𝐦𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐫―

Finley Lane Woods. Thirty-one years young. Avid tea drinker & owner of The Albion.

[finleywoods-archived]

aubreyjennings​:

          𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐙𝐄𝐋 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐃 begun to swim with tears almost as soon as the realization and implication of her own quiet confession began to dawn on her. As Aubrey felt almost just as flabbergasted as Finley, witnessing her boyfriend’s reaction unfold right in front of her. Overcome with literally so many emotions all at once and positive that she was having a total out of body experience as another surge of butterflies managed to cause an uproar deep inside her chest and stomach. She really hadn’t planned any of this. Not really… And yet, everything about the moment. About their intimate conversation. Nothing had ever felt more right to her than saying those three little words to him right then and there, sitting with him on top of his van right in the middle of the woods in South Carolina.  “I did. I mean… I do. I—,”  the brunette stammered back in response, her features practically beaming as she couldn’t help but endlessly smile at him. As she couldn’t possibly ever tear her eyes away from him. Knowing that Finley felt every bit as much in love with her as she was in love with him. That finally, confessing her love to someone meant having it  reciprocated fully. And giving herself to someone else completely. Without the constant fear of having her heart broken. And knowing that they were both in this together. Irrevocably. 

          “I love you,”  Aubrey repeated simply. The words came spilling from her lips with a kind of certainty that she had never felt or spoken them before. Maybe it had been spending so much time alone together with him on this road trip. Maybe, deep down, Aubrey had always known that there was so much more to their friendship. Than being best friends who had hooked up on numerous occasions. Maybe it was simply the way Finley continued to look her. Like she was the only girl in the world. Making her feel loved and supported. And safe. Like no one else had ever done before. A quiet giggle managed to escape her lips as he took her face into his hands. As she still couldn’t help the slight pinkish hue that soon colored her cheeks. Being his and his completely.  “More than anything,”  she added, smiling sheepishly against her boyfriend’s lips as he kissed her. As though it should be a matter of fact.  “I’m so sorry that took so long for me to say,”  Aubrey whispered as she shook her head a little.  “I’m literally so dumb.”

        𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐎𝐖 shocked Aubrey appeared to be by her own confession. Shiny-eyed and stumbling giddily over her answer. Her smile as wide as Finley’s under the soft light of the stars. And he understood it all. The shock of arriving here, in this moment, with one another. Finley never thought they’d get here. He thought he’d never get here with anyone, let alone his very best friend. Aubrey was just as unsuspecting, if not moreso. Even for all the times they’d slipped into something more, all the years of poking and prodding by family and friends, people who now ‘knew it’ or had ‘told them so’; Finley and Aubrey were still in disbelief. And yet, on the other hand, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

        Hearing that she loved him for a second time was even sweeter than the first. Finley hung off those words. He beamed from ear to ear. He wanted to hear them again. Over and over and over again until his head was full of nothing but Aubrey and the love she had for him. It hit him then that he’d never had those words spoke to him in any meaningful capacity before him. It hit doubly hard when he realised how nearly identical Aubrey’s story was. It wasn’t a sentiment that was taken lightly by either of them and it spoke to the shared future they’d been discussing mere moments ago. The trust they built over more than a decade of knowing one another. Who else could ever measure up? “Mmm, more than macarons?” Finley couldn’t help the giddy giggle that took over him. “Shhh.” He was quick to hush Aubrey, smothering her self-criticisms with his mouth as he kissed her. “Shush. You’re not dumb. You’re really quite the opposite of that, actually.” He’d pulled away momentarily to assure her. His eyes fixed on hers, sharing a look before he eased back towards her again. “You’re perfect, Aubs. Just... perfect.” Finley sighed against his girlfriend’s mouth and rubbed his nose against hers. Another, deeper kiss. “I love you.” It tasted almost as sweet as Aubrey did as he slid his tongue past her lips. He only came up for air to tell it to her again. “Christ, I love you so much.” 

[ashestoashes-funktofunky]

Visit Original Link

Home, is where I want to be But I guess I’m already there I come home, she lifted up her wings I guess that this must be the place

[finleywoods-archived]

finleywoods the happiest, dirtiest and flirtiest 30th to my best mate in the whole world. the absolute talent, international artiste, top notch cuppa maker and tyre-changing extraordinaire: audrey (or wait, is it aubrey?). it’s been an absolute privilege to have been by your side through everything your twenties had to offer up (even if it was, from time to time, out of a dog bowl and/or on the floor of a brooklyn dive bar). the good, the bad and the ‘fall off your chair’ funny.

here’s to 30 being as brilliant for you as you made it for me.  here’s to nothing and everything changing.  here’s to lovely, lovely you. 

happy birthday, aubs. i am prouder of you, more inspired by you and more in love with you every single day x

oh, and… #bringbackthebangs

@aubreyjennings

[finleywoods-archived]

thomas-miller​:

thomas-miller:

Thomas could see by Finley’s face that he could tell that something was off, but he didn’t question it, so Thomas just continued to look down at his notepad, doodling aimlessly in one corner so he didn’t have to make eye contact. When Finley asked him for the best spot for the Philly cheesesteak, he shrugged. “There’s a place on south street that’s pretty good. Jim’s,” he told him as he took a drink from his cup. The fact that Finley was just carrying on with his life and enjoying himself while one of his closest friends was in the process of packing up her belongings because of him made him frustrated, and his body was tense as he tried to hold back, not wanting to cause a scene unnecessarily. 

        𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐆𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 enthusiasm fell flat, Finley baulked. Never had he heard someone sound less enthusiastic about a Philly cheesesteak than Thomas. And Thomas had lived in Philly. “Pretty good? You make it sound as dull as a dry cleaners, mate.” Like a child desperate for attention, he snatched the pen out of his friend’s hand twirled it between his fingers. “What’s the matter with you, eh?” 

[finleywoods-archived]

eleanordemarquis​:

“Not explicitly but that is what your words and actions make it seem like. If that is true, I will not take it against you.” After all, Eleanor has done something just as bad to him in the past, if not worse, and although she did not want to do it, that does not change the fact that she did.  “A really big city in which we found ourselves running into each other a couple of times now. Do you actually think that we can avoid each other? More importantly, do you want to have to try and make that happen so you don’t feel uncomfortable? I don’t, that is why I left London.” That last sentence was supposed to remain a thought in her head, not leave her lips, and she looked away from him because it did the latter. “Once again, I am truly sorry. I’ll just leave.” And she was about to do that when his question caused her to stay put and look into his eyes again. “Maybe we never did.”

        “𝐘𝐎𝐔’𝐑𝐄 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐘 life, Eleanor.” There was still the hint of a whine in his voice as he clarified this. He wasn’t destroyed, he was tired. He didn’t want to be having this discussion with her in the middle of The Albion. He wanted to enjoy the festivities and his new relationship. “Yes, I do.” He huffed. Granted there had been a few too many coincidences but situations like this weren’t coincidence. They were completely, utterly avoidable. “Humour me here, alright? Let’s just try to stay out of each other’s places of work. See how that goes.” So fluent in sarcasm, Finley didn’t even realise he was doing it but he what he was aware of was that this conversation had more bite it in than any they’d had before. After all the flip-flopping that had happened in the narrative of their relationship, it wouldn’t be the first time that Finley had thought he’d never known Eleanor in the first place. He sipped on his beer and shrugged. “Good-o. That’s that then.” 

[finleywoods-archived]

aubreyjennings​:

          𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐎 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐘 for Finley to continue to take her breath away. Even in the quietest of moments. Even as they talked about a potential future. One that she wasn’t even quite sure whether they were actually serious about, but still couldn’t help but dare to dream and wonder about endlessly now the more their budding relationship seemed to be slowly evolving. For so many years she had wondered where her life might end up five, ten — maybe even twenty years from now. For so many years had she been anything but confident that she ever even might find true happiness and had sincerely been led to believe that maybe those kind of relationships were only ever meant for the movies. The ones where people really seemed to have found their perfect match and equal. At literally just the right timing. It took her forever to even be able to try and wrap her head around. Knowing that, as she looked into her best friend’s gaze, that she had found that in him. That he was her person. That the universe really did work in mysterious ways neither one of them could ever quite decipher.  “If that means finally getting to accompany you to the Louvre.”  Her lips pursed themselves together ever so lightly as not visiting the one place that literally meant so much for art and European history was the one she had not been able to visit before her thirtieth birthday. As it was the one regret she would probably carry around with her for a little while longer. Until rent became at least somewhat a little more affordable and she was able to sell a few more of her larger paintings.  “I’m guessing probably pretty quickly if they are as expensive at Ladurée Paris as they are in the one in New York,”  Aubrey continued, emphasizing on the word Paris as the French would pronounce it. 

A comfortable silence fell between them once more as the views surrounding them remained positively breathtaking. As Aubrey swore she could live in this exact moment possibly forever — stuck at twenty-nine and so very blissfully happy. Her breath once again knocked straight from her very lungs as the sweetest confession soon came spilling from her boyfriend’s lips. As she hung onto Finley’s every word. Forever mesmerized by the man that he had become and everything that he was now once again confiding in her.  “I really don’t wanna live apart from you anymore either,”  she breathed, repeating the sentiment back to him. If anything, to ever spend that much time and space apart would surely be unbearable. Even if doing their friendship long distance had once come so very easily to them. And had at one point even defined them.  “I love you,”  she uttered, finally daring to speak those three little words to her best friend out loud. That she knew held as much significance and meaning to him as they did to her. And had probably terrified him when he had first uttered them through the phone back at Christmas all those many months ago.

        𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 worst at keeping secrets. He supposed, in some capacity, he’d driven the conversation here himself. But Aubrey was making this all incredibly difficult. The pout upon her lips was sweet and endearing but only because he knew that it wouldn’t take moving to France to get her to accompany him to the Louvre. The solution was so much easier than that and on the tip of his tongue now that Aubrey was lamenting about it. So much so that he had to bite it. Maybe it wasn’t too much. Maybe it was just right. As her accent transformed from American to Parisienne with such effortless grace, Finley was a little closer to convincing himself that she would absolutely love his gift. They’d been friends for so long, you’d think he’d have stopped second guessing himself by now. But everything was so… different. “Worth it though, innit?”

        Finley hadn’t stopped to think about all the implications of what he was saying when he said it, but when Aubrey echoed the sentiment back to him, they began to sink in. This small moment between them grew and grew in his mind and buried itself in his memory. Indefinitely. Whatever the future may hold, here they were admitting they wanted one together. A given from the get go, he supposed, getting into a relationship with your best friend and all. Clearly it was something they’d both thought about but had never acknowledged as a couple until this point. Humbled and quiet, Finley nodded as they shared a knowing gaze. Deeply comforted to know he’d never have to be a plane trip away from his best friend again and yet, excited by all that was still to come. It was enough to have that. So when those three little words were whispered to him, Finley could hardly believe what he’d heard. After baulking, he shifted to face Aubrey more fully. The whites of his eyes wide and striking in the night. “What? Did you just…” But it was so quiet out here by the lake, there was no mistaking what Aubrey had said. Even if he could hardly believe it. She loved him back. “Oh my god.” Finley rolled his eyes up with rapture. “Oh my god.” He was laughing now, shakily as he grasped Aubrey’s hands in his. Then he squeezed her shoulders. Then her face, which was swallowed up by his palms. Finley kissed her head, her cheek and then her lips with fervour. “Do you really?” He half-whispered, half-laughed into his girlfriend’s mouth. Fishing to hear her say it again. “Really, really?”

[finleywoods-archived]

@aubreyjennings

[rprnemes]

Send me a “👀 + a question” and my muse has to answer honestly!

[finleywoods-archived]

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 ― GRAHAM

Graham: Of course. If there's a party, I'm in. I always bring the fun, of course.

Graham: Uh-huh. Sureee. Tell that to the Finley I first met.

Graham: I'm afraid if I make any further comments about her, you may beat my ass. But yes, she is lovely. Happy looks good on you.

Finley: And don't we know it?

Finley: Look, he'd be proper shocked but he was still a sweet boy. Ask his mum 😇

Finley: She's a dish, I know.

Finley: But thanks mate. And how the bloody hell are you going? I want to see happy on you one of these days. Proper, proper happy.

[finleywoods-archived]

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 ― GRAHAM

Graham: Good thing I already had all intentions on being there on Saturday, with or without the party.

Graham: Are you going all sweet on me? This Aubrey girl must be pretty special.

Finley: Good lad. Always can count on you.

Finley: Oi, I've always been sweet. You're just noticing now.

Finley: She is pretty special though, isn't she?

[finleywoods-archived]

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 ― ADDIE

Addie: He is 💕

Addie: Please do.

Addie: I've organized enough parties in my lifetime, whatever you need I'll gladly help. You enjoy your roadtrip and pay attention to the birthday girl, I can help you handle the rest.

Addie: You really think so? Okay, I might. I'll have to think of what about. Maybe a goddess...

Finley: Well, music and booze I've got covered. Food, I spose? A general lovely looking touch?

Finley: I guess I need someone to bring her in too. You reckon you could invite her out to dinner on Saturday as a guise? I'd do it myself but she might be a bit sick of my mug after a whole week of looking at it.

Finley: Absolutely I do. A goddess is fitting, innit? 😍

Finley: Also, a little birdie told me that they shared with you an exclusive peak at their debut album. You couldn't break the bonds of matrimony and forward that onto me, could you?

[finleywoods-archived]

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 ― OPEN

Alexander: I'm sorry, who's 30th is it?

Alexander: I think you've got the wrong number, mate.

Finley: Aubrey's.

Finley: As in, Plaza.

Finley: Mate, I invite you to Aubrey Plaza's birthday and you tell me I've got the wrong number?

[finleywoods-archived]

Open to all

Ben: she is due this month so hopefully she should arrive right on time.

Ben: That sounds good to me.

Ben: Or maybe you bar THEN the craic's with you in tow. Good plan?

Finley: Reckon you might even get a baby for a birthday present? That'd be swell.

Finley: Brilliant plan. Late birthday drinks at The Albion on me.

[finleywoods-archived]

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 ― CECE

Cece: You thought wrong. I told you I was fine. 🤣

Cece: I will consider it in somme capacity if she's born on Aubrey's birthday. Ideally she'll be here before then 😩

Cece: Thank you! I hope you all have the best time.

Finley: A mother always knows, I spose.

Finley: I hope so for your sake. It looks rather uncomfortable, if I'm honest.

Finley: Thanks Cee. I was going to say, "I hope you do too" but I'm not sure that's how that works.

[finleywoods-archived]

𝐓𝐄𝐗𝐓 ― NIC

Nicola: you're funny.

Nicola: aubrey...noted. i wouldn't forget that.

Finley: And you're prim.

Finley: I don't know how this friendship works but I am not about to question it.

[finleywoods-archived]

aubreyjennings​:

          𝐀𝐍 𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐄𝐃 to grace Aubrey’s features as her boyfriend cuddled himself up to her. Appreciating his body’s exuding warmth almost just as much as his wonderful company. They really were hopeless at being in the woods. Even with their entire trip all planned out many days in advance, it would have been so easy to find themselves completely lost so many times throughout their journey already. And yet, here they were. Finding themselves back in South Carolina. Almost having reached their final destination — with only the minor setback of having had to change a tire just before crossing over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in Delaware. It was much too easy for the memories of their previous summer spent together to come flooding back to her as Finley mentioned Norwich. As it was so obvious to her now that everything had started back then. Even if Finley had so spent so many months in denial and avoiding her questions. And she probably had been just as much, too. Taken aback and by complete surprise by the very lingering feelings that came with the one kiss that had somehow started it all back up again. Feelings she clearly hadn’t gotten over. No matter just how much she had told herself otherwise. 

          “You’re probably right,”  the brunette spoke, breathing out softly before she moved her head just a little so that she could lock eyes with him after he had kissed her temple. To retrace back her steps and begin life anew in the South seemed like the absolute last thing she would ever want. Not when life in New York was such a dream. Not when that’s where she had her art studio. And she had really managed to build a life for herself from the very ground up. A career to be proud of. She definitely wouldn’t ever even have met Finley had she not decided to take that very leap to leave her hometown and go to art school some place else entirely.  “Maybe we really should just move to France,”  she offered as she teased him, shrugging her shoulders with a hint of nonchalance as she continued to stare deep into those very gorgeous green hues that she now knew were hers completely. That she had found herself occasionally getting lost in far too many times during their little road trip. And had never been more sure she belonged to. Or had ever been more enamored with than at this very moment.

        𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐖 a pair of eyes he’d been staring into since he was nineteen could all of a sudden be so captivating. They’d always been beautiful, of course – wide, sparkling and flecked with colour. Perhaps it was the way that Aubrey had begun to look at him these past few months that Finley couldn’t get enough of. With such deep adoration and intensity, now more than ever. Like she was as captivated by him as he was by her. When Aubrey picked up the topic of France herself, his face split into a grin. “You’d move to France with me?” He prodded with a glint in his green eyes. It was hard to stifle the nervous laugh that bubbled up from his chest. Hard to settle the way his stomach as it flipped over and over. Hard not to blurt out the big secret he’d been keeping. After all, it wasn’t her birthday just yet. “Just how quickly do you reckon we’d blow all our money on macarons and have to come home?” 

        Strip away the teasing tone and Finley wondered what was left. It sounded like a pipe dream, and maybe it was, but there was one thing he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about. “Wherever it is, New York, London, Paris… here…” Finley began to muse, his eyes drifting up and away from Aubrey’s for a moment to the starry night. He sighed, squeezing her fingers with his own. “I don’t think I want to live apart from you anymore, Aubs.” As the quiet confession slipped from Finley, he found his girlfriend’s gaze again. His lips pressed together, his eyes soft. For a decade, their friendship had spanned international borders – connected by what must have been thousands of hours on facetime, birthday gifts that cost almost as much in postage as they did themselves, timezones translated back and forth and back again, dozens of television shows they’d scheduled watching parties for and the rare blissful summers they’d gotten to spend in one another’s company. He couldn’t stand the thought of any of it now. And though that came with another layer of meaning now they were in a relationship, it was still something he was prepared to admit out loud. “I reckon I’d go mad if I had to.” 

[finleywoods-archived]

aubreyjennings​:​

          𝐍𝐎 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐇𝐎𝐖 many more things Aubrey had been able to still strike off her bucket list over the last couple of weeks or so, to be spending her final hours as a twenty-something year old underneath an abundance of glowing stars surely couldn’t have been any more perfect. In all of her thirty years on this planet, she had never once seen so much beauty and so many different varieties of nature as she had going on this road trip — and to get to share it all and make dozens of memories with not only her best friend in the whole world, but the one person who had slowly but surely managed to secure a very special place in her heart and continued to amaze and surprise her by just how much he had grown and evolved with each passing second only ever made the whole experience even more memorable and exciting. It was impossible not to immediately be reminded of her one of her all-time favorite artist’s biggest masterpieces. The one that she had found herself staring at endlessly so many times at the Museum of Modern Art. Its many delicate brush strokes capturing the very views of which they were now gazing at absolutely flawlessly. 

Never once had Aubrey thought she would ever experience such overflowing happiness as she was right then and there, sitting on top of Vince and securely wrapped into Finley’s embrace only a few miles away from her hometown and in her very home state. Never once did she think she would ever find someone she might be able to call her true love. And feel so very grounded like she was this very minute. That she might even find someone that she might consider her soulmate. Knowing that her parents had taken such a long road to even get there. Knowing that she had met so many people in her lifetime and still, she had ended up hopelessly single. Until she suddenly wasn’t.  “I think you’re supposed to be looking north,”  she whispered, the sweetest giggle falling from her lips as even in this very instant — with Finley grabbing her wrist and using it as his map, the butterflies seemed completely unavoidable.  “I just can’t believe it’s all so beautiful. Half my life I have spent living here and never once did I think it was anything but ordinary,”  she confessed, the irony of her own words in terms of their relationship not entirely lost on her.  “I think we might seriously need to reconsider London.”

        𝐈𝐅 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐋𝐄𝐘 𝐊𝐍𝐄𝐖 which direction north was. He arched his neck far to their left and then to their right, taking his girlfriend’s arm along with him like a compass. Pretending that he had a clue in the world what he was doing until he couldn’t help chuckling at his hopelessness. “Am I supposed to know where north is?” Finley teased before tucking their arms back under the warmth of the duvet, giving up on his quest to find the constellation. Instead appreciating the spectacularly bright sky as it was. Finley hadn’t expected that they’d find such peace out here, two city people like themselves. Where the nights were so quiet they could hardly sleep and the only people they had for company was one another. But Aubrey was right, it was absolutely beautiful and all the more so because he got to share it with her.

        “I had that same thought when we were in Norwich, you know.” Finley breathed out into the night. Beneath the blanket, he tangled their fingers together and squeezed his girlfriend tighter. It was with fondness that he remembered the light in Aubrey’s eyes as she saw, for the first time, the place he’d grown up in. How different everything had looked. How his budding feelings had begun to truly bloom on that trip to England together. It seemed both he and Aubrey had a knack for missing what had been right in front of them all along. “Mmm? And live here instead?” Finley hummed, a lick of mischief in his voice. But beneath that was something sweeter. Stronger. Something about discussing their future, however in jest it may be, sent the butterflies in his stomach swarming. What a number she’d done on him. He pressed his lips against her temple and kissed her softly. “It really is gorgeous, Aubs, but there’s far too many bears. Plus, you’d never get to The Louvre then.” Little did she know, The Louvre wasn’t that far away at all. Finley could hardly help his secretive smile, which he hid from Aubrey against her soft skin. The butterflies beat harder with an energy far more nervous than before as he reflected on how big a gesture his birthday present to her would be.