guitar strings

live like no one's watching; laugh like no one cares

[mackenzierichards]

YOUNG PINES - em, mason, taryn, luke & kenz.

deep roots are not touched by the frost

[theghostnikita-blog]

Blue laughed softly and raised his eyebrow suggestively at Luke. “What makes you think I was drunk?” He asked. Blue couldn’t drink anymore but he could definitely pretend he was; it was no fun being the sober guy, not just for himself but for the people around him. Blue scowled at Luke and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Fuck you, some of us are just lanky.” Maybe lanky wasn’t the word, could someone be lanky when they were 5′10′’? “Seriously? You wanna go into ‘other meanings’ territory? I dunno if you’re ready for that,” Blue teased, grinning coyly.

[oftr-lukeburke]

Luke shrugs, “because it was approaching two in the morning when you said it?” He doesn’t remember exactly how many drinks Blue had that night but he supposes it couldn’t be any less than what he had. “I don’t know if lanky is the term you want to use, how about delicate?” He laughs, ducking before Blue could land a hit on him. “Dude, what kind of other meanings could that go into besides an easy lay. I may be from a small town but I’ve seen just as many shitty movies.” 

[bowie-senpai-blog]

Visit Original Link

Why won’t you ever know that I’m in love with you?

[katrina-unger]

stolen dinners || luke & rhett

[katrina-unger]

Rhett shrugged, biting back a laugh at Luke’s reaction. He let out a strangled noise at the loss of the french fry, grappling for another from he box. It was strange, to be so friendly with another, but perhaps a bit of him craved that darting moment where there was affection– he should call Eli tonight. He let out a satisfied noise, “No way, I flourish when I’m off leash. This relationship was doomed to fail anyways.”

The drummer snorted, lifting his shoulders again in a nonchalant way. “Anything that’s reflective really, why would I limit myself to mirrors?” He drank the last of the coke, wondering briefly when the next time he’d be drinking something with ice would be, making sure to slurp at the bottom of the cup with a straw. “We all know Emmy would never be as appreciative of all this as I am,” Rhett said, burping without apology. His hands tapped at a taut stomach, “You gotta give where there is a need.”

[oftr-lukeburke]

"Are you denying me instant noodles?” Luke closes his eyes, too aghast to even look at him, “did you not listen to my mac and cheese story? Do you want me to die?” He scowls, flicking the drummer’s kneecap before sitting back, arms crossed, “you do realize that without me, you’d still be wasting away in your tent all alone right?”

Luke shoves Rhett’s leg with a laugh, “don’t be so vain, you’re not that hot.” He makes a face at the empty bottle of coke then looks up making another face at Rhett, “yeah but Emmy would have given me the last sip of coke. Asshole.” Nevertheless, he reaches into the bag and tosses the other an apple pie. “Thank the lords for my generosity. I’m going to raid your shit later.” 

[oliverdunmore-blog]

Nodding solemnly, “Yeah man. I can’t believe you didn’t hear about it.”

[oftr-lukeburke]

“You know, you’re full of shit Olive” 

[katrina-unger]

stolen dinners || luke & rhett

[katrina-unger]

Rhett clapped a hand over his heart theatrically, “I grace you with my presence and my very divided attention.” He was comfortable now, chewing at the stolen fries and sipping at the drink. Luke was touchy, something that he’d noted back when he’d first met the other male, but he found that he didn’t mind much. Snapping at those who brushed at his flesh seemed to be a silly sort of thing, especially when you were one to display so much skin at once. He chuckled as Luke engaged in a story, “Shoulda stocked up on ramen when we were near a Wal-mart, Scotty and I are dealing that shit out now like it’s Orange is the New Black.”

Light eyes drifted to Luke’s lips, as though he was considering it before he shrugged, grabbing the rest of the chicken nuggets. “Woulda been, but you ate half of it already.” The drummer grinned, “Maybe I’m just the more serious musician, why is that never an option?” Most of the songs were ones he knew by heart and Rhett was likely to never forget them– it was why he regarded soundchecks as nothing more than a massive pain. “I’m going to end up stealing your food more often then, sharing is caring Luke.”

[oftr-lukeburke]

"I'm not even getting your undivided attention? This relationship is over Rhett, you hear me? Over." Luke sniffs in disdain, fingers darting out to snatch the fry out of the drummer's mouth. He dunks it slowly into ketchup before eating it together with a mcnugget. "Although,” Luke mumbles, licking his fingers clean, “if you make me some ramen later, I might just get back together with you."

He wipes the hands on a napkin then looks up with a scoff, "I have a hard time thinking that's a valid option considering how I'm sure you spend half your day looking at yourself in a mirror." Luke smirks, catching Rhett's eyes and arches his brows definitely, "who says I'm going to let you? You should be happy you're getting anything right now. I wasn't even on planning on sharing this with Emmy."

[mackenzierichards]

hurricane || mac & luke

The yurt was suspiciously empty for this time of night but Mac wasn’t in the right mind to wonder where her bandmates were. She’d avoided the party, instead coming back and putting something comfy on before climbing into one of the beds. She couldn’t think of a night of tour so far where she’d fallen asleep or woken up with all of her band in this tent. Therefore the official bed claiming had never really happened. She knew which one was Taryn’s and which was Luke’s but that was as far as things went. She’d never been organised enough to put her things in one particular place and therefore claim somewhere to sleep. She’d curled up on one of the beds and put her headphones in, on loud enough to block out the world. Something in her still felt off key. It was as if someone had come inside her head and moved all of her emotionally furniture one inch to the left. Kenzie’s skin itched with the sensation of different.

Unable to fall asleep when she was this keyed up, Kenzie found a set of sticks and drummed against her knees as she listened to the music. She ended up with bruises galore thanks to this awful habit. The more she listened, the more she drummed, the more something seemed to build in her until she threw her sticks across the tent in frustration.  “For fucks sake,” she murmured to herself, pressing the heels of her hands into her eyes. Kicking the covers off of the bed, Kenzie lay back and stared up at the ceiling. The words she needed weren’t connecting in her head and she tried to tel herself that everyone felt like this but it simply wasn’t true and she knew it. Words echoed from memories she’d forced into a corner of her mind that she visited rarely. This is a common symptom of the imulsive strand of the disorder… 

“Fuck off,” Kenzie muttered aggressively, standing up and beginning to pace around the tent with increasingly frantic energy. She knew exactly what was happening now and knew she couldn’t ignore it. There was a horrible dichotomy between her utter denial of her disorder and her self awareness of her disorder related behaviours. “Calm it..” she told herself, though it had the adverse effect. Her mind started whirring through people she could call but despite knowing on a rational level that her friends would answer, Kenzie couldn’t think of the words she’d say to them. Instead, she stood in the middle of the tent and tried to think clearly but the noise was building into a tidal wave in her ears that she couldn’t ignore. 

[oftr-lukeburke]

He had only planned on dropping by the yurt to grab his leather jacket (”hotter than balls in the afternoon and freezing at night, what a bloody nightmare”) before heading out for an all-out drinking competition with some of the construction staff he met earlier in the morning while helping out. It was still relatively early by his standards and Luke’s sure the band is still scattered around at the party. Last he saw, Mason was making out with some blonde in the corner.

Still grumbling about the weather under his breath (”seriously, what the fuck is up with this place?”), he pushes open the flap and stops. Arching his brow at their drummer seemingly intent on pacing a hole through the ground (in the dark, he might add), Luke coughs to get her attention. Satisfied that she won’t jump and scream bloody murder at the sound of his voice, he flips on the lights, tone as gentle and soothing as someone who’s already had three or four shots could get. “Hey, what are you doing up?”

Upon closer inspection of her face, Luke notes the dark circles and the panic-rimmed eyes and mentally crosses out any chance of going anywhere else for the night. "You know,” he starts, stretching out his arms, “I think I’m all partied out tonight. You want to join me in some star-gazing Kenz?” 

[theghostnikita-blog]

“Hey, my methods are simple and effective — justified.” Where Blue grew up, threatening people and trying to initiate fights could be considered justified, under most circumstances. Hopefully, he’d eventually learn that that sort of attitude didn’t settle everywhere else. “You just happen to remember that, huh?” Despite his flat tone, Blue let himself be led away without protest. “I don’t think so,” Blue mused, shaking his head, “I’m too skinny, you know? Not much of a meal. Anyway, who are you calling ‘easy’?”

[oftr-lukeburke]

“Well,” Luke drawls with a smirk on his face, “I also remember you drunkenly confessing your love for me, but I was kind enough to not bring that up.” He does however, stop in the middle of the road to give Blue a look-over, “yeah, you are skinny. Maybe the coyotes won’t go after you after all.” Luke squeezes his shoulder with a laugh. “I said easy meal, but if you want to go into other meanings...” he trails off with a suggestive waggle of his brows. 

[oliverdunmore-blog]

“Oh yeah, it was four against one. I was the last man standing.”

[oftr-lukeburke]

He raises an eyebrow, “oh yeah?”

[katrina-unger]

stolen dinners || luke & rhett

[katrina-unger]

Rhett grinned around bites of the hamburger, not even taking a moment to revel in the fact that he was consuming something that was– by his standards, edible. The drummer settled down across from Luke, grinning around the food. “You can’t call me over and then not feed me,” he scoffed, swallowing with a thoughtful sip from the other boy’s cup of coke. “It’s dark,” he said drily, scooping up a fry. “Can you believe I’ve been eating fuckin’ grilled cheese sandwiches? I go to bed thinking each night’ll be my last.”

Light eyes rolled up to catch Luke’s smirk and the drummer snorted, “I’ll give you a handy later if you share the nuggets.” Spreading love wasn’t his style– thank you was a dirty word to Rhett and he didn’t say it often, “Mostly been up for soundchecks and chilling with fans. The real show starts Monday.” He swallowed down the last of the burger, stretching out his legs as he got comfortable. “How the fuck did you even get these? Who actually made the trip to get to a McDicks and how can I befriend them?”

[oftr-lukeburke]

“Why should I feed you, you don’t buy me shit,” he scoffs, green eyes following Rhett’s (traitorous, traitorous) hands as they reach for his drink (his drink!). Does he have any idea how long it took for him to convince the intern to drive fifty miles north for that bottle of coke? “Serves you right,” Luke mumbles glumly, leaning back onto his hands with half a pout on his lips, “besides I don’t think your grilled cheese is any worse than my mac and cheese.” He jerks back to a sitting position, hands pressed onto Rhett’s legs, “can you believe that bastard? Mason made his fucking specialty for everyone and then had the nerve to toss a box of Kraft at me. I haven’t eaten shit that bad since freshmen year at college,” Luke laments, running a hand through his hair. "Are we placing points on these now? Was the burger worth a kiss?” he snorts, sliding over the box after he nabs two more to pop into his mouth. 

As he listens to Rhett talk, Luke gapes in amazement, “dude, how low have I sunk for you to have done more shit than me?” He groans, waving his arms in the arm for dramatic emphasis, “I barely touched my guitar this week, you think I’m going to forget my chords on stage? That’d be a kicker.” Getting off his soap box, Luke shrugs his shoulders and rummages through the bag for some french fries. “I ain’t sharing my secret. You’re just going to have to deal.” 

[marky-mrk]

“Whatever you say.” She rolled her eyes, which was a rarity in itself, but giggled slightly since he clearly didn’t see what everyone else did. While it might be her job to remind him she wasn’t going to press it. Nodding her head, he was right. It wasn’t that big of a deal though her smile didn’t falter. “You’re right, but people are watching. And someone could be falling in love with my smile right now, so who am I to stop that from happening?” She smiled cheekily at him since he had said it was her job to charm everyone.  

[oftr-lukeburke]

He laughs, pressing the beer into her hand, “I’m sure there’s already enough people in love with you. Do you really want more of them?” He snorts, “I mean, I for one don’t want to deal with any more of your nutso fans and their absolute hatred for my existence.” Luke shakes his head, “it’s like they actually think we’re in love for something.” 

[theghostnikita-blog]

“You can’t use that as an example!” Blue exclaimed, “My actions were justified.” According to Blue, his actions were justified at least 98% of the time. His ideology of what would be considered justified was perhaps a little warped. Blue’s arm went loosely over Luke’s shoulders, glancing at him and grimacing. “They’re pretty much the same thing, right?” He asked, “Coyote, wolf; tomato, tomato. Anyhow, it’s not like either of us would be any use against a coyote — you’d get eaten first.”

[oftr-lukeburke]

Luke rolls his eyes, “you always think your actions are justified, it’s moot point.” He pauses, then grins widely, “hey, didn’t you say you’d buy me a drink yesterday? I’m calling in that favor. With you stuck next to me, the heat’s bloody unbearable.” Luke shrugs, marching them forward in his quest for a beer, “I don’t know man, I’m a lot bigger than you are-- I think they’d go for you first, easy meal.” 

[theghostnikita-blog]

Blue repeated ‘law school’, saying the words with a grimace, as if they left a bad taste in his mouth. “You can’t prove shit,” he retorted, digging his elbow into Luke’s side, scoffing at him, “You’ve got nothing on me, I’ve not got a bad bone in my body. Can’t believe you’d ever think that of me.” Blue shook his head and feigned an offended look at Luke. “I thought you were one of the nice guys. My mistake, guess I’ll go hang out with some coyotes or something,” he proclaimed, dramatically, side-eyeing Luke with a look of false distaste.

[oftr-lukeburke]

He jumps back just before the elbow connects to his ribs and smirks, “oh really? Who was the one screaming about bar fights the other night and had to be held back by yours truly?” Luke laughs, looping his arm around Blue’s neck, “you wouldn’t last a minute out there in the wild without me to guide you. Bet you don’t even know a coyote from a wolf.” 

[theghostnikita-blog]

“How the fuck would I know that? I don’t look like somebody that reads.” Blue wasn’t the most committed reader in the world but it was a good way to pass the time, especially when you were actually meant to be doing other things. “They did make movies, dumbass.” Blue would know because he had them on box-set, in the least nerdiest way possible. ‘Those pictures’, Blue narrowed his eyes at Luke, looking at him defiantly. “You wouldn’t,” he muttered, half smirking. “Without you, I wouldn’t be fearing for my life. I’m gonna get you back, when you least expect it.”

[oftr-lukeburke]

“Honestly, law school kind of put me off reading forever.” He shrugs his shoulders and then laughs, parroting the same words back at him, “how the fuck would I know that? I bet you got the dvd set, you loser.” Luke ribs Blue then smirks, “oh I would. You don’t even begin to know how much shit I got on you. By the way, my will’s already written up. In case I die, my lawyer will read to the public that Blue Renshaw was my murderer along with a list of other shit you’ve done.” 

[katrina-unger]

stolen dinners || luke & rhett

There were more scratched out words on the page than there were actual words and Rhett sat in a pile of balled up pieces of notebook paper. He tried to contribute to the band’s song writing process but his mind worked in over drive and he scowled at the way he continually failed to flex his command over the language effectively. He was no poet, he was no author of beautiful things and while he had very little desire to be, the drummer felt as though there was something lacking– he emphasized his frustration by tossing another scrunched bit of notebook paper towards the canvas surface of the yurt’s walls.

His phone buzzed, a welcome distraction– it was Luke responding to his queries about the long sought after food. The dialogue was simple and he ended it by slipping his feet into shoes; all intentions were to go and eat. Wisely tapping Evey on the shoulder to rouse her from her nap, the drummer left Alo in her care before slipping out of the yurt, hunting down the one belonging to the Young Pines. He saw Luke before the other musician saw him, and Rhett snuck behind, reaching for the burger in the other man’s hands before he could take a bite.

Grinning at the guitarist’s expression, he took a mouthful. “Thanks for the invite, man.”

[oftr-lukeburke]

Lucas Burke is Young Pine's golden boy; the chameleon that fits in everywhere. He's the one their manager sends out to the media when the band needs damage control and he's the only person that can wriggle the group out of paying for anything. Tall, naturally good-looking with the right kind of boyish charm -- it works wonders when it's paired with sharp cheekbones and stunning green eyes. So it is with pride when a few well-placed compliments lands himself two completely filled bags of "real" food. For himself, and only himself, of course.

Luke stares blankly at his empty hands for a good long minute before his gaze travels up to the burger now mostly inside Rhett's mouth. "You shit, I didn't actually say I was going to give you any." He leans over to smack the dummer's knee then picks up a fry. "How's livin' on the dark side without me?" Luke mumbles with his mouth half full, digging around the bag for his second box of chicken mcnuggets. "And that, by the way, is your cue to tell me exactly how much you love me." He grins, "I mean, who else is going to share their hard-earned Mc'Ds with you?"

[mackenzierichards]

“Do you reckon there is fanfiction about you and Mason anywhere?” Kenzie asked, finding both of Luke’s hands and linking their fingers as she read the menu. “I’ll get chicken in black bean sauce please,” she ordered brightly, dropping Luke’s hands to ruffle her hair up then take her phone out of her pocket. “I’m going to snap your beloved and tell him he’s a cock for disappearing off the face of the earth,” she announced, unlocking her phoneand holding it up with the camera ready. “Pull your ‘Mason you’re a dick’ face.”

[oftr-lukeburke]

“Mason and I looked it up once,” he confesses with a shudder. “It was a rather, uh, enlightening read.” Luke grins at the male behind the counter, pulling out his wallet, “add a bottle of water to that. How much?” He turns his head to make a face into the camera, before tossing out the bill for the food. “Make sure to caption it properly.” 

[mackenzierichards]

“Fuck maturity,” Mac muttered, not keen on the way that Luke belittled himself compared to his brother. She meant it when she spoke highly of Luke; he was one of her favourite people and the idea he didn’t see that annoyed her. “People don’t give a shit about what I do. They all want to know what you hot shit guys are up to. I get to fuck about in the background and no one cares.” Kenzie knew she wasn’t hot enough to warrant the general attention of the masses. Her instagram and twitter were followed because of the updates on the rest of the band, not her. “I don’t think he remembers the pact, it’s fine.” If Mason did remember, well, Mac was not about to bring it up.

[oftr-lukeburke]

He laughs, picking her up and moving forward in line before turning around to wink at one of the many camera phones aimed in their direction. “Can that not go online? Mason’s going to make me sleep on the ground again he if sees it.” He sighs dramatically, “you know how jealous he gets.” Amidst the giggles and the choruses of ‘sure Luke, only if you hug us too!’ he turns around to bop Mackenzie on her head. “One, don’t put yourself down, two, I’m sure he remembers and three, for the love of God order your Chinese food before the people behind us in line get an aneurysm Kenz.”