so this whole pretending to not date thing she’d come up with was great and all.. but was laney sat smushed between sawyer and lydia, an entire bar of people surrounding her, she sort of wished she could reach out and take davis’ hand; if only to calm her own anxieties but she couldn’t— wouldn’t, not with jude lurking around waiting for any opportunity to pounce. she quickly looked towards davis as sawyer began to question his lateness the night before, knowing damn well he’d been in her bedroom. with eyes wide, she tried her best to stay calm because.. seriously, was her brother laughing across the table? oh screw him — she gave him dagger eyes, vowing to get him back for that later. “oh come on, s. do you really want to waste your time amusing the rantings of this idiot?” she pointed towards jude, rolling her eyes in the process.
jude took the glass back from sawyer, only wincing slightly when natalie nudged him. he was going to have to get smarter about this whole fighting thing.. or maybe, faster. better— if he wanted to keep it a secret, at least (and he did, he knew what people would say). turning towards the baby, he scrunched his nose up in disgust. “get that thing away from me!” he groaned, making his feelings quite clear about the demon child, who hated him.. he was almost positive (it was in the eyes). speaking of people who hated him.. “and what’s got your panties in a twist today, penny lane? ya know, if you’d just let some of that tension go.. you’d feel a lot better and i know just the way to help ya out.” he threw a wink in her direction, wrapping both his arms around sawyer’s shoulders and resting his chin atop her head. “she just needs to get laid, right everyon–” fuck. he didn’t see laney’s hand until he had punched him right in the side of his chest. the air was literally pushed out of him and he collapsed just the slightest bit against sawyer’s back. he quickly composed himself, taking another sip of beer. “you’re an ass,” laney huffed before turning in her seat so her back was to jude.
cam wasn’t going to come — not after last year anyway but when lydia invited him.. not even the risk of total disaster could keep him away and so, he made his way towards the bar, only pausing briefly once he’d arrived to take in the scene playing out in front of him. his eyes scanned the room, he cringed silently as he spotted the full table of his peers but that feeling soon shifted to joy as he landed on a certain brunette. he finally made his way over, taking a seat beside davis. “what’d i miss?” he whispered to his friend as he reached out and took lydia’s hand in his, smiling across at her. “hey,” he mouthed. “you look beautiful.”
this was why she’d wanted to stay home — lily had known no good could come from the whole gang getting together. at least nathan was trying, she thought but still, there was too much history, too many hurt feelings and grudges to avenge and clearly logan thought the same as he was straight up ignoring nathan to.. was he looking at her? she quickly looked away, turning her attention to dionne, who was now talking to casey, maybe some good could come from this night, just maybe and after how supportive she’d been towards nathan and herself, lily wanted nothing more than for dionne to find her own happiness.. maybe she could nudge them in the right direction but before she could get up to do so, she felt a kiss against her cheek. “maddie!” she smiled, turning slightly to give her best friend a makeshift hug.. she didn’t even get a squeeze in though before she was groaning at her words. not the time or the place, she thought (not that she didn’t appreciate the back up – girl power and all, she did love maddison most out of everyone in the entire world) but it was too late. the words were out before she could stop them and so, as the awkwardness and tension grew, she hid away in the crock of nathan’s neck. a safe place, away from all the noise. yes, she liked it here very much. she was going to stay here the entire night.. avoiding the mess that was starting to pile up (and logan. she definitely needed to avoid logan.. or at the very least, be the one who walked away this time – he didn’t get to do that again, not on her watch).
“long week,” casey shrugged as she continued to pour beers and prepare shots– she handed one to chris, “anything else i can get ‘ya?” it took her a moment but once her eyes found those of dionne’s, she couldn’t help but smile. “you’d think the owner of this place would, you know, care but—“ she shrugged again, motioning towards cj who was now socializing and not doing his job. hell, if he was going to take a break.. so was she. casey carefully put down all the bottles she’d been holding before resting her elbows against the bar counter in front of dionne and placing her chin in her palms. “so,” she started, her attention now purely on the awkward but rather cute woman in front of her. “i wouldn’t guess this was your type of scene, you just here for back up?” she’d picked up on the fact that she was close to her brother, it was cute in that whole ‘tree hill is home’ type of way but casey didn’t have much family, other than her cousin who wouldn’t dare step foot in this town ever again. “i’d put money on the teen mom punching someone before the night’s done, how about you?”
the blonde’s eyes lit up instantly as her boyfriend approached the table, a warm gaze reflected on her features as she watched him interact with their son. nothing in the world would ever be a better sight — not to her at least, leaning into him instantly she let her head rest against his arm as her son took hold of one of her fingers. in truth natalie was far too busy indulging in baby talk to pay her surroundings any close attention at least she was until her brother’s name was mentioned. straitening up instantly, her line of sight went from her sister in law to be, to her brother and then narrowed in a glare as she looked in maddie’s direction. she liked her just fine, always had but absolutely no one could take shots at her older brother, regardless if he deserved them or not. “ hey look jamie, isn’t that the girl whose heart you broke because you and maddison had sex in a closet? “ her voice was loud, and granted it was petty but as far as she was concerned no one sitting at this table was an innocent and fair was fair. “ how was that by the way? are all the years of pent up tension finally done and over with? or will maddie finally become or new cousin? “ she added, only to roll her eyes and turning her attention back to her friends. “ call my kid a demon one more time jude baker, do it… i dare you. “ she warned, eyes flashing dangerously as she reached for her soda, taking one long drink of it before setting it down. “ laney bot! “ she chirped as she smiled at her best friend. “ totally digging the blonde, you so look like glinda the good witch. “ and then her attention turned on to, her cousin. “ CONNOR! “ she happily greeted the other boy, only to wiggle her eyebrows at lydia as he took her hand. “ that is such an instagram moment, happy looks good on you scott. “ she finished, only to turn her attention back to her boyfriend and son, as she began to ask him questions about the game.
davis instantly groaned, rolling his eyes as his brother began to speak. shaking his head he avoided sawyer’s eyes knowing that he’d spill in less than a second if he looked at her too long. “ some friends and i got carried away, while playing settlers of catan. “ he dismissed jude’s comment casually. “ i got home past curfew because of it, nothing worth going into detail over. “ that was a good lie right? he’d done a good job, still his eyes did linger on lane as he spoke, inching to do nothing more than take her hand and run in the opposite direction of the mess this night was already becoming. “ shut up jude… “ he added again, grabbing a fist full of french fries and throwing him in his brother’s direction, but his eyes did furrow as he noticed him flinch. hmm weird. “ you okay idiot? “ he questioned with a quirk of his brow, before turning his attention back onto the older crowd. “ this is not going to turn out well. “ he whispered so only the kids could hear, before smiling at cameron, and shaking his head as natalie greeted him. “ cameron, natalie, i think you mean cameron. “ it had been years of the same thing, surely space brain could make some room in that head of hers? or well maybe not, the girl seemed far too busy, fussing over her child and making the most obnoxious heart eyes at cj he’d ever seen.
" ugh get a room! “ jamie yelled in cj’s direction, throwing a napkin in his direction before laughing. at this point should he really mind? the answer was no he’d seen them enough in their shared apartment to grow used to it, and well at least one of the three was happy no? as surprising as it had turned out to be, he was glad that someone in this generation could have a stable relationship. it wasn’t until natalie spoke, that he groaned, hazel eyes turning from the tv to glance over at chuck who he still wasn’t talking to and speaking off what the hell was he doing here anyway? “ who invited THAT? “ jamie interjected, doing his best to turn the attention away from not only his ex on tv but the comments that he knew were a dig at maddie more than they were aimed at him but regardless, he agreed. “ not in front of the kid, kid… “ he warned his cousin, before laughing as sawyer spoke about the two aaron’s. only to have his eyes land on cameron and his sister. oh? this was new, was it time for the big brother speech? he’d always wanted to give it, but he’d never really seen lydia display any interest in boys, not seriously at least. “ hey mcfadden, how are the raven’s doing this season? “ he began to ask only for his attention to land on logan, he heavily sighed. he was switzerland, he’d decided that a long time ago, both lily and logan were people he loved and they were his best friends. he wasn’t about to meddle in that, and make things worse for either of them, but he did make a gesture towards his best friend, something to mean like ‘ say the word and we’re out… ‘ or that they’d talk later which all three of them would. natalie on the other hand, had returned to glaring at madison for a moment, before her attention went back to well whatever it was that she payed attention to.
“ it’s kind of endearing, you know in a soap opera — you’re dating satan kind of way. “ she added as her line of sight landed on cj for a second before turning back to look at casey. “ need some back up? i mean i can’t exactly serve alcohol… but food orders? i’ve got you covered, it might keep me alive longer. “ and she groaned once she mentioned, natalie punching someone but still she nodded. “ i’ll take that bet, in truth i think that i’m the one that’s going to get punched. “ that psycho still wanted to kill her for whatever reason. “ between you and me, i think the girl has a crush on lily. “ i mean what else would explain it right? growing silent as tension began to rise, just like it usually did, the brunette looked towards her brother, wanting to make sure that he looked and seemed okay. gesturing towards casey, she motioned for her to follow. “ isn’t the point of the past, for it to i don’t know stay there? “ she interjected in her own attempt to help. “ i mean just focus on the people you came with and all it a day. “ she added with a roll of her shoulders, taking a seat by the edge, and making space for casey to sit next to her. years of the same circus and she’d never ever grow used to it.
“alright, s, i’ll back you on those bets,” lydia chuckled, chin tilting up as she looked over at athena. “not so sure about your bet, though. i mean… those sounds like some great odds. way too good to be true. have you considered trying wall street?” the girl’s brows rose in amusement, staying there at ares’ exclamation and the sight of a tray shots headed towards their table. “oh, no, you didn’t,” she remarked with a breathy laugh, head shaking in disbelief. “were you not here last year? that is literally a recipe for trouble.” a louder, more carefree laugh followed the words, as if it hadn’t been a complete shitshow. something about time making things easier to look back at.
“hey, cj, looks like your bar cover is serving minors—” the words fell short, fading into all of the surrounding buzz. not because jenny was—holy shit—on screen singing the national anthem, which seemed to catch many other’s attention. rather, what drew her attention was a mop of red hair moving across the room in her direction. “why, thank you,” she mouthed back at cameron once he’d sat down across from her. he’d showed—and a sort of sigh of relief followed the realization. his hand holding hers across the table, cj and natalie and their little one, hell, even jude wrapping his arms around sawyer’s shoulders. everything just seemed nice… at least, at this end of the mob. “don’t even try, davis, it’s not worth it,” lydia noted, hand weakly motioning across her throat as if suggesting he cut it out for his own good.
she’d only just leaned forward in her chair, mouth parting just barely to form a word, when jamie’s voice carried over the crowd. but unlike what anyone might’ve expected, her brother’s obvious protectiveness didn’t bother her. it was actually, shockingly, endearing. was this what leading a calm, happy life felt like? or was that just the haze of the adderall keeping her up for three days straight now? delirium? luckily, jamie’s attention was diverted before she could land on an answer.
“hey,” the girl whisper-shouted as she leaned forward towards cam and ducked her head slightly. “first sight of people getting thrown in the pool and we’re ditching this place for the nearest pizza parlor. we know the patriots are going to win anyway.” a playfully suspicious look played out on lydia’s features as she leaned back in her chair, a finger pointing at the boy as an afterthought. “you are a pats fan, right”?
moments later as she checked the screen, the girl yelled over the noise, “GUYS, THEY’RE DOING THE COIN TOSS.” tails. fucking rams.
sawyer raised an eyebrow feeling jude collapse against her back,”are you okay?” she whispered, although knowing he probably wouldn’t tell her. jude had been more secretive as a late, and it made her wonder about him. hadn't they learned not to keep secrets from one another. as of late, he insisted on keeping his shirt on while having sex but if you knew jude, you knew he’d want to show off. sawyer looked over at lydia about to put money on the table when a loud laugh escaped her lips. “athena, our very own wolf of wall street. i can see it.” she nodded, only for her eyes to then travel to the commotion going on at the other side of the table. “i was in rehab,” ares replied to lydia, big smile on his lips. if any of taylor james children were going to end up in rehab, he was glad it was him. “guess weed really is a gate way drug,” he shrugged, nonchalantly. at least he sought help, right? or rather, his sister dragged him to the nearest rehab clinic and forced him to stay there. “but by the looks of it --” ares titled his chin to the “adult” side of the table, “i’m getting a glimpse of what happened now and i’m glad i spent my time there. this would have messed up my whole niche.” the young man finished, downing a shot of tequila that arrived to his table.
“alright, i’ve had enough,” logan cleared his throat, getting up from his side of the table as he glared at madison. if looks could kill, madison would have been overly dead. no body remains left for a burial or cremation. madison’s met logan’s gaze, returning his look unfazed, as he left the table only to arch an eyebrow when nathan followed him to the bar. “asshole,” she muttered, her eyes returning to the the tv. “good for her,” she nodded. although not sorry for what happened, she did always root for the girl. something about sleeping with her man and hating her for her awesome talent just didn’t sit right -- and she was a progressive anyway, something had to balance out. she had to have morals somewhere. she was glad it was on women empowering one another.
“CAN SOMEONE STOP SERVING THE FUCKING YOUNG ONE’S SHOTS?!?! CASEY YOU HAD ONE JOB!” cj shouted, the vein on his forehead nearly popping out. hadn’t he told her to keep a look out? hadn’t he told everyone to keep a look out? the young man collected the shots, half of the glasses now empty. “apple juice for all of them, please!” cj shouted out to one of his servers, mumbling under his breath ramblings about how he was going to lose his bar and there was going to be nothing left for cj jr jr.
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