timeout she’d called. “I got this here Glock. Blue, do you wanna see me burst fire them? I bet I can get at least three without full auto.” Kit was bragging, but she felt like she’d kind of earned it — she had almost sixty percent of the team’s kills by herself, and was very much the reason they were winning so hard (sans that one awkward AWP incident). The team was very much, as she’d promised, in her backpack.

“Uh… Honestly? Kind of. I can smoke something. Where are we going? If we go A, I’ll smoke CT stairs.”

“Yeah, A! I’ll go palace, and you guys all go ramp. Trust me, I got this.” Kit promised, rushing away from the spawn with the bomb in her hands as she right clicked to set the gun to burst fire. “Remember… no Russian.” With that, Kit rushed them, squeezing the trigger as she jumped out of scaffolding. One kill. Two kills. “SON OF A BITCH! There’s a douchebag hiding on ticket booth, I lit ‘im, but I missed his face.” Kit grumbled into the mic, making the callout so her team could clean up her mess, finishing up the last of the group.

“Shoulda waited for the smoke to pop, maybe it could have covered you.”

“Hey, she’s doing the best on the team. Let’s just let it rock. You’re not bad at this game, despite your attitude. Do you wanna queue up after this game?”

“NO. Soloq ONLY QUEUE. Also, uh… it’s my bedtime after this.” Kit said, in a surprisingly meek voice. She had to be in bed by one AM, according to the Doc. It’d help her reset and refresh herself, following her Tekken marathon from the other day, though Kit herself felt like she was fine… The Doc was the boss in that sort of thing. Besides, they had plans for tomorrow! She didn’t wanna sleep past shopping. “You can add me, I guess.”

“Cool! Will do. I like having new people to play games with. What about you, Blue?” Zach was happy now. They only had two rounds to go before the game was over, and they could all take their weight off of Green’s shoulders. Maybe Blue would be down to play more. “Wait… I should probably head to bed too.” Ah, hell. He’d forgotten about the whole ‘workout every day to get Sam to date me’ thing.

“I guess just add me too?” Brett didn’t really understand the point of going to sleep so early, but hey. They weren’t his peers, they were just random internet people, and he didn’t really care what they did. “I don’t know. I play League more than CS, but I also play some other shit.” Brett said, while getting ready for the final round — it seemed like Green was going to pull them, kicking and screaming, across the finish line.

“Reminder to play fighting games, the truest of all video games. Buy a fightstick. Go to locals. Support your community. Help it grow. Nourish it.” Kit said into the mic, while they were on the victory screen — she’d clinched the win for them, of course. “I’ll see you guys next time! PEACE. Lataaaaa, bitch.”

Kitastrophe has disconnected.

“I don’t know if I want to add her. She seems like actually insane. Really… really… good, though.” Zach admitted into the mic, before shrugging his shoulders. He could handle that later. For now? Well, he needed sleep before he had to go do… whatever Owen had planned for him.

Hey I’m Zach has disconnected.

“Well, I guess they’re outta here. I’m still gonna play. Not like I got anything better to do… I should really look into starting an esports team at school. Maybe I’d have more people to play with at least…” Brett shrugged his shoulders and clicked the button. What could one more hurt?

FrozenReflex has entered the queue.

_{^{Stars of the show: Hey I’m Zach, Kitastrophe, and briefly introducing FrozenReflex}}