Purple Pear Who Writes Sometimes

just hanging out

[purpley-pear]

✧✧✧ welcome! ✧✧✧

me — she/her ⭒ college student ⭒ writer ⭒ athlete ⭒ music enjoyer

books — tig ⭒ the naturals ⭒ percy jackson ⭒ hunger games

artists — taylor swift ⭒ sabrina carpenter ⭒ olivia rodrigo ⭒ coldplay

writing for — the inheritance games

i can't promise how active i'll be, but i'll work through requests as i can! i will def get to everything eventually, so if it isn't immediate, it hasn't been forgotten, i swear!

[purpley-pear]

oo if u take requests could u do one with avery having a bad interview with the man throwing digs at her then she goes home after pretending she’s okay and they comfort herr

Why Would a Man be There? No, Seriously, Why Would a Man be There?

summary: avery is never sitting for another interview given by a man again. like, ever again. becuase somehow, each one manages to be worse than the last, and this one might just take the cake. thankfully, some hawthornes intervene before a murder gets committed (not to say they aren't planning one themselves) a/n: thank you so much for the request! i really do have a bad habit of putting avery through it, but thankfully hawthorne brothers fluff is just as much fun to write. please enjoy! wc: 3910

When Avery agreed to sit for an interview for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, she’d anticipated it going something like this: they start with how incredible it’s been as the youngest billionaire in the world, move to her philanthropic efforts since turning eighteen, wrap up with the Grandest Game.

Easy.

That was not how it went.

Everything started out fine. It was an in-person interview, so even though it wouldn’t be video-taped she was still dressed up in a navy powersuit, not unlike one of the ones Alisa had been known to wear. It was early afternoon, Avery had gotten to sleep in a bit, eat a full breakfast and lunch, and now she was seated in a nicer coffee house that had been blocked off for the afternoon.

By all other standards, everything should have been perfect.

And it might have been, if Avery had actually gotten the interviewer she was supposed to have, Clarissa Petrowski. She was a young, enthusiastic woman who Avery got along with really well. Every time the two of them had crossed paths, they’d engaged in good conversation before parting ways.

However, last minute, Clarissa called in sick and so the interviewer was switched to a man named Shawn Palmer.

“So, Avery, may I call you Avery?” He didn’t wait for her to respond. “You became one of the richest women in the United States a few years ago, and then set out to give most of that fortune away in just five years.”

Avery nodded, smiling. “I did.”

“Would you say that your overly sentimental disposition towards the less fortunate is one of your better qualities? Or did you simply miss out on financial planning meetings before the full inheritance was transferred to you?” Shawn looked at her in a way that could only be described as patronizing.

So that was how this was going to go.

Forcing all of the media training Avery had ever received to the forefront of her mind, Avery responded. “I underwent extensive lessons on how best to manage the fortune I was blessed with for a year, following the initial will reading. In that time, I was able to learn the charitable difference I would be able to make.” She took a small breath, smiling at Shawn. “Ultimately, I decided that the most change would happen by acting quickly, hence the five-year timeline.”

Shawn nodded, humming noncommittally. “I see. So your financial advisors encouraged this decision, then? That surprises me. I’m sure for the sake of their jobs, they wished one of the late Tobias Hawthorne’s grandsons had inherited the fortune instead.” He played it off like it was a joke they were both in on, laughing to himself.

It took all of Avery’s self control to not clench her jaw. “Mr. Hawthorne’s grandsons have been nothing but supportive of my decisions, which is something I am incredibly grateful for. I take their words and support to heart,” Avery said, channeling as much sincerity as she could muster.

“I’m sure they have been,” Shawn said, raising his eyebrows at her in a way that suggested something entirely different.

“They have,” Avery agreed, ignoring the gesture entirely. “Grayson Hawthorne, Tobias Hawthorne’s second oldest grandson, worked by my side with the Hawthorne Foundation and now helps lead the Hannah the Same Backward as Forward Foundation. His help is what’s allowed me to pursue everything that I have.”

Shawn snorted softly to himself, as if he found that answer funny, before moving on to his next question. “Since your quick rise to fame, you’ve done a handful of magazine spreads and interviews. Is it safe to say that there’s a bikini shoot in your future?”

What the hell?

Avery blinked. She didn’t even know what to say to that. The subtle digs were frustrating, but this was just downright insane. “I have no plans to pursue any form of modeling career at the moment,” she said, redirecting as best she could. “I’m currently aiming to spend most of my time and energy toward the Foundation and the Grandest Game.”

“Doesn’t that get boring?” Shawn asked. “I mean, you became the richest teenager in the world at seventeen, and have more money than you know what to do with. Don’t you want to do something fun? You should leave the business side of things to those more qualified.”

How do I get out of here? Avery was done. She genuinely didn’t know how much longer she could stand talking to him, and it hadn’t even been very long yet. Alisa, who’d been seated on the other side of the room looked the most displeased Avery had seen her in a long time. But with the interview still going on, she couldn’t technically interject.

“Thankfully,” Avery began, “I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded by the best of the best. And I’ve always found that I learn the most by doing, which is why I’ve taken a more hands-on approach toward my charitable pursuits.”

Rolling his eyes, Shawn continued to press. “Sure, sure. But you’re a woman. Surely you don’t actually want to be doing any of the actual work. Just get your picture taken to make it look like you’ve done something and then move on.”

Avery had never been so insulted by an interviewer in her life. How on earth was he even employed?

“I take pride in the work that I do, and I couldn’t imagine passing it off to anyone else. Working alongside the team that I have and then seeing the impact makes everything all the more rewarding,” Avery said.

“Come on now, don’t be so uptight,” Shawn told her, like this was some sort of act she was putting on. “You can be honest here, Avery. Everyone knows that girls like you just want to look good and have fun. So tell me about the fun.”

Avery channeled her inner Grayson and gave her best socialite smile. “One of the more recent endeavors that I have been fortunate enough to sponsor is various business scholarships in universities across the world. As a result, I get to travel to a wide range of different countries and speak at these universities.” She took a small breath, putting those memories at the forefront of her mind. “As someone who has always been passionate about traveling, it’s been wonderful being able to speak with all of the students, as well as see the sights of the country I’m visiting.”

“Travel! There we go, that’s something real.” Shawn was smiling at her, like this was what he’d been trying to get out of her since the interview started. “You and your boyfriend, Jameson Hawthorne, have been spotted traveling the world since your one-year tenure at Hawthorne House ended. Tell me what he enjoys more, the views or you?”

Avery wanted to throw up. And then scream. And then throw up again.

“Jameson and I have both enjoyed getting to learn about the culture and history of all the places we’ve visited,” Avery said. “We both like to integrate into local life as much as we can when we go abroad, whether it be trying local cuisine or stopping by small shops.”

Shawn nodded, and seeming bored, flipped through his notes. “Enough about that. Now, there was quite a bit of scandal surrounding your own family members when you first came into the spotlight. It was even rumored that your older half-sister Libby Grambs got with Nash Hawthorne as a way of securing your spot as heiress. Care to comment on the validity of this?”

Nope. That was it. Avery could tolerate the derogatory words toward herself, but she was not going to sit here and let this man speak that way about her older sister. Thankfully, Alisa got the memo that Avery was about to lose her shit and stood up.

“Mr. Palmer, I’m afraid that’s all the time Ms. Grambs has today,” she said, her words neutral but her face sharp. “Thank you for your time, we’ll be in touch about publication.”

Avery shook Shawn's hand, even though it made her sick to do so, and stood up. Rage didn’t even describe the way she was feeling at the moment. As Alisa led her out of the building and into the SUV that Oren had pulled up, she felt like she wasn’t even in her own head.

“You finished early,” Oren commented, when Avery had sat down in the back seat.

“That article won’t be getting published,” Alisa said, immediately typing away at her phone. “And if they insist on it, it will be our version. Nothing that sorry excuse for a journalist has to write.”

Avery was thankful that Alisa seemed just as upset as she was. She couldn’t even get the words out to describe how awful that had been.

Oren nodded. “That bad? Is he someone we need to keep tabs on?”

Alisa shook her head. “No. But I will be making sure he is blacklisted from the industry by this time tomorrow. That was unacceptable.” She paused, turning back to look at Avery. “Are you alright? You held things together very well in there.”

Avery nods, even though she feels the furthest thing from alright. “I’m fine,” she mumbled, staring blankly out the window.

She didn’t even bother trying to make it sound truthful. She couldn’t.

✧

By the time they arrived back at Hawthorne House, Avery only felt worse. She knew that things wouldn’t always be pretty as a young woman with a lot of power, and that people wouldn’t always respect her, but that interview took things to a whole different level.

But, not wanting to let on just how badly things had been, Avery put on her best face as she went inside. Thankfully, at this point in the day, most of the other inhabitants of Hawthorne House were off doing other things, so she was less likely to run into anyone.

Avery managed to make it to her room before she broke. Angry, frustrated tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to fall. She took a deep breath and went straight for the bathroom. Afterall, crying in the shower didn’t count.

The interview played over and over in her mind as the bathroom filled with steam. She genuinely didn’t understand what had prompted that series of questions. Aside from being incredibly unprofessional, it was just downright disrespectful and cruel.

Avery tried to force any more thoughts of it away as hot water hit her head and streamed down her back.

I’m fine. Everything is fine, she told herself, even though she didn’t really believe it.

By the time she got out of the shower, her fingers were pruney and her eyes were bloodshot. Despite being barely an hour before dinner would be served, Avery decided she wasn’t up for socializing and put her pajamas on.

She was done with the day. Interviews tended to take it out of her, but this was different. This was demoralizing in a way that no interview had ever been before.

Flopping down on her bed, she curled up in the soft blanket Jameson had gifted her recently, for no other reason than he “just felt like she needed it.” And he was right, too. It was huge, and had a slight weight to it, perfect for hiding from the world.

Not that she ended up hiding for very long.

A knock at the door roused her from her thoughts. “Come in,” she called.

Jameson came in, grinning at her. But when his eyes met hers, his entire demeanour shifted. “Heiress, hey, what’s going on?” Jameson wasn’t someone that Avery would normally characterize as soft, but he was good at knowing when he needed to be.

“I’m fine,” Avery said, sitting up in an attempt to make her words sound more convincing. “It’s just been a long day.”

If Jameson’s expression was anything to go off of, he didn’t buy that for a second. “Right,” he told her, walking over to the bed to sit next to her. “Why don’t you try that one again?”

Technically, he could call Tahiti right now, and Avery would be obligated to tell him everything. But this was him giving her the space to talk about it—or to ignore it.

And a part of her really wanted to. But she knew that Jameson would find out eventually anyway, and when he did, it wouldn’t be pretty. For Shawn, that was. Sighing, Avery rolled over to make room for Jameson to settle on the bed beside her.

He took the invitation for what it was and laid down on the bed, pulling Avery into his side. She curled into him, letting her head rest on his chest. Jameson’s hand made its way into her hair, gently detangling the still damp strands. “Tell me what’s going on, Heiress,” he murmured.

“Just a bad interview,” Avery mumbled, letting her eyes slip shut under Jameson’s ministrations.

Jameson hummed lowly. “How bad? Because I’ve seen you after bad interviews. They don’t get you like this.”

It was true. She’d gotten a lot better at letting snide comments or questions that got a little too close to her personal life just roll off of her. But with this one, she just couldn’t. “He started off by insinuating I was stupid,” Avery said. “And then tried to imply that the only reason you and your brothers support me is because I’m a woman.”

The hand in her hair went still. “He said what?” Jameson asked, his tone edging into something dangerous.

Avery sighed. “That wasn’t even the worst part. I got asked if I was planning on doing a bikini shoot, and then when I tried to keep the conversation on track he said that girls like me only want to make it look like we’re doing the work while we’re actually going off and having fun.” The words tumbled out of her mouth, her throat tightening. Saying it out loud just emphasized how ridiculous the whole thing had been.

Jameson turned to look at her. When Avery didn’t lift her head, he grasped her chin gently, tilting it up. His green eyes searched hers, and she could see a glimmer of rage behind them. “Where was Alisa during all of this? Why didn’t she put a stop to the interview?”

Swallowing, Avery said, “She was there. And we were trying to salvage what we could of the interview, but then he said—” Avery cut herself off. She didn’t think she could bring herself to repeat what Shawn had said about her sister.

“Said what?” Jameson asked. His eyes stayed locked with hers. “Ave, what did he say?”

Avery squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t look him in the eyes while she said it. “He said that Libby hooked up with Nash as a way of securing my place as your grandfather’s heir.” Her voice was a whisper, like she could hardly bring herself to utter the words.

Jameson went deathly still for a moment. The silence between them was almost deafening, and if Avery didn’t know any better, she’d think that Jameson was upset with her. But she did know better, and the next moment he was pulling her tightly against his chest. Her face tucked into the crook of his neck, while his hand found the back of hers.

She forced herself to take a slow, deep breath. Jameson’s other hand rubbed against her lower back gently. “I’ve got you, Ave. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

Letting herself soak up the comfort of his embrace, Avery felt her muscles relax. Something about the way Jameson held her had a way of making everything feel okay again.

Avery didn’t know for sure how long they laid there, but eventually she pulled back, running a hand down her face. Jameson tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Hey, Heiress, are you okay if I leave for a bit? I’ve got something to take care of.”

While Avery couldn’t be certain what he was taking care of, she was able to make a pretty good guess. And she had a feeling it was going to have something to do with a certain interviewer. A more mature part of her might be tempted to encourage some reason, but the more vindictive part said the guy deserved what was coming his way and it wasn’t her job to save him.

The vindictive part won.

Nodding, Avery said, “That’s fine. I’m not feeling dinner tonight anyway,” gesturing at her pajamas.

Jameson, with a glint in his eye, pressed a kiss to her forehead and was out the door without another word.

✧

About a half an hour later, there was another knock at the door. Assuming it was Jameson, having returned from whatever it was he’d just done, Avery called out, “You can come in.”

It was not Jameson.

Or, rather, it wasn’t just Jameson.

All four Hawthorne brothers entered the room, and one look at Xander’s face told her that they were absolutely up to something, and she was about to get roped into it. She did not want to be roped into it.

“Avery!” Xander chirped. “Just the Heiress we were looking for.”

She rolled over, groaning. “I’m not in the mood right now, guys.”

Nash walked over to where she was sprawled out on her stomach and gave her a look that told her he didn’t really care if she was in the mood for it or not. “Tough, kiddo. You’re comin’ with us.” With that, he scooped her off the bed and tossed her over his shoulder like she weighed nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

“Nash!” Avery exclaimed, trying to struggle out of his grip, which might as well have been iron for as little progress as she made. “Put me down!”

“No can do, Heiress,” Jameson told her, standing behind Nash where she could actually see him. He winked at her, like he hadn’t arranged whatever it was that was going on.

Realizing that her options were slowly dwindling, as Nash walked them out of her bedroom door, Avery turned her head as much as she could. “Grayson? Some help here?”

Grayson raised a single blond eyebrow at her, hands tucked into the pants pockets of his suit. “You heard them. Your presence is required.”

“Required for what?” she asked, unable to tell where they were going from her position over Nash’s shoulder.

“You’ll see!” Xander said, sounding entirely more pleased than he should. “You’ll appreciate it, don’t worry!”

Avery huffed. “Really? Because right now I’m not feeling very appreciative.” She tried again to wiggle out of Nash’s grip, but to no avail.

“Relax, darlin’,” Nash told her. “Just trust us, alright?”

It wasn’t that Avery didn’t trust them, but she was wiped. And not exactly geared up for some Hawthorne shenanigans. But it was looking less and less like she was getting a choice in the matter, so she stopped trying to fight her way off of Nash’s shoulder and instead tried to figure out where they were going.

However, because she’d already missed most of the hallways they’d walked through, and could really only see the floor from her position on Nash’s shoulder, she wasn’t having much luck figuring it out.

After a few more minutes of walking, they arrived in a room Avery couldn’t recognize. The next thing she knew, she was flying through the air. She didn't get the chance to yelp before she landed in something squishy and soft. Once she was able to sit up, she narrowed her eyes at Nash.

“You threw me!”

“And you survived,” Nash drawled, no trace of remorse anywhere on his face.

Avery opened her mouth to respond, but Xander was the next thing flying toward the air, tackling her back against what seemed to be a massive mattress. “Surprise!” he exclaimed, a wide grin on his face.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Am I supposed to know what this is?” There were a bunch of pillows and blankets piled on top of the mattress, and she must have missed when he moved, because Jameson was now settled behind her, pulling her back against his chest.

“This, Heiress, is the Hawthorne cure-all,” Jameson said, smirking. “I took the liberty of informing my brothers here about that interview this afternoon. And while revenge for that is being set into place, we agreed this was the best way to take your mind off of things.”

“Revenge?” Avery asked.

“Yes,” Grayson replied smoothly, walking over and settling beside Xander. “Shawn Palmer, age twenty-eight, formerly employed by the Forbes media company, currently blacklisted from every single media firm in the country.” His grin was sharp. “We’re still working on expanding that beyond the United States borders.”

“So, darlin’,” Nash said, kicking his feet up next to Jameson, “pick whatever movie you want. Let us take care of the rest.”

Avery’s throat tightened. She knew that the Hawthorne brothers had grown protective of her since meeting them at seventeen, but this was just a reminder of how much they had truly become her family. “Thank you,” she managed to get out, forcing the emotions that threatened to rise back down.

“Don’t thank us just yet!” Xander chirped. “The best part of revenge hasn’t even happened yet. I’ve been given permission to send a Mark Rober-certified glitter bomb to his house—disguised as a normal Amazon package that is. I was able to get his address and order history, so he shouldn’t suspect a thing!”

Despite herself, Avery laughed. All of the frustration, anger, and humiliation from earlier melted away as she shook with giggles that only Xander could pull from her. All four brothers were smiling now, and Jameson let one of his hands trace up and down her upper arm.

When she was finished, she took a deep breath. “Thank you, guys. Seriously,” she told them.

Before any of them could respond though, a voice from the doorway said, “I hope I’m not late! I brought cupcakes!”

Libby.

Avery’s head snapped up and she saw her older sister walk through the door, carrying a plate of what looked to be Libby’s famous chocolate peanut butter cupcakes. Her sister’s neon blue hair was tied up in a bun, and she gave Avery a warm smile.

“I hear there’s some reporter butt that needs kicking,” she said, passing the plate to Avery before settling down between Avery and Nash.

“Not to worry, darlin’,” Nash said fondly. “We’ve already got that taken care of.”

Avery laughed at the indignant look on her sister’s face, before taking a massive bite of cupcake. Xander, grinning wildly, did the same. “Movie time!” he exclaimed.

Grabbing a cupcake from the plate still resting in Avery’s lap, Jameson said, “So, Heiress, what’ll it be?”

She had to think for a minute. Then, she grinned. “Kill Bill. Both of them.”

Jameson grinned back at her, “As you wish.”

Grayson used the remote to get the movie set up on the screen that Avery hadn’t noticed until just then. Cupcake in hand, surrounded by family both blood and otherwise, Avery realized that this meant more than anything a stupid interviewer might have to say about her and her life.

These were the people that mattered. Everything else was just background noise.

And she found that she didn’t mind that one bit.

[purpley-pear]

can i also request more xanax fics there’s so little of them and your writings amazing :)

Finals Week, or Max’s Final Week?

summary: finals week sucks every semester, but this time max is pretty sure god himself has it out for her. everything is terrible and if max manages to make it to the end of this week, the universe is going the rue the day it crossed her (heavy on the if) a/n: thanks sm for the request! i really have no excuse for this, other than the fact that i don't want to study and could really use a xander of my own. enjoy! wc: 3925

When Max said she wanted to go to college and do normal college things, she meant go out, make friends, and do stupid stuff at three in the morning! However, the unfortunate thing about college was that you do actually have to earn the degree that you’re there for.

Which is why Max was on her third energy drink of the evening, after having locked herself away in the library in an attempt to focus better.

It wasn’t working.

Finals week must have been some sort of divine punishment, Max had decided after the second energy drink, because no mortal would have ever come up with something so awful in the name of “learning.”

Having five exams, a paper, a presentation, and a project all due in the span of six days was faxing evil. And the worst part was, she hadn’t even had any of them yet! Max’s school did something they liked to call “dead week,” which meant there were no classes and no exams, but “plenty” of time to study.

Or so her professors had told her. But that was just unrealistic! Besides the fact that their “week” was three days, because the first exams started on Thursday, that still wouldn’t be enough time to cram that much information into her head.

But like faxing ship was Max not going to try. So in the spirit of Gigi Grayson, she cracked open another redbull and chugged like her life depended on it.

Given how many of her grades were riding on these exams, it practically did.

✧

Max loved her boyfriend to pieces. She truly did. However, when faced with a physics problem that looked like it jumped straight out of her nightmares and onto her ipad, she found herself mildly resenting the genius that was Xander Hawthorne, because she knew that he would have it solved faster than it would take her just to write it out.

Actually, he’d probably write some computer problem to solve it for him. And that would still be quicker than Max’s attempt.

Could she call him and ask for help? Yeah, of course. And Xander was the kind of guy to drop everything, should she so much as say the word. But the thought of doing so made something twist in the pit of her stomach.

Max didn’t know if it was her own insecurities about struggling with this, or just not wanting to bother him, but regardless, she held off on even sending so much as a text to Xander about it.

It was late, far later than any person should ever still be in a library, and Max had mild fears that she was starting to lose it.

There were still a handful of people around, a small perk of the library being open 24/7 during finals season, but still. The haze of caffeine-infused exhaustion was starting to cloud her mind and sooner or later she swore she was going to start hallucinating.

Which probably meant she should call it for the night and get some sleep.

But all she had left on her schedule for today was this physics exam review! And she was close to being finished too—no she wasn’t—so really it only made sense to stay and just get it done. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up straighter and gave the problem in front of her another go.

And another one. And another.

Time wasn’t quite real in a space such as a university library, but when a glance at the clock told her she was encroaching on two in the morning, she knew she had to cut her losses and call it quits.

Not that Max was quitting! No, this was just a tactical retreat, so she could refuel and attack it tomorrow when she didn’t feel so much like a walking corpse.

The small mercy was that it wasn’t terribly cold outside as she trudged back to her car, but leaving the library so late at night was a bit depressing anyway.

This is a tactical retreat, she reminded herself, but Max wasn’t feeling terribly convinced.

✧

The next two days of dead week passed not unlike the first one, which meant way too much caffeine and not nearly enough work done. Although that wasn’t to say she hadn’t made some progress!

So far, Max had written a draft of the paper for her lit class, done her portion of the slides for her group project, and reviewed for two of five exams. Which was pretty good for three days! The bad part was that exams started tomorrow and she still had three left to study for.

Thankfully those exams weren’t until the following week, but Max was still left feeling like she’d never crawl out from under the mountain of work that had swamped her. She and Xander had even opted to pre-record this week and next week’s episodes of “We’re Full of Ship,” just so she’d have time to get all of her studying done.

Which. Speaking of Xander. A text from him popped up on her phone screen, as it did every night before she went to bed.

“You’re gonna crush your exams tomorrow! And every day after tomorrow! The fate of the kingdom rests in your hands, my knight, so slay your enemies and then we may celebrate your victories!”

Max huffed out a small laugh as she read the message, reacting with the sword emoji. “The battle plans have been drawn, my liege. The enemy forces stand no chance against the might of my army!”

The typing bubbles appeared and disappeared a few times before Xander’s text came through. “Then rest well, my beloved knight, so you might face them with your full strength.” Then, a moment later. “Goodnight, Max, I love you <3. I can’t wait to see you next week!”

Hearting the message, Max responded before shutting her phone off. She let out a sigh. If only he knew how much she was already struggling to stay on top of everything right now.

Xander never really struggled with school. Sure, he didn’t always have perfect grades, but that was more often because he tended to do things according to his own interpretation, not because he didn’t know how. They’d talked before about how he would get bored in school because the material either wasn’t engaging or challenging enough, and now with that conversation rolling around in her head, Max couldn’t help but feel inadequate.

Max didn’t compare herself to Xander. That would be pointless, and she wasn’t really that kind of person. But still, deep down, there was a part of her that was afraid he wouldn't understand how she was struggling with something as simple as school.

Granted, she was working on a bachelor’s degree, which was considerably more difficult than high school, but Xander had been operating on the college level for a while now, even before starting at a university.

And that was another thing she was slightly—very—jealous about. His semester was already over! At his school, they ended the semester in April so that the month of May could be used for internships, study abroad programs, and short term summer courses. So while Max was toiling away a week into May, Xander was already finished.

Max really should get some sleep. Afterall, taking exams with an exhausted brain only spelled disaster, and Max couldn’t continue to supplement sleep with caffeine. It was bound to catch up with her at some point, and that was if it hadn’t already.

✧

When the weekend finally rolled around, Max felt so tired she could cry. It had been two grueling days of exams, presentation giving, and studying, and max was barely at the halfway point.

She wasn’t going to make it. There were only three days of exams left, but Max was starting to genuinely think she wasn’t going to make it to Wednesday. If the exhaustion didn’t get her first, then the physics exam on Monday definitely would.

So that meant it was finally time to revisit that review packet. If Max wanted even a faxing prayer of doing well on this exam, then she had to do it. There was no other option to study.

She could do this!

✧

So Max was starting to feel more like she actually couldn’t do this. In her defense, the problems really didn’t seem solvable! It felt like she’d trudged through mountains of YouTube videos, online solutions, and practice problems, and yet she had yet to get anywhere productive!

It didn’t help that in the back of her mind, her head kept telling her to just call Xander for help. If anyone could figure this out, it would be him.

But that option also felt a whole lot like admitting defeat. Which honestly, might be what she was doing anyway, if the state of her notes was anything to go off of.

Max was torn. On one hand she really wanted to call him, even if only to hear his voice tell her things would be alright. On the other, having to tell him that she was struggling this much with a subject he’d been excelling in since he was a child was a lot less tempting.

She let out a groan. Then, in the spirit of Avery, she pulled out a coin. Max remembered her best friend relaying what Jameson had told her one night. “Heads, I kiss you. Tails, you kiss me.”

And while Max’s coin flip was not going to be nearly as dramatic, Heads, she called him. Tails, she told him everything when he called her later. Either way she’d be admitting to him that she needed help, because this had gone on long enough.

Well, here goes nothing, Max thought, as she flipped the coin into the air. It spun in the air a few times before spinning on the ground after it landed. Heads. She supposed she should have seen that one coming, given the universe’s funny sense of humor, but at least the decision was made.

Max hit dial, after pulling up Xander’s contact. It rang once, twice, before, “Hello? Max? What’s up?”

Xander’s familiar voice hit her ears, and even though they spoke every day, it was still a comfort. Max swallowed. “Hey, Xan,” she said, more exhaustion seeping into her voice than she would have liked.

“What happened?” His voice was immediately laced with concern, any peppiness drained right out of it.

“It’s nothing serious,” she started, because it really wasn’t, “I just, I’ve been having. Ugh,” Max groaned, burying her face in her hands. “I’ve been having a really hard time with this physics review. And my exam is on Monday. And so I guess, I just—” Max’s voice cracked.

Like Avery, she wasn’t really the crying type, but after nearly a full week of non-stop work, studying, exams, and other things, Max was hitting her breaking point. Honestly, she had a while ago, but had been staving off the effects until now.

“I just need help.” Her voice was more like a whisper, her throat tightening against her will. Max squeezed her eyes shut, taking a small breath.

“Switch the call to a FaceTime,” Xander said.

Wiping underneath her eyes, Max did as he said, and a few moments later, Xander’s face was staring back at her. His warm brown eyes softened with concern when they met her own, and Max knew she must’ve looked terrible. She’d been spread out on the floor of the living room, because she always believed she thought better when not at a desk, but that also meant her things were now scattered across the floor.

“Oh, Max,” Xander breathed. Her throat hitched again, and Xander looked like he wanted to jump through the screen. “Breathe, Max. You’re okay. We’re gonna get through this, you’re gonna get through this. I swear it.”

She nodded, but it must have looked like she wasn’t convinced, because he shook his head, “No, you’re gonna say it. You will get through this.”

Max swallowed, trying to get the tightness out of her throat. “I’m gonna get through this,” she repeated, her voice a bit rough, but still here.

“Have I ever lied to you?” Xander asked.

Max shook her head. “No.”

“Then have some faith,” he told her. “Not just in me, but in you. I have seen you do the most crazy, incredible, brilliant things. You can handle finals week. I promise.”

It was hard to have doubts when he sounded so certain. Grayson might have been the brother who could seemingly will things into existence just by saying them, but Xander was just stubborn enough to force it, no matter what.

“Thanks,” Max mumbled. She forced herself to sit up a bit, taking a deep breath. She could do this. She could.

Xander smiled at her, his gaze soft. “Now, let’s take a look at this physics review. I bet the two of us working together can figure it out.”

Something about Xander that Max would forever appreciate was his ability to drag her up onto an even playing field with him, no matter what the subject matter was. There was no I with him, just us. And it made Max feel a bit silly for being so hesitant to reach out to him about this in the first place.

She flipped her phone camera around and propped it up next to her so he could get a clear view of her laptop screen that had the review pdf on it. Max heard faint pencil scratching, presumably Xander writing down the problem on his own piece of paper before he stopped.

“This is the one you’re having trouble with?” he asked.

“Mmhmm,” Max confirmed, sighing. “I feel like I’ve tried faxing everything! I looked online, I found videos, solution pdf’s, nothing has helped,” she told him, glad to finally be able to unload some of her frustrations with it.

Had it been anything else, she would’ve just skipped the problem and moved on, but her professor had grouped them so you needed to solve one in order to do what came after it. And this was the last section, meaning it was all reliant on this one problem.

“Well,” Xander said. “I think I might’ve found what your issue is.”

Max was going to cry. First, tears of relief because there was finally a way out of this torture, and then of despair becuase it had barely been a few minutes and Xander had a solution. “Yeah? And that is?”

Xander hummed. “It’s no wonder it felt impossible. It was,” he told her.

Max frowned, grabbing the phone and flipping the camera back so it was on her. “I’m sorry, what? What do you mean it was?”

Flipping his own camera around, Xander showed her his work. It looked like he’d made it about halfway though before stopping—just like she had done every time she worked it. “See this?” he asked, pointing to one of the coefficients with his pencil. “This can’t happen. Doesn’t work. It will literally break your formula if you even try. I’m guessing your professor either made a typo, or adjusted this review and left it there by mistake. Either way, you can’t solve this. Not the way it is right now. If you get rid of it, then sure. But leaving it there will mean you’ll never get anywhere.”

“Oh my God, I’m going to lose my ship,” Max said quietly. All of those hours, all of the frustration, over a typo? Yeah, Max must have done something awful in her last life because there was no way this was anything other than karmic wrath coming to get her.

Max buried her face in her hands again, her throat tightening. She wasn’t stupid. She wasn’t doing it wrong. The problem wasn’t her at all. And if she had just gotten over herself and called Xander when she first started having trouble she would have saved so much time.

“Hey, Max, you’re alright,” Xander murmured, voice carrying over the phone speaker. “I might not have caught that, had I not known that something must be wrong with the problem for you to be struggling so much with this. You do well in this class, you and I both know that.”

“It’s not that,” Max managed to get out.

Xander paused. “Then what is it?”

“I just, I should have called you so much sooner,” she said, her voice breaking. “But I was so worried that you were going to think I was dumb, that I sat here struggling all week for nothing!”

It felt both good and bad to get the truth off her chest. Max couldn’t bear to lift her head and see the disappointment she was sure was on Xander’s face.

“Max. Look at me,” Xander said softly.

She didn’t. She couldn’t look him in the eye right now.

“Maxine,” he repeated. “Please?”

When she finally lifted her gaze to meet his, there wasn’t any disappointment in his expression. Instead, his soft brown eyes that she loved so much were filled with concern, and a small twinge of sadness.

“Max,” Xander started. “I have never thought you were dumb. Or stupid, or lesser, or anything that your brain has been telling you in the last week. You are the smartest girl I know, and no I’m not just saying that. You are kind, compassionate, selfless, and so, so smart. All of those things are why I fell in love with you. Not because of how well you did on an exam, or on a paper, but because of who you are. And you’re Max. My best friend. My partner in crime. And the best thing to ever happen to me. So don’t ever hesitate to call me about anything, but especially not something like this. Because everyone needs help sometimes, and I want to be there for you. Please let me be there for you.”

Max was going to cry again if she wasn’t careful. Xander was often thought of just as the bright, energetic, witty Hawthorne brother. But time and time again, he proved just how thoughtful he could be when it really counted. “Thank you,” Max breathed out, swallowing. “I will. I promise,” she said, sincerity in her voice.

Xander smiled at her, his features still soft. “Good. Now are you going to be okay on the rest of that review? I can stay on the phone, but I’ve got something I want to take care of too.”

Max shook her head, smiling back. “No, I think I’ve got it from here. And seriously, thank you,” she told him. “I never would have caught that mistake in a million years.

Xander cracked a grin. “I don’t know, a million years is a long time. I think you’d have figured it out by then.”

“Ugh, whatever,” Max said, rolling her eyes. She was already feeling a lot better, and her energy and confidence felt replenished. “I’m gonna let you go, but I’ll talk to you later. I love you.”

“Not as much as I love you!” Xander called back, blowing her a kiss before hanging up the phone.

Max smiled as she set her phone down, turning back to the physics review. “Game on, you mother-faxer.”

✧

It was late into the evening when Max wrapped up the last of the review. It had still taken her a while, but it no longer felt like this impossible mountain to climb. More like…a really big boulder. But Max could handle boulders!

She actually couldn’t, if her, Xander, Jameson, and Avery’s rock climbing escapades had proved anything, but that was besides the point.

Max had only just started tidying up her school stuff from the floor when she heard a knock at her door. Which was weird, because one, it was late, and two, she certainly hadn’t been expecting any company.

Standing up, Max quietly made her way to her apartment’s front door, creeping up to look through the peephole.

Oh you have got to be faxing shipping me, she thought. Why? Because on the other side of the door was none other than her incredible and ridiculous boyfriend, Xander.

Unlocking the door and pulling it open, Xander whisper-shouted, “Surprise!” In one of his hands was a bouquet of her favorite flowers, and in the other was a pizza box with a massive tub of ice cream balanced on top.

“Xander,” Max breathed, raising her hands to her mouth. She was not going to cry for a third time today, but ship if she didn’t want to! “What are you doing here?” she asked.

Xander looked at her like she’d asked a question with the most obvious answer in the world. “To see you, of course,” he told her with a wink. “So, are you going to invite me in?”

Shaking out of her stupor, Max laughed, stepping aside to clear the doorway. “You are absolutely absurd, Hawthorne. I am going to Hawthorne House in five days. Four if you really think about it! You didn’t have to come all the way here!”

“Uhh, yeah I did,” Xander said, setting the food and flowers down on the counter before spinning to face her. “You’ve had a terrible week, and you know as well as I do that there’s only one thing that can fix a terrible week.”

Max’s brows furrowed before it hit her. “Oh no you don’t—!” she called out, attempting to run away, but before she could get far, he tackled her onto the couch, pulling her into his chest.

He was wearing a soft, dark teal hoodie that Grayson had gotten him for Christmas last year. It was Max’s favorite. And Xander knew that.

Max relaxed in his arms, breathing in the scent of his laundry detergent and cologne. It was an intoxicating combination, or so Max thought. One of Xander’s hands made its way to her hair that had long since fallen out of its ponytail she attempted this morning, running through the strands gently.

“Hey,” he murmured, shifting his hand to cup her jaw.

“Hi,” she mumbled back, lifting her head off his chest to look at him.

Xander smiled down at her, his eyes just as soft as they’d been earlier. “I’ve missed you,” he told her.

Max had missed him too. So much. They’d been long distance for the bulk of their relationship, but it was different now that they were both in college, at different schools. The space between them had felt so much further than it had before, and so every chance they got to be in each other's arms, Max savored.

“I missed you too,” Max said. “It’s hard doing this without you.”

Xander shook his head. “You’re not doing it without me. And while I might not always be physically right here, I am always with you. We’re a team, remember? That doesn’t change, no matter how far away we are from each other.”

Max nodded, leaning into his hand. “Yeah. We’re a team”

Xander leaned his head down, tilting hers back slightly so he could press a kiss to her lips. “I love you, Max. Always.”

“I love you too, Xander. Forever.”

And for the first time all week, everything felt right in the world again. There might still be exams on the horizon, but for now, all that mattered was that Xander was here, and that made Max feel like she could tackle anything.

Turns out the knight had been him afterall.

[purpley-pear]

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Ok that was wayyyy to enthusiastic

But just wanted to pop by and say this

Your oneshot/fanfics are amazing

I love them

Ok that's it

Bye now

hi!!!!

i think there's never enough enthusiasm, so thank you! i really appreciate it!! <3

[purpley-pear]

Boats, Bonfires, and Fireworks, Oh My!

summary: the hawthorne brothers, grambs sisters, plus max and gigi take on spring break! or maybe spring break takes them (they're not sure yet). avery should've guessed this wasn't going to be a relaxing vacation. not with this crowd anyway a/n: longest one-shot i've ever done! i'm not sure how much i'll be able to write once i get busy again, so i figured just in case i'd throw in a bunch of stuff and wound up with this! please enjoy! wc: 9092

“Miami.”

“No.”

“Miami?”

Avery shot Max a look from where she lay sprawled out on her bed. Max sat on the floor of her room, legs crossed, with a jellyfish plush in her lap. She held it up, miming its movements. “Marvin wants to go to Miami. And I really don’t see how you can say no to this face,” Max said.

Rolling her eyes, Avery chucked a pillow from her bed at Marvin. “Easily, that’s how.”

Max let out a dramatic groan. “Come onnnn,” she dragged out. “You’re telling me you and Jameson travel the entire world for fun, causing all sorts of trouble, and I want to go to Miami for spring break and suddenly that’s too much to ask? That’s a load of ship.”

“It’s not that I’m against traveling, but why Miami?”

“Because! That is the most stereotypical college spring break location, and sue a girl for being curious,” Max said, shrugging. “I need to see for myself what the hype is.”

Avery raised a brow at Max. “Really? That’s your only reason?” She laughed. “We could have so much more fun where there aren’t any crowds and a bunch of blackout wasted college kids.”

“That’s the fun part! And maybe I want to beone of those blackout wasted college kids.”

“You don’t.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Max.” The two of them had been going back and forth about the matter for the better part of an hour, and today was not the first time it had been brought up. And as much as Avery enjoyed clubbing, she was not about to waste a week of her life in shitty clubs, with shittier alcohol, just so Max could see what it was like.

“Avery,” Max said back, mocking her tone. “Don’t be lame. Go to Miami. You know you want to.”

“I don’t.”

“You do.”

“I really don’t.”

Marvin was then thrown at Avery’s face, causing her to look up from her phone. Max was grinning. “Pleaseeee? I’ve never asked you for anything, and I really want to go.”

Avery snorted. “I seem to recall being told to acquire Australia for you.”

“Lies. Slander. I don’t remember that, so it must not have happened.”

Letting out a long sigh, Avery rolled over to her back. “What if we compromise?”

Max paused, narrowing her eyes at Avery. “Go on…?”

“As a part of my inheritance, apparently I have this fancy, private lake house in this place called Long Cove, which is like an hour outside of Dallas. It comes with a pool, hot tub, sand volleyball court, and a high-end boat. Plus it has a private beach,” Avery said, pulling up a photo of the house on her phone. “What if we went there instead?”

Max looked thoughtful for a moment. “I…could be tempted,” she finally said.

“Yeah? What would you need?” Avery asked.

“I still want to get blackout drunk. Just once! I only need to do it once,” Max said. “But my curiosity has been eating me alive, Avery. I need to know what it’s like!”

Avery just laughed, throwing Marvin back at Max. “I think that can be arranged.”

✧

That conversation had been a few days ago. In the time since, their spring break party of two had turned into a spring break party of ten. Max had told Xander of their plans, who then invited himself and Jameson really should have been a given from the get-go. In a slightly more surprising turn of events, Grayson decided to go too, although Avery suspected it was because Lyra was with her family over break, and his alternative was hanging out at Hawthorne House by himself.

Not that he’d ever admit it.

Nash and Libby joined the group not long after, citing their need for at least some responsible supervision, and they’d be bringing the twins along with them.

Avery thought all of their bases had been covered, but the morning they were supposed to leave, none other than Gigi was at the door, bags in hand, with a wild grin on her face. Avery still wasn’t sure how she’d managed to hear about their little lake trip, but the more the merrier, she supposed.

Since the group had gotten so large, they’d ended up needing to take multiple cars, just to fit all of the people and their luggage. Oren tagging along was a given, and with him were three other members of the security team, Jeremiah, Conrad, and Steven, if Avery could remember right.

Alisa was not tagging along on this trip, since there wouldn’t be any work done anyway, and Avery had insisted that she take a much needed break. She had argued at first, but eventually Avery had managed to convince her to take a trip of her own. The lawyer would be spending the week at a resort in Scottsdale, Arizona and while Avery wasn’t certain, she had her suspicions that a certain Grandest Game player might be joining her.

✧

The house was even prettier in person than in the photos Avery had seen. Not nearly as large as Hawthorne House—although that estate really was more like a castle—it was still sprawling, with eight bedrooms, ten bathrooms, two laundry rooms, an indoor and outdoor kitchen, theater room, covered patio, and living room.

It was light, airy, and right on the water, far enough away from any would-be neighbors. In other words, it was perfect for their little week-long getaway.

“Dibs on this room!” Max shouted from somewhere upstairs. Avery stood in the kitchen, Jameson having insisted on carrying their bags in from the cars. Nash and Libby claimed the master bedroom, which no one fought them for, so they were on the third floor setting up the travel play pen for the twins.

Xander carried the last of his and Max’s bags in from outside, Jameson right behind him. They both had wild grins on their faces, which almost certainly spelled trouble, but Avery was content to find out whatever it was the two of them were up to later. Slipping her phone into her pocket, she glanced at Xander. “Your girlfriend has claimed a room already, so I’m afraid you won’t be getting a say in the matter.”

He just shrugged, still smiling, and bounded up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

“Y’know, Heiress,” Jameson drawled, “I had my doubts about this trip at first, but I have a good feeling about it now.”

Avery laughed, giving him a peck on the lips before grabbing her duffle bag from his shoulder. “That doesn’t inspire nearly as much confidence as you think it does.”

“Who ever said it was meant to?”

Rolling her eyes, Avery walked up the stairs to the second floor. Four of the house’s eight bedrooms were on this floor, all pretty similar to each other with some slight differences. The room Max had shouted her claim for was on the east end, with massive windows that would be sure to capture the sun as it rose over the water every morning.

Gigi had dumped her stuff in the room next to Max and Xander before vanishing, and Grayson was currently unpacking his stuff in the room across from that. That left one bedroom left on this floor, two upstairs, and the one on the ground floor.

Not wanting to bother Libby and Nash upstairs, nor feeling like hiking her stuff back downstairs, Avery walked to the last remaining bedroom on this floor, sitting on the west end. The two rooms on the ends were slightly larger than the two in the middle, which made sense, given that they’d be shared.

Flicking on the light as she entered, Avery took in the seafoam green walls, with beachy-lake themed decor. There was a king sized bed against the wall to the right, and tall floor-to-ceiling windows on the back wall, leading to a small balcony. There was a dresser, a desk, and a TV, along with two doors, one presumably for the bathroom and the other for the closet.

“Like it?” Jameson asked her and he wheeled in their suitcases. It was only March, but his brown hair had already begun to pick up hints of gold from being in the sun, and Avery was sure that by the end of this trip there’d be more of it. Not that she minded.

“It’s beautiful,” Avery said, setting her duffle bag on the bed. “Did you and your brothers spend a lot of time here growing up? I’m surprised I’ve never been.”

Jameson hummed. “Oh yeah, we used to come every summer for at least a week. The first time we didn’t was the summer after…”

Avery didn’t need to be psychic to fill in the blank. After Emily died. Which shouldn’t have been shocking, given everything else that had gone down after that, but a part of her was still surprised they hadn’t been back since.

She must have looked lost in thought, because the next thing she knew, Jameson had grabbed her chin gently, guiding her gaze to his green eyes. “Hey. We’re here to have fun. And we will. The past is gone, and we’re long over-due some new memories here.”

Taking a small breath, Avery smiled at him and nodded. “You’re right. To new memories.”

“To new memories.”

✧

Everyone had gathered in the kitchen once they’d sufficiently put their stuff away. Avery was currently helping Libby put some of the groceries they’d brought with them away in the massive fridge, while also putting together a list of the stuff they still needed. It was getting to be time for lunch, so Nash had gone outside to get the grill set up. She’d heard something about making kebabs, and that was more than fine with her.

“Soooo,” Gigi said, standing next to one of the many windows in the connected living room. “How soon can I get on that boat?”

The boat in question was docked a bit to the right of the house, covered by a small overhang. It was pretty large, larger than some of the pontoon boats Avery had seen, and according to Jameson could hit some pretty high speeds.

“Oooh, yes, I second that!” Max exclaimed. “I have got to try that out.”

Libby laughed, her neon blue hair tied up in a knot on the top of her head. “After lunch. Nash wanted to double check that it had enough fuel before anyone took it out.” The twins were napping upstairs, and Libby had set up the monitor on the counter so she didn’t have to hang out upstairs with them while they slept. Motherhood looked good on her, but it was clear that even she was looking forward to a small vacation.

Xander, who Avery hadn’t noticed was missing, came bounding into the kitchen, bright-colored water guns in hand. “I’ve acquired weapons!”

“Not inside!” Libby called as she went outside to see if Nash needed any help. Xander spread the water guns out on the dining room table, grabbing a bright green one for himself.

“Be armed and ready outside in fifteen! Anyone who chooses to not participate will be labeled a coward for the rest of this trip and must wear the waterwings of shame!” The second comment was absolutely pointed at Grayson, who was sitting on the couch with a book in hand.

He looked up, his gray eyes sharp. “Don’t start something you can’t finish, little brother.”

But before Xander could respond, Gigi swiped a bright yellow water gun from the table and ran for the stairs. “You heard the man, time’s ticking!”

No one else wanted to find out what exactly the “waterwings of shame” were, so they all grabbed a gun and headed for their respective rooms to change before their time to meet outside was up.

✧

Avery had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well. At all. But, as all things Hawthorne tended to go, it was completely out of her control regardless. Now wearing a white and cobalt blue floral patterned bikini, along with a pair of sandals, she stood with her orange water gun in hand, waiting for Xander to give them the rules for whatever chaos was soon to ensue.

She very pointedly ignored the looks Jameson had been giving her since she got outside to the small beach area in front of the house. She didn’t need him distracting her from this.

“Wonderful! Everyone’s here!” Xander cheered. And he was right, everyone—save Nash and Libby—had gathered on the beach with a water gun in hand. “So now, for the rules of this Super Spring Break Showdown!” He cleared his throat dramatically, walking to the front of where everyone was standing. “First, your objective: don’t get hit. Simple, right? Wrong!”

Of course this wasn’t going to be a simple water gun battle. Avery really needed to start expecting the unexpected when it came to Hawthorne competitions, it would save her some time.

“Everyone will be paired into teams at random! Each team gets three lives shared between them, which means if your teammate gets hit, you also lose a life. Once all three lives are gone, your team is out!” Xander was clearly having too much fun with this, but a quick glance at Jameson and Grayson told Avery that this wasn’t the first time they’d played this game. “Of course, that begs the question: what counts as a hit? This game would be over much too quickly if all it took was a simple spray of a water gun, so instead, each of you will be provided with one of these!” In his hands were those white, fuzzy workout wrist bands. “In each of your water guns will be colored water to correspond with your team, and your objective is to hit other player’s wrist bands! Each hit is the equivalent of a lost life, so be careful!

Xander then moved to pass them out, handing one wristband to each person. “Now these must be worn somewhere on your person, but where they’re at doesn’t matter so long as you actually have it on! And no stuffing it in a shoe either.” He looked at Jameson, and Avery guessed there was a story there. “Now…” Xander paused dramatically. “For your teams!”

He grabbed a bowl that must have been sitting on the ground behind him and pulled out two slips of paper. “Orange team, your players are Gigi and myself!” Xander then pulled out the next two pieces of paper. “Blue team, your players are Max and Jameson!”

Max pumped a fist, looking far more excited than she should have. Although Avery couldn’t blame her, Jameson would be a killer teammate to have in a competition like this. She’d learned how good his aim was the hard way during Hawthorne Secret Santa last year.

And that just left…

“And Green team, your players are Grayson and Avery! You all have this afternoon to strategize, and tonight after the bonfire, the games will begin! The last team left standing wins!”

Avery looked over to Grayson, whose eyes were icy as steel. Although there was also a hint of…eagerness? Grayson was as competitive as his brothers, she supposed, and with all of them on different teams, there was no need to align himself with them for his own gain.

“Didn’t feel like wearing the water wings of shame?” Avery teased, walking over to where Grayson stood.

He scoffed, flicking some of his blond hair out of his face. “I don’t intend on losing to either of my brothers.”

“Ahhh, so you’re afraid I’ll be deadweight,” Avery said, grinning.

Grayson looked at her, a glint in his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re going to be bait.”

✧

Any planning that the teams might have been working on got cut short when Libby called out that lunch was ready. And any temptation to grab food and dash was squashed when Nash said that anyone who didn’t sit and eat their food wouldn’t be going on the boat afterward.

The twins were up, and as everyone filed around the kitchen island, loading on kebabs, cut fruit, and chips onto their plates, Nash and Libby were sat at the dining room table with their own plates, each with a twin.

Avery’s nieces were content to eat apple sauce and watch the chaos that unfolded as Gigi, Xander, and Max began using their kebabs as lightsabers.

“Xan,” Nash drawled. “If you don’t sit down and eat, I will launch your ass off that boat so hard you’ll have whiplash the rest of the week.”

Xander frowned. “You’d do that anyway.”

Nash grinned. “Then I guess you’d better sit down.”

The three of them took that as their sign to quit the battle and eat. The kebabs were great, they had steak, chicken, peppers, and onions. Avery must’ve been hungrier than she’d thought, because she was finished with her first one before they’d even sat down.

“So,” Jameson started, “who’s got first dibs on the tube? Because I’m thinking we should give the newbies a go first.”

By newbies, he meant Avery, Max, and Gigi. Of all the adventures she and Jameson had been on, tubing had yet to be one of them. Avery glanced at Gigi and Max, who were both grinning wildly.

“Fax yeah!” Max cheered with a fist pump.

“I’m game!” Gigi agreed.

Jameson’s green eyes then slid over to Avery. She shrugged. “If they’re down, I’m down.” Avery smiled. “This should be fun.”

“Fun is right!” Xander chimed in. “Getting launched off a tube at breakneck speeds is the only way to do it!”

“You mean like the summer you hit the water so hard you were still bruised by the time school started?” Jameson asked.

“Exactly!”

Libby’s brows creased as she looked over to Nash. The twin he was holding had finished her applesauce and was actively gnawing on one of Nash’s fingers. “Please don’t break my sister.”

Nash just laughed, shaking his head. “Relax, darlin’, I won’t do anything those three,” he gestured at his brothers, “couldn’t have handled when they were fourteen.”

“Hey, don’t underestimate us!” Gigi said. “We can handle anything, don’t go easy!”

Grayson shook his head. “Juliet, take his mercy while he’s still offering it.” Grayson wasn’t usually one to warn about this kind of thing, so if he thought it was worth it, then it must have been important.

“That is, if fatherhood hasn’t mellowed him out,” Jameson taunted.

A low chuckle escaped Nash as he stood from the table, clearing his plate. “You just keep on talkin’, Jamie. I’ll show you mellow.”

Xander looked at Jameson, his eyes wide. “You’ve screwed us. That right there? We're screwed.”

Jameson didn’t look spooked in the slightest. In fact, his green eyes had only sharpened, a look Avery recognized from whenever they did something particularly adrenaline inducing. “Oh, I’m counting on it.”

✧

By the time everyone had enough sunscreen on to satisfy Libby, it was just about early afternoon. Jameson and his brothers were sent by Nash to get the tube and life jackets out of the garage, while Avery, Max, and Gigi helped Libby pack a cooler.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Libby warned. She’d always been protective, but since becoming a mom it was as though she’d gained a sixth sense for danger. Honestly, she probably had.

Avery resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “We’ll be fine. How bad could it actually be? I’m pretty sure they’ve been feigning dramatics just to scare us anyway.”

Max nodded. “I’ve seen them jump off of cliffs and you expect me to believe they’re afraid of Nash driving a boat? Bull ship.”

The three of them walked down the dock with the cooler where they found Nash standing on the boat directing his brothers.

“Jamie grab that rope and make sure it’s on the tube. Xan, attach the other end of it to the bottom hook,” he said. He was now kitted out in a pair of blue swim trunks not unlike the color of Libby’s hair, a cream colored polo, and his usual cowboy hat. Once the tube, which looked like a bright red inflatable chair, was situated on the back of the boat, Nash turned to the girls.

“Avery, hand that cooler to Jamie and then you three get life vests on,” he drawled. Jameson flashed Avery a grin as he grabbed the cooler and passed it to Xander who was also on the boat.

Avery grabbed the one on top of the pile and clipped it in the front. Not exactly the most flattering thing she’d ever worn, but she’d take this over drowning in the lake.

Gigi jumped up and down once she had her vest on. “I’m so pumped! Woooo! I’m pumped!”

“And full of caffeine, it seems,” Grayson remarked dryly, walking down the dock with a stack of towels in hand. He passed them to Xander before donning his own life jacket.

“Only a little,” Gigi countered.

“I watched you shotgun a Redbull like fifteen minutes ago,” Max said with an eyebrow raised.

“Only a little,” Gigi repeated with a grin.

“Y’all gonna stand there and chit-chat all afternoon or are we ready to go?” Nash called out, sitting behind the wheel of the boat.

“We’re ready!” Max called, passing the last two life jackets to Xander. He then extended his arm back out so she could hold onto him as she climbed onto the boat. It was a few feet away from the dock, and she had to climb over the side at a bit of an awkward angle.

It was easy for the Hawthorne brothers to do, given their height, but considering Avery, Max, and Gigi’s notable lack thereof, they had a bit more difficulty getting on the boat. But, eventually the three of them made it, with Grayson right behind them.

However, before Nash started pulling away from the gas, he turned around and just gave Jameson a flat look. Avery followed his gaze and saw Jameson standing at the back of the boat with a cheshire smile. He was also the only one without a life jacket on.

“Jamie?”

“Yes?”

“Fix it. Before I do.” That was all Nash said before he turned back around and started the gas on the boat. It rumbled to life, rocking steadily as Nash reversed out of the dock area. When they’d pulled away a bit, Avery could see Libby standing by the pool, waving at them. The twins were sat on what looked like a beach towel in the grass, playing.

“Have fun and be safe!” Libby shouted.

Nash tipped his hat in her direction and blew her a kiss before speeding off.

The boat kicked up speed quickly, and water sprayed up on the sides. It felt nice, the wind in combination with the occasional splash of water contrasting the warm air.

“Wooo hooo!” Gigi let out a loud whoop, throwing her arms in the air.

Avery couldn’t help but smile, leaning her head back so it could rest on the side of the boat. She felt a presence settle next to her and glanced to see Jameson’s green eyes sparkling down at her. He flashed a cocky smile, looping an arm around her waist. “Enjoying yourself Heiress?”

“Is that a crime?”

“Definitely not.” Jameson grinned. He was wearing the life jacket that Nash had made him put on, but she could still see his abs beneath the bright orange vest. His grin only widened when he saw where she’d been looking. “And here I’d thought the view you’d be enjoying would be the water,” he teased.

Avery shoved him with her shoulder. “Yeah, you wish, Hawthorne.”

Nash kicked up the speed of the boat a bit more and they cruised on the water for a while, presumably getting to a larger portion of the lake. When he finally slowed down to a stop, Avery sat up from where she’d been leaning back. Nash glanced at her, then to Max and Gigi. “You three ready to go? I can make my brothers go first,” he offered.

“Not a chance!” Gigi said, shooting up from her seat, Max on her heels. “I was born ready!”

Nash just laughed before nodding to Jameson. “Jamie, get the tube in the water and hold it steady.”

While Jameson did that, Avery stood from where she’d been sitting and followed Max and Gigi to the back of the boat. The boat rocked back and forth with the waves, but it wasn’t so aggressive that she couldn’t maintain her balance.

Now that she had a better look at the tube, she could see black straps that must be handles both on the top of the back rest and the seat portion of the tube. Jameson knelt at the very edge of the boat, one hand grabbing the tube, the other extended to Gigi. She grabbed his arm and stepped onto the tube, shooting her other arm out the second she wobbled a bit.

“Kneel down, then sit,” Nash instructed her. “Jamie, have her sit in the middle since she's the shortest. It’ll be easier that way.”

“I’m good!” Gigi called once she was seated. Max went next, doing what Gigi had done before moving to sit at her right. They were already laughing, smiling at Xander who was snapping pictures from the boat.

Then it was Avery’s turn. She didn’t know why there was a bundle of nerves sitting in the pit of her stomach, she had done way more thrilling stuff than this. But anticipation curled up anyways, despite her attempts to ignore it.

“All good, Heiress?” Jameson asked her, looking up.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said, taking a breath. Avery smiled. “Bring it on.”

Jameson grinned back at her. “Oh, we will.” His palm was warm when she grabbed it, and his arm helped hold her steady as she stepped onto the tube. It immediately dipped under her weight, but she made sure to keep her movements slow and careful to keep it from shifting too much. Avery sat without much issue, her back resting slightly against the back of the tube.

“This is going to be so faxing epic,” Max said. Her energy was contagious, and Gigi was practically vibrating next to her. But that might’ve just been the caffeine.

Definitely the caffeine.

Avery watched Jameson stand up and push the tube away from the boat a bit. They drifted back, the rope that was tethering them to the boat extending.

“Don’t sit all the way back,” Nash called out, “or you will tip over. For first timers, I recommend holdin’ onto the straps that you’re sittin’ by, but hold onto whatever feels more secure. Since there’s three of you, that elastic on this end of the boat,” he gestured to the black part of the yellow rope, “will be pulled more taught, meaning a more erratic ride. I’ll try to keep it from goin’ crazy, but you’ve been warned.”

“We want crazy!” Gigi called out, and Nash just laughed.

“Wait, wait, before you go,” Xander said, scrambling to the back of the boat. “We need a before picture! Y’know, before you all get flung off the tube. Smile!”

Avery squeezed in next to Gigi and smiled at the camera. Jameson threw up bunny ears behind his brother, unaware that Nash was doing the same to him.

“Alright, I got it!” Xander waved dramatically at them. “Hold on tight!” he called.

The other three brothers sat at the back of the boat, presumably so they could watch, and even Grayson looked amused. Jameson said something to them, but the tube had drifted too far back for Avery to hear.

“We’re getting flipped, aren’t we?” Gigi asked.

“Absolutely.”

“Yep, that’s inevitable.”

All three of them laughed, and Avery saw Nash turn back one last time, giving them a thumbs up. She threw one up in response before gripping the handles at her sides tightly.

Then, the boat shot forward, jerking all of them along with it. Avery’s pretty sure all of them screamed, but the sound of the boat and water splashing next to them was so loud she couldn’t be sure.

“Holy faxing ship!” Max screamed, the tube bouncing up and down with every wave it hit. Nash hadn’t even started turning yet and Avery could already see how it was going to be difficult to hold on. She laughed, letting out a whoop of enjoyment as the boat sped up some more.

Then, the boat started to whip to the left, swinging the tube out to the side. It jumped up and down as it skid across the water while Max and Gigi slid into Avery from the force. The boat then whipped in the other direction, sending them sliding in the opposite direction.

Avery thought she was starting to get the hang of it, when on one turn she saw a particularly large wave to her side. As the tube went hurtling toward it, all she could do was hold on as tight as she could and scream when they crashed into it.

The next thing she knew, her entire world had flipped and she’d become airborne, before smashing into the cold water aggressively. Lake water flooded her mouth, engulfing her entirely. It took her a moment to regain her bearings, given the last thing she remembered was Gigi going flying into her before smacking into the lake.

Avery swam to the surface, which was easy with the life vest, and coughed when she breached the water. She wiped the water from her face, her heart still racing as she looked around. The boat had stopped moving, and she saw Gigi and Max floating not too far away.

“Oh my God,” Avery laughed, swimming closer to them.

“That was faxing crazy,” Max said, still wiping water out of her eyes.

“Are y’all okay?” Nash called. All of the Hawthorne brothers were now standing at the back of the boat. From their expressions, the tube flip had been more aggressive than intended, and when Jameson’s eyes met Avery’s, she was able to see him immediately relax upon seeing she was okay.

“We’re good!” Avery called out, and Max and Gigi gave a thumbs up.

“That was awesome!” Gigi added.

Avery’s body still hurt, both from Gigi’s entire body weight slamming into her and the harsh smack against the lake, but otherwise she was okay.

“Grab the rope, we’ll pull you in,” Grayson called, pointing at the bright yellow rope, still attached to the tube, that had floated closer to them.

The three of them did as they’d been told and swam over, grabbing onto the rope. Jameson and Grayson moved down to the back deck of the boat and worked together to pull the girls in, until they were right up against the back of the boat.

“You guys went flying,” Jameson said, laughing. “I’ve never seen a wave cause a flip like that, it was insane.”

Gigi put her hands on the small deck area and pushed down in an attempt to push herself up and out of the water. However, because the boat was still rocking and her life vest practically dwarfed her, she made it about halfway before slipping and winding up back underneath the surface.

“You didn’t see that,” she laughed, wiping her face off after she’d bobbed back up. Grayson rolled his eyes and extended his arm to her, which she grabbed, and hauled her onto the boat. “Thanks,” she said, grinning up at him.

“You look drowned,” he remarked, but his tone sounded almost fond.

“I feel drowned!” Gigi said cheerfully as she moved to her feet and over to the seating area, where Xander offered her a towel.

Max got pulled out next by Jameson, not even attempting to climb out of the water. “I know my strengths,” she joked, grabbing a towel from Xander. Avery didn’t miss the kiss he pressed to her lips after tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

“You next, Heiress?” Jameson asked, his arm extended.

Avery shook her head. She was determined to climb out herself. Although her athleticism hadn’t improved much, enough time spent traveling, racing through city streets, and climbing things she shouldn’t had given her more muscle tone than she’d started with when she first got to Hawthorne House.

She mimicked Gigi’s earlier attempt, but when she’d gotten halfway up Avery swung her leg up, getting her knee onto the boat. From there she was able to push herself all the way out of the water until she was kneeling on the boat. Avery stood up and grinned at Jameson. “You were saying?”

He just smiled back at her, his green eyes glinting in the sunlight. “Nicely done, Heiress.” She stepped over to the covered seating area, grabbing the last towel from Xander and using it to wipe her face off.

“Sorry about that, guys,” Nash said. He looked genuinely apologetic, which was further indication that the aggressiveness of the flip hadn’t been intentional. “I saw that wave coming and tried to course correct, but at that point there wasn’t much to do but hit it head on.”

“It made for an awesome video though!” Xander said, pulling his phone out. Avery, Max, and Gigi crowded around him as he hit play. They watched from the perspective of the boat as the tube crashed into the massive wave, and Avery then understood why her world had completely flipped in an instant.

The second the tube made contact, the end Max was sitting on went vertical and the whole tube shot five to seven feet in the air. Avery watched as Max went flying before seeing herself crash straight into Gigi midair before hitting the water harshly.

Yep, it looked about as rough as it felt.

Gigi laughed. “Send that to me, I need to post it on my Instagram story. I’m gonna caption it, ‘Canon ball? No, Gigi ball’.”

“Ooh, tag me in that,” Max added, leaning into Xander’s side. He’d wrapped an arm around her, holding her smaller form against his side.

✧

Against what was definitely their better judgement, Xander, Grayson, and Jameson were now situated on the tube, in that order. They’d said it was because Grayson was technically the shortest—“But not the lightest!”— but Avery had a feeling it was because Jameson couldn’t be trusted to not shove his brothers off and Xander was too tall. Avery, Max, and Gigi sat at the back, life jackets off and wrapped in their towels, each with a drink in hand.

Keeping up the tradition, Gigi snapped some photos of them, smiling wide. Xander and Jameson both had grins on their faces and Grayson looked ready to kill them both. She saw Jameson’s mouth move, a few moments before, and whatever it was he’d said clearly accomplished his goal of pissing his older brother off.

Nash turned back to them. “Want me to flip them, ladies?” he drawled.

“Fax yeah!”

“Oh yeah, you have to.”

Avery just smiled. “Do your worst.”

Nash tipped his hat at her. “You’ve got it darlin’.”

He revved the engine once before jetting forward, much faster than he had with them. Instead of cruising for a few minutes to give the boys a chance to get their bearings, he immediately veered to the right, spinning the boat in the opposite direction.

“Wooooo!” Gigi cheered as Avery watched the tube get whirled around, bouncing up high before slamming down onto the water. She heard one of them shout something, but it wasn’t clear who’d made the noise.

Or, what that noise had been, but she was pretty sure it was along the lines of “Nash you mother-faxer!” 

Minus the faxer part.

The boat went straight just long enough for the rope to steady out before Nash was whipping it to the side. He did similar back-and-forths to the ones from earlier, albeit on a much larger scale, before he started doing donuts.

The boat spun in wide circles, the tube jumping in the air as it hit the wakes created by the boat. Then, without warning, Nash spun in the other direction and shot forward. This caused the biggest boat-made wave Avery had ever seen to form, and the tube was headed straight for it.

“Lean, lean, lean, lean!” Avery heard Jameson shout, but it was no use. The tube went flying into the air, at least fifteen feet, flinging all three Hawthorne brothers off in the process.

“Holy ship!” Max cried, watching alongside Avery and Gigi as they saw the boys crash into the water. Avery couldn’t help but cringe as she saw the splash, knowing it had to hurt. But then again, these are the same Hawthornes that went cliff jumping, so they would probably be fine. Right?

Nash killed the engine and stood up. He walked to the back of the boat, laughing, and said, “You boys had enough?” Gone was the remorse from earlier, which was clearly reserved for the girls.

When his brothers had surfaced, instead of swimming to the rope, they swam back to the tube, which was still upside down. Xander and Jameson flipped it back up, and climbed back on, Grayson right behind them.

“I’m goin’ to take that as a no,” Nash chuckled. “Guess I didn’t get them good enough.”

Avery shouldn’t have been in disbelief, these were Hawthornes afterall, but still. Not enough?

Nash repeated the process about three more times, but Xander, Grayson, and Jameson managed to stay on the tube in spite of that. However, when another boat created a huge wake not far from them, Nash whipped around and went right for it. Gigi was shrieking in delight as water sprayed up on them, and the three of them watched as the wave crashed right into the tube, causing the boys to go airborne, colliding with each other before hitting the water.

The boat stopped, and Avery’s breath caught in her throat when for a moment it looked like Jameson still hadn’t surfaced. But then his head popped out of the surface, flinging lake water into the air as he shook his hair out.

They immediately started bickering with each other, and it wasn’t until the boat drifted a bit closer to them that Avery could actually make out what they were saying.

“If your fatass hadn’t slammed into me—!”

“My fatass? You’re the one who let go, throwing off the balance!”

“We would’ve been fine if you had leaned when I told you to lean!”

All three of them were throwing insults, although none of them looked particularly upset. They swam the rest of the way to the boat, and were able to pull themselves up without much issue. Jameson shook out his hair, spraying water everywhere, causing Max and Gigi to squeal, covering their faces.

“God, you’re like a dog,” Grayson snarked.

“Yeah, but a sexy one,” Jameson shot back.

Grayson raised a singular brow at him. “Really? That was the comeback of choice?”

“Ladies, ladies, you’re both pretty,” Xander said, accepting a towel from Max.

“Shut up Xan,” Grayson and Jameson said in unison.

“Woah, freaky,” Gigi stage-whispered.

Avery sat back down in her spot from earlier, and Jameson slid in next to her. Once everyone was seated, Nash turned the engine back on to head for the lake house.

“So, what’d you think, Heiress?” Jameson asked her. “Think you’d want to go again?”

Avery laughed. “So long as I don’t have to do what you did. I like having my limbs attached.”

Jameson shook his head, running a hand through her windswept hair. “Nah, it’s more fun that way. You’ll see.” His blunt nails scratched against her scalp in a way that made her muscles relax instantly.

The ride back to the house was peaceful, light sprays of water occasionally hitting them as the fresh breeze caught their hair. Avery found herself yawning, despite the fact that they’d only been gone a few hours and it wasn’t that late yet.

“Tired?” Jameson sounded amused, but his hand kept up its rhythmic movements in her hair.

“I wouldn’t be if you quit doing that,” Avery said, but nothing in her tone indicated she wanted him to stop.

He just laughed, scratching against her scalp. “It’s okay, you can take a pool nap when we get back. And you don’t want me to stop, Heiress, I know you.”

He did, but that was beside the point.

✧

It was still an hour or so before dinner by the time they got back to the dock, and they all helped get everything off the boat and back up to the house. Nash made his brothers carry the tube and wet life jackets, so Avery, Max, and Gigi carried the cooler and towels.

“Just hang those on the fence to dry, I’m sure they’ll get used later tonight. We can throw them in the laundry later,” Nash said before heading inside to help Libby with dinner.

Max stretched her arms above her head after hanging up the towels that had been in her arms. “Yeahhhh, I’m wiped. Jameson said pool nap earlier, and that sounds like my kinda party right now,” she said.

“Ditto,” Gigi agreed.

A part of Avery wanted to shower, but she knew she’d probably be in the pool later, so she opted to join her friends on the pool deck, snagging a chair in the sun. She laid down on her stomach and rested her head on her arms. Avery hadn’t intended on falling asleep, but a few minutes later she’d dozed off completely.

✧

Dinner was a milder affair than lunch had been. There was chicken soft tacos, pasta salad, watermelon, and some of Libby’s famous s'mores cupcakes for dessert.

The food was incredible, as Libby and Nash’s cooking tended to be, but everyone was still so worn out that they ate in near silence. Well, the twins didn’t. They were content to talk to each other, not entirely coherent, as Nash attempted to get them to eat watermelon. Heavy on the attempted, because not a small amount of it wound up on their faces and floor.

Still cute though.

“You lot goin’ to be too tired for the bonfire tonight?” Nash drawled, chuckling at the sight of the exhausted twenty-odd year-olds at the other end of the table.

Xander perked up at the mention of the bonfire. “Oh yeah! This is just the recharge,” he said.

“Right,” Nash said dryly.

“Bonfire?” Max asked, fighting off a yawn.

Xander grinned, turning toward her. “Every time we come here, we kick off the first night with a bonfire on the beach. And while normally that’s in the summer, there’s no reason to not do it tonight!”

“Which means we should probably go get ready,” Jameson said, making a face at Xander.

Recognition colored Xander’s features. “That we should,” he said, standing up and grabbing his plate.

“You two’d better clean those up before runnin’ off,” Nash warned.

“We will!” Xander said, and in record speed they’d washed their dishes and vanished.

Avery glanced at Grayson. “Do we want to know what they’re up to?”

The blond shrugged, somehow looking like he’d never been on the boat at all, although he was still in his swim trunks, just with a black polo on. A change from his usual suit, but Avery supposed it made sense. “You’ll see,” was the only explanation he offered.

When everyone else at the table had finished eating, they all helped clean up and put the rest of the leftovers into the fridge. Avery had thrown a pair of jean shorts over her bikini bottoms, but she still wished she could just change into her pajamas.

“I think I saw a volleyball in the garage,” Gigi said. “Anyone down for a pool match?”

Avery shrugged. “I’m game. Max?”

“Fax yeah, why not?”

The sun had started to dip in the sky, and a glance at the clock told Avery it would be dark before long. She’d almost forgotten that the bonfire would kick off their Super Spring Break Showdown, and that then she and Grayson would need to defeat everyone else in order to reign victorious.

Just thinking about it made her tired, but so long as nothing went horribly wrong tonight, then it could be her problem tomorrow.

The three of them hopped into the pool after Gigi had retrieved their ball. None of them were particularly great at volleyball, and the ball went sailing into the grass more often than not, but it was fun anyway.

If she turned her head, Avery could see Grayson and Nash setting up what must be the beginnings of the bonfire. Xander and Jameson were still nowhere to be seen, but if their brothers weren’t worried, then Avery didn’t need to be either.

“So,” Max said, getting Avery’s attention. “Not tonight, but what are we thinking the optimal time for me to get blackout drunk is?”

Avery laughed. “You’re serious about that?”

“We’re getting drunk?”

Max looked over to Gigi. “Well, I am. I was promised a stereotypical college spring break experience, and that is exactly what I plan on getting. This is for Miami!”

“Wait, Miami was an option?” Gigi asked.

“No,” Avery said, groaning. “It was never an option. We were not going to go to Miami."

“We would’ve if you loved me,” Max said.

“No, we wouldn’t have.”

“And to think I called you my wife.”

“Get a divorce?” Avery offered, laughing when the volleyball went sailing at her head. “Hey, that’s a lot more aggressive than Marvin!”

“Too bad,” Max shrugged. “But yes, I am getting totally wasted at least one night on this trip, and I just need to figure out when that’s going to be.”

“Maybe you should wait until your team is out of the Super Spring Break Showdown,” Gigi suggested. “Or don’t, actually, that’ll make you easier to get out!”

“Hmmm.” Max looked thoughtful. “Maybe I just need to get everyone wasted. Even the playing field.”

Avery shook her head, laughing. “That is a terrible plan.”

“What’s a terrible plan?” Xander and Jameson had returned from wherever they’d vanished off to, nothing about either of their appearances giving any indication as to their whereabouts.

“Getting everyone super drunk,” Gigi said

“I like that plan,” Jameson said, flashing a grin at Avery. “I think it’s a great plan.”

“Yeah, because you’d be the one getting drunk,” Avery said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh, I’d get you drunk too, Ave. Don’t think you’d be exempt from this.”

“We’ll see,” she said, climbing out of the pool to grab her towel. “Is everything ready yet?”

“Just about!” Xander said, handing Max her towel. “You guys’ll want to dry off and get shoes. Oh, and your water guns.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Or don’t, I won’t complain if you opt to go unarmed.”

✧

Avery had ended up throwing one of Jameson’s hoodies on top of her swimsuit along with pulling her shorts back on since it had gotten colder since the sun went down. She made sure she had sandals on and her white wrist band before leaving her room. Her water gun had been filled at some point, and checking it confirmed the green colored water on the inside.

The bonfire hadn’t been lit yet by the time she made it outside. It was almost cone shaped, with a bunch of fire starter in the middle.

Everyone was gathered in a semi-circle around the unlit bonfire, except the twins, who had been put to bed by Libby and Nash.

“Y’all ready?” Nash asked. When he got the all clear from the rest of the group, he lit his makeshift torch with a lighter. Once it had caught fire, he fliped it once and tossed it into the center of the bonfire, and it went up in flames.

The heat washed over Avery’s face immediately, making her take an instinctual step back, but Jameson just looped his arm around her waist, leaning down to murmur in her ear. “Just watch. This is the best part.” His breath was hot against the shell of her ear, but then she saw as fireworks shot into the air, seemingly coming from the water itself.

“Woah,” Gigi breathed out at the same time Max mumbled, “Holy ship.”

The show was a wash of colors and sound, and while it didn’t last longer than a few minutes, it was still mesmerizing, all of the fireworks reflecting on the surface of the water and bathing the beach in colorful light.

When it was over, Xander cheered. “It worked!” Avery leaned her head back to glance at Jameson, who was already looking down at her.

“I take it that’s what you were up to?”

He grinned at her, taking the chance to press a kiss to her lips. “How’d you know?”

She smiled, kissing him back. “Just a hunch.”

Jameson reached to cup her cheek, setting his water gun down in the process. He bent down to kiss her again, but before he had the chance, his hand was getting sprayed with bright green water.

Avery blinked, and it took her a moment to realize that was her team’s color. Whipping her head around, she saw Grayson grinning sharply at his brother before shifting his gaze to her.

“Like I said. Bait,” he told her, water gun still in hand.

“Ooooh shipppp,” Max breathed out.

“We’re doing this now?” Jameson drawled. His water gun was back in his hand, his gaze locked on his brother.

“Fire!” Gigi shouted, squirting everyone she could within her radius.

From there it became an all out war, and any strategy that might’ve been brewing immediately went out the window. There was screaming, shouting, and curses, but by the time the dust—or sand, rather—had cleared, it was hard to tell who the winner was.

However, what Avery hadn’t realized was that because she had Jameson’s sweatshirt on, her wristband had been blocked from getting hit at all. Which meant she and Grayson were the only team with any lives left, since he had only been hit twice.

“Oh that has to be cheating!” Max declared when her dry wristband was revealed.

Avery looked to Xander. She hadn’t meant to cheat, but she wasn’t going to hand over the win if she didn’t have to, either.

Xander stroked his imaginary beard, looking thoughtful. “Well, I guess I never stated in the rules that you couldn’t cover the wristband.”

“Which means we win,” Grayson finished.

“You’re just saying that because it’s your team,” Jameson ground out. “You wouldn’t stand for this if it were anyone else.”

Grayson shrugged, looking indifferent. “I don’t see why that matters, because it is my team. Don’t be such a sore loser, Jamie.”

Xander hummed loudly again. “Since I never technically disallowed it, I suppose I have no choice but to rule this a valid win. But! To prevent this from happening again, a permanent rule will be instated that the wristband must henceforth be visible and hit-able at all points of the game!” He looked around at everyone else. “Are we satisfied with this?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Max grumbled, but Avery could tell she wasn’t actually mad.

Mumbles of agreement followed from everyone else, and Jameson turned to Avery. “Then I suppose congratulations are in order, Heiress.”

Avery just shrugged, but she couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “What can I say? You should try playing to win next time,” she teased.

Jameson raised a brow at her, his green eyes glinting in the light from the bonfire. “Oh yeah? Awfully cocky for someone who won on a technicality.”

“Pretty sure that’s just loser talk,” Avery retorted.

Before Jameson could say anything in response, Libby and Nash came back outside, trays in hand. Avery hadn’t even noticed they’d left, but given the water gun chaos that had ensued following the fireworks, she couldn’t say she was shocked.

“Who wants s’mores?” Libby called out.

“I do!” Gigi cheered, Max and Xander right on her heels.

Once everyone had a skewer and marshmallow, Jameson wrapped one of his arms around Avery’s shoulders, pulling her back into his chest. “Be honest. Did you do that on purpose?” he murmured into her ear.

She shook her head, leaning her head back to rest against his shoulder. “Nope. Total accident,” she hummed out.

“Then your good luck strikes again, huh, Ave?” Jameson asked.

Avery glanced up at him, smiling a bit. “I’d say it already struck.”

✧

By the time the bonfire and fireworks—that Avery still didn’t know how Xander and Jameson had rigged—had been cleaned up, it was late, well past midnight. She showered, happy to finally get the lake water and chlorine out of her hair before throwing on one of Jameson’s other hoodies and a pair of sleep shorts.

She was laying on her back, scrolling on her phone when Jameson came out of the bathroom, just a towel wrapped around his waist, freshly showered.

Avery’s eyes met his, the mischief that was ever present in his gaze dancing in the low light. “Have fun today, Heiress?”

She hummed noncommittally. “Hmm, yeah. But if this is going to be much of a vacation, then I’m going to need to take it easy tomorrow,” she laughed.

“Oh yeah? You’re wiped out already? It’s only the first day,” Jameson teased.

Avery groaned. “Sue me, it’s been a long one. Plus I’m still sore from tubing,” she complained.

Jameson gave her a mock pout as he walked out of the closet, wearing nothing but a pair of blue pajama bottoms. “Oh no, is the princess sore?”

“Shut up,” Avery grumbled, chucking a pillow at him. He caught it with one hand and grinned before throwing it back at her.

“And here I thought you might want to stay up a bit more,” Jameson mused, “But clearly you’re too tired and sore…”

Avery gave him a look. “I could be persuaded,” she said.

Jameson laughed, climbing onto the bed, pulling her closer. He looked down at her, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. “Yeah?” he murmured lowly. “I had a feeling that might be your answer.”

“It usually is,” Avery hummed.

Jameson pressed a long kiss to her lips, shifting his hand to cup her jaw. “To new memories?”

“To new memories.”

She kissed him back.

[purpley-pear]

UR WRITING IS SO SO SO FREAKING GOOD IM OBSESSED

omg thank you! i'm still trying to get used to posting on here, i'll admit it's taken some trial and error haha, but i'm having fun with it! everyone has been so nice and it makes me wish i had more time to write, but alas these degrees won't earn themselves lol

[purpley-pear]

Avery and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

summary: life since becoming an heiress has proved to not always be as glamorous as it's talked up to be. and if avery has learned anything, it's that alisa is never getting this much control of her schedule again (like ever) a/n: this was something i had sitting in my drafts for a while that i did for fun! might've put our girl through the ringer a bit, but some hawthornes came to the rescue in the end ;) wc: 5221

The temptation to throw her phone across the room grew strong as Avery’s alarm blared loudly for the second time that morning. She’d already snoozed it once, and Alisa wasn’t going to let her get away with doing it again. Not with the jam packed schedule she had ahead of her. 

I’m a billionaire and I’m living the dream, Avery reminded herself as she finally gathered the willpower to shut the still buzzing phone alarm off. The bold numbers of 5:46 shone back at her as she blearily sat up in bed, a soft groan escaping her.

Why, exactly, was she getting up so early? Alisa and her incredible knack to pack two weeks worth of social events into the span of twenty-four hours is why. Avery’s day, once she actually got around to getting out of bed that was, would begin at eight o’clock sharp with a “business meeting” at a restaurant called The French Room. It was mostly intended to be a photo-op for her and a few of the Hawthorne Foundation’s younger, female investors where they would dress up nice and “chit-chat over pastries and coffee”, or so Alisa had phrased it.

Avery hadn’t been impressed when Alisa had informed her at the start of the week, and she certainly wasn’t now either.

But unfortunately for her, that would be the more pleasant part of her day. Right afterward, she was expected at a Town Hall meeting so the Hannah the Same Backward as Forward Foundation could pitch their plans for renovating some public schools in the area. The plans, she was excited about. The three hours of sitting there listening to everyone else on the meeting agenda talk? Not so much.

Then, at two in the afternoon she had a dress fitting for a charity gala that Avery couldn’t even begin to remember the name of, followed by a financial advisory meeting that Alisa insisted could not be put off for another day. If Avery was lucky, she might snag an hour of downtime before she had to accompany Xander to a dinner party hosted by Connor Hildebrand and his wife, where they would be expected to socialize with other Texas elite until Alisa took pity on them and allowed them to escape back to Hawthorne House.

So. Practically nothing at all.

With a sigh, Avery finally forced herself to roll out of bed, her bare feet hitting the plush rug that sat beneath her enormous four poster bed. The sight of the empty bed made her frown, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. Jameson and Grayson were away in Paris on what Jameson had referred to as “top-secret, super important, definitely legal, Hawthorne brother business”, which Avery took to mean he was up to some sort of shenanigans that she would likely see unfold in the coming weeks. 

She’d consider Grayson his supervision, but the blond had somewhat of a habit of permitting Jameson’s unique brand of adventure if it meant getting to rub the consequences in his face later.

Go figure.

✧

Avery wasn’t in charge of much in regard to her appearance this morning, given the day’s events, but she still opted to run a brush through her hair after brushing her teeth and washing her face. She felt a slight twinge of nausea as she stood at the bathroom sink, but she ignored it as just nerves for the busy schedule ahead of her.

Once the brother-sister style team that she’d become quite familiar with over the years were finished fussing over her, she found herself in a pale tan blazer with a high-necked white top underneath and some light pink slacks. Her hair had been left down, but she’d been given a blowout that made her brown hair look shiny and bouncy. It had gotten longer in the last few years, and she found herself not minding the length as much as she’d expected.

Minimal jewelry and a pair of white heels rounded out her look, and while Avery couldn’t say she was the biggest fan of the pink, she was thankful they’d given her pants and not a dress or skirt. If she had to be in this outfit through her meetings today, she was going to need pants. And pockets. 

Alisa greeted her in the foyer with a quick once over and a look of approval. “If you’d taken any longer this morning I was going to let Xander wake you,” she commented as they headed to the garage.

“Why was he awake so early?” Avery asked with an eyebrow raised.

“I have no idea, and no desire to find out. But he was down here two hours ago and presumably hasn’t gone back to bed since.”

A fair enough explanation. Xander was almost always up to something and though his status as her BHFF held strong, even she didn’t always know what that something was.

Climbing into the back of the black SUV with Oren and Alisa up front, Avery let her gaze focus out the window. The sun was up now, and a clear sky promised nice weather. It was a shame she would be inside most of the day, unable to enjoy it. 

The rolling feeling of nausea from earlier returned, along with a slight ache in her lower back. Not strong enough to be concerning, but enough to be irritating. Avery figured she must have slept weird last night, resulting in some residual stiffness. It certainly wouldn't be the first time it had happened.

When the SUV pulled up to The Adolphus Hotel, Avery was drawn from her thoughts. It was a pretty grand building, and one of the few hotels in the area she didn’t own. The French Room, an upscale restaurant with a tea service and bar, was inside. As Oren opened the door for her to exit the car, several cameras flashed at her. Suddenly thankful for the pair of black sunglasses she’d snagged off her bedside table, Avery made her way into the hotel with Alisa following closely behind her.

Annika Lindgren, a towering blonde not unlike Grayson’s sister Savannah, greeted her with a hug when she got to the entrance of the restaurant. It wasn’t open yet, but she supposed that was a perk of being an heiress.

“So nice to see you, Avery,” Annika said. She was the eldest daughter, a few years older than Avery, of a wealthy European family that Tobais Hawthorne had made connections with when he was first starting his empire. Avery had met her on several occasions, whether it be galas or actual business meetings, and she’d always been pleasant company.

“It’s nice to see you too, Annika,” Avery said in reply. She took in the navy blue powersuit the young woman was wearing when something caught her eye. “Is that—?”

“An engagement ring?” Annika finished. “It is!” Flashing the sparkly diamond ring, a smile graced her delicate features. “My fiancé, Noah, proposed a few weeks ago while we were in Spain.”

“It’s beautiful,” Avery breathed out. And it truly was. Silver metal with a large, square-cut diamond in the middle, with two smaller ones, one on each side. Simple, but elegant—and expensive. Avery had no doubt they were true diamonds, not lab-grown ones.

For a brief moment she let her mind flicker to the ring Jameson had given her in Prague, and the promise he had made her. She knew that time would come, but looking at Annika’s ring had a part of her wishing it might be sooner rather than later.

“I hope I’m not crashing the party too late,” a voice said behind her, and Avery turned to see Rhiannon Evans, the other guest for this little get together, walking towards them.

Taller than Avery, but nowhere near Annika’s height, Rhiannon strolled over with an easy-going smile dancing across her face. Her dark hair was braided into a complicated looking updo and she was wearing cream colored dress pants with a deep emerald blazer.

“Not at all,” Annika said, and the two hugged. “I was just catching Avery up on my new status as a fianceé.”

Rhiannon grinned as she turned to Avery. “Isn’t it so exciting? Ugh, I just love seeing people in love! And don’t get me started on those engagement photos, they were stunning!”

“You flatter me,” Annika responded.

With a laugh, Rhiannon shifted her attention over to Avery. “Speaking of love, how’s that Hawthorne of yours doing? I saw those pictures of you two in New York at Fashion Week, they were very cute.”

That particular trip had been a few weeks ago, and it had been one that Avery had enjoyed more than she’d thought she would. “Thank you,” she said with a smile. “He’s doing well, he and Grayson are in Paris right now on a business trip.”

“Oh, well isn’t that fun? I’m sure things must seem more dull without the two of them around,” Rhiannon said, before continuing. “Well ladies, we’d best get this show on the road or they’ll never let us leave.”

Annika huffed out a small laugh, and the three of them walked into the restaurant, where a circular table by one of the windows had been prepared. A waitress served them coffee and various pastries before leaving them to chat. Avery did her best to ignore the photographer that was snapping pictures on the other side of the room.

Nibbling on a raspberry almond croissant, the dull ache in Avery’s back swelled to be a bit more prominent than it had been earlier. She’d been able to ignore it for the most part, but now that it was stronger, it was tugging at the back of her mind. It was familiar in a way that made her feel like it wasn’t just stiffness from a night of bad sleep, but being unable to identify it, she just brushed it off.

“So, Avery,” Annika started, “what are your thoughts on a ski outing some time this winter? My family has a lodge in the Alps and they’ve been dying to host the Hawthornes for some time now.”

“That would be fun,” Avery said, and Rhiannon nodded.

“It is! My girlfriend and I were out there with Ani and some of our other friends last season, and it was an absolute blast. I know the Hawthornes have that place in Colorado, but there really is nothing like skiing in Europe.”

Avery hadn’t known there was much of a difference. For all of the adventuring she and Jameson had done since her year confined to Hawthorne House was up, skiing hadn’t been included yet. “Really? I’ll admit I’ve only been a few times and I’m nowhere near as coordinated as I’ll pretend to be.”

The other two women laughed. “That’s the beauty of a private lodge,” Annika said. “There’s no one around to watch you fall.”

“Plus I’m sure Jameson wouldn’t have any problems teaching you. He’s always struck me as a bit of a daredevil, so I doubt skiing is much of a challenge for him,” Rhiannon added.

Avery snorted a laugh. “The skiing? No. The constant attempts to one-up his brothers in a competition of any sort? Yes.”

“Ah, to have brothers,” Annika said wistfully. “Elias and Leo get up to similar shenanigans. One of these days one of them is going to break a neck or something attempting to backflip into a drift.”

“You two have me feeling left out.” Rhiannon fake pouted. “But such is the fate of an only child, I suppose.”

“Trust me,” Avery said, “you really aren’t missing out on much. They might not be my brothers, but I’m around them enough that they may as well be, and I swear I’ll be gray before I’m thirty with the stuff they get up to.”

“Oh, as if you’re not adventuring alongside them,” Rhiannon teased. “Come on now, I’ve seen you with them enough times to know you’re hardly innocent in any trouble that gets caused. Not that I can blame you, who wouldn’t want to stir up a bit of mischief with those boys? If I were your age, I know I certainly would.”

Avery rolled her eyes, but smiled. “That’s fair, although I will claim that they’ve been terrible influences on me.”

“That’s what your twenties are for!” Annika cut in. “Cause trouble, chase thrills, be messy! I might have a ring now, but I’m not about to let that stop me from having fun.”

Taking another bite of her pastry, Avery grinned. There was no shortage of trouble, thrills, or mess where the Hawthornes were concerned. After the three of them finished up, they said their goodbyes outside the restaurant as the staff inside prepared for their normal operating hours.

Now that she was standing, that sick feeling returned to Avery’s stomach far stronger than it had been before. Mixed with the back pain that still hadn’t faded, a sinking realization began to roll around in the back of Avery’s mind.

Oh you have got to be kidding, she thought. But not willing to risk anything, she excused herself to the restroom quickly before Alisa could usher her into the SUV.

✧

Suspicions having been confirmed, Avery popped as much ibuprofen as Oren would allow as she sat in the back seat of the SUV. Not that it helped much. It seemed as though the moment she acknowledged the pain for what it was, being that she’d gotten her period a week early, her body had turned on her and the cramps got much worse.

But that wasn’t a good enough reason to miss out on the rest of her agenda for the day, according to Alisa, so she was just going to have to suffer. She’d dealt with worse pain, of course, but the inconvenience of it was grating on Avery’s nerves.

Theoretically, the Town Hall meeting should be easy. Most of the time would be spent sitting in a chair listening to other people speak all while keeping her facial expressions from betraying her boredom. Her presentation on behalf of the Hannah the Same Backward as Forward Foundation shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes, plus some time for questions.

Easy.

Which is exactly why she was regretting even letting herself think the word as she sat in her seat, pale tan blazer now doused in steaming hot coffee.

“I am so, so sorry, Ms. Grambs,” a woman she didn’t know rambled, as the others around her frantically searched for a napkin or towelette to dry her off with.

Avery had been sitting there, minding her own business as she waited with Alisa for the meeting to begin when a woman who looked to be in her mid forties tried to get to the other side of her, steaming cup of coffee in hand.

Emphasis on tried.

Because instead of walking past them, her foot caught on a bag that had been set on the floor and the paper coffee cup came tumbling out of her hands and right onto Avery’s blazer. The same one that was now stained with coffee and effectively ruined.

Shrugging the blazer off, being careful to not let it touch the rest of her clothes, Avery waved her hand at the woman. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it. Accidents happen. It’s just a jacket”

Alisa took the blazer from her, folded it up, and set it beneath her chair. Her expression was a carefully crafted look of pleasantry, but Avery had known her long enough to see the twitch of irritation in her eye.

“Let me make it up to you,” the woman continued. “I can have it sent in for dry-cleaning, and they’ll get it back to you brand new. Really, they do a fine job with that sort of thing, you’ll see Ms. Grambs. I can’t tell you how many stains they’ve gotten out of some of my stuff. Miracle workers, they are.”

Coming to Avery’s rescue, who didn’t know how to interrupt the woman’s fast-paced chatter, Alisa raised a hand and said, “It’s alright, we’ve got it handled.” Then, addressing the half-crowd that was still standing nearby, she added, “Why doesn’t everyone try to find their seats so we can get this meeting moving along?”

It was phrased as a question, but Avery knew it was anything but. A slight chill washed over her as she sat there, now that her arms were bare. The AC in the meeting room must have been on full blast, because the lack of blazer caused a noticeable difference in temperature.

Avery’s earlier conviction of keeping her expression in check became a far more difficult task now that she was cold, felt nauseous, and her back hurt, but she persisted. Not to mention Alisa might actually kill her if any photos of her looking like a bitch got posted.

When the time finally came for her to present the proposal, it took all of her will power to ignore the increased sick feeling in her stomach and focus on the task at hand.

Luckily, everything went smoothly. It took her just over twelve minutes to go through all of her slides and give her talk, with an additional seven minutes for questions. Before she knew it, she was seated next to Alisa again.

Presenting at these meetings used to make her anxious, in part because she was never particularly fond of speaking in front of large groups of people, but also because she didn’t feel like she belonged. Grayson had been the one to help her get over that, after spending what felt like an entire afternoon making her stand on the stage in Hawthorne House and talk at him without using any filler words. It had been torturous at the time, but now Avery was grateful for it because it made her a more practiced speaker.

✧

The end of that meeting could not have come soon enough. It was just barely past one in the afternoon, which meant Avery had time for a quick lunch before her dress fitting. Oren picked up sandwiches from a local deli that Xander had raved about, and it wasn’t until she’d started eating that Avery realized just how hungry she’d been.

It took her maybe fifteen minutes to eat a toasted BLT and a handful of kettle chips in the SUV before they headed across town for the fitting.

Why this gala in particular warranted a new dress was beyond her, but Alisa had insisted on it. Something about “showcasing local fashion talent” or whatever it was she’d said when they talked about it a month ago. The dress wasn’t just being altered, it had been created brand new just for Avery.

Which, don’t get her wrong, was cool and all, but Avery still didn’t really care much about the novelty of her clothes. It was one aspect of this lifestyle she didn’t think she’d ever get used to, let alone understand.

When the SUV pulled up to a dress shop downtown, Avery felt mild relief that there wasn’t any paparazzi around. She’d had her picture taken enough times today for her liking, and the last time dress shopping had been used as a photo-op, Avery had also been used as human bait.

Fun times.

The fashion designer making the dress was a woman named Amélie Martin, who had risen to “fame” a few years ago after going viral on social media. She greeted Avery at the door before quickly ushering her inside.

“If everything goes well, this will be the last fitting for this dress,” she told Avery and Alisa. She handed the garment bag to Avery and pointed her to the fitting room. “Be careful with it, there’s still pins and I don’t want you sticking yourself. If you need a hand, just holler.”

“Got it,” Avery agreed before leaving to go put the dress on.

It was made of a rich, dark blue fabric, and was closer to a ball gown than an evening dress. It had a decently full skirt and a sleeveless, corset fitting bodice. There was a type of floral applique in the same dark blue color on the entire bodice, trailing down her hips. It was a gorgeous dress, but it looked more suited for a princess than Avery.

Avery managed to get it on by herself, but she knew there was no way she’d be able to lace the back properly without help. It was designed to fit her like a glove, and normally it did, but because she was slightly bloated today it wound up being a bit more uncomfortable than she would’ve cared for.

“Everything alright in there?” Amélie called.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” Avery said, pushing the door open.

Amélie led her to the small, circular platform used for fittings and alterations, helping step up to it. It was a bit tricky, given the sheer amount of fabric and heels, but thankfully, Avery managed without falling on her face.

“Ah, it looks wonderful on you,” Amélie said, clasping her hands together, looking rather pleased. Avery just smiled, her patience with the day as a whole starting to wear thin.

Moving to stand behind her, Amélie began lacing up the back, pulling the satin corset laces tight. The dress would be tough to breathe in on a good day. And unfortunately for Avery, today was not a good day. By the time it was fully laced, Avery felt so constricted it was almost painful, but one sharp look from Alisa forced her to hold her tongue.

I’m a billionaire. And I’m living. The. Dream. The mantra was steadily becoming less and less effective.

It’s not as though the dress would be this tight on the night of the actual gala, but that didn’t really help Avery right now. 

Avery let her thoughts wander as Amélie tittered about, making small marks for any final adjustments that would need to be made. At least this part was easy, given that her only job was to stand there and not move. A part of her mourned that more of her responsibilities today couldn’t have been just that. 

Fortunately, the rest of the fitting passed without much issue. Which meant that before she knew it, Avery was being guided back to the SUV to head to a financial advisory meeting that she really did not have the brain for today.

✧

“Now I really think you should consider diversifying this portfolio, Miss Grambs,” Richard Cawthorn droned on. He was an older man, nearing his seventies, and had been working on Hawthorne finances longer than Avery had been alive. Longer than any remaining Hawthornes had been alive, probably.

Try as she might, a lot of financial jargon still went over Avery’s head, so she just nodded. She tended to go along with whatever her advisors, plus Grayson, told her to do, so long as they were in line with her goals.

They were nearly two hours into the meeting so far, with no real signs of stopping any time soon. She sent a quick glance to ALisa, who had been more of a participant during this meeting than Avery, silently begging her to cut this off. Sooner or later they’d need to leave if Avery wanted time to get ready before this dinner party tonight. 

Please, Avery thought. I cannot take this any longer. 

Sensing the desperation, or realizing the time, Alisa set her pen down from where she’d diligently been taking notes. “I think this is a good place to wrap things up,” Alisa cut in, causing Mr. Cawthorn to stop talking and look up. “We’ll schedule another meeting for once Grayson is back, and continue from there.”

Avery was so happy she could’ve hugged Alisa. Because not only did that mean this meeting was over, but also that she wouldn’t have to brave the next one alone, either. 

A part of her felt bad unloading this much of her own responsibilities onto Grayson, but then she remembered all the times he’d attempted to take over everything and do it all himself, and was relieved of some guilt. 

“Control freak,” Xander had mumbled under his breath one too many times to get away with before a dinner roll had gone sailing at his head.

Didn’t exactly stop it from being true though.

✧

Getting ready for a Texas socialite event was really something Avery should be used to by now. Truly. She’d done it more than enough times, and yet, it was just as unpleasant every single time. 

She’d gotten a dose of the fake tan, much to her chagrin, and her hair had been given a fresh blowout. The makeup was kept simple, just some bronzer and touches of gold to accent her dark lashes. And despite her earlier luck, she was forced into a floor-length dress. It had a black, strappless, a-symmetrical bodice and a white skirt that had a lot of pleats from where it was gathered underneath the bodice. 

The dress was pretty, but white really spelled the potential for disaster. Especially given the day she’d been having. But despite her attempts to sway the brother-sister style team, they insisted that the outfit was not negotiable.

Xander met her at the bottom of the stairs, fitted in a black and white tux to match her dress.

“Avery!” He exclaimed, grinning wildly. The two of them had only grown closer over the years, and if Jameson couldn’t attend this with her, then there was no one else she’d rather have by her side. “We look like penguins,” he added, with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Avery laughed, looking down at her own outfit before glancing back at him. “That we do. What are the odds it was on purpose?”

Xander pretended to look thoughtful, stroking an imaginary beard. “Hmmm. Well, I don’t remember much about the Hildebrands, but I suppose they might be the type to be enthused by exotic animals.”

“Oh, is that so?” Avery mused. “Ang you would know nothing about that particular subject, now would you?”

“Nothing at all!” Xander grinned in a way that showed he absolutely did. But he gave no indication of offering up any more information, and before Avery could pry further, Alisa entered the foyer.

“Good, you’re both here,” she said, looking up from her phone. “Now, I should have to remind you, but I will anyway. Both of you need to behave.” Alisa caught them both with an icy look. “I want absolutely no shenanigans tonight, got it? You will go, you will have dinner, you will socialize for a little bit, and then you will leave. I trust you two can handle that?”

“On our honor,” Xander said, giving a mock salute. “We wouldn’t know what a shenanigan was if it hit us! Isn’t that right, Avery?”

Grinning, Avery nodded. “Definitely,” she agreed.

Alisa just sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I mean it. I don’t want to see a single thing about this dinner party tomorrow. Not. A. Thing.”

✧

So Avery was going to have to send Alisa a really nice fruit basket. A really nice fruit basket. And flowers. And probably a vacation.

In her defense, she hadn’t had anything to do with it! But when Xander disappeared after dinner and suddenly the Hildebrand kids had water guns, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together about what had happened. Did she have a feeling something like this was going to happen the second Xander had been gone for longer than what was socially acceptable for a bathroom break? Yeah. Did she know it was going to be water guns spraying every socialite in the hall from the upstairs hallway? No.

Thankfully, the Hildebrands took it in stride, which forced the rest of their guests to do the same. It seemed that they weren’t strangers to stuff like this, which is probably how Xander knew to orchestrate it.

But, that still didn’t stop Alisa’s head from looking like it was going to explode when she and Oren came to pick them up. The car ride back to Hawthorne House was silent, but her meaning got across.

And despite now being soaking wet, Avery could only be thankful that this trainwreck of a day was finally coming to an end. She was tired, sore, sick, and ready to crash. Avery felt as though she’d lived two whole years in the span of today alone.

Avery was showered and in her softest pajamas in record time after the SUV pulled up to Hawthorne House.

Now that she finally had a moment to herself, the emotions she’d been bottling up all day began to spill out, and Avery allowed herself a moment to wallow in her feelings.

That, however, didn’t last very long before there was a knock at her door. She let out a soft groan, not bothering with further acknowledgement, and the door swung open. 

“We come bearing gifts!” Xander proclaimed dramatically. In his hands was a tray, filled with bowls of chips and pretzels, pints of ice cream, and scones. Behind him was Nash, who Avery hadn’t seen all day, looking more amused than he had any right to. Libby, who was normally stuck to his side like glue, was away at a friend’s bachelorette party for a few days, and Avery would be lying if she said her sister’s absence wasn’t affecting her.

“Sounds like you’ve had quite the day, huh darlin’?” Nash drawled as the two brothers entered the room. Avery just flopped onto her back and groaned again, wiping any stray tears off of her face.

Nash just chuckled as Xander passed the tray to him before jumping onto the bed. He too flopped over dramatically, letting out an identical groan. “Have pity, dearest elder brother of mine, for our lives make us quite weary. I fear you simply wouldn’t understand our great turmoils.”

A snort. “Right,” Nash said dryly, ignoring his youngest brother’s antics. He then turned back to Avery, who was having a hard time keeping the smile off her face. “We might not be enough to replace Libs, but I figure our company is as good as any.”

“Better than any, is what he means to say,” Xander cut in, sitting up quickly. He made grabby hands at Nash, who rolled his eyes before handing the tray over. Xander then set the tray down in the middle of Avery’s bed, nabbing a scone.

Nash took a seat in the chair next to the bed and grabbed the TV remote from her side table. Reluctantly, Avery forced herself into a sitting position before reaching for a pint of ice cream.

“Good choice! Nothing better to drown your sorrows in than ice cream,” Xander remarked.

“Xan.” Nash’s tone was dry, but he shot his brother a look. “We’re supposed to be makin’ things better here.”

Xander opened his mouth like he’s going to argue, but must've thought better of it, because he stopped himself. Nash put on an old Disney movie, leaning back in his chair as Avery ate a massive spoonful of ice cream.

Today might’ve totally sucked, but as far as Avery’s concerned, this wasn’t such a bad ending to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

[purpley-pear]

hi i'm obsessed with your fics may i request a xanmax fic 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

Maxine Liu and Xander Hawthorne Answer the Web’s Most Searched Questions

summary: max and xander get to be on camera for a show that is not their own. surely nothing could go wrong. the internet has questions, and these two attempt to give some answers (no they don't) a/n: thank you so much for the request! this was an absolute blast to write, and def kicked some of my writers block. i adore these two sm wc: 3061

“Hi, I’m Maxine Liu.”

“And I’m Xander Hawthorne.”

“And this,” Max paused dramatically, “is the WIRED Autocomplete Interview.”

Xander clapped his hands as the cameras cut to shift scenes and grinned at Max wildly.

✧

The two of them had yet to do an interview together, which made sense given that Max wasn’t exactly in the “celebrity scene” the same way he, his brothers, and Avery were, but that had changed!

You see, a few months ago, Xander and Max launched their Super-Secret-Extra-Special Project—appropriately named by Max—and now they’ve got to do publicity for it. What, exactly, was this project? Well, when they first met, Xander and Max bonded over their love of all things nerdy, from TV shows, to books, to movies. And since the two of them were still long distance, they found themselves calling each other all the time.

This is when Max proposed “the best mother-faxing idea she’d ever had” and said they should start a podcast, where they could debate everything nerdy and pop culture-y. She said it would be like Good Mythical Morning, except their ideas would be bad, the only mythical thing would be if they could manage to get the elusive Grayson Hawthorne on the show (Xander was certain they could), and they recorded exclusively past eleven o’clock at night—“That’s when all the best ideas happen!”

So naturally, Xander was completely on board. Not that he would ever not be on board with something Max suggested, but this in particular got the gears in his brain turning. The first thing they’d had to do was come up with a name for their podcast, which wound up being easier than they’d thought. They’d needed something short, but catchy, and as Xander had come to learn about Max, she was full of nothing but short and catchy catchphrases.

They named the podcast “We’re Full of Ship,” which Xander thought was genius and Alisa thought was going to get them canceled, but they persisted! And it kind of blew up over night. They’d both promoted it a bit on their socials in the two weeks before their debut episode, but one retweet from Avery and it took off.

Xander had known the idea would be a success, but even he had underestimated just how popular the podcast was going to be. Every episode was essentially just an hour of him and Max bouncing off of each other, with a short segment in the middle with a guest. But the people loved it!

Which is what led them here. At WIRED, doing the Autocomplete Interview. They’d gained a large enough following together to be considered “socially relevant”—Avery’s publicist Landon’s words, not his—and now got to do interviews together! Which was great. But Xander thought any time he got to spend with Max was great, so he might be biased.

He totally was.

✧

“Well, let’s get rid of this board,” Xander said, flinging it off to the side. Max laughed before they both cringed, gasping as the board flew straight toward one of the producers off-screen. “Oh God, right for your head, I’m so sorry,” he laughed.

They were then handed their first board, and Max held it while Xander got to pull off the stickers. The words in the search bar said “what xander hawthorne” and Xander pulled off the first sticker and read out, “What TikTok dance did Xander Hawthorne create?”

“You created a dance?” Max asked, raising an eyebrow.

Xander grinned at her, waggling his eyebrows in response. “Am I not a man of many talents? My dancing skills are renowned, you should know this.”

“Right, right, how could I forget?” Max said, laughing. “Can we get a demo?”

“Oh I don’t think the viewers could handle that. My sheer dancing prowess might overwhelm them.”

Max paused. “Can I get a demo?”

Xander opted to respond only with a wink, before peeling off the next sticker. “What does Xander Hawthorne do in his free time?” he read. “I love scones. I rank them. Scones are great. When I’m not doing anything, I will be having a scone.”

“Going to college?” Max suggested, trying to hold back her laughter.

“Yeah, that too I guess.” He dodged the swat of Max’s hand, sticking his tongue out at her. “What is Xander Hawthorne’s favorite movie? I don’t know. What do you think?” he asked Max.

“I mean, that one we watched the other night was pretty faxing great,” Max said, grinning.

Xander blinked at her for a moment, looking confused. Then, recognition lit up his face and he let out a sharp laugh. “If by great, you mean the worst movie I have ever had the misfortune of viewing.” He doubled over in laughter, which just made Max laugh harder. At the same time, the two made eye contact with each other and sang, “I think I’m gonna die in this house.”

Max looked like she was going to fall out of her chair, she was shaking with laughter so hard. The producers off-screen had started laughing too, which just made everything funnier.

“Oh my God,” Xander said, wiping his eyes once the laughter had subsided. “We watched ‘Wuthering Heights’ a few nights ago so we could talk about it on the podcast. So bad.”

“We are never getting that time back,” Max said mournfully.

Finally pulling off the last sticker, Xander read, “What music video was Xander Hawthorne in? I was in a Sabrina Carpenter music video.”

“Oh my God, that’s right!” Max said.

“It was for her ‘Espresso’ music video, I’m just in the background, but it was fun,” Xander said, looking at the camera.

“How did you even get to that point?”

Xander let out a long hum. “Well, you see, Jamie had told me he didn’t think I could pull something off just by asking for it, so I figured the best way to prove him wrong would be to just do it. I messaged her team asking to be in the background and that was that.” He shrugged, like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

“You’ve got to be shipping me,” Max said, shaking her head, but it was evident she was fighting a smile. She then threw the board she’d been holding behind her.

✧

Xander now held the board for Max, which had a similar prompt of “what max liu.”

“My turn!” Max cheered as she pulled off the first sticker. “What does Max Liu say in viral video? Oh! This one’s easy, in fact, you probably know it,” she told Xander.

“There are people who know it by heart, I think,” he laughed. “You said, ‘You mother-faxing chiphead, I hope you go straight to elf and eat a back of ducks’, which, very eloquent of you, might I add."

Max laughed. “So, not my finest moment in public. But I stand by the fact that he deserved it!” She then moved to pull off the next sticker. “What inspires Max Liu?”

There was a beat of silence before Xander went, “Crystals,” dragging out the word. Max snorted.

“No? I would say more like my friends and stuff. I mean my best friend is Avery faxing Grambs, and she’s a pretty cool beach.”

Xander dramatically rolled his eyes. “What actually inspires you?”

“That! My friends, I feel like that’s a fair answer.”

“That’s an interview answer. Give us something real. The people deserve to know this stuff, Maxine.”

She huffed mockingly. “That was my real answer. But fine, Tiramisu Panini Hawthorne inspires me. Every day.”

Xander seemed satisfied with that. “There you go.”

Max shoved him with her shoulder. “What is Max Liu’s college?” Her eyes snapped up to the camera. “I’m not telling you that! I don’t need people trying to come find me. It’s top secret,” she said, miming the ‘shhhh’ sign.

“I doubt it’s that secret. In fact, I’ll answer. You go to—” Max reached over and slammed her hand over Xander’s mouth to shut him up, but he just looked all too pleased with himself before licking her hand.

“Oh my God! Gross!” She exclaimed, wiping her palm on his pants. “You are the faxing worst, you know that, Hawthorne?”

Xander just gave her a shit-eating grin. “You might’ve mentioned it a time or two.”

“Ugh. Clearly not enough,” Max grumbled. She then moved to pull the last sticker off the board. “What is Max Liu’s fandom named?”

“Let’s make one!” Xander said.

“What would it be?”

“How about…” Xander pretended to stroke a beard as he thought. “The Maxinators?”

Max shook her head. “That is so basic. Come on, you can do better than that.”

“Team Maxatron.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “I cannot tell if you’re being serious or not.”

Xander raised his eyebrows a few times in response. “I’m always serious. Deadly serious.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever.” Max rolled her eyes, but it was clear she was smiling. “Moving on.” Xander took the opportunity to toss the board, making sure to not hit a producer this time.

✧

The next board they were handed just said “we’re full of ship” in the google search bar, with all of the searches beneath it. They swapped back, so Max held the board and Xander got to pull off the stickers.

“Who is on We’re Full of Ship?” Xander read off. “We are! I, Xander Hawthorne, and my lovely co-host Maxine Liu are on the show. With us, are the occasional guests who include, but are not limited to, my brothers, the Grambs sisters, and any Gen-Z celebrity we can convince to spend time with us.”

“We just had Emma Chamberlain on!” Max chimed in. “And you definitely won’t want to miss that episode!”

Xander pulled the next tab off. “What is the We’re Full of Ship aesthetic? Ooh, fancy question. I don’t know, Max, what is our aesthetic?”

Max just laughed. “Chaos. I don’t think we’ve had a single episode yet where things don’t go totally off the rails. In a good way though!” she added. “But otherwise, it’s pretty casual, like if we were on facetime but there’s just also an audience.”

“Yeah, that about sums us up,” Xander agreed. “We’re Full of Ship Jameson Hawthorne.” he paused. “That’s not even a question! But yes, my dearest elder brother was on the show—”

“You could say that again,” Max cut in.

“And he…may have gotten a bit out of hand.”

“He was drunk.”

“Yes. He was drunk,” Xander agreed cheerily. “But no less entertaining!”

Max threw her head back and laughed. “I had to call—oh my God do I even tell this story? I feel like I have to. So,” she said, sitting up in her chair so she could look up at the camera, “I could tell that Jameson was going to…let’s just say he was going to say something he shouldn’t sooner or later. So I called Avery, who was with him—”

“They were in Spain, by the way!”

“Yes, yes, they were in a hotel in Spain. Avery was downstairs in a conference room getting work done while Jameson was on call with us. And I called her and just put her on speakerphone so she’d get the gist of what was going on. But when she got back to their room to come get him,” Max burst into giggles, having a hard time getting the words out. “He, he saw her, and just with no warning started to strip. On camera.”

Max’s face had flushed red from how hard she was laughing, and she had to take several deep breaths before calming down. Xander finished up the rest of the story, saying, “Yeah, I think he forgot we were there, I’m going to be honest. I have never ended a video call so fast in my life before,” he said, looking at the camera.

“We were almost traumatized,” Max giggled. “And the best part is, he didn’t faxing remember any of it! I sent Ave the video the next morning and she was mortified. She tried to get me to delete it but I know good blackmail material when I see it.”

Xander laughed. “Needless to say, that part was very much cut from the episode. But…maybe we should drop the extended version?”

“Like a director’s cut!” Max added. “Oh God they’d murder us. We’d be dead as ship. And even if they didn’t…”

“Alisa would.”

“Alisa would,” Max confirmed.

Moving onto the next question, Xander read, “What are We’re Full of Ship fans called?”

“Shippers? No,” Max said, laughing.

“Ship heads!” Xander exclaimed.

“I feel like we cannot call them that,” Max giggled.

Xander just shrugged. “I think it fits. We’re full of ship, and they’re the ship heads who watch us. Makes sense.”

They then moved on to the last question on the board. “Why does We’re Full of Ship make me laugh?” Xander read. “Because we’re hilarious, that’s why. Do you even have to ask?”

“Exactly,” Max added. “Absolute comedy genius right here. Bask in it.”

“Oh I’m basking,” Xander said with a wink before Max threw the board at him.

✧

Xander got to hold the board this time, and the prompt read “does max liu.” Max reached over to tear off the first sticker. “Does Max Liu know the Hawthornes? No, I don’t.”

“Never met them.”

“Never even heard of them. They must not be relevant,” she deadpanned.

“They’re not,” Xander added. “Super washed. All of them.”

“Does Max Liu love Avery Grambs?” she read off. Max looked up at the camera. “Yes, I do. That’s my wife right there.”

“They’re a very happy couple,” Xander chimed in.

Peeling off the next sticker, Max read, “Does Max Liu go hard?”

Both of them burst into laughter as Xander said, “Last night, Max was going hard.”

Max laughed again, burning her face in her hands. “Wait, what do they even mean by go hard?”

“Like, live it up, go out on the town,” Xander said. “Although you could just be popping off at work. Or with this fit!” he added. “Max Liu is going hard with this fit.” Xander gestured to Max’s outfit which was a pair of custom Star Wars converse, baggy jeans, and a sage green over-sized button up. Her hair had been tied up in space buns with her bangs left loose.

“Thank you.”

“For sure.”

“Does Max Liu play Pokemon?” Max read. “I do! I’ve played on just about every console I’ve ever owned, which currently is my Switch 2. But yes, I love all of the Pokemon games and the show.”

“I think we might even have an episode about it,” Xander said.

Max nodded. “You’re right, we do! I think it’s one of the first ones, if I’m not wrong. I’m sure someone in the comments will fact-check that.” She then pulled off the last sticker. “Does Max Liu have tattoos?” She paused for a moment. “No.”

Xander laughed at her. “You act like you’re trying to remember.”

“I do not,” Max said with a laugh of her own. “I think my mom would be forever disappointed in me if I did. Not that it would sway my decision. But for now, no, I don’t have any tattoos.”

“For now, she says,” Xander comments, grinning wolfishly. “That means she can be swayed.”

Max rolled her eyes. “Why, are you into that?” she teased.

Xander just shrugged, but winked after turning away from the camera.

✧

“Last board!” Xander cheered as Max grabbed it from the producer. In the search bar was “why xander hawthorne.” He then read off the first question, saying, “Why Xander Hawthorne going to college? I mean, I’ve always known I was going to go, I feel like there’s a lot that can be learned from college. Technically,” he said, “my brothers and I all have to go. But Gray did his degree online and Jamie has yet to sit still long enough to be at any university longer than a semester.”

“At least they tried?” Max offered with a laugh.

“Sure, we’ll go with that,” Xander said. “Okay, next is, why isn’t Xander Hawthorne British?”

Max choked on a laugh. “What?”

Xander shrugged, holding his hands up to the camera. “No idea. You know, I ask myself this question regularly, why aren’t I British? I should be, and clearly whoever’s been searching this agrees.”

“Maybe you were British in your last life.”

“Aha! That must be it,” Xander exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “I’m a former Brit. One of the lads from across the pond.” Max giggled at that as Xander pulled off the next sticker. “Why is Xander Hawthorne so tall?”

“I know, right?” Max asked. “There’s no reason for it. It’s faxing ridiculous.”

Xander grinned at the camera. “Personally, I think my height comes with many advantages, including but not limited to, tackling those around me whenever I so choose.”

“Oh yeah, he does do that.”

“It’s a skill.”

“A talent.”

“Of which I have many.” He then turned back to the board. “Last question! I feel like we need a drumroll. Should we drumroll this?”

Max nodded enthusiastically, resting the board against her stomach so her hands were free to drum against her lap.

“And it is….” Xander paused dramatically as he pulled away the final tab. “Why is Xander Hawthorne that way?”

Max burst into giggles as Xander waggled his eyebrows at the camera. “Becuase I’m perfect! As the most handsome, charming, and talented Hawtorne, there’s just not enough of me to go around, but I try to be generous.”

Unable to respond, Max just shook her head and buried it in her hands after tossing the last board onto the floor.

“What did ya’ll think of the questions?” One of the producers asked from off-camera.

“There were a couple great ones—”

“And a couple weird ones,” Max finished with a laugh. “Like the British one.”

“That one was great, and I don’t appreciate you insinuating otherwise.”

“Oh of course not, I would never.”

“Uh huh,” Xander said, making a face at the cameras before they stopped rolling. He turned to Max and gave her a high five.

“Go us!” She exclaimed. “First interview in the books!”

And Xander hoped that it would be the first of many with Max by his side. He had a feeling it would be.

[purpley-pear]

Xander Hawthorne and Avery Grambs Take Lie Detector Tests

summary: for once in their lives, avery and xander get told to lie on camera. so that's exactly what they do. truths are revealed (and lies are not) as these two face off against the polygraph machine. a/n: this was a lot of fun to write! it was sitting in my drafts half finished for months, so i'm glad i finally found some time to finish it up. these two are fun to do dialogue for. wc: 4060

“You tried to break into the Met Gala?” Avery asked, looking up from the card she was reading off of, her eyebrows raised incredulously.

“Break in is such a strong phrase,” Xander responded, glancing to the side. “I prefer to say I was dramatically entering somewhat unexpectedly.”

Avery didn’t believe that in the slightest. “How? Why? When? Wait, how have I not heard about this?”

✧

“Avery. Xander. We’ve brought you here today to take a lie detector test. One of you will be hooked up to the machine, while the other will ask the questions, and then you’ll switch.” The producer sat behind the camera as Avery and Xander sat next to each other at a table. “This is Lou, our polygraph operator.”

“Hi, Lou.”

“Hello.”

“Good to meet you.”

The producer continued. “Who wants to be in the hot seat first?”

“Xan,” Avery said at the same time Xander said, “I do,” shooting his hand into the air.

Xander then paused and looked at Avery. “Wait, is that the lying seat or the other one?”

“No, we're gonna switch,” Avery said, gesturing to her own chair. “You’re going to sit here.”

Xander grinned. “Alright, alright, okay, okay.”

“And it’s the truth seat,” Avery added with a laugh.

The producers then gestured for the cameras to cut as Xander and Avery swapped seats. Of all the interviews Avery had done since becoming the “Hawthorne Heiress,” this was one she’d been looking forward to. Alisa had said she could pair up with any of the boys, and while she’d been tempted to pick Jameson, she didn’t quite trust him to not go off-script and start asking things he knew she couldn’t answer.

Not on camera anyway.

Xander had been practically chomping at the bit to go, mostly because he wanted to see how much he could get away with lying about, but as Avery’s BHFF he was her natural second choice anyway.

Which is what led them here. They got Xander hooked up to the machine, and he looked more excited than he had any right to be. Avery wasn’t exactly nervous for this, but she could just picture Alisa’s face if any Hawthorne…sheanigans got brought up. Even though that was practically inevitable.

“How can you do…?” Xander’s voice trailed off as Lou helped him get situated.

“Alright now I need this hand here,” Lou said, grabbing Xander’s left hand. “These measure galvanic skin response, which is otherwise known as sweating.”

“Oh God,” Xander said with faux horror.

“He sweats a lot,” Avery added, giving Xander a grin that the cameras couldn’t see.

The other people in the room laughed as Xander said, “It does tickle.”

“Okay,” Avery said when they were done getting everything set up. Reading from the sheet, she said, “I’m going to ask a few questions to calibrate the machine. Is your full name Alexander Blackwood Hawthorne?”

“Yes.”

“Are you about to take a polygraph test?”

“Yes.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Not even a little bit.” Xander took the opportunity to wink at the camera, still grinning.

✧

“You once said that you could steal a giraffe from a zoo and get away with it,” Avery read off the card.

“Yep.”

“Is this because you think you wouldn’t get caught, or that the zoo would just let you walk free with it?”

Xander paused for a moment as he considered the question. It seemed Avery would be learning a lot about Xander today, given that as far as she knew he’d never actually attempted to steal said giraffe.

Probably.

“Both,” he ultimately settled on, nodding. “I think if I planned enough I could sneak one out of its enclosure, I’m very crafty that way. But, as the most charming Hawthorne, I think the zookeepers would be unable to resist my dazzling wits and would have no choice but to let me take the giraffe.”

“Truthful,” Lou said.

Avery laughed, raising her eyebrows. “Have you attempted to steal other animals?”

“No…and yes.”

“What does that mean?”

Xander waggled his eyebrows at the camera. “It means I haven’t technically attempted to steal other animals, however whether or not I’ve left with one is a mystery.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Lou confirmed.

Avery stared at Xander for a moment, searching his face to see if she could tell if he was lying or not. She couldn’t. “Alright. Would you keep it at Hawthorne House if you did nab an animal?”

“No,” Xander said. He didn’t bother to offer any more details than that.

Making a mental note to ask more about that later, Avery moved on to the next question. “When you were a kid, your brothers lost you in the Mall of America.”

“Mhmm.”

“Did you get lost on purpose?”

“Oh, of course not,” Xander said.

“Whose fault was it then?” Avery asked.

“Technically, Nash’s. But I want it to be on record that Gray and Jamie were the ones to run off first. I was merely collateral damage.”

“True,” Lou said.

“How old were you when this happened?” Avery needed to know if his explanation was justifiable or not.

Xander hummed. “I’m pretty sure I’d just turned seven. Which would make Jamie and Gray eight and nine respectively, and Nash fifteen.”

“That feels a bit young to be in charge of three kids,” Avery remarked. “Was there no other supervision?”

“If by supervision you mean the member of the security team that was supposed to be keeping an eye on things, sure. But let's just say…he was easier to lose than he should have been.”

Avery raised an eyebrow. “You got rid of him on purpose?”

“Definitely not.”

“That’s a lie,” Lou chimed in.

Laughing, Avery shook her head. “How long did it take before you were found?”

Xander shrugged. “Ehhh, maybe an hour? Just because I didn’t get lost on purpose doesn’t mean I didn’t stay lost on purpose.”

“Grayson once said he’d never challenge your scone ranking system,” Avery read off the next card.

Xander laughed on the other side of the table, looking entirely too pleased with himself.

“Have you ever thought he was lying to you?”

“No.” Xander paused, looking thoughtful. “Maybe.”

“Deceptive,” Lou said.

Avery’s eyebrows raised. “So you do think he lied?”

Pursing his lips, Xander shrugged. “Not entirely. But Gray likes to be right, and I think any system he didn’t design himself would be one that he might find error in. Not that my ranking system is in possession of any errors. It’s perfect. I would know.”

“Have you ever been jealous of me?” The question surprised Avery a bit, given the playful nature of the previous questions, but she asked it anyway.

Grinning, Xander nodded. “Yes.”

Avery blinked. “What? Is that true?”

“It’s true,” Lou confirmed.

“About what?” Avery couldn’t think of anything about her that Xander could possibly be jealous of. With the exception of the inheritance of course, but he’d never indicated that he’d had any particular desire for it.

“You got to guest-star on Abbott Elementary last year.”

The serious tone in his voice would’ve caught Avery off-guard if she hadn’t heard Xander use it before. So instead, she laughed. “Are you serious? Why didn’t you do it with me?”

“Alisa made me go to a gala the evening you were shooting. Initially, Jamie was supposed to go with me, but he was ‘miraculously’ nowhere to be seen. You can imagine my surprise when I saw him in the episode with you,” Xander said, with a mock-pout. “Not cool. I thought we were friends.”

Avery snorted another laugh. “In my defense, I didn’t know he was with us until the plane was off the ground. He’d made sure to stow himself away long enough that it was too late for Alisa to do anything about it.”

Then, she grabbed the next card, reading its contents. “Before you met me, who would you say considered you to be their BHFF?” Avery looked up, adding, “Which, for those who don’t know, means ‘Best Hawthorne Friend Forever’.”

“Hmmmm,” Xander hummed, considering the question. “I don’t—well? Hmmm. I guess Bex? Probably?”

“Deceptive.”

It’s a hard question,” Xander added. “I grew up with her, but she spent more time with her sister than me. Usually, anyway. Definitely not Thea though.”

“Definitely not,” Avery agreed. “Would you say you're the most talented of your brothers?”

“No,” Xander said quickly.

“Deceptive,” Lou said again.

“Oh!” Avery laughed at the same time Xander said, “What?”

“That’s crazy,” he added, shaking his head. “I think we’re all tied. We have different strengths, so a broad assessment can’t be made.”

Asking the follow-up on the card, Avery read, “Do you think you could beat them in a head-to-head contest of wits?”

“Yes.”

Lou nodded. “Truthful.”

“Wooow,” Avery dragged out. “Look at you being all confident.”

Xander grinned wolfishly. “It’s a talent, I know.” Both of them laughed as Avery grabbed the next card.

“Okay, who’s the least athletic of the bunch?”

“Oh God,” Xander breathed out after a short pause. Then, he laughed, as the camera zoomed in on his face. “I don’t know.”

“Really? You don’t think you could decide?”

“I can’t do that,” Xander said, shaking his head. “I think no matter who I said, I’d get jumped.”

Avery laughed. He wasn’t wrong, either. Not that she was going to say that on camera. “You once worked with Mark Rober and Marques Brownlee, MKBHD, on a YouTube series called ‘Practically Impractical Engineering and Tech’.”

“Yes.”

“Would you ever want to work with them again?”

“Yes,” Xander confirmed again.

Both of them looked over to Lou.

“Deceptive.”

Gasps rang out from both Avery and Xander before they burst into laughter.

“Oh!” Avery exclaimed, her eyes going wide as Xander cut her off.

“What? That’s crazy,” Xander said, still shaking his head. “The machine lies!”

Once she managed to get control of herself, Avery grabbed another card from the stack. “If you had to take over ‘The Grandest Game,’ would you do it?”

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Xander agreed quickly.

Avery raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’d do it all by yourself.”

“It’d be great.”

“Oh.”

“I like having total control over death-defing traps and puzzles.”

Avery laughed. “I don’t think that’s the point.”

“No, it is.”

Shaking her head, Avery looked into the camera. “I feel like for legal reasons I need to clarify that none of the players in ‘The Grandest Game’ are in mortal danger.”

Xander gave her a look. “Wellll, there was that one time…”

“And we handled it!” Avery cut in before he could go any further. Alisa would have their heads if he shared any more than that. “And that was not the intention of the game.”

“No, no, of course not,” Xander agreed. “You know, unless it was.”

“Xander!”

“I’m just saying! Maybe that’s what we need to up the stakes! Traps that might just be perilous if you don’t solve the puzzles in time! Swinging axes, lasers, the works!”

“Okay,” Avery laughed, shaking her head. “I can’t do this.” Xander had a shit-eating grin on his face as Avery grabbed the next card. “Oh, I already know the answer to this, but when was the last time you actually called to make a dinner reservation?”

“Never. I don’t do that.”

“I don’t think you ever have,” Avery said as Xander made a face at the camera.

“Yeah, literally,” Xander joked. “If I wanna make a reservation I have to call and pretend to be someone else.”

“Well, you don’t have to.” Avery laughed. “That’s just something you choose to do.”

“I can’t let the people know my true whereabouts!” Xander said. “You never know who might be trying to track me down. I have lots of enemies, you know.”

Snorting, Avery rolled her eyes. “Right, right. Of course.” She reached for the next card, her eyes going wide. “You tried to break into the Met Gala?” Avery asked, looking up from the card she was reading off of, her eyebrows raised incredulously.

“Break in is such a strong phrase,” Xander responded, glancing to the side. “I prefer to say I was dramatically entering somewhat unexpectedly.”

Avery didn’t believe that in the slightest. “How? Why? When? Wait, how have I not heard about this?”

Xander shrugged. “You see, I actually had been invited, this was last year by the way, but I had told them I couldn’t make it.”

“Right, as one does.”

“But at the last minute, I decided that I did, in fact, want to attend. So naturally, I reached out to my insider connections and had them sneak me in through the staff entrance, where I then pretended to be a photographer for a bit before walking onto the carpet.”

Avery couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “And that worked?”

Xander grinned. “Of course it did. But you see, Anna Wintour was, let’s just say, less than pleased about my entrance and asked me to leave. But I was there!”

“Truthful,” Lou added.

“How did I not see this? Or hear about it?”

“That, my dear friend, was the work of none other than your lawyer and publicist. They worked with Vogue’s team to get it scraped from the internet. That, and I was told to not breathe a word about it. So I didn’t!”

Avery rubbed the bridge of her nose. “I actually can’t believe you. You’re insane.”

“I prefer the term eccentric.”

“Nope, you’re insane. Nuts. Crazy.”

Both of them laughed. When they’d finished, Avery asked the last question. “Did you lie at any point during this interview, and we didn’t catch you?”

“Yes.”

Avery raised a brow, but Xander just smiled at her, not offering up anything else. “Then I guess you’re done.”

“Cool,” Xander said, laughing.

“I think you did good.”

Xander grinned. “Thanks.”

“I’m nervous,” Avery laughed.

“I’m really nervous, I’ve sweat so much into these things, I don’t think they’re usable,” he said jokingly, referring to the machinery on his hands.

Avery’s nose wrinkled. “Ewww, are those the same ones I have to use?”

“Look at them, there’s a hand print!”

“They are,” Lou confirmed.

“Ew!

✧

Avery was now set up on the other side of the table, facing a Xander who looked all too pleased to be the one with the question cards. She liked to pride herself on her poker face, but she had a feeling Xander was going to do everything he could to get her to break it.

“I’m getting like, spikes,” Avery said, glancing at the polygraph.

“I’m gonna ask you a few questions to calibrate the machine.”

“Okay.”

“Is your full name Avery Kylie Grambs?” he asked, as if there hadn’t been a whole puzzle in Hawthorne House revolving around it.

“Yes.”

“Are you from Connecticut?"

“Yes.” Avery said, before laughing. “Everything I’m saying feels like a lie, is it registering as a lie?” she asked Lou.

Lou shook his head. “Nope, you’re doing fine.”

“Are you about to take a polygraph test?” Xander asked.

“Yes.”

“Are you nervous?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know,” Avery said, laughing. “Now that I’m hooked up to a machine, I’m like, ‘I can’t lie,’ and I’m nervous. And it’s like, how often am I just lying through interviews? I don’t really think I lie, so I shouldn’t be nervous about this.”

Xander grinned. “I always thought you had quite the deceptive face.”

They both burst into laughter.

✧

“When you went on Alex Cooper’s podcast, ‘Call Her Daddy,’ you said you thought your lawyer used to hate you.”

“Mmm hm.”

“Why?”

Avery laughed. “I mean, you were there! I had no idea what was going on and was too stubborn to let that stop me. She spent probably that whole first year cleaning up messes I was making and then some. I’d be shocked if a part of her didn’t hate me.”

“She grew up with Hawthornes, you really weren’t that bad in comparison,” Xander said.

Avery shrugged. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean I was easy. I think a part of her was tempted to let me screw up and lose the inheritance just so she wouldn’t have to deal with me anymore.”

“Truthful.”

Both Avery and Xander burst out laughing. “Sorry, this feels like Alisa slander,” Avery added. “I love and appreciate my lawyer very much. I just also think she’s been sick of my shit since day one.”

“It’s okay, we all are,” Xander deadpanned.

“Woah! That was uncalled for!” Avery exclaimed.

Xander shrugged, not looking apologetic. “You famously yelled at a reporter who made a derogatory comment toward our friends Bex and Thea.”

Avery nodded. “I did.”

“Did you anticipate a screenshot of the video becoming a meme?”

“No! What?” Avery said, laughing. “Why would I expect that?”

“Why not?”

“That wasn’t helpful. But no, obviously the last thing I expected from that encounter was a picture of me yelling at the guy to go viral. I didn’t realize the interaction was particularly ‘meme-able’,” Avery continued.

“True,” Lou said.

“You’ve actually had several moments go viral in the last few years. Do you have a favorite?” Xander asked.

“Hmm. I don’t think so, no,” Avery said after thinking for a moment.

“Deceptive.”

“Ah ha!” Xander exclaimed. “I knew it! Fess up Avery, it was when you knocked over a croquembouche tower on Good Morning America, wasn’t it?”

“What? No, it definitely is not that,” Avery said.

“Deceptive,” Lou repeated.

Avery whipped toward him. “Seriously? This machine is broken,” she laughed.

“Avery, Avery, Avery, don’t fight what you know to be true,” Xander teased. “Everyone knows that your crime against pastries was the best thing to come out of that holliday segment. I think we even put it on the Christmas card.”

Letting out a groan, Avery put her head in her hands. “I know you did. And it was awful. It even got Grayson to laugh, so that’s how you know it was bad. I genuinely don’t think I’ll ever live it down.”

“You had to play Singing Charades with Olivia Rodrigo when you went on Jimmy Fallon a few months ago,” Xander read off the card. “Do you still keep in touch?”

Avery laughed, recalling the memory. “We do! Not extensively, but we’ll check in with each other every now and again. Olivia’s great.”

“Truthful.”

“Is it true she’s working on her third album?”

Avery smiled and shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”

“True.”

Xander groaned. “Dang, I was hoping that would get you.” He then slid over a photo of Avery and Max from a charity gala they’d gone to together. “Is this person your best friend?”

“Yes.”

“Are you jealous that she’s met Sir Paul McCartney and you haven’t?”

Avery blinked. “I’m sorry, she what?”

“Met Sir Paul McCartney,” Xander repeated.

“No, I heard you the first time,” Avery said, shaking her head. “I just, when?”

Xander grinned. “Not important. Also, aren’t I supposed to be the one asking questions?”

“Ugh, fine. And, I guess so? Although I’m only just now learning this happened.”

“Truthful.”

“Is it safe to say Max is a more responsive texter than you?” Xander asked.

“Yes, she’s a much better responder.”

Xander grabbed the next card and grinned. “You’ve kissed one Hawthorne brother on camera, and it happens to be one you’re not dating. Do you have plans to fix this?”

Avery choked on her own air. “Is that seriously what it says? You totally just made that up!”

Xander shrugged and said, “I ask the questions, you answer them. So, do you?”

“No.”

“Deceptive.”

Avery’s brows furrowed and she flipped Xander off where the camera couldn’t see it. “I don’t! Although I will say I’m surprised I haven’t kissed Jameson on camera yet. Are we sure that’s true?”

“The cards don’t lie Avery, the cards don’t lie.”

“Yeah, but you do.”

Xander just winked. “Moving on. Earlier this year, you and Juliet Grayson, Gigi for those who know her, crashed a gay bar in London, where according to onlookers, she tackled you.”

“Yeah.”

“During a drinking game. Can you confirm or deny this happened?”

“Confirm.”

“Tackled you?”

Avery laughed. “Well, I don’t remember what either of our headspaces were at the time, we were in a bar. But it must have seemed prudent at the time.”

“Hmm.” Xander looked thoughtful. “Personally, I love a good tackle. When was the last time you tackled someone?”

Avery had to think for a moment. “Ooh, I don’t know? Probably Jameson when we were in Bali? He was playing keep-away with my sunglasses.”

“You talk about your dislike for romance novels. Do you have a particular author who caused this?

Avery shook her head and laughed. “No, I just don’t really care for the genre. They never feel realistic, I guess.”

“Because your relationship with my brother is super realistic.”

“That’s not fair!” Avery exclaimed. “It’s not as though I planned for any of this to happen. It just sort of did.”

“Right. So, like a romance novel.”

“You’re impossible.”

Xander grinned. “You’ve had to meet a lot of important people in the last few years.”

“I have.”

“Have you ever forgotten who someone was and pretended you knew?”

Avery nodded. “Yeah? I mean, who hasn’t done that?”

“Truthful.”

Grabbing the next card, Xander read off its contents. “You have somewhat bad luck when it comes to getting beverages spilled on your clothes at events. Notably, one of these incidents was at a gala last year where Jameson knocked into Grayson who then spilled red wine onto your light blue Oscar de la Renta gown.”

“Mmhmm.”

“Do you hold a grudge against him for it?”

Avery laughed. “No, but I think Alisa might. I was just happy it meant I got to leave early.”

“That’s true,” Lou said.

Xander hummed. “Really? So you’d let him do it again if it meant you got to leave?”

“Wellll.” Avery at least attempted to look sheepish. “Maybe?”

“Deceptive.”

“While you were putting together last year’s Grandest Game, you lied to a customs official about attending your friend’s wedding because you didn’t have a work visa. Do you typically lie to government officials?” Xander asked.

“No.”

“Deceptive.”

Avery and Xander both laughed. “Have you ever lied to me?”

“Absolutely,” Avery said without missing a beat. Xander had the audacity to look scandalized, which just made Avery laugh again. “Oh come on, like you can play anything in Hawthorne House only telling the truth.”

“I’m wounded, Avery,” Xander said while dramatically clutching his heart. “I thought we were better friends than that.”

Avery shrugged. “I guess you thought wrong.”

Xander mock pouted. “Fine. How about this, if I asked you to withhold information from the FBI to cover for me, would you?”

“Hmm, depends on what you did,” Avery said. Xander laughed.

“Do you think you could get away with lying to the FBI?”

Avery shook her head, saying, “Oh, not a chance. My poker face might be good, but it’s not that good.”

“Truthful.”

Xander grabbed the next card. “Recently, you attended a celebrity golf tournament where you ended up making a hole in one. Did you train for the event, or was that just pure luck?”

Avery laughed, shaking her head. “Oh my God, it was totally luck. I honestly still can’t believe it happened. I’ve never seen Jameson look so surprised before,” she said. “He even asked me if I’d had them rig it.”

“Did you?”

“No! It just went in! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to pull something like that off ever again. It was a one time miracle.”

“Would you consider yourself a lucky person?”

Avery shrugged. “I mean, I feel like I have to, don't I? Good luck and bad luck, but I don’t think I can deny how much of it I have.”

“True.”

Xander laughed, nodding. “Okay, and now, did you lie at any point during this interview?”

“Yeah, I lied multiple times during this interview,” Avery said.

Both of them laughed before the cameras cut. “Woo!” Xander exclaimed. “We did it! We lied!”

“To lying!” Avery raised her hand to give him a high five, once the machinery had been removed. As far as interviews go, this had definitely been on the more entertaining end, and Avery had several follow up questions for Xander. But getting him to answer truthfully, might just pose a challenge.

[purpley-pear]

Grayson Hawthorne Lets the Ice Crack While Eating Spicy Wings

summary: when jameson causes some late night chaos, grayson's the one left paying the price. a very, very, spicy price (and no, not that kind) surely the ice king can handle some wings? a/n: first fic on here! this is totally just for fun, but it was kinda cool to try and peek inside grayson's head for a bit. def would love to do more of these, so please send in any requests if you have them! wc: 4504

“Hey, what’s going on everybody? From First We Feast, I’m Sean Evans, and you’re watching Hot Ones. It’s the show with hot questions, and even hotter wings. Today we’re joined by Grayson Hawthorne, he’s a billionaire’s grandson, current head of two philanthropic foundations, and according to the internet: a total heartthrob. He’s here today, which leads me to believe we might just be able to see if that assessment is accurate. Grayson, welcome to the show.”

Grayson had no idea why he was doing this. Correction, he knew exactly why he was doing this, but that knowledge didn’t make him any happier. Alisa had been adamant about one of the Hawthorne brothers going on the show to generate some positive publicity after Jameson’s latest stunt, but Grayson hadn’t exactly volunteered for this.

And what, exactly, had that stunt been? Street racing one of their late grandfather’s sports cars at three in the morning.

Like a complete and total moron.

Naturally, Grayson had assumed that Alisa would make his dearest younger brother be the one to make up for the PR nightmare caused by the photos from the late night escapade. But no. Jameson was with Avery in Madrid right now, helping with a local university’s charity organization. Which left Xander, Nash, and Grayson himself.

Nash was a no-go, citing the need to take care of his twin daughters while Libby was busy catering a massive order of cupcakes for a gala. Grayson won’t hold that against him because after all, he too has a soft spot for his nieces. Xander had been initially game for the idea of going on Hot Ones, but after being knocked out this morning by a nasty cold, Grayson became the only brother left standing.

Which left him here: seated at a table across from Sean Evans, with a platter of hot wings and sauces lined up in front of him, dressed in a gray Armani suit, and his blond hair styled to perfection.

“Thank you for having me,” Grayson responded, offering a wolfish grin that he typically saves for interviews like these.

Sean started the interview off and asked, “How are you around spicy food? I know you and your brothers are known to be somewhat of world travelers, so I can only assume your palate is more refined than most.”

With a casual shrug, Grayson nodded. “I’ve been to my fair share of countries that employ more spices than we see here,” he said. “I’d like to think that’s given me a high tolerance for spice, and I’ve grown to like Indian food, which isn’t always mild.”

That much is true. Their grandfather had always been insistent on him and his brothers trying the local cuisine of wherever they traveled, and after a trip to Mumbai, Grayson found himself occasionally craving rogan josh, a type of lamb curry.

“So you’ve got some experience then,” Sean said, smiling. “Let’s see how far those travels take you.”

The cameras cut and the production crew has him move to sit next to Sean so they can get a shot of them clinking their cups together.

✧

Taking a bite of the first wing, Grayson made sure to keep any of the sauce that had been put on it off of his face. The last thing he needed is a photo of him with hot sauce around his mouth going viral.

Swallowing the bite, Grayson said, “You’re starting me off easy, Sean. It’s not bad, but it hardly has any warmth to it.” The first sauce is a Hot Ones branded “The Classic Hot Sauce: Chili Maple” which is sweet, with just a hint of spice. It’s decent, in Grayson’s opinion.

“So you turned twenty-two years old not that long ago, and as a teenager you were leading The Hawthorne Foundation, a charitable organization founded by your grandfather, and now you find yourself helping heiress Avery Grambs in her endeavors with the Hannah the Same Backward as Forward Foundation. Those are no small tasks for someone as young as you, so is this what you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life? Or is there another avenue you’d like to pursue?” Sean asks.

Grayson has to stop himself from raising an eyebrow at the question. It’s not often he gets hit with one as genuine as that right off the bat. “That’s a great question,” he started. “My grandfather left behind a legacy as a philanthropist. While Avery Grambs may be who he chose to directly carry on his legacy, I believe that my brothers and I were raised to not only continue to shape what he left behind, but to cultivate our own legacies. I may not choose to head these organizations forever, but what I do know is that everything I do will be to make a mark that will outlast myself. When you’re born into a position like the one I have been, you get a unique opportunity to make real change in the world, should you so choose to do so. It would be remiss of me to ignore that, so no matter what I do, I’ll strive to make a positive impact.”

The next hot wing is covered in a sauce called “Curry Verde” from the La Pimenteri brand. “The flavor of this one is good,” Grayson admitted as he swallowed his first bite. He hadn’t eaten much before arriving, knowing he’d be eating his share of wings on the show, so he wasn’t mad that so far the flavors of the sauces weren’t terrible.

“Right? Some Thai Green Curry hot sauce for you. Does it do the name proud?”

Grayson nodded, flashing a grin at the camera. “It does. I might have to snag a bottle of this for my brothers to try.”

“Oh yeah? Get them in on the action? Are they as good as you at handling spice?” Sean asked.

A slight smile crossed Grayson’s features as he spoke. “I’ll let you in on a little Hawthorne brothers’ secret: Jamie is the worst of us when it comes to spice tolerance. He’ll act high and mighty about it, but ultimately he just can’t handle it.”

Sean let out a laugh, raising his eyebrows. “The Daredevil Hawthorne himself is defeated by some spice? Is that why he’s not here today?”

“It might be,” Grayson offered with a shrug that insinuated it was. It absolutely was not why Jameson wasn’t here today, but Grayson wasn’t in the mood to do him any favors.

“It seems he’ll have to come on here to prove this rumor incorrect then, won’t he?” Sean said. Continuing, he asked, “On the subject of your brothers, you all hold seventeen different high school state championships between you. Four of those are ones you earned in swimming, with another two in golf, those last two titles shared with your aforementioned brother Jameson. Are you all just naturally gifted in sports, or is there some sort of secret training you go through as the grandsons of a billionaire?”

Grayson didn’t bother to stop the laugh that escaped him in the form of a sharp exhale. “You could say that,” he mused, his gray eyes glinting. “Every year on our birthdays, our grandfather had us choose a skill to cultivate for an entire year. While we could select anything, more than once we opted for a sport. It’s likely a byproduct of our naturally competitive nature as brothers; when presented with the opportunity to one-up one another in something, we take it. After all, there’s nothing more Hawthorne than winning.”

✧

“Zesty Lemon Pepper,” Grayson read before taking a bite of the next wing. It definitely had more of a kick than the last one, but still nothing crazy.

“I’m gonna pivot to something that may be lesser known about you, which is your photography skills. You have some of your work on display in the lobby of the Hawthorne Foundation, are a two-time Nikon Photo Contest winner, and a one-time Leica Oskar Barnack Award winner. What got you into photography, and how has your artistic eye shaped who you are today?”

Grayson hummed appreciatively. He’s unable to recall another interview where he was asked so in depth about his work. “It seems you’ve done your homework. I picked up photography when I was seven, and it’s been a constant in my life ever since. It happened to be the skill I chose to cultivate that year, and the art of capturing the perfect shot was something I couldn’t put down. My particular niche is capturing human emotion and connection in its purest form, meaning I aim to show the entire range of what humanity feels—whether that be joy, pain, fear, triumph, exhaustion, anger, relief, all of it. There’s a unique balance of challenge and growth that has driven me to continue to improve my photography skills. As for how it’s shaped me, having the chance to see humanity in all of its forms, both beautiful and ugly, is one that I’ll forever appreciate. I’d like to think it’s made me the man I am today.”

“Do you think people are surprised when they learn you’re a photographer? From the outside, it seems to contrast your image of an untouchable, Hawthorne heir, but you seem to identify with it a lot,” Sean asked.

It wasn’t a secret how Grayson was perceived by the general public. It’s an image carefully crafted, wall after wall, mask after mask. But for him, photography has always been where he’s found himself being the most honest. The camera didn’t lie, after all.

Grayson said as much to Sean. “I believe everyone has a side, or sides, to them that others won’t see or understand. To ignore the possibility of complexity within another person when looking at them is the equivalent of diminishing them to the most obvious parts of themselves. My photography is honest. It isn’t staged, it is art in its rawest form.”

Sean nodded, and they moved on to the next wing. The label on the bottle read, “Chile Lengua De Fuego: Chicho-Ghost,” and Gryson could feel the heat in his mouth. “De Fuego,” he commented, swallowing down the bite. “That’s encouraging.”

Sean laughed. “As hot sauces get hotter, the labels turn into warnings. Clearly they don’t want any liabilities.”

“Clearly,” Grayson agreed. So far everything had been going well, but still he had every intention of making Jameson pay for making him do this.

“Touching a bit on your public image, your current status online is that of a heartthrob, despite your otherwise described ‘icy’ demeanour. Do you take any of this to heart, or is all just background noise to you at this point?” Sean asked.

Grayson was honestly surprised it had taken this long to get a question about it. Usually interviewers go straight for the subject and rarely touch on anything else. “It’s background noise,” Grayson stated. “I don’t put much stock in rumors, nor about what’s being said about me online. People are entitled to their own opinions, and as a public figure I’m subjected to being the center of more than a few of those, but at the end of the day, they’re just that: opinions. Theoretically, I suppose, I could let it feed my ego, but that’s never going to matter as much as what those who are actually close to me feel. I don’t exist to be the subject of conversation, whether that be positive, or negative.”

“That’s a good outlook to have, especially for someone your age,” Sean told him. “Although, I will admit that we here at First We Feast had a scroll through your Instagram feed, and I have to say, the comments are wild. I won’t torture you by reading through them, but that’s got to be kind of a crazy experience, to have so many people ‘thirsting’ over you, for lack of a better term.”

Grayson rolled his eyes at that, his lips curling in a small smile. “I’m not in the habit of looking at my comments for that exact reason. I won’t feign ignorance about what’s being said, but ultimately I tend to not take much stock in it.”

✧

“Los Calientes: Rojo,” Grayson read off after taking a bite. His lips burn, a tingle not entirely unfamiliar but a significantly more intense heat than any of the sauces he’d tried prior. “This one’s warm,” he admitted.

“Just warm? C’mon Hawthorne, you might have some ice in you but I can tell it’s starting to melt,” Sean responded.

With a shrug, Grayson said, “I’m not sure if acknowledging the heat is a good or bad thing; if you should block it out or just let it happen.”

“I think you bask in it, you know? I think you just let it burn. Speaking of uniquely singular experiences, you know like Hot Ones is like that, you know, while you’re here you might as well soak it in.”

‘I suppose that’s true.”

“So, your brother Xander is a self-proclaimed scone connoisseur, and a year ago The New York Times published his power rankings of scones throughout all major US cities and he rates them all on a proprietary one-to-five scoring system of flakiness, freshness, flavor, density, and presentation. Do you agree with his system for judging scones, and do you have a food you’d go to such lengths to rank?”

This. This is the question that has broken him. Countless hours of interviews and PR practice and this, the question about his youngest brother’s scone scoring system is what’s gotten him. For the first time in any interview, Grayson doubled over in laughter, setting the palms of his hands on the table. It took a few moments for Grayson to compose himself, and when he did, Sean was grinning widely at him.

“It’s ridiculous, is what it is,” Grayson said, unable to keep a smile off of his face. “But it is so uniquely Xander that I think I just have to agree with it. I won’t call myself a scone snob, but I do know a good scone from a bad scone—a skill Xander has made into all but an art. Although I have to say I don’t think there is a food I would even attempt to go to those lengths to measure. Not to mention the amount of time that would take.”

“So you agree with your brother’s scone mastery then?”

“I do. I don’t know anyone who could contest it.”

“All right, are you ready to move on? Second half here,” Sean said.

With an exhale, Grayson nods. “All right.”

“So kicking things off, we've got the Spicy Shark.”

Grayson could feel the heat immediately as he bites into the wing, and he has to force himself to actually taste it instead of swallowing it down immediately.

“Kind of sweet up front, and then—”

“Then it comes in,” Grayson finished. “I initially thought I grabbed the wrong wing, but I did not.”

“No, you grabbed the right one,” Sean says, and they both laughed a bit as the heat hit them in waves. Grayson wasn’t close to tapping out yet, but he could definitely feel the impact the spice was having.

Not that he’d ever admit it, but he could feel himself starting to sweat in his suit.

“All right, as the second oldest of four brothers, you have a larger age gap with your older brother Nash than you do with either of your younger brothers. How has that impacted your dynamic with each other? Is it still the same, or do you have a different bond with him than you do with Xander and Jameson?”

“It is different, but I think that’s to be expected. Nash is six years older than me, while I have only a year and two years on Jamie and Xan respectively. I respect him immensely, I always have, and he’s a man that I look up to in my own life. Nash has been a steady, unshakable force, and that’s really only increased since he became a father. I find myself learning a lot from in, in ways I didn’t before, although that can more likely be attributed to my own stubbornness,” Grayson said.

✧

“Jalapeno Chico here,” Sean read off.

Grayson attempted to let the heat wash over him, and just acknowledge it, but the spice was a lot more intense with this one than the one prior. “All right,” he managed to get out, letting his eyes close for a moment. “I’m competitive, I won’t go out, not now.”

“You got it, you’re there. Just let it sit there.”

“So, in the vein of you being competitive, there’s something I need to know,” Sean started. “I’ve only heard rumors about this, so you’ll have to confirm it for me, but if my sources are to be believed, then there exists a competition between you and your brothers called a Drop? Care to explain what, exactly, this is?”

Grayson raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t at all what he’d expected to be asked. “Your sources? I have to admit, you’re the first outside of the Hawthornes and Hawthorne adjacent group I’ve heard bring this up,” he said. “But to answer the question, a Drop is something you get challenged to at my grandfather’s ski lodge. It’s essentially a game of chicken, where your aim is to make it farther up the mountain on the ski lift than your opponent, not calling Drop too early or late. I won’t tell you how many bones have been broken, but I’m sure you can guess.”

Sean laughed. “I think I can. Have you broken any yourself, or is that something you left to your brothers?”

Grayson shrugged. “Who’s to say?”

Grayson had in fact broken more than one bone when challenged to a Drop, but there was no need for anyone watching to know that.

“This next chicken wing, on the topic of things that are dangerous, here we go: The Bomb. Beyond insanity.”

After he took barely a bite, the intensity hit him immediately. “Woah,” Grayson choked, clearing his throat.

“Yeah, immediately.”

“Right, I barely had it on my teeth and it hit me,” Grayson took a breath, the heat still rolling through his lips and mouth in waves.

“Yeah, and just be careful around the eyes,” Sean added.

Grayson nodded, “Got it.” Scratch his earlier statement, Grayson was going to make Jameson try this one. It tasted like hell on a chicken wing. It was awful.

A sharp exhale escaped him as Sean attempted to ask the next question. Realizing Grayson’s agony, he cut himself off, laughing slightly. “That’s good, this is the show, this is the show.”

“It is just sitting on my tongue right now,” Grayson said

“And keeps growing and keeps growing on you, like the worst is never over.”

After another moment, some of the heat began to subside and Grayson said, “All right.”

“Do you remember the first time you realized you were Grayson Hawthorne? Like, I’m talking, realized just how famous you are, and understood what that meant? I mean, growing up in the spotlight from such a young age is something so few people will ever truly experience. What was that like?”

Grayson opened his mouth to answer the question, but another wave of spice hit him and he coughed instead.”Oh my god,” he said, his voice getting slightly rougher. “That is insane. You willing do that every day. I mean, you’re getting paid for it, but still.” Grayson took a moment to let the heat pass as Sean laughed. “There isn’t exactly an exact moment, because in a way, I always knew. Growing up the way I did, with my brothers and grandfather, we were raised to be anything but ordinary. So the outside attention that comes from being a part of my family has always been there. It’s never been something I’ve considered living my life without.”

“Really? So you’ve never even thought about what your life would look like otherwise and just accepted it for what it is?” Sean asked.

Grayson nodded, and the heat still hasn’t diminished. “I am still trying to get through this sauce,” he said. “That is ridiculous.”

“I know, it only gets worse, it only gets worse.”

“But yes, I truly haven’t given it much thought. I tend to avoid spending much time considering what-ifs along those lines, because it only revolves around what hasn’t happened and what won’t,” Grayson added.

✧

The next bottle reads, “Alchemy Peppers: Hopp Sauce” and it was just as bad as Grayson anticipated it being. He forced himself to breathe through the fiery pain in his mouth, and the heat has made him warm all over.

“This is genuinely awful,” he breathed out, closing his eyes again. His skin felt warm, like his internal temperature was actually rising. It was ridiculous, he knew it wasn't, but still. This was shaping up to be one of the worse messes Jamie had gotten him into.

“You got it, you’re so close. Fourth quarter, you can do it.”

“I need you to know,” Grayson said, using all of his will power to push through the pain, “that I am winning a significant bet with my brothers right now.”

“Is that so? They didn’t think you could do it?”

“They had no faith,” Grayson agreed dryly.

“Underrated, underrated.”

“Come on, I told you I’m competitive,” Grayson said as the heat still flooded his mouth.

“So, earlier this week some photos of your younger brother Jameson went viral as he street raced an Aston Martin Valkyrie at the Texas Motor Speedway. Is this an activity that you’ve also partaken in, or is there something else you do to get the adrenaline going?”

Jameson is so dead when Grayson gets his hands on him. Alisa wasn’t going to be pleased that the little street racing incident had wormed its way into this interview, given that the whole point was to distract people from it. But who was Grayson to turn down a question?

With a wolfish smile, Grayson tried to swallow down the lingering flames in his mouth. “I won’t confirm nor deny that, as I’m not in the habit of incriminating myself. However, what I will say is that if I were to do so, I certainly wouldn’t get caught by the paparazzi.”

Sean laughed, eyebrows raising. “Oh? So what I’m hearing is that if you have, no one knows?”

“You could say that,” Grayson said with a shrug. “As for the second part of the question, I can’t say there’s really just one. Hawthornes don’t tend to turn down dares, so there’s very little I haven’t done in terms of adrenaline chasing. Although, if I had to pick a favorite, I’d go with skywalking at a stadium in London.”

Grayson didn’t bother elaborating on why that was his favorite, but he can’t quite keep the smile off his face at the memory of Nash’s bachelor party.

The last bottle of hot sauce is the Hot Ones: Apollo sauce. “I’m doing what you do,” Grayson said as he went to shake some of it onto his last remaining wing, although more than he’d intended came out, covering it in sauce.

“Oh, shoot,” Sean remarked as he did the same, but not being one to give up, Grayson just shrugged it off.

“Alright, whatever,” he said. “I’m showing out today.”

“Yeah, for real!”

Grayson held his wing out and nodded to Sean. “Salute.”

“Hey, what a run,” Sean said, holding out his own wing.

“Absolutely.”

“Look at us right now, who would’ve thought.”

With that, they both bit into their wings, and Grayson set it down with a bit of drama as he chewed. At this point, he wasn’t sure he could taste anything other than the spice, half convinced the rest of his tastebuds were already burned off. “Oh man.”

“I know, I know,” Sean started, “but it’s all over. Wings of death are behind us. And you know, when I was going through some articles about all of your achievements over the years, I can’t help but wonder what, for you, feels the most defining, so with your brain on fire, your mouth ablaze, hit some of your highlights, what you think has had the most impact.”

Grayson coughed, his eyes watering slightly. He doubted he’d be able to describe the taste of this wing if he tried, given the only thing his mouth was telling him was fire. “Yeah, I mean, I mentioned the charity foundations, and those really have been such a huge part of my life. Before my grandfather passed, I was working on a huge proposal to shift some of our internal spending at the Hawthorne Foundation, and that was something I’d started at seventeen.”

He had to swallow hard to keep the burning in his mouth at bay, and he could only hope that he didn’t look as awful as he felt. “But more recently, I’d say it’s something that doesn’t have to do with my achievements at all, and that would be my family. My brothers, Nash, Jamie, and Xan, my sisters Gigi and Savannah, and now all of the others that have joined our world, so Avery, Libby, and the twins. Learning from them has been a huge shift in my life, and I’d say that’s what defines it the most right now.”

“And you know what, I think you’re only going to add to the resume today, taking on the wings of death, living to tell the tale, and now there's nothing left to do but roll out the red carpet for you, Grayson Hawthorne,” Sean said, smiling. “This camera, this camera, this camera, let the people know what you have going on in your life.”

Grayson made eye contact with the camera and did his best to get it together, despite the heat that still threatened to burn the inside of his mouth off. “This year’s The Grandest Game goes live on October eighteenth, where my brothers and I, alongside Avery Grambs, will be kicking things off on Good Morning America, so stay tuned because you won’t want to miss it.”

There was a brief pause before the production crew started clapping, and Grayson watched as the cameras stopped rolling. Grayson coughed again, laughing slightly as his eyes watered.

“Nicely done, man, nicely done,” Sean said as he reached out a hand for Grayson to shake.

Grayson took it, smiling. “Never again. I’m not sure I’ll be able to taste anything for a while.”

Sean laughed. “Now you just have to convince your brothers to do it. You made it look easy.”

And make them he would. Xander would be no problem, and Jamie was too competitive to turn it down, spice tolerance be damned. But Nash may prove to be difficult. He’d have to go to Libby to convince him. Grayson was hardly above bribery via significant other.

But still. Never again.