[IC] Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

[Venus]

Damn, it sure felt nice when things went well for a change.

Ever since their talk at the party, it was very obvious that Santiago was trying his hardest to become a better… whatever he was to April. They’d spent the rest of the night and all day Sunday hanging out at her place, and he’d even felt cheerful enough to make breakfast for his beloved on Monday morning. Although he would never openly admit it to everyone, the Devil of Crown Heights definitely felt that what had happened over the weekend was necessary for things between he and April to move forward. There was definitely a positive change in the way they treated each other, and the young man hoped that this was the start of what could lead to a proper relationship between them. Their hardest attempt was the least their unborn child deserved.

After his breakfast with April, Santiago went back home to get ready for the school day, and made it to King’s Academy in record time. Although the teachers of his missed classes were less than pleased with him, a quick explanation of his situation (along with April’s ultrasound photos of the last appointment) was enough to have them apologizing and offering support in any way possible. The rest of his morning classes went by as per usual, and before he knew it, lunchtime was here. When his eyes fell on the empty chair at their usual table, Diablo cursed under his breath. With the reconciliation between him and his baby mama happening during the weekend, he'd completely forgotten what an asshole he'd been to the one friend who'd stood by him through thick and thin. If anyone besides April deserved an apology for his dickish behavior, it was Max.

Deciding he'd put it off long enough, Santiago began to search for Max around the school. He checked the gym and locker rooms to no success, but when he eventually found his blond-haired friend in the lacrosse field with the rest of the team, he stumbled on what looked like a heated argument between the captain and none other than Sawyer Lockwood. Diablo knew his friends well enough to tell when they were getting seriously pissed off; and he could see the signs flash in front of him like headlights in the night. Max had that telling throb in the vein of his right temple, Sawyer's ears were red, and they both looked ready to throw hands.

Before things could get physical, Santiago jumped in. “Why don’t we all just take a breather and revisit the topic when cooler heads prevail?” he told his friends, cautiously standing between them and extending his arms to keep them apart.

[AlteredTundra]

Sonny had been feeling uncharacteristically chipper and overall happy this morning and throughout the morning hours too. It wasn’t like him to be like this. Sure, he was usually all smiles but more in a laid back sort of way, but for a strange reason, he was not like himself. One could say Sonny was acting how he was before he developed the tough guy gene that alienated most of his friends.

When lunchtime came around, there was also something different in how he greets others. It was noted by someone he waved to when he didn’t follow their name with some kind of homosexual slur of some kind that he was known for using in a joking way. And while others may not know why exactly, Sonny knew the reason for his new sunny outlook on life now. It was now that he was friends with his best friend's friends. After Kavi’s party, it became solidified.

Sonny Drake is now chummy with Kavan and Archer. Sonny will now forever be protective over his fairies. If he wasn’t so hungry, he might go find them, but like a Drake, when food was on the mind, everything else came second place. So Sonny went to the cafeteria, found himself a couple of slices of pepperoni pizza, and began his usual eating and walking routine as he went on a lunch adventure to find his fellow Misfits.

[Venus]

The decision to take the party up to Max’s bedroom was by far the best idea the ex-lovers had had in awhile. They’d spent the night catching up between the sheets, making the most out of what was probably going to be the last time they’d ever be together. By the time Sunday morning came around, they’d been absolutely worn out and right in the middle of a deep sleep when the youngest Wallenberg suddenly burst into her older brother’s room.

"Jesus, Max! Who was the loud slut that kept me up last ni- Kellie?!” Agnes has cried out in disbelief, eyes wide in recognition of the sleepy, shirtless, messy-haired girl rising from under the covers. “Seriously, Kel? After everything we talked about? I thought you guys were over for good!”

Max and Kellie exchanged panicked looks, hoping to come up with a plausible explanation for their compromising position when Elin Wallenberg strutted into her baby brother’s room. The oldest daughter had come back to spend some time with her family after being away at college for months-- and of course she had to arrive in the most unfortunate moment. After an embarrassing attempt at conversation, Max’s sisters left the room, graciously allowing them the chance to get dressed and attempt their quick, undetected escape. But just as they were rounding the kitchen corner to reach the house’s back door, the couple stumbled head-first into a confused Alice Wallenberg carrying the last plates to the dining room... Which lead to what was probably the most awkward breakfast the Kellie Anne had ever shared with the Wallenberg family.

The dancer finally made it home in the early hours of the afternoon, and quickly buried herself in the mountain of homework that had accumulated throughout the past week. During all this time, her phone had been forgotten underneath her Halloween costume at the bottom of one of Agnes’ old backpacks. It was only after she was getting ready for bed that she remembered the powerless device needed charging, and as soon as she turned it on, a stream of text messages from Shawna popped up on the screen. For the longest time, Kellie simply stared at her phone, feeling the guilt bubbling up in the pit of her stomach and asking herself whether it was a good idea to simply come clean about what had happened. After all, it’s not like what she and Shawna had was anything more than two friends exploring their sexuality with each other. But at the same time, the last thing Kel wanted was to hurt her new friend, so she opted to simply send her a sweet little message before bed and worry about everything else later.

---

That Monday morning had started out as a regular one for Kellie Anne. She arrived at school on time, was greeted by Molly Davis handing her a caramel frappuccino from Starbucks, made it to homeroom with time to spare, and attended all her classes as per usual (low-key avoiding Shawna along the way). It was at the start of her lunch period when the young woman’s phone vibrated inside her pocket, and the text message she read had her mood shifting from cheerful to pissed in record time.

Hey. So, uh.. is it true, about you and Wallenberg? G told me. Was just wondering if it was fr or not.

From:Sawyer

Kellie didn’t even bother with a reply. Fuming, she stuffed her phone inside the pocket of her skirt and stormed in the direction of the cafeteria. There was only one person whose name started with a “G” that had any reason to spread rumors about her, and who had everything to gain from them. Probably the same G-named person she’d seen messing around with Max in the pier a few weeks ago, too… But if there was one thing that Kel was certain of, it was that it was time to face the root of the problem head-on.

The young woman’s brown eyes scanned the area and quickly lit up in annoyance at the sight of the girl in question occupying one of the tables in the cafeteria. Hands balled into fists, Kellie made a beeline for the table and eventually slammed her belongings on top of it, effectively imposing herself and interrupting any conversation between her fellow classmates.

“You’re Georgia Fielders, right?” she asked the brunette, plopping down on the seat right in front of her and staring daggers at the other girl while effectively ignoring the boy joining them at the table. “I'm Kellie Anne Nicholson- though I'm pretty sure you know this already. I heard you like to throw my name around quite a lot, actually. Any particular reason why?”

[NeoAJ]

_{A collab by @NeoAJ and @HaleyTheRandom; featuring Shawna and Sunshine.}

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School was the last place Shawna wanted to be right now. She thought long and hard about skipping today. Just hunkering down in her house with a couple seasons of GLOW and what was left of her stash from Carter. It had been that stressful yesterday.

Kellie Anne finally responded to her after Ariel had gotten out of the shared Uber on Saturday night. Finally. But it wasn't much of a response. Shawna stared at it as the driver took her back to the homestead:

"hey babe, something came up so i had to leave. sorry!"
"love u, see u monday at school!"

It seemed pretty innocuous-looking. The kind of thing that would have made sense to send to someone. However, the context that Ximena had added to things made it seem almost shady. Kellie Anne didn't say what it was. Millie still appeared to be at the party when Shawna and Ariel left, so it couldn't be her sister. And if it was a family thing, Millie likely would have left as well. So what was it?

Attempts at getting clarity on Sunday were shut down too. Kellie wasn't responding to anything Shawna sent. Not to a "hey u? How you feeling today?" or a "I know you aren't sleeping the whole day away, right?" or even a "you're still alive, right?" She didn't even acknowledge it until late Sunday night. It was if she didn't notice the stream of worried texts. Instead:

"hi love! hope ur well! see u tomorrow <3"

She was still mulling Sunday over as she shuffled like a zombie towards her locker.

"I just don't get it. I just don't," she said, as she trudged along. Confusion was a feeling she was more familiar with nowadays following her summer break, but she still didn't like it. "That was the first day she didn't answer a single text. Like, it can't be because of Max, right?"

Sunshine had been pondering what had happened at Kavi's party over the course of the last few days - not that there was much that had happened for her. What she had been pondering was the fact that Kings Academy seemed like a completely and utterly confusing shit show. She had sent out a couple of texts to Shawna and Kellie over the weekend, but hadn't really gotten that much of a response from either. She had just chalked it up to them being busy or hung over. Luckily for her, she spotted the taller of the two in the hall. "Yo, Shawna! Everything okay? You're either constipated or concentrating really hard."

Hearing the voice of one of her friends jolted Shawna out of her state of contemplation. She turned to see Sunshine standing ther, in a relatively normal state. At least she had made it out all right. She regretted not checking in with her yesterday, but the Kellie thing had put her completely on edge. "Um...it's...no. It's not really ok. It's just... I'm having some trouble with... Sunshine, what do you think about Kellie? Like I know you haven't had that long to know her, but maybe that's good. What do you think of her?"

A little caught off by the question, it took Sunshine a second to answer. "I mean, like you said, I haven't really known her that long. She seems pretty cool. A little awkward, but hey, aren't we all?"

Shawna responded with a laugh that definitely backed up Sunshine's assertion. It was not the chill laugh she had developed over the past few months. There was nervous feelings laced within. "That is definitely true. But I mean, like... you don't think Kellie would be the type to... you know..." Shawna looked around, just to make sure the dancer wasn't bounding up the hallway already. "You don't think she's the type to cheat on someone, do you?" She was being pretty blunt, but it was the only way she knew she was going to get some help on making sense of everything.

"I really don't know, man. I just... I dunno. I don't know her that well. I wish I did, but I just... don't."

The tall girl stopped and let her back bang up against a random set of lockers as she slumped down to the ground. "Fuck I wish someone did," she sighed. Shawna looked up at Sunshine as students filtered past them. "Someone told me at the Halloween party that they saw Kellie Anne hooking up with fucking Max in a room, and I don't know if I believe them. I thought I didn't. After having all of yesterday to think about it though, now I'm like 50/50. Like she actually could have done that."

"Fuck," Sunshine mumbled under her breath, slowly taking in Shawna's words. Then it dawned on her. Were Kellie and Shawna actually a thing? Of course Sable had noticed the jokes and such, but she didn't really think that they were official or anything. "So you two were actually a thing? Like... wow. I'm so sorry Shawna."

"It wasn't a THING thing," Shawna admitted. "I tried to make it a thing thing. Kellie said she wasn't ready. She said she wasn't over Max. I didn't think she meant that she wanted to go back and fuck him again, but fuck. I don't know. I don't fucking know. And this whole ghosting thing isn't helping my brain much either.

Wow. That was literally the only word that could come to Sunshines mind. People and emotions were complicated. That's why she normally stuck to Tequila. "So she hasn't messaged you either?"

Shawna held her knees. "A couple times, but she hasn't offered an explanation for what happened at Kavi's or why she didn't message me almost all of yesterday. She looked down the hall. There were a sprinkling of tears on her face. "Stupid fucking Max. He just couldn't stay away. He just had to come along and fuck everything up, didn't he?"

"You could always fuck his shit up. Kellie didn't have to do anything with him. You could just fuck his shit up for GP as my mom used to say." Sunshine took a deep breath. She really wasn't being any help to Shawna at the moment, and it was starting to make her feel bad. "On a serious note though, I'm here if you need me. Maybe one of us could try to meet up with her in class or something today? Nonchalantly ask her what happened. Probably better you than me. I'm not sure."

Sunshine was making a lot of sense. If Max was going to take away something Shawna love.... at least had very strong feelings for, the least she could do is take something away from that fucking asshole. It seemed to be the right way to go about things. She probably couldn't match Ariel's final total for damages to Kavi's bedroom. But she could at least cost stupid Max a game or two. Kellie said he was always wrapped up in his lacrosse shit. Hard to be wrapped up in it when there is no equipment to play matches with.

"No...no. I might say something really fucking stupid right now," Shawna told her friend. "Besides, I don't feel much like going to class." She got up and gave Sunshine a hug. "Thank you, Sunshine. You're a great friend. I know what I have to do."

"Please don't fucking kill anybody. I really don't feel like testifying against a new friend."

Shawna laughed. This one was less nervous and a little more... aggressive? Jokerish? It was tough to tell. "No worries. I promise I will not kill anyone. Just going to follow the example of someone else and find a healthy outlet for my frustration at this whole scenario. You won't be under oath, I swear.

"Well, just know that no matter what happens, I'm here for you, okay? I think I'll go and grab some lunch before class though, if that's fine?"

"Sounds like a plan, Sunshine. I think I'm going to go off-campus for lunch today. You know, right after I take care of some shit. Anyway, text me later, ok?" With that, Shawna headed off towards the athletics department. She was going to have to stop by the baseball equipment locker, but soon there would be justice in the world.

[Sugar and Spite]

Good 'ol lunch period.

Oliver had gotten to the point where he didn't particularly care for school anymore. He would wake up, go through the motions, do his work, and go home. Perhaps it was the Senioritis growing stronger by the day, but he was really looking forward to the day where he as finally free from Kings Academy. Prom wasn't his thing, but if he knew anything about Stella - which he did - he knew that Prom was definitely something that she would enjoy. Rather they would be together at that time - no. He wasn't going to think like that. He and Stella had literally just started dating and there was no reason to think in that direction.

He hadn't seen Stella yet today, so he decided to head to lunch and do some weak brainstorming for some of his short stories. The young man found a section of a table all to himself, and so there is where he made himself his temporary place of comfort.

[spooner]

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Blue eyes scanned the phone screen as April sat down at the table. “Hey sweetie.” Julie said with a smile putting her phone down. “How are you doing?” she asked as her eyes flicked to her friends midsection. Thankfully she caught herself before it became too noticeable and composed her face. “Where did you disappear this weekend? I tried to check on you but I didn’t get an answer. I’m guessing you and… Santiago made up?” she probed.

She picked up her phone again scrolling through when April asked for ideas “Well I’ve just been musing a little bit.” she said with that sparkle coming back to her eyes. “So first I was thinking we could put bees or spiders in the vents… but that might be seen as animal cruelty and a bit extreme” she shot Chanel who had vetoed that idea a look “Then I thought maybe we could do something at a big football game! But then that might upset your… friends.” she looked away through the window out into the courtyard. For some reason the huge fountain that sat in the middle of it held Julie’s concentration. Suddenly Julie’s face lit up and a small gasp escaped her.

“You guys!” she clasped her hands in front of her. “What if we turned the courtyard into a huge foam party?” she mused in a low whisper. “Like we sneak in here the night before and set it all up and when everyone arrives in the morning it will look like they entered a party in Ibiza.” she turned her head toward the fountain “We could use that as our big foam machine” she said pointing with her fork.

“What do you guys think?”

Archer gritted his teeth as he watched his big cousin stomp away. Should he have told Max? Was this going to come back and bite him in his ass? Probably. Butt all he could do now was roll his eyes and go back to scribble in his notebook. He was deep into translating a latin poem when he felt someone take a seat next to him. When he felt the gentle touch of Kavan a warm feeling filled the boy. Everything was still ok.

He returned his boyfriends gesture with a kiss on the lips before shutting his book. “Just writing Mrs. Archer Varma over and over again.” he said grinning widely vincing at the pain that too large facial expressions brought. “How’s your day going? Any troubles?” Archer asked leaning into Kavan snuggling up under his chin.

As Guy sat down the wavy haired boy straightened up in his seat. He only knew how much he hated to be around PDA so he wouldn’t want to be the one displaying it. “Oh you know…” he began following his friends gaze that landed on his boyfriend. He laughed “No, no! This is not a result of any kind of domestic violence.” Archer pointed out as he waved his hands in front of them both before grabbing Kavan’s hand and squeezing it. “No this is… uh how can I put it. It’s the result of me not knowing when to shut up… as usual.” he gave his friend a weak smile.

When he heard Kol yell out after him Max whipped around bounding back towards the kid. “Listen here Halliday! I am not taking it out on anyone. All I am saying is that do not be an asshole and you won’t be punished. You got a problem with that? Or did you want to go beat someone smaller than you?” he said his anger barely being contained. He turned on his heel again starting to walk away once more when he heard Sawyer pipe up. Max stopped dead in his tracks lifting his hand to his nose pinching the bridge of it letting out a big sigh. What was with all of this wineing. Turning back a second time he stared Sawyer down locking his jaw before answering.

“Who said I was giving anyone a break, huh?” he asked stepping closer to Sawyer “Maybe I didn’t want to discuss what I was going to do with you fuckwads? Maybe I have already done something?” Max continued getting closer and closer to Sawyer’s face. “So before you go complaining like I just took away your favorite blankie maybe just think! And if you ever step out of line like this again we’re going to have a problem…” before he could continue he felt an arm pulling him back. Looking up he saw Santiago’s concerned face.

“Oh for fucks sake…” he said shaking Santi’s grip from his shoulder. “Just stay out of this…. what do you want?!” he spat crossing his arms in front of his chest.

[Ejected]

_{Location: King's Academy Campus Quad
Interacting with: The Trio}

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As soon as Julie had brought up the idea of doing something that would liven up their final year of high school, Chanel's mind began to wander as she thought of all the things they could do to leave their mark at King's Academy. And while she definitely wanted to pull off something memorable and funny, she didn't want it to be too crazy or dangerous that they'd face being suspended. After all, she wanted to pull some harmless prank, not risk her chances of going to FAMU next fall.

Soon, April had joined the two of them at their usual table in the Quad. Chanel let her eyes glance at April's growing stomach for a brief second before redirecting them to her eyes and flashing her a warm grin. Julie was right when she'd said that she had gone MIA for the remainder of the weekend; if she was being totally honest, she'd been slightly worried about her good friend after not being able to contact her during that time. “If we do something like this, we have to do it like, all out," the young woman said, and Chanel simply nodded her head in agreement. “Ideas?”

Julie spoke up first, telling their friend about her initial ideas to put spiders or bees in the vents, an idea which Chanel had already expressed her disapproval, or to pull some crazy stunt at one of the school's football games. Although not being totally against the latter, Chanel decided that she would feel slightly uncomfortable angering some of the more aggressive players and the people who cared more for the sport than they probably should. Suddenly, after sitting in silence for a brief moment, Julie’s face lit up and a small gasp escaped her lips. “What if we turned the courtyard into a huge foam party?”

A devious smile slowly made its way upon Chanel's face as she listened to her friend's idea for using the fountain as their "foam machine" and turning the courtyard into one big Ibiza party. "I like it. It's memorable and funny, but also pretty harmless..." Chanel said as she thought of how her classmates and the school staff would react. "Okay, why not? I'm definitely down for that if you guys are."

[Venus]

[Venus]

Featuring Ariana Mossos and Mr. Jace Russo

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The youngest member of the Mossos clan had spent the majority of the holidays with her large family in Greece, and away from one of her favorite people in the world. The sights, activities and time spent with everyone kept her entertained for the most part, but the brunette’s thoughts always went back to him whenever she was alone. Three weeks had seemed like forever without his kisses, his burning touch on her skin, and the rush of adrenaline of the forbidden relationship they shared. So when Ariana finally got the text message she’d been praying for since the day of her arrival to Florida, she was unable to hold back the squeals of excitement. She quickly lied to informed her parents she'd be spending the weekend with one of her friends, packed her overnight back with his favorite selections of lingerie (and some new acquisitions she'd purchased during her trip) and made the short trip down the familiar streets of Crown Heights and to his cozy home.

Ariana pressed the doorbell once, and was quickly greeted by a tall, bearded man with black hair and piercing blue eyes, wearing nothing but those gray sweatpants that drove her crazy. Grinning, she took a second to hungrily and shamefully stare at his chiseled features before speaking. "You called, Daddy?" she asked the man innocently, looking up at him with kittenish eyes but with that suggestive smirk on her juicy cherry gloss-covered lips.

The last few weeks of Christmas vacation had given Mr. Jace Russo time to do the usual nothing with his life. The winter break of the most attractive male teacher of King's Academy had consisted of grading a few tests, visiting family and watching football with his friend Brent. While he hadn’t been counting down the days until his favorite student got back from vacation, he did have the date carved into the back of his mind. Giving her a good day or two to settle back in, he had finally sent her the classic: “I miss you. You should come see me” text. It wasn’t a lie: he did miss her from time to time. However, his message had been more code than sincerity. And luckily enough for him, the young woman had picked up on the hint.

”Welcome back, Princess,” he responded, looking down at her. Moving from the doorway back into the living room, he turned down the volume on the TV as Ariana made her way inside. ”How was Greece?”

"Ugh, exhausting!" she huffed, slipping her sneakers off by the door and making a beeline straight for the refrigerator to grab one of the pink lemonade bottles her favorite teacher kept in stock for her. "As much as I love traveling, I was so ready to be back home. Don't get me wrong: I had a lot of fun, obviously," the brunette explained, hopping up to sit on the kitchen counter, opening her lemonade bottle and taking a long sip. "The sights and the shopping were fabulous, as always. But you know how big my family is. There were my grandparents, my parents, my siblings, my cousin Romeo and his girlfriend, my aunt and my other cousins… It was a circus! With the amount of people around me all the time, there were times that I felt so suffocated. I felt like I couldn't even take a shower without feeling like someone was hovering over my shoulder!"

Setting the remote back down on the coffee table, Jace made his way over to the kitchen to stand in front of her, resting his hands on her thighs as she spoke.

”Hopefully now that you're back you can relax,” he said, reaching his hand up to brush her hair behind her right ear. ”Do you want anything to eat? You know I’d be more than glad to fix you something.”

"Wow, dinner tonight and everything? I'm in for a treat," she teased, letting out a small laugh before throwing her arms around his neck. "I already ate back home, but I wouldn't say no to some dessert."

He couldn’t help but smirk at her comment before leaning down to kiss her. ”Always quick to the chase, aren’t you?”

Ariana's flirtatious laughter filled the kitchen. "Always," she murmured, taking some time to return his kiss with some additional passion and pulling away only after she was breathless. "I was away from you for three weeks, Jacey. You can't tell me you didn't miss me as much as I missed you."

“You know I did. I couldn’t even pretend that I hadn’t missed you if I tried. I don’t have that much will power.” He stepped away from her momentarily to grab a drink from the fridge. ”I heard from Amanda yesterday. Oh, joy. She’s back in full swing in New York. Can’t say I blame her after the hell that was the reunion. Remind me to never go to one of those things again, would you?”

The mention of Jace's ex-girlfriend always brought a rather comical expression to the brunette's face: the scrunched-up face you make when you step on a turd with your favorite high heels on. Ariana hadn't had the 'pleasure' of meeting Amanda Woodall in person, but from what she'd gathered, the blonde was a nightmare. How her charming, fun, outgoing and beloved teacher had gotten tangled up with someone like that was a question the young woman would always ask herself.

"I mean, I did tell you it was a bad idea. But you're both stubborn and a masochist, so there was nothing I could have said or done to keep you here," she scolded him with a shrug and a roll of the eyes. "But anyway: moving on. What did Little Miss Dragon Lady want with you now?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

”Oh, you know… Just wanted to catch up, let me know she was twelve weeks pregnant, and wish me a Merry Christmas. Just the usual stuff.”

Ariana nearly choked on the sip of lemonade she'd taken from the bottle just seconds before Jace dropped this bombshell on her. "What?!" she cried out, frowning at the man while her heart raced a million miles a minute, just like the stream of questions coming out of her mouth. "Babe, please don't tell me it's yours. Because it can't be yours, right? You told me you stopped seeing her months ago. Right?"

”Of course it’s not mine! Thank God. And yeah, I did stop seeing her forever ago. I wouldn’t lie to you.” He took a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair. ”But yeah. She went back to Benjamin, so I guess they ended up working things out. It’s his kid.”

The young woman watched the man carefully for a few silent seconds, taking in his gestures and expressions. She could tell the news had done a number on him, even if he was trying to act unbothered about it. Of course, the young Mossos was never one to shy back from seeking the truth, even if it hurt. And in the complex case that was Amanda and Jace, she'd peel the band-aid right off if it meant her darling's wounds would heal faster.

"Do you still love her, Jacey?" Ariana asked him in a voice barely louder than a whisper, waiting for his answer with bated breath.

Her question took him by surprise. While he thought that he was used to her bluntless after all this time, it still caught him off guard from time to time. He looked her in the eyes, seeing the slightly worried look there. Why she was worried - he didn’t know. As far as Jace knew, this was still just a casual thing to Ariana - even if he thought he felt different? Jace pushed away the thought and answered her question.

”No. No, I don’t.” He opened his drink, taking a sip before speaking again. ”We’ve always been complicated, but in the end, we both knew it wouldn’t work. We both agree that we’re still good friends. If she ever needs me, I’ll do my best to be there. But as far as loving her? No,” the man stated, shaking his head.

"Okay." Ariana murmured, letting out the breath she'd been holding and taking the last few sips of her drink. The young woman was fully aware that what she and Jace had was a friends with benefits type of deal between two consenting adults. But although romantic feelings weren’t supposed to be involved, Ari cared enough about her lover to know that he deserved much more than Amanda The Toxic Dragon Lady. "You know, for someone so smart, that Amanda's kind of an idiot," the brunette declared, setting her empty lemonade bottle on the counter next to her and wrapping her arms around Jace. "I can't believe she'd let you go like that. I would never do that to you."

Listening to her words, Jace smirked. ”You sure about that?” he asked in a joking tone as to try and hide how serious he was. ”I mean, you have college… cheerleading…. Wouldn’t an old man just hold you back?”

Ariana's laughter filled the kitchen space. "Okay, first of all: you are not old. Are you slightly older than me with a degree, a career and your own home? Yes. But that doesn't mean you're old, Jace. Hell, some of the other guys you teach fucking wish they looked like you. So let's get that dumb thought out of the way, okay?" she told him, playfully tapping his nose with her index finger. "And second of all, who says I can't go to college, be a cheerleader and the world's best girlfriend to you at the same time? You know me, love: I can multitask."

Jace laughed quietly. "My knees pop when I stand up sometimes, but I guess you have a point," he replied. "Just sort of always thought you would get a scholarship and move away or something. But no matter what you decide, I'll be here to support you."

"A scholarship?" she repeated, letting out another round of laughter and shaking her head. "My grades aren't even that great, and even if I were to get a cheer scholarship, I'll stay right here. I'm not letting some other chick take my place."

”Fine, fine. But just promise me if some great opportunity comes knocking at your door you won’t turn it down, okay?”

"Yes, father," Ariana replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at him. She hated when Jace made comments like that. She knew they came from a place of genuine concern for her and her future, but it made him sound so much like her father that it killed any other feeling she could have for him. "Are we done with the lecture, Mr. Russo? Because I didn't come all the way down here for you to play guidance counselor with me. That’s Mrs. Quinn’s job, not yours."

He held his hands up defensively. ”I know. Mushy stuff isn’t your forte,” Jace said jokingly.

Ariana rolled her eyes again and shook her head. “It’s not the mushy stuff I have a problem with, Jacey,” she explained, wrapping her arms around the dark-haired man again. “It’s when you start lecturing me and acting like a wrinkly old man. You’re my daddy, not my father. There’s a difference.”

Of course. How many times had Jace said or done things to remind them both of the apparent age gap? While Ariana would reassure him time and time again, something told him that this wouldn’t be forever. Sadly, he couldn’t help but hope.

”Apologies, love. Did you wanna grab a shower or something? I know that show of yours was coming on soon. What was it called again?”

"A show?" she repeated in disbelief, staring at him for a few seconds to see if he was being serious before bursting out in laughter. "I haven't seen you in three weeks, and you think I came all the way down here to watch a show with you?"

”Well isn’t Netflix and Chill a thing now?” he asked, a smirk on his face. Of course he was only joking now. Hopefully she would understand that.

The laugh from before was now a knowing little giggle, with Ariana visibly perked up now. She shot him a mischievous smirk and a playful wink. “Oh thank God. I was starting to think you didn’t miss me as much as you said you did…” she purred, pulling on the elastic band of his sweatpants.

The smirk now more of a smile of joy, Jace took Ariana’s head between his hands before kissing her slowly. He had missed her. Terribly, at that. Was it wrong for him to admit? No… he didn’t think it was.

"You know I have, Kitten,” he said, taking her right hand in his while leading her down the hallway. ”Now come on. I think it’s time we finally dropped the chit chat and celebrated your return.”

[SpicyMeatball]

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As the youngest son, grandson, nephew and cousin of the Fernandez family, Santiago was put on a pedestal from the moment of his birth. He was the pride and joy of the family with his charm, affection and vivacious nature. They celebrated his successes, bragged about his athletic accomplishments and supported him unconditionally. So when everyone’s favorite golden boy had shown up to the family’s Christmas Eve party with a very American, very visibly pregnant girlfriend, everyone had been nothing short of shocked. But once the initial surprise had blown over, the Fernandez family had quickly embraced April as one of their own. Santiago had done his best to properly introduce his girlfriend to the family, but it had been Gabriela who’d taken the girl’s hand and paraded April around the opulent home, gushing to everyone about her and her excitement about becoming a grandmother for the first time. It was during one of the moments in which April was caught up in conversation with his cousins that Santiago had excused himself from the party, and entered the house of the late Rosalba Fernandez.

An overwhelming wave of grief and nostalgia suddenly came over him, tears suddenly burning at his eyes. It was the first time he had set foot on the property after her passing, and he was surprised to see that everything looked exactly the way she had left it. A part of him secretly hoped that the elderly woman would suddenly round the corner with her welcoming smile, embrace him in her arms and wrap him in one of her warm, loving hugs-- but he knew deep down that it was nothing but an empty dream.

His brand footwear made soft clicking sounds against the tile floor as Santiago took his time examining every single inch of the house he’d grown up in, taking in all the sights and reliving many memories of his upbringing Once in the hallway, his pace came to a complete stop, eyes glued to the framed photographs of the members of the Fernandez family hanging from the walls: childhood photos, weddings, class pictures, graduations… And right at the bottom of the hall, adorned by a large golden frame, was a photo of the family matron with her beloved youngest grandson.

To say April was a bit overwhelmed by all the new people was a massive understatement. Santiago had told her about his rather large family in the past, but actually seeing the vast majority of them in one place was completely different. The brief moment of their shock when they saw April--very much not from Puerto Rico and very obviously pregnant--was a bit jarring at first, but after some casual conversation they seemed to warm up to her quite quickly. But of course, no one warmed up to her as much as Santiago’s dear mother. Initially, the amount of love and kindness from this woman was almost uncomfortable, but given that April had barely had a mother figure in her life until now, she grew to love it. Gabriela was the mother she’d dreamed of, but never had.

Conversations about April’s childhood, her father and her hobbies dominated the conversations that took place between herself, Gabriela and a few of Santiago’s male cousins. April’s smile never left her face as she regaled them with obviously over exaggerated stories of her time at the race track and on the road, stories of close calls with the cops, and most importantly the stories where she beat her dear Santiago around the track.

It wasn’t until she got dragged away into conversation with the women in Santi’s family that she got to talking about the baby and how the pregnancy had been. It didn’t take long for the question to come up. “Is it a boy or a girl?” they all asked. April took a deep breath and glanced around for Santiago. He would probably want to be here so that they could announce it together. “Let me get back to you on that, Santi would want to be here for it.” And with that, she gave them her gentle warm smile and paced off to look for her now absent partner, leaving the warm evening air outside and heading into the house.

After a few moments pacing around the unfamiliar house, April caught a glance of her lover through the crack of an open door. The flats on her feet made little noise as she quietly and slowly walked down the hall towards him, her head cocked slightly as she tried to see what he was looking at. Once she was no more than a pace away, the brunette spoke quietly to him “I know you miss her more than anything. Are you alright?” April wrapped her arms around his waist from behind him, tucking her head into his muscular back.

The feeling of his girlfriend’s slender arms around him instantly provided Santiago with a sense of comfort. He basked in the warmth she provided for a few seconds before turning around to face her. “I’m fine,” he said softly, wrapping his own muscled arms around her and kissing the top of her head. Hugging her was starting to be a feat these days. “What about you? You holding up okay? My huge family hasn’t scared you off yet, hasn’t it?” he joked, flashing her one of his playful grins.

April grinned as they embraced, shaking her head as much as she could manage with it against Santi’s chest. “Your family is amazing Santi, they’ve been super supportive. Especially your mother, she’s just amazing.” She gently broke from Santi’s arms and looked up to him before kissing him gently on the lips.

"I'm starting to think my mom loves you more than me, and I'm the favorite," he chuckled softly, playfully squeezing her shoulders.

“I’m serious mi amor, I know how much she meant to you. I’m always here for you.” April smiled to him before glancing around. His grandmother certainly had a nice home.

"I know," he reassured her, kissing her forehead. Now that the nostalgia was over, he honestly felt okay. "I'm fine, promise." He was quiet for a second, but when he noticed her looking around the house his smile returned and he grabbed her hand. "C'mon. Let me give you a tour."

April nodded and squeezed Santi’s hand gently before he began to lead her around the beautiful home. It was a very bright and peaceful looking place, with walls colored in gentle shades of brown and cream, and spotless white marble floors that tied the entire look together. It was a place with a partially modern look, but the furniture suggested a more rustic taste with stained wood in almost every room in some manner. It wasn’t décor that April would’ve chosen herself, but she didn’t mind it at all. It was very cozy, but still a sizeable house.

As they walked, she ran her fingers along the now marble walls as they entered the master bathroom. “As much as I like my bathroom back home, I could get used to this.” she grinned, running her finger along the edge of the very modern looking bathtub before turning and walking over to the mirror. The brunette looked at herself briefly, then down to her very pregnant looking abdomen. She let out a relaxed breath before looking at Santiago through the mirror “If you had told me back in freshman year that I’d be having a child before I graduated, I would’ve laughed in your face. And now, now I feel like it was meant to happen. It just feels...right, y’know?”.

The young man couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head, staring at their reflection in the mirror. "It's fucking crazy, Lils," he admitted, closing the short distance between them and wrapping his arms around her once more, resting his chin on her shoulder and his hands on her round stomach. "It's been a rollercoaster, but I'm thankful for it at the same time. If it wasn't for you and this kid, I would still be walking around with no idea of what to do with my life. But now I've got you, we'll have our kid, we have this house…" he purposely trailed off with a smirk, waiting to see her reaction.

“What do you mean we’ll have this house? We’re gonna move to Puerto Rico?” April turned around almost instantly, looking into Santiago’s eyes inquisitively, trying to see if he was messing with her or not.

“Only if you want to…” he said with a shrug. “Abuela left me this house on her will. Whether you want to or not, it’ll always be here. The house is still ours.”

“I mean, it’s gonna have to be after I finish university. I already have a few places lined up where I want to apply, they have the best engineering programs in the area.” A smile broke out across her face, her warm playful eyes sparkling in the dimmer light of the bathroom. “I guess I’ll have to work harder on my Spanish.” she said with a grin before leaning in and planting a kiss on his lips.

“Feliz navidad, princesa,” he responded with a sweet smile, kissing her again before taking her hand once more. “Now let’s go back to the party. I think it’s about time we give everyone what they’re asking for.”

April followed Santiago back to the party with a big smile on her face. As they got back outside, all eyes were on them, looking up questioningly at both the young couple and at the confetti cannons Gabriela had handed each person during their absence. She had left them with quite a cliffhanger and evidently they were eager to find out about the baby. April looked to Santi, then back to everyone else as she took in a deep breath. It seemed like there were so many more people when every single one of them was waiting for an answer.

“Ladies and gentlemen: if we could have your attention, por favor. We have a big announcement.” She smiled to their audience, before looking to Santiago once again and speaking to him in a whisper “Are you ready, mi amor?”

The young man’s grin was infectious as he nodded and winked at his girlfriend. “Definitely!” he answered cheerfully, shooting his brother Steven a thumbs up so he could start filming the happenings before excitedly addressing his family. “Okay. So. The most asked question that April and I have gotten all night is what are we having. So instead of us telling you, we’re going to let you find out yourselves…” he declared, still grinning widely at his family while putting his arm around April’s waist and pulling her closer to him. “Mami gave everyone a confetti cannon a few minutes ago. What I want everyone to do is to point their cannons upward, and on the count of three, twist the top and bottom parts of the cannon in opposite directions. Anyone got any questions?”

After looking over the group and ensuring the group knew what they were doing, April leaned over to whisper to Santiago as everyone began to grab their confetti cannons “This was an awesome idea. So much better than regular old announcements.” She turned back to the rest of the group and squeezed Santi’s hand gently before calling out once again. “Is everyone ready?!

As all of the gathered smiling faces nodded, the couple of the night called out in unison, their voices echoing across the yard.

"T H R E E !"

"T W O !"

"O N E !"

"G O !"

And after their united countdown, over thirty separate confetti cannons shot off into the evening air and filled the sky with a mix of pink and silver confetti. The first few moments were silent as the confetti rained down above them in slow motion, a mix of bewilderment and awe on the faces of all. And then smiles, applause and cheering began to fill the air as the many faces of the Fernandez family returned their attention to April and Santiago, rushing over to the expecting parents and showering them with love.

After all was said and done, the young couple posed for a couple of pictures together. And for the first time ever, Santiago decided it was about time he showed off his growing family to the world. With the most genuine of smiles, the young man picked out his favorite photo out of the bunch (a beautiful candid of them mid-laugh with his hands on April’s round stomach) and posted it on all his social media platforms with an accompanying caption.

"Camila Rosalba Santiago: Est. May 2019. Crazy in love with my girls."

[AlteredTundra]

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Sonny always had a complex relationship when it came to his feelings about the holidays. Of course, he loved the many weeks King’s gave their students for winter break, but with the break and free time came the demand for family to visit. He didn’t really mind that part of it either. There were some cousins and family friends he never got to see as much as he would like to that came to visit over the course of a week or so. It wasn’t that nor was it the expectation of parties that came with being half of the famed Hungarian-British Banks family. He could deal with those. At the least, his cousins made it at least bearable. No, it was the more localized Christmas party that had him feeling somewhat weary.

Every year, the Banks-Drakes and the Castillo-Jameson families, who all were close friends, held a Christmas party for their nearest and dearest, taking turns in hosting. Soleil and Jackson co-owned Asgard Fitness, Viola and Marco were co-heads of the King’s Academy PTA, and, of course, Andrea and Marco Junior were the ever-infamous on-again, off-again couple.

Sonny’s time at the party so far had been full of unpleasant pleasantries he was forced to be the receiver of as well as the giver. Family of family friends, friends of the family, and his own kept bothering him to the point where he was only able to get free after nearly half an hour of boring conversations. It was mostly about how these people who hadn’t seen Sonny in so long and how much he hasn’t grown. That was like a knife in his back, forever reminding him that he didn’t inherit his father’s height. Added to how they all refused to call him by his preferred name and just went straight for the jugular as they called him Jackson Jr.

As he made his way far from where all of the boring adults were, Sonny leaned against the table where he happened to see Marisol sneaking some of the alcoholic eggnog as her parents weren’t anywhere to be seen. “Smart. But it tastes like ass. Nowhere nearly enough brandy for my liking,” Sonny commented, looking Marisol up and down. He knew it was a party, but seeing her all dolled up really made it set in that even Slim herself could shock and awe. “Nice dress.” He complimented, doing his best to not stare for a prolonged amount of time.

While Sonny was of a somewhat bittersweet opinion when it came to the holidays, Marisol was in the opposite. She loved Christmas time: the food, the break from school, the time spent with family, the way everyone seemed to be in the best of moods, the PRESENTS…

Hell, the Castillo-Drake Christmas party was probably the biggest family event Marisol Castillo always looked forward to throughout the year besides her birthday. Good food and good company were always the order of the evening, and it always brought a long-lasting smile to her usually-grumpy face to catch up with those she loved the most. As always, her immediate family was in attendance, as were both sets of grandparents, her aunts, uncles, and cousins. And although Mari had been incredibly excited to see each and every one of them, there was one particular person she would never get enough of her cousin Nicolas. The blond boy had been away for the last few months studying abroad in Europe, causing Mari a great deal of heartbreak. So the second the short girl saw her big cousin’s tall figure walking up the steps to her home, she had ran out the door, tackled him with a hug, and had refused to leave his side ever since.

Right as the party was in full swing, Marisol had decided that she needed a little more alcohol. And after excusing herself with Nico for a second, the girl leaped up from her seat on the couch next to her cousin and made her way to the drinks table. When Sonny caught her mid-sip of her eggnog, she offered her best friend a wide grin.

"Why, thank you, Prince Charming! You're looking good yourself!" Marisol responded in an uncharacteristically cheerful tone while slurring her words a little: both clear signs that she was getting tipsy. "Did Drea pick that outfit for you?"

Sonny faked a couple of laughs with a grin and then lost it. “Very funny.” He paused for an awkward moment of silence. “Okay, she may have been with me when I went to Barnie’s,” he confessed, somewhat embarrassed. “But enough about me, let’s talk about your glow up for a sec because I could have sworn you hated dresses. Something about missing you with that girly shit?” He teased, laughing.

Mari rolled her eyes at his last comment. "Trust me: I haven't changed my opinion on this dress bullshit. But when Aunt Callie saw me heading downstairs in jeans, the black Thrasher hoodie, and your orange beanie, she blew a gasket. Before I made it to the top of the stairs she'd pulled me into her room, dressed me up in this-" she pinched a bit of the red fabric hugging her slim body for a moment. "-did my hair and makeup and had me borrow some of her shoes and accessories. I'm so fucking ready to get out of this thing."

“Careful now, I think some of my cousins might see that as a challenge.” He teased her some more as if he wasn’t thinking the same thing- no, what? He didn’t know what he was thinking. There was no way he could...could he?

The short girl snorted and rolled her eyes with a sardonic smile. "As if I'd give any of them a chance!" she exclaimed, shaking her head. Sonny’s cousins were all fifty shades of idiots, and with her minuscule amount of patience, there was no way she could handle both her best friend and some relative of his.

Sonny quickly shook his head when Marisol wasn’t looking in his general direction, likely when he mentioned his cousins, and took a glass of eggnog. It wasn’t enough alcohol as he said, but it still was eggnog. As he sipped it, he used this time to think, knowing full well there was a limited amount of time he could do it until Marisol thought something was up, so he had to think of something to say.

“Sooo…” Sonny’s voice came with an extension as though trying to find his beat. “You know Jamie’s around, right? He’s been asking about you.”

Marisol's smile was quickly wiped away from her face, replaced by a deep scowl and a disgusted expression. "Ugh, fucking Jamie!" she spat, looking around for the bane of her existence. From the first time they’d met as children, Sonny's older cousin Jamie had seemingly made it his mission to make Mari's life difficult, to say the least, with constant jabs at her height. There had been many attempts at kicking him in the nuts so hard he’d think twice about making fun of her again, but much to her chagrin, they were either futile or interrupted. "Where's that son of a bitch?! I've had a few drinks already, so I have no issues squaring up with that piece of shit if he calls me anything!"

Sonny found her reaction quite entertaining. Maybe it was the fact that she had a couple of drinks or just how Jamie had this effect on her, but seeing her want to pick a fight with him brought an amused grin to Sonny’s face. He laughed for a few moments. “Calm down there, tiger,” he advised her, “he’s three-thousand miles away. He and his parents are in Cabo for Christmas. He just asked about you when I called him last night,” Sonny admitted, “I just wanted to see what your reaction would be.” He remained silent for a few seconds. “Safe to say, you didn’t disappoint, Slim.” He smiled at her.

The green-eyed girl visibly relaxed and let out a relieved breath. "Oh thank God…" she said, grinning widely now. "I would've hated to ruin the party by breaking darling Jamie's nose, as much as he deserves it."

“He could use a good bruise or two,” Sonny commented, looking at Marisol. And like previous times, Sonny couldn’t bring himself to take his eyes off of her again. He didn’t know what it was about tonight of all days, but something was in the air. Perhaps it was just the Christmas festivities, or maybe it was how Marisol had a rather unique glow about her tonight. Red was her color and the dress was doing everything it needed to.

Sonny collected himself again, looking at Marisol. “Hey, you wanna get out of here for a while? I got something I want to give you.”

"What do you mean?" the brunette asked him, eyebrows raised and eyeing him suspiciously for any signs of a prank or a joke.

“What do you mean, ‘what do I mean’?” Sonny rolled his eyes. “I’m saying I want you to come to my room with me so I can give you your Christmas gift, dumbass.”

“Alright, fine!” Mari exclaimed, rolling her eyes and raising her hands defensively. “Just let me finish this and we can go-” she said, grabbing her glass of eggnog from the table, downing it in one gulp and placing the now empty glass back down again. She flashed Sonny a grin. “Ready!”

After Marisol had downed the rest of her eggnog, they would excuse themselves from the party to a part of the house that was a little more isolated from all of the overplayed holiday music and chatter. This part of the Drake house was in Sonny’s room, a place the two of them were very familiar with. The epic roars from downstairs could still be heard but it was a lot quieter and much easier for them to talk about whatever, which was exactly what Sonny wanted.

“Ah, that’s much better!” He let out a sigh of relief, parking his ass on his bed back-first.

Marisol followed his lead, plopping herself right next to him and releasing groans of relief as she took off the high heels that had been silently torturing her for hours. “I’ll say!” she replied, rubbing at the imprint the footwear had left on the top of her feet. After about a minute, Mari turned her attention away from her feet and to Sonny instead. “So… Where’s my gift, dipshit?” she inquired, raising a demanding eyebrow.

Rolling his eyes at her, Sonny propped himself upright and off his bed. Sonny stood around for a couple of moments to gather himself due to the blood rushing to his head, but once he gathered himself, the teen went to his nightstand and reached inside to pull out a box the size of two baseballs horizontally aligned that was wrapped in red and white candy cane gift wrapping paper with a golden bow and a card attached to it.

Sonny returned to his bed and set it on Marisol’s lap. “There’s your present,” he announced, gently punching her arm.

There weren’t many times in which Marisol showed an expression other than anger or violence. But if there was something that was guaranteed to cause her to light up with excitement and anticipation, it was receiving gifts. Whether it was Christmas, her birthday, or just a random occasion, getting Mari a gift was a foolproof way of raising her spirits and putting her in the best of moods. Upon receiving her gift, she clapped excitedly a few times, shooting her best friend a beaming grin before removing the card from where it was attached to the box. “Do you want me to read the card first? Or do you want me to do it after I open the gift?”

He knew what he wanted her to do. She probably knew it as well, but saying it out loud meant that what he wrote on that card was going to be real. Knowing what he put on that limited space card, he had to think about it, but time wasn’t on his side. “It’s common courtesy to read the card before the gift,” he said, chuckling to himself.

"Okay! Fine!" Laughing, Marisol rolled her eyes, slid a finger under the flap to open the envelope, pulled out the card and started to read:

“To the pain in my ass,

Shit, I'm not good at this thing but these past couple of months made me realize you really are something special. I nearly lost you on several occasions and the fact that I didn't is astonishing, so I'd like for both of us to share this gift because despite how I may seem on the outside and what little I show, I do love you, even if you are a major pain in my ass.

Sincerely,
Your Pain in the Ass”

A warm feeling traveled across her body with the sweet, handwritten words in the card. “Awwwww!” Mari exclaimed, throwing her arms around her best friend and planting a kiss on his cheek in a surprising affectionate move. “Thanks, dipshit! I love you too!”

As he sat there, looking at how uncharacteristically happy Marisol was, Sonny felt something odd in the pit of his stomach. It felt it was turning and his whole body felt slightly warmer than usual. It was very similar to how he felt when he went on that date with Nadia and when he was involved with Ariana a couple of years ago. He knew what it was, but never anticipated he would be getting these butterflies because of Marisol. Or at least, when he wrote those words down, he didn’t think it would make him feel like this.

“That’s not…” Sonny stumbled for the right words, while Mari quickly became concerned. He scratched his head, finger digging at his scalp as he tried to find the right words to say. The thing about that was Sonny was terrible at finding those exact words that summed up what he was thinking. “Mari, that’s not what I meant. I mean, I do love you but not just like that.” He grabbed her hands, forcing her to set down the gift while she frowned at him with confusion. “You know I’ve never been good at this sort of thing, so I’ll just show you.” He lingered in her jade-colored gaze for a moment before giving her a kiss that lasted for a long few seconds until he pulled away. They felt like an eternity and his heart was pounding as if it was trying to break free of his chest.

There were no words to describe the feeling Marisol got when Sonny pressed his lips against hers. While her mind raced a mile a minute, her heart was hammering against her chest, and her head was spinning. She sat there for a few seconds, frozen on the spot, trying to make sense of what was happening between them. And even when he pulled away and she pieced everything together, she could only stare at him with a mixture of confusion and wonder plastered all over her face.

Although the young woman wanted to speak, no words were coming out. She opened and closed her mouth a few times like a fish out of water, stuttering and stammering all sorts of incomprehensible gibberish. But after taking a deep breath to compose herself, Mari finally found her voice.

“What does that mean?” she croaked in barely more than a whisper, looking up at Sonny with big doe eyes.

“I figured that kiss said it all,” he joked, laughing as he held her hands.

He surveyed her face, seeing her mass confusion. Admittedly, he didn’t quite understand this either. He never did quite grasp his feelings. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what he felt. But when it came to Marisol, it was tricky. It took months of discovering things about himself and what he wanted to get into a state of mind where he could think clearly; and more importantly, when Sonny could look within himself and find a true answer. This, right here, was that.

Marisol felt right. He and she felt right.

And as he made a mental check, he kissed her again. It lasted for the same amount of time and he pulled away. “When I wrote that I love you, it wasn’t because you’re my best friend, Mari. It’s because I’m finally ready to say it: I love you and I’m willing to give this a real shot if you are.”

If the first kiss had left her stunned, the love declaration had blown her mind. After they’d made up a few months ago, Marisol had put in all her efforts into keeping her feelings for Sonny in check, focusing on their friendship and accept the fact that he didn’t feel the same. Things had certainly felt different since then, with the same amount of playful banter but with less arguing and more affectionate actions shared between them. Of course, she had been hesitant to address their new bond it in fear of jeopardizing their relationship again. But from a softer demeanor to love? It was a surprising confession, but one that made her heart swell with happiness and that she welcomed with open arms.

"Oh, Sonny…" the girl started to say as her jade-colored eyes filled up with tears, her voice breaking a little with the sudden wave of overwhelming feelings. In typical Mari fashion, she blinked rapidly to fight hard against it, refusing to show how her heart was nothing but a puddle in her chest at the moment. In the end, it all proved to be in vain. After a few wobbles of her lower lip, the brunette embraced Sonny and burst into tears of joy.

Once the sobs subsided she'd regained some sort of composure over her feelings, Marisol pulled away. "I love you too!" she loudly proclaimed in between sniffles, wiping her tears away and giving him a watery smile. "I would love to take a chance with you."

The air was thick with the feels. Sonny hadn’t been surrounded by them in a while. It wasn’t since he had been involved with Ariana that he experienced this kind of high -- the kind that was nigh infectious and how every bone in his body felt weak and every breath he drew was lost at the sight of Marisol. It was as though she was different to him now. His best friend and partner-in-crime, the person he had known forever was no longer just the friend he went to for everything, for laughs, for rants, for some quality gaming -- but someone who actually was his soulmate was that and so much more.

But as he remained on her face, taking in the roundness of the shape of it, her almond eyes with that unique green/hazel shade that was unique to her Jameson genes, and the hue of her skin that brought some color to her pasty relatives, Sonny was speechless. He wanted to speak but nothing felt right. Maybe he had said everything that needed to say and maybe that was okay. Perhaps it was more than okay and he was just now realizing that.

“I more than just love you, Marisol Alejandra Castillo,” he admitted, squeezing her hands in his, “I pan you!” Sonny laughed, unable to keep a straight face, but his smile that came after was a wholesome, genuine, I’m-in-love-with-you grin.

“You’re so stupid!” she cried out with a shake of the head after her small laughing fit, playfully swatting his arm. She took a second to simply stare at him, or “Does this mean I’m the spatula to your skillet after all?”

Sonny kissed her, laughing and quickly pulled away. “Yes it does.” the young man eagerly affirmed before he kissed her again. “Now shut up and let me show you how skilled I really am!” Sonny kissed her some more, guiding her backward onto his bed, their loved-up giggles filling up the empty spaces of his bedroom.

[Bee]

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Just because it was winter didn't mean that it was time to take off. After all, this was Florida. It never snowed here, let alone get actually cold. The holidays were always a time for Jack Goff to be training. His blade needed to be sharpened. He couldn't let things get dull, especially with so much at stake this year. Offers were rolling in from across the country everywhere, from as far as Hawaii and as close as down the street in Miami. He had the chance to further his football or basketball career. He wasn't going to become complacent just because schools were interested in him. Complacency breeds mediocrity, and Jack Goff was anything but mediocre. He was on the field, enlisting the help of one of his cousins to throw passes at him while he ran routes.

Jack Goff couldn't be sloppy or lazy. They had to be crisp, sleek, quick, and so precise that he could cut on a dime. That was the mantra he lived by as a wide receiver, and today was just another chip at the sculpture of being the best wide receiver he could be. Standing on the left hash mark, Jack was watching his cousin, who then hiked the ball and prompted Jack to run. Fifteen yard post. Full steam ahead all the way to the thirty five yard line, then he was going to cut at a slight angle and continue to run toward the endzone. The wind whizzed past his ears, as if he was flying down the sideline. Passing the thirty yard line, he was getting ready to cut. A quick plant would be enough to change his direction and create some hypothetical separation.

Planting his foot at the 35 yard line, he was moved at the correct angle, looking back at the quarterback who had already thrown the ball at his way. Leaping up as it closed to him, Jack plucked the football out of the air and came down with it, finishing off the run before slowing down. Jogging his way back to his cousin, Jack had a smile on his face. It was a perfect route, at least in his opinion. Even though it was just him and his cousin, Jack was acting as if he had the eyes of many scouts on him. It was the perfect mentality to have, as it was motivating him to perform at his peak.

Walking back, Jack exhaled, rubbing his neck."Good throw, dude! He smiled, before turning around to the rest of the field. Taking a deep breath, he was huffing. Running at full speed took a lot out of him, but he couldn't just give up and hold back. It was balls to the wall, one hundred percent of the time. "Why don't we try a streak? Full send." Jack started to jog over to the sideline, where he would typically be assigned for a route like this. He looked at his quarterback and smiled, "Ready when you are."

[spooner]

Fiery red hair fluttered in the wind as Julie MacMillan swooshed down the black slope of Val d'isere. When she came to a stop she lifted her goggles of her eyes so she could take in the beautiful sight of the french alps! The MacMillans always spent their christmas in the alps skiing. And this year was no different, her father and sister and herself had spent the holiday together in their cozy private cabin at the 5-star resort.

Julie had decided to spend their last day out in the slopes while the others packed up their belongings to go pack to Florida. As she finally had some time to herself Julie’s thoughts were hazy as she bobbed between the other skiers. Once again she had been ghosted by her other best friend Aurelio but this time she had been ready for it. This time she had left her guard up when he had come back. So when he and his sister disappeared seemingly overnight. The redhead had been hurt but not broken like last time.

As she went down the slope one last time she let her skis guide her to the little outside seating of the major restaurant where rich women drank rosé and their men smoked cigars. She had felt her phone vibrate in her snow pants pocket the whole day. Sitting down at one of the tables she gingerly took off her gloves and set them down ordering a glass of white wine when the cute waitress came by.

As she thought her phone had a lot of texts to go through mostly from her sister with status updates on how packing went. Messages from Chanel declaring how much she missed her and a message from April ensuring that the announcement party had gone well but the very last message shook her to her very core. It was from Aurelio. Expressing how sorry he was yet again and that he missed her and that he… loved her. This fucking guy she was almost vibrating with anger. Radio silence for almost 3 months and then a text message?! With the same old tripe that he had last time when he said he’d never do it again?

Ice blue eyes stared at the message for a long time before her slender fingers tapped away at the screen almost as if they were acting by their own command. Her thumb hovered a moment over the text on the screen that read “Block number” before she tapped it. Aurelio was gone from her life now. Just a memory burned into her heart. A short sniff escaped the young woman before she finished her wine in a few gulps and went to return her skis.

The flight home to Florida was filled with deep sighs and even deeper thoughts? Was she cursed? Did she only attract fucking idiots? Maybe she should become a nun? Or a recluse that sews dresses up in the mountains? No that would ruin her shoes.

Her sister tried to get her to open up about what was wrong but Julie was so sick and tired about talking about him and kept it to herself, she was done with men full stop. She was just tired and on her period was her cover story. Iris saw through her lie of course but knew better than to probe. After a grueling 10 hours, they finally touched down in Miami.

On the drive home from the airport, Julie spent her time staring out the window of the G-wagon. As they passed through the neighborhoods she noticed something… someone she recognized. A boy with long hair carrying big bags into one of the houses. She fell back in her seat crossing her arms over themselves. Interesting…

[Sugar and Spite]

_______________________________
_______________________________

Jasper Fray had always been a simple man with simple tastes. Whiskey. Cigarette smoke. Worn out books. Leather. Beautiful people. Pretty words. It was no surprise that he would try and spend as much time surrounded by these things as he could over Christmas break, as well as any other time.

Over the last few months, Jasper had been focusing mainly on keeping up his grades so that he could get accepted into the colleges he wanted. The main dream was Juilliard. It had always been Juilliard. No matter how much he smoked, drank, or wrote, Juilliard had always been his one true love. Rather his application would be accepted or not, he didn’t know. What he did know was that he could play the piano. He could compose music. He [liked writing his music, and wanted to spend the rest of his life doing that.

Sitting on the beach, looking up at the stars, Jasper found himself coming to the conclusion that he didn’t want to stay in Palm Beach his whole life. It was eighty degrees in December, for fucks sake. He wanted to see snow again. He did have friends here, and some family. But what was really keeping him here?

Nothing. No one.

The one person who he would consider staying for was caught up in someone else, and while Jasper didn’t care to interfere, it also sucked to a certain degree.

He opened his leather bound journal, taking another drag from his cigarette. Listening to the waves crashing on the beach, the young man began to write.

Maybe this wasn’t the worst way to spend Christmas.

[Sugar and Spite]

_______________________________
_______________________________

Sunshine had a tradition of going to her family's old house in Brooklyn for major holidays. Christmas was - of course - one of those said holidays. Unfortunately traveling by yourself for the holidays and arriving at a house that served as a closet for old memories was, well…. Sad.

She had spent Christmas Eve with her aunt and uncle out of respect. They had never been the most festive people, but had managed to put up a small tree and a few decorations this year. Sable had gotten them gifts, and they did the same for her. Her present was just a few candles, but it was the thought that counted. Besides - she loved candles, and they were nicely scented.

To cut down on the sad this year, Sunshine had decided to invite Shawna. Explaining the situation to her friend had been a bit of an awkward conversation, but only on her part. She had never liked talking about her family, but something told her that Shawna would be okay with being an emotional buffer and shoulder to lean on. Thankfully, Sunshine had been right.

The pair arrived in Brooklyn on Christmas day, luggage in hand. The money for the property taxes, upkeep, electricity, and other such things came out of Sunshines trust fund account each month, so they were able to stay at the house without problem. First on the tour was the kitchen, bathroom and other standard rooms. Then came the more personal spots. While she had mentioned and shown Shawna her parents bedroom, she didn’t go in the room, but rather stood at the door. Sunshine used to find herself going in the room to look at things of her mothers, but ever since her father had died, it had just been unbearable to step foot in there. Thankfully her bedroom was still a safe place.

While staying there, the girls had baked cookies, watched movies, burned the candles her aunt and uncle had given her, and shared happy memories from their childhood. Sunshine didn’t bother to mention it for the sake of not making anything awkward, but she was glad that happy memories were being made in the house again.

Among staying at her parents' house, Sunshine gave Shawa a tour off all of her favorite spots in town. Favorite restaurants, clothing stores - you name it, they most likely went there.

Now back home and unpacking her bags, Sunshine couldn’t help but think of her favorite moment during the whole trip: the kiss in Time Square as the ball dropped on New Years.

Champagne induced, their first kiss had been what Sunshine would call perfect.

She and Shawna had to catch their flight back home the next day, and neither of them had mentioned the kiss in conversation. For Sunshine, it was a matter of not wanting to mess up their friendship. For Shawna… Sunshine didn’t really know, but assumed the same thing.

One thing was for sure though.

If Shawna had felt the same way about the kiss Sunshine did, then there was something there, and it wasn’t all in Sables head. If not, then they could hopefully just go back to being friends and forget that it ever happened.

Which path they were about to find themselves on, Sunshine didn’t know. However she did plan to find out.

[LovelyComplex]

Listening to steady hooves and a gentle tail swish, Ryland Aspen led a chestnut coat stallion into a large shed, in which the planks were weathered and made of oak. Today was his last day in the city of angels and he was here, helping his mother groom the horses, while he thought about how he was going to 'grow the fuck up' and 'take responsibility' for his actions. With one semester left at Beverly Hills High, his father came to the decision that the most logical option to help his second son and prevent him from causing anymore anarchy was to pull him out of his current school and give the hellraiser a clean slate, a fresh start, in Crown Heights with his aunt.

Did his old man honestly think he could close this book and start a new one just like that? Pretend that he didn't have many counts against him that could throw him into Juvie? Or worst, prison? If he wasn't one of his father's legacies and his older brother's shadow, would he be as lucky? For his fortunate upbringing, he could put it all behind him, but the chances of him doing so were... unlikely. Nothing he would ever do was going to be good enough, so there was no reason to try. Did his family truly, deeply think transferring him to a new school was going to help him? Did they honestly think he could become a better person by simply uprooting his life and making him fly across America?

Press X to Doubt.

Stopping in his tracks, right beside a deep golden hue of old straw, when the horse he was leading nudged his head, Ryland turned his body to stare into her gentle eyes. Autumn was her name. She was one of his favorites, with a heart made of love, a slender profile, and such awareness to the the storm that harbored inside his soul. His heart beat steadied and for a moment or two things became still.

Calm.

Empty.

Then and only then was when the sound of his mother's voice, as warm as early spring, cautiously slipped into his peace. His mother usually knew just the right time to speak to him, when the noise of the world became radio static and he briefly gained control of the raging energy inside him. The boy now unburdened found himself matching his breaths with the Beauty before him. Closing his eyes to the world and its troubles, he leaned his forehead against his horse and listened to Alaina, whose French accent was a pleasure to listen to, thanks to the rhythm of her delivery. She, who was dedicated to perfect her speech even if she struggled to stress some words, tried to give his lonely heart some compassion, hoping to end his holiday break with encouragement, instead of resentment, "I know you're bitter, mon loup." Gliding beside him, she tenderly gazed at her son not by birth but by bond and rested her head on his sturdy shoulder, "But think of this as... a stepping-stone. Not your destination. Learn something new. Find reasons to smile and enjoy your youth. Be there, for your friends. For your aunt. For yourself. But most importantly, try to forgive your past. And I promise you, my Ryland, it'll be worth the effort in the end."

This woman saw far more good in him than he saw in himself. This was one part of her he would never understand. She spends most of her life helping others get over their trauma and insecurities, she dedicates her purpose mending the hurt, the scared, and the vulnerable, and the rest of her time? Rather than take care of herself, or even his little brother, Phoenix, she was checking up on him.

At times, Ryland wondered if he was more of a project to her than her child. A project that takes the rest of her time and energy outside of work. It was hard for him to believe he deserved this kind of empathy and tolerance, yet here she was, offering him comfort just like she did yesterday after he blew up at the dinner table, breaking her special holiday plates, causing his father to give him choice words and an equal display of rage, which was rare for the old man.

Unable to respond, he allowed the silence to take over and for them to share it with no interruptions. They stood there, in front of Autumn, being there. In the present moment. When he opened his eyes, ready to respond, he realized he was no longer at the stable, but in front of the green door that belonged to his Aunt Bennett’s humble abode.

Time had passed like a blur and it was already the following day...

Before knocking on the door with his knuckles, he looked over his shoulder, while carrying two large duffel bags, at the neighborhood behind him. Seemingly welcoming and still in the period of idleness that the holidays never failed to bring, where local businesses were closed, no one made doctor appointments, and some families were completely gone entirely, traveling to those they considered worth loving. He was here and he didn't know how to feel about it. Countless times he's visited for vacation, but this time felt different and he couldn't help but be frustrated at not knowing the answers to the questions coursing through his mind.

As a G-wagon went down the street, he turned his head back to the door and huffed a long strand of hair out of his face. No longer wanting to waste his time staring off toward the middle distance, he firmly knocked and loudly projected, "Aunt B, you there?"

"The doors unlocked, Riri!" Her bright, modulated, and feminine voice chimed in from rooms over, most likely in the kitchen preparing him something to eat. His father had paid for van service to transport his son from the airport to Crown Heights, to not put too much on his little sister. Ryland knew the moment he stepped into her house Miley Bennett would want to play 'catch up and ask my nephew a million and one questions' so he had to make sure he could distract her and then run off to surprise his friends, who should be in the area, not away, but he could be wrong.

Guess he could text them, or not.

"Okay." Here goes nothing.

Cheers to the start of a new book, not chapter: The beginning of the end.

Happy New Year, to me.

[LovelyComplex]

After spending most, if not all, of her winter break in the bedroom and no, not for sex, but to sulk in self pity, Chrissie McCoy, Miss Primadonna of King's Academy, found herself deeply staring into the mirror and not recognizing the girl she was seeing. Both of her best friends were out of the country, living their best lives, while she binged all the great chick flicks like Pretty Woman, Mean Girls, A Walk to Remember, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, etc, etc.

She was ignoring her parents like the plague, and when they wanted to FaceTime, she created the illusion that she did have plans for the holidays which was her excuse to not go home. By illusion, she would put on a dazzling dress, color coordinate her make up, and pretend she was just about to run out and didn't have time to talk. The moment the call ended, she went straight to her bed and rolled up in her downy blanket to be a burrito for the rest of the night.

Sometimes, she found herself ignoring what was on the TV and scrolling through her social media accounts, vicariously living through her peers, like Santiago and April at their big reveal party, which she hesitated to congratulate them (him). Obviously, she decided against it, only giving him a 'heart', for personal reasons. If it weren't something like that, she went to that prick-of-an-ex-boyfriend's page to judge him and think of ways to destroy him. How could she get even and make him so unfuckable that no woman would want to touch him with a ten foot pole? How could she hurt him so bad and take away everything that brought him joy? How could she... get over him? She was the fool for love, a complete joke to herself, and a total game to him AND his boys. There was no way in hell she'd take that shit lightly.

Her bedroom had exploded and it felt like it was the perfect display of the disarray that was in her heart. Oh woe is me. Chrissie was as dramatic as she was inspirational. Two in one deal. A perfect package, if she'd say so herself. Normally, she was a neat freak, but as of late, she let all her food, clothes, and miscellaneous items, like gifts Jason got her since they started dated, take over and turn her floor into a minefield. There were Polaroid pictures scattered everywhere, of him, with burn marks, rips, tears, and holes from pencil stabs. She wanted to tell herself she was better than this, better than him, but in her own isolation, it wasn't the easiest to overcome, and all she could think about was how much she changed who she was to pleasure him.

Scoff.

Looking in the mirror, she shook her head in disgust, knowing that wasn't the type of girl she was. She was a bitch, who put her interests before anyone else's. Yes, she was good at covering up her venomous poison with a bright, welcoming smile and an intimidating amount of kindness, because the rule of thumb was kill 'em with kindness, but this girl right here? In the mirror? Staring right back at her? Letting a little boy consume her mind and make her lose sight of who she was?

FUCK her.

They say honesty is the best policy, and here she was, letting herself drown in his lies. This was going to stop. Now. No more would she stay in this funk. Her girls would be back before she knew it and she'd never be able to forgive herself if they saw her like this, like a hot mess.

With resolution written in her eyes, she quickly cleaned her room, tossing all the pictures in the garbage. She put his hoodies, and the jewelry he bought her, in a box, out of the way, so she can give it to the less fortunate. When she was satisfied with the cleanliness of her room, she threw on active wear and went straight to the Lambert's gym. While she stretched, she texted her girls separately how much she missed them and how she couldn't wait to hear all about their vacations.

Blasting her Broadway musical playlist, she started getting that pent up aggression out, by forcing herself to vigorously work out. Power up on the bicycle. Double her lifting sets. Beat down the punching bag until her whole body couldn't move any longer. She couldn't leave the gym until her mind turned positive.

What does not kill me, makes me hotter.

Long hours in the gym gave her the ability to move almost without sound, and when people see her, they see a petite teenage girl, but being underestimated and having small lithe limbs only meant if people tried her, she'd put them in their place fast.

"I want you whipped into shape
When I say jump say, "How high"
You know your're doin' it right
When you start to cry
If you don't look like you should
You've got to whip it, whip, whip it good"

She'd be ready for the New Year.

"Just you wait."

[Ejected]

_{I wanna hold you}

It was a chilly Christmas Eve in New York City, and for the first time in a little over five years, Chanel was back in her old stomping grounds. It was around seven o'clock, and she'd felt that old familiar feeling of home ever since she'd touched down a few days prior; the "brick" weather, the tourist-infested streets, the bodegas and pizzerias on every corner... it was all too familiar. It felt good for Chanel to be able to pull her old bubble coat from the back of her closet and stroll around Brooklyn with her older brother. It made her feel as if she were twelve again, back when her brother would practically drag her the entire way to the nearest subway entrance so they wouldn't be late for school. Chanel couldn't help but smile as she strolled, her nose suddenly catching a whiff of Armando's pizza. "So you definitely wanna cop ya little sister a slice, right?" Chanel asked her brother in a sickeningly sweet tone.

Andre looked as though he wanted to say no, but how could he say no to his little sister on her very own birthday? Without hesitation, the young man began fishing around his pockets for what Chanel assumed to be a few spare dollars; Chanel waited outside, taking in all of her surroundings as she waited for her brother to return. In the meantime, she decided to scroll through her social media feeds; the very first picture that appeared on her screen was one of none other than Santiago Fernandez, April Foster, and her quickly growing baby belly. Of course, she gave it a like, before moving on to respond to some messages of her own.

"You know, I just knew you were gonna want a big ass pepperoni slice, just like how you'd order when you were a kid," Andre said as he returned to his sister's side. "So that's why I made sure to call in ahead." In Andre's hand was not just a single slice of pepperoni pizza, but an entire 12-inch pie. A single lit candle sat in the very middle of said pizza, ready to be blown out by the birthday girl. Tears instantly began to blur Chanel's vision, and memories of parents began to flood her mind. "I remember mom and dad used to do this for you every year, right? Cause for some reason, your bum ass never liked birthday cake." Chanel laughed at her brother's attempt to avoid getting in his feels, before quickly blowing out the candle and reaching for a slice of the pie. "So what did you wish for?"

Pretending to have a stuffed mouth of pizza, Chanel hesitated for a few moments before sucking in a deep breath and letting it all come out. "I wished that we could go and see them now... mom and dad. Cause you know we haven't since..." As he tossed the candle aside and closed the pizza box, Andre remained silent for a while. Chanel knew how talking about visiting the place their parents' were buried made Andre uncomfortable. Hell, it made her uncomfortable too. But it had been over five years now, and Chanel knew that it was time for them to pay them a visit.

"Yeah, fine," Andre finally said as he let out a deep breath. "Let's go see them."

[Bee]

---

---

Meanwhile..

"Is... is that how you spell it?" A voice asked curiously, masked behind a black bag of sorts, "I thought people spelled it G-U-C-H-I. Why would you spell it with two Cs? I don't get it!" Nicole Milano was sitting in the living room, looking at the spoils of her raid at the mall. The holidays were kind to her. A lot of money, and a lot of presents came to the girl. There's not else that Nicole would do with the money, so why not spoil herself (even more) with it? It wasn't like it was going to hurt anyone else. Well, maybe those poor Chinese kids making these things, but other than that, nobody! She wasn't a Karen, she was actually very sympathetic to the retail workers since she felt that they worked very hard!

Pulling a bowl out of a bag, Nicole decided it was a good time to have a snack. The bowl was an acai bowl, filled with acai, bananas, granola, and the works. Something very trendy and modern, and thus something Nicole would be interested in. She had no idea what acai was, so naturally she was going to be ordering it, despite never hearing of the fruit before in her many years of life. The look on the worker's face as she tried to pronounce acai (without even correcting her) was a sight to behold, but someway, somehow, they got it to her. Grabbing a spoon out of the bag, Nicole scooped some out of the bowl, and ate some. It was a rather delicious treat! It was sweet, and the granola added another dimension to it. 10/10. Would eat again.

Suddenly, her sister, Emily, popped into the room. "Hey, Nic. Whatcha got there?" The elder Milano asked. Nicole smiled, as she was stabbing at the bowl. "Oh, this?" Nicole inquired, "This here is a..." Nicole looked at the bottom of the bowl to see if there was a name for this thing. Luckily there was a little tag on the bottom for the workers to look at. "An... a-kai-ee bowl." Nicole shrugged, "It's pretty tasty! It looks super pretty and I think it's good for you? It was under this superfood thingy. I don't know what a superfood is but it's gotta be good for you, right?"

Emily sputtered and blinked twice, looking at her sister in awe. "Did you just say... a-kai-ee? You know it's... a-sai-ee, right?" Nicole looked at her sister weirdly. "What? No way! It's spelled a-c-a-i, not a-s-a-i. Where does the S come from?" Emily facepalmed and shook her head. "Oh my lord..." Emily said, before whipping out her phone. She quickly entered "how to pronounce acai" into her phone, pulling up an article that distinctly said "A-SAI-EE" and not the weird way Nicole was pronouncing it. Once it was found, Emily pointed it in Nicole's face. "See?"

"O-Oh..." Nicole frowned, before pushing the phone away, "Well, at least you didn't make a meme (pronounced may-may) out of it..."[/color]

[Venus]

---

---

"Just leave me alone, Warren…” Archer sighed as he slid down to the floor. His winter break had been stressful to say the least. When his brother Warren had come home from Harvard for the holidays, it had been a constant cat and mouse game- with Archer trying to avoid his brother as much as possible and Warren trying to corner him at every turn.

“Come on, Arch… I just want to talk.” Warren’s muffled voice came from behind the door. A long silence filled the air, and the only sound was breathing coming from the two brothers on either side of the door. “You promised me on the phone…” Warren finally broke the silence. “You said we would talk about what happened.” he continued.

A huge sigh escaped Archer as he covered his face with his hands. It would seem he was trapped. But he really didn’t want to do this with Warren. He didn’t want to relive his darkest moments where he had done something terrible- especially with his brother, who had been one of the factors to him doing said terrible thing. He looked around his room to find something, anything, to get him out of this situation. His green eyes fell on the big oak tree outside of his window: a tree he had used many times when sneaking out with Marisol.

"Okay, Warren… Just… Let me collect myself. Just wait downstairs. I’ll be down in like 5 minutes.” He lied as he stood back up.

“Sure, ok. I’ll wait in the kitchen. You want something to drink?” Warren asked.

"No, I’m fine.”

Archer waited for Warren’s footsteps to disappear down the stairs before opening his window as wide as it would go. The oak tree's branches were still thick enough to support his weight, but getting out of the tree was still very hard for Archer. He kind of had to shimmy his way down the tree trunk before not so graciously jumping down to the ground.

Quickly, he got into his rusty SAAB, which thankfully was parked in the driveway. In a swift move, Archer backed out and drove off without any plan of where he was driving. Soon enough, he was parking his car outside the Surf Shack. A small walk later, the tall boy was sitting by the beach, blankly staring out at the crashing waves. Maybe he needed to talk to someone about this? But not with Warren. There was no way he could handle that right now.

Without really knowing why he was doing it, he had taken out his phone and composed a text message to his best friend:

"Hey Mari. What are you up to? Can you meet me at our spot behind the Surf Shack? I kind of need to talk."

When Marisol received the text message of Archer wanting to meet up, the alarm bells started ringing immediately. It wasn't the fact that he was requesting her presence that made her suspicious, but the . Normally, whenever . Frowning, she quickly typed up her response to his message, her thumbs flying across the screen of her phone. And as soon as she pressed "Send", she was grabbing her skateboard and heading out the door.

"Sure!"
"Be there in 10"
"Everything ok???"

Archer ignored his phone buzzing next to him as he lay on the blanket, running his fingers through the fine sand. His mind was swirling with thoughts as he listened to the crashing waves of the ocean. Was he ready to share his deepest secret? Only two people knew what he had done… Well three now, apparently. The young man snapped back to reality as his best friend plopped down next to him in record time.

Marisol took a moment to stare at the tall, lanky boy next to her. The lack of any sort of greeting only added to the growing state of alarm, as did the lack of acknowledgement of her presence. For whatever reason, Archer seemed to be distracted, lost in some unknown, faraway thoughts. When you've known someone since the age of five, it was easy to tell when things were off. And today, there was definitely something wrong with Archer.

"Is everything okay?" the young woman asked him gently, concern dripping from her voice.

Archer turned his head slowly to look up at Marisol. “Yeah…” he sat up, brushing his hands off on his pants. "I don’t know… Maybe not.” He pulled up his knees so they sat under his chin and continued to stare out at the ocean. "Warren is home…”he continued quietly. “And he is…”
Archer hesitated, still unsure if he was ready to talk about it- even if it was with Marisol, who always did what she thought was best for him. She was the one who he came out to first and she supported him through everything.

But how would she react to this? Would she be mad that he had kept his suicide attempt from her this long?

"You know last summer before we went off to that crappy camp?” he asked her, a slight tremor in his voice.

"Yeah…?" she cautiously responded, frowning and scooting closer to him. For someone who was always so open and honest about everything, Archer's body language was extremely guarded, and the more he spoke, the more Mari's levels of worry increased.

His legs were shaking now and Archer was chewing on his lower lip, trying to figure out how he was going to go about this. "You know how I was very hard to get a hold of for some time?” At the time he had made up some lie about being away to Harvard to help out with Warren’s move. He could feel the wet build up in the corners of his eyes, and his breathing became a little bit faster and heavier. “Mari… I did something really bad…” he finally turned to his best friend, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Okay, Marisol was really scared now. "Archer, honey, what's wrong? What happened? What did you do?" she asked him in barely more than a whisper, placing her hands on his shoulders in an attempt to keep him stable and unknowingly holding her breath while she awaited his answer.

Under her hand Archer’s shoulders were shaking as he cried. “I- I. It was just…” he started but stopped wiping his cheek with the sleeve of his shirt. He took a steadying breath before he looked Marisol in the eyes and just let go.

He told her everything. How he had had enough, how he felt alone and how he was so so tired of how his days looked like. How he made up his mind that it would just be for the best if he didn’t exist. He told her about he took the chance when his parents actually was helping Warren move. He told her that he emptied his mothers sleeping pills and took them with the vodka they had bought of that strange dude. He also confessed to her that it was his brother’s girlfriend that had found him and brought him back… saved him. He spoke fast and low. The whole time he felt guilt that it had taken this long for him to tell his very best friend about his darkest days.

"... and then I made her promise to never tell anyone. But apparently she and Warren broke up. The idiot has found someone new… and I guess Katie was angry and told Warren and now…” He stopped to look at his friend. “I’m sorry Mari…”

Meanwhile the wide-eyed Marisol listened to Archer's story in a shocked silence, feeling her heart sinking with his every word. As a clinically-diagnosed bipolar person, she definitely knew firsthand that mental illnesses had an evil way of twisting your insecurities around, and could see the possible reasons behind his thought process. But even with this in mind, the short girl was struggling to believe that even with the unwavering support of her and her family, Archer had thought things would be better without him.

And frankly? The fact that she’d been so terrifyingly close to losing one of the people she loved the most in her life was too much to bear.

Mere seconds after he’d finished speaking, Mari wrapped her arms around him as tightly as she could and started to sob uncontrollably on his shoulder.

Archer sunk into his small friends embrace burying his face in her silky hair. “I’m so sorry Mari…” his muffled voice whispered.

"I- just-" she hiccuped each word in between sobs. "I- don't- want- to- lose- you! You’re- my- best- friend- and- I- love- you!"

Archer pulled away and planted a kiss on the top of her head. “I love you too... I mean, I’m obviously happy it turned out like it did… and I’m better now, thanks to you and Kavan.” he wiped his eyes as he straightened up again. "But Warren won’t stop trying to talk about it back home. I’m just… not ready to talk to him about it. But what if he tells mom and dad?” he sighed.

It took Marisol a moment to compose herself, allowing her sobs to slowly subside until she could finally make up coherent words. "It's not his place to do that…" she croaked, grabbing a napkin from her backpack and loudly blowing her nose. "Would you like to stay a few days over at my house?"

He shook his head and let out a little chuckle "That has never stopped Warren before…" he chucked a small stone out towards the ocean. He brushed his hands together to get rid of the sand as he turned to face Marisol again. "Do you think your parents would be ok with that?" He asked more out of habit than anything. He always stayed over at the Castillo's but he always felt like he was being a nuisance anyway.

"Duuuuuh!" Mari said, rolling her eyes and giving him a shaky smile, slowly returning to normal. "You're family at this point. Just bring over a bag of clothes and we'll set you up in the spare bedroom. It's definitely no big deal. You can spend the rest of the holidays with people who love and care about you."

A tearful Archer enveloped the smaller girl in a tight embrace. "Thank you for always having my back. I really do love you" he whispered as he let go of her. He wiped his eyes one final time before standing up holding out his arm toward his best friend.

“I love you more, Archie. Never forget that.”

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