Friend of a Friend

Rio Hoek / 38 / Co-Owner of the Herald, journalist & author

[rio-hoek]

maggiesommers​:

“All the fucking time.” She smiled a little bit before letting it fall and sitting back in her chair; turning it a little bit so she could face him. Her heart ached as he gave the usual apologies one does when someone loses someone. She tensed a little, which caused her to now sit up, and she released a breathe. “Thanks.” That’s all she felt like she could say to that. After all, what else was there to say? Maggie was amused as he started asking if she was working on anything new. “Wow, I get a whole conversation off the record, huh? Lucky me.” The woman teased before gesturing towards her laptop. “Fifth book in the series right now. What about you?”

.

Rio had always felt awkward talking about family business to others, especially because it has never been easy to talk about his own, so he was more than happy to move on from that talk and focus on what his life revolved around. "The last one was great, I think I have told you that before. I'm trying to see if I can make the jump into fictional stories, but I don't know I have always written about wars and interviews that it's a little odd. But I'm a little over politicians now, most of them, if not every one of them, are not worth giving them more attention, no matter what party they all think they know more than they do. Any suggestion from a successful writer?"

[rio-hoek]

maggiesommers​:

The question made her let out a laugh for a moment before she shrugged and cleaned up the mess. “From this, oh yeah. In general… I guess the polite thing to say is, yeah, I’m fine.” She turned and looked at Rio; sighing and releasing a breath she didn’t realize she was actually holding. “So, yeah, Rio. I’m fine.” She grabbed her mess and tossed it away before going back to her seat. “I read the article about my father. Nice job.”

.

Rio looked down "Don't you just hate polite sometimes?" He looked up and offer her a warm small smile "I think it was the less I could do, and since we are with the polite things, I guess its time for me to say the most cliché thing after what happened, but well, I'm sorry for your lost." He took a seat back at his table, but still decided to try to make some conversation with her "Are you working on something new? Off the record, of course, I'm not really into any Herald business today."

[maggierhodes]

location: Hilltop Café OPEN - @asteriastarters​

Maggie needed a little break and had to get out of the house so she went to the cafe that was basically like a second home to her growing up. She enjoyed Stevie and her grandmother when the woman was alive and it always felt nice to sit in there. It was a comfort place for her and that definitely hadn’t changed as she sat at the table she always had whenever she went in there and sipped her coffee. She had her laptop with her and was trying to focus on writing at least some of the fifth book in the Magnolia Grove series. However, nothing was coming to her and she really just stared blankly out the window and played with the ring on her finger. A chair sliding near her jumped her out of her daze and she moved quickly, knocking over her coffee cup and spilling it all over the floor. “Fuck.” She cursed and grabbed some napkins before putting them down and started cleaning the mess up.

[rio-hoek]

After everything that had happen Rio’s mind had been all focus on Asteria’s situation, leaving his own work to aside, but he figured he needed a break so he sat down at the table next to the window so he could look outside to the people, but the sound of cup knocking the floor caught his attention and bent down to help her out. “You okay?” He wasn’t sure if she had drop it for something more serious or just a clumsy moment, something that he was rather familiar of.

[siennadavino-deactivated2022092]

where: End of Summer Fest - boardwalk

who: open to everyone!! - @asteriastarters​

Sienna had truly never experienced anything like a Summer Fest before and she was taking it all in with a smile. She watched people; young and old; enjoying the various stalls, games, and activities. It was hard to believe the enthusiasm and as she wandered the length boardwalk before having to show up to volunteer at the food trucks. “So what’s better: the caramel apple or the cotton candy?” she asked aloud, finally pausing before where they were being served. “I feel like I can’t do both!” 

[rio-hoek]

Rio was walking around the festival trying to catch a much as he could, talking to people, so he could have some nice material for their editorial piece about it. He was a very happy man, cause he loved carnival food, even when he didn't eat it as much as he would want to. He looked at the woman next to her and smiled "That's quite a complicated question, I usually go for the cotton candy, but it all comes to how much sugar do you want in your system."

[rio-hoek]

steviexrivers​:

She nodded at his words. “That’s true. I don’t know if I’d go back to mine. It’d definitely depend. However, I like the system him and I have now and wouldn’t want to complicate things.” Especially for the twins. Plus, now she loved him like a close friend compared to a potential forever. “As long as their happy, it really doesn’t matter, right? And that goes for everyone.” She said before nodding and punching in the order to the computer. “Care to narrow the sweets down there, sugar?”

.

"I guess that's how everything works in life, right?" He looked down and smiled "We create or follow some rules and then just look how much we can bend them to find the balance of what works in each scenario to be happy." Rio was probably talking too much for the woman but it was the way he went when he was out with other people, just either mumble about things or went straight to work talks. "I'm down for suggestions there" He turned to look around seeing if there was anyone behind him that he was stealing time from but luckily for him, he could keep the conversation "If you don't mind an annoying undecided client that just knows that he wants coffee with something else to go with it, I will take all the options you think might be the greatest combination to go with my cup."

[briarrosefromthedead]

Michiel Huisman in The Invitation (2015)

[steviexrivers-deactivated202210]

open starter at Hilltop Café - @asteriastarters

It’d been a quiet day at the café so far and Stevie had sent a few of her employees home early and so it was her and just one other person at the moment. She was leaning against the counter reading a magazine when she looked up and saw someone standing there. “Sorry.” She smiled and put the magazine aside. “I’m still floored Ben and J.Lo are back together, you know? It’s just wild to me. Now we just need Brad and Jen and it’ll be like my teens all over again.” Stevie let out a laugh. “What can I get ya, darlin’?”

[rio-hoek]

Rio needed to get out of his office. He was in writer's block for both the newspaper and the new plot for a book. So he decided to get out for a coffee. He felt bad for interrupting how focused she was on the magazine, but when she talked about superstar gossips he couldn't help but laugh. "You know I always hurt the number one rule in relationships was to never go back with your ex, but they seemed to break that rule quite proudly cause everybody is talking about them and all I see is pictures of them kissing everywhere."  He giggled and looked around the menu "Okay so I can get the largest coffee you can give me, with something sweet."

[ariellexence]

rio-hoek​:

He smiled, it was nice to see how excited she was, it made him think of the first time he got to work on an investigation and how thrilled he had felt, but also just how obsessed he had felt and he wasn’t sure if Arielle would be the same as him but he figured to say something so she wouldn’t “I know you can make it and I know I said I didn’t have a social life, just know that you don’t have to stop having it because I do…” When she mentioned it the Mr. first and then correct herself he couldn’t help but smile. “I know you won’t. We’ll do this and is going to be great”.

…

Arielle let her eyes rest on him, tapping her hand against the folder. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She smiled as she moved towards the office door, reaching for the handle and turning it. She pulled the door open and stepped out, turning her head back towards him. “I’ll see you later. Have a good night!” She said as she walked out, shutting the door behind her.

END.

[rio-hoek]

ariellerutherfurd​:

Arielle tapped her fingers against the folder in her hand. This had been a dream of hers since she started journalism, being able to investigate something that was as important as this. It had her thinking back to the night in question, her first kiss with Ben and truly believing that most of them wouldn’t make out of that building alive. After everything she had dealt with previously, the death of her father and the fact her brother fled out of town after they buried him. “Rio,” she repeated softly as her chocolate colored eyes rested on him. “I can make all of this work,” although her social life was a little more butterfly like than most. She knew the amount of plans she would push back to have a few hours to discuss something like this. She smiled as she tapped her knuckles against the surface of his desk. “I won’t disappoint you, Mr…” She paused. “Rio.”

...

He smiled, it was nice to see how excited she was, it made him think of the first time he got to work on an investigation and how thrilled he had felt, but also just how obsessed he had felt and he wasn’t sure if Arielle would be the same as him but he figured to say something so she wouldn’t “I know you can make it and I know I said I didn’t have a social life, just know that you don’t have to stop having it because I do…” When she mentioned it the Mr. first and then correct herself he couldn’t help but smile. “I know you won’t. We’ll do this and is going to be great”.

[rio-hoek]

dilaraosman​:

Dilara sat across from him, holding her fork between her index finger and thumb as the tip of it brushed against her food. As each word came out of Rio’s mouth, the dark haired woman found herself hanging onto ever single letter because she understood where he was coming from completely. She moved her hand up towards the bandage on her arm, the one she had gotten when she was at the gym with Julian and the embarrassment she felt after she had begged him to sit in the room with her. She dropped her gaze to her food as she picked up a piece with her fork, nodding her head. “You’re right. Many of us tend to bite our tongue instead of speaking our mind,” she whispered as she brought the bite up to her mouth, taking it as she chewed. “You make it easy,” she smiled at him. “I’ll sign anything you want me to. You forget I work for a very powerful man,” she teased. 

-

Rio was afraid, but he really needed a new second opinion before he sends his new book to the publisher, his last advisor has left, and even when this was not his first book, he still felt like he needed a second option especially for the steamy scenes in the chapter, sadly there weren’t many people he trusts to know his secret and less female ones. “So here’s a thing…” He sighed “You know I write articles, I’m a journalist… that’s where people know my name, I have written few other things but…” He looked around and lower his voice “Here-here’s the thing I’m ac-tually a be-best seller author, people don’t know it, and I need someone, no, I need the female point of view before...before I send it, but the thing is, no-nobody knows I’m the one who writes them and I need to keep it that way.”

[rio-hoek]

ariellerutherfurd​:

Arielle held the folder in her hand as she kept her eyes on the man in front of her. She had a feeling the two of them had more in common then they were willing to admit. She chewed on her lower lip as she tapped her fingers against the folder. “I appreciate everything you do here, Mr. Hoek… and those are excellent words of advice.” She told him as she gave him a small smile. “Am I allowed to take these folders with me?”

-

“It’s teamwork, so it’s not just me is all of us, including you. And please since we’ll be doing this investigation together call me Rio.” He nodded “They are all yours, actually that’s your copy of what I have so you can make little notes or not, I just happened to write everyone and mark all the investigation papers I own, so I usually try to make a copy to keep clean and others for my investigation partner. If you find anything let me know, and if I find anything you, I will share it, also know that I barely have a social life so if you feel a little ad for calling me over a weekend or a Friday night, you can, because is very likely I would be working or doing something very boring.”

[rio-hoek]

natalia--waters​:

“Well that seems like a very good reason.” Natalia smiled, nodding slowly in recognition. “Me? I guess sort of something similar? There’s a lot going on right now. So I’m trying to make good mature choices of how to handle my stress. Hopefully my mind will be willing to reward me accordingly with a little more relaxation.” She jokingly held up a pair of crossed fingers to show Rio for a moment. They were both silent for a few seconds, the only noises being the soft crashing of waves as they reached the sand and a few seagulls calling out to their brethren. “Sp, how are you? I feel like it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to catch up.” They weren’t in any way close the way Rio was with her brother, but he was still someone she cared for.

-

“Need some help, you know saying things out loud to someone can make you find the answer you need.” When it came to Mark's siblings he cared a lot about them like they were his own family, so if there was any way he could help Natalia, he was going to do everything he could. “Good, you know me I’m boring and predictable, so most of the time there’s nothing really new in my life, I’m always just working. But you know lately, I feel like I should try figure finding some hobby, making more friends, or something else. I’m just haven’t figure out what to do or where to start.

[rio-hoek]

dilaraosman​:

Dilara kept her eyes on the man in front of her. Sometimes he inspired her to be more open about her feelings and the way he admitted to carefully writing the articles he did, it only proved to her how much more caring he was. “I think we should always stand up for ourselves and what we believe in despite what we think it will do to our reputations or relationships. At the end of the day the people who truly love and care about you won’t leave your side.” She reached across the table, taking his hand as she smiled towards him. “You’re too nice to me,” she gave his hand a squeeze, pulling back and lifting her gaze up to the waiter as he placed their food in front of them. “Bother me all you want, Rio.”

-

Rio smiled and looked down “I think that too, to be honest with you the reason why I became a journalist was that I was always better at putting my thought on a paper than actually saying it out loud, and also because I know there’s a lot of people than are afraid of saying when something is not right, and those people need someone to put their stories out there for the rest of the world to know. But I do have to be honest and say that there are other things, you get a little self-conscious with what the rest of the world might think or say about your work, you feel like you need to live to the expectation of the rest of the world and even when people say you shouldn’t care, you don’t want to disappoint anyone.” Even when he didn’t want, when she held his hand, he blushed a little. “Is nothing, you are nice to me too, so it’s a two-way street.” He laughed “Trust me you won't want it, it will end up on me making you sign like a confidentially paper and make you promise to keep a big secret for me for that to happened and not many people want that.” Truth was that even if he had never told the truth to Dilara of the thing he wrote and where most of his money truly came from, he also needed a new female view of his novels, but fear and embarrassment always made him doubt about even mention it.

[rio-hoek]

dilaraosman​:

“I’ll call you whatever you want me to call you, Rio.” Dilara smiled as she let her eyes rest on him. “If you’re asking what I want because I always get what I want… I don’t know what I want at this moment but the reason I’m still working for my current boss is because I want to be the stronger one… I want to be someone who doesn’t worry about losing their job because of their mouth.” She shrugged as she smiled at his next set of words. “I’ll bring you here any time you want,” she took a sip of her water.

-

Rio chuckled “Then never be a journalist, cause we always worry about losing my job, neck, and everything because of my our mouth or in my case pen, cause I suck when it comes to staying what I want freely. But if you feel like something is important to say, no matter how to worry you are to affect the other person, you should speak out, but only if is something you feel like you need to say.” He smiled “It’s okay if you don’t have everything figure out, you will know at some point. And you are there so you are being the stronger one, and I’m sure that you will get something out of all of this, even if it’s just experience, maybe one day you will own a team.” He laughed “I don’t think you want to make that promise or I will be bothering you all the time.” 

[natalia-hargrave]

@rio-hoek​

Location: Castle Beach

With how chaotic everything had been as of late, Nat found herself feeling a kind of pent up stress she hadn’t experienced in quite a long time. As tempted as she was to stay in and drink one too many glasses of wine or hook up with someone random, she knew those were bad ideas. Instead, the principal had gotten up at the crack of dawn to go for a run down on Castle Beach. The shore was quiet, hardly anyone awake at this hour let alone at the beach, or so she’d thought. But as Nat slowed to a jog and then a walk to take a water break, a familiar face came into view. “Rio? What are you doing out here so early?”

[rio-hoek]

Rio was having one of those nights where he couldn’t sleep, and if he stayed at home it suddenly got me even more anxious so he figured out why not go to the beach to just saw the sunrise and just enjoy some good food and watch the surfers go in for the best waves before the beach got full of people. He was sitting down hearing some radio on one of his earbuds and just reading everything in the newspaper when he heard a familiar voice, he turned to see his best friend’s sister, one of many, and smile “Natalia, I could ask you the same. I’m enjoying the view and just how calm things are here, at this hour, what about you?”

[rio-hoek]

mila-markov​:

“Wow that’s really fucking insightful.” Mila laughed at his comment about returning to your roots. Mila had always been a free spirit who wanted to see and experience as much as she could in this life and she spent a lot of time living in the moment, which often led her to poor decision making to be honest, but the idea of staying in touch with who she was and where she came from felt really beautiful. “I got to interview John Legend recently so that was fun but I think my favorite one ever was like, six or seven years ago back in Los Angeles. We had this policy at the station that we didn’t get to know who was coming in until the day of the interview if it was someone who was like, mega famous because they didnt want word to get out and have the place swarming with fans.” She glanced over at the coffee bar to see if their drinks were ready. “So one day I’m waiting for the interview to start and in walks Beyonce and I swear my jaw hit the floor. I was so star struck and that doesn’t really happen to me often.”

-

“Wow that sounds like quite a challenge, you must be a music and celebrity Wikipedia, to prepare an interview so fast.” He loved interviews too, and he had to admit he had been in moments like those, where you didn’t know if an interview was going to happen or not, or if you finally had to interview someone and they gave you around 20 minutes, nothing more and nothing less and you had to be ready for anything and everything. “So, you have interviewed everyone you have ever wanted, or do you still have some people you admire on your list. I’m sure your phone is like one big database of the most important press agencies.”

[rio-hoek]

ravenxwilkins​:

“Some time off, hm? Sounds perfect to me,” Raven purred, sliding her hand into his as she lead him to the back VIP rooms and walking into one of them and closing the door. Chuckling to his mumbling and slight stuttering, she nodded to his words and smirked. “I’m looking forward to reading these last two episodes,” she said, taking the drink that he ordered for her from him and taking a sip. “But first, let’s sit and I can help you relax more, baby,” she purred again, setting her drink aside as she sat herself down on the couch and waiting for him to join. “I want you to tell me more about these episodes.”

-

Rio would always feel goosebumps with Raven, she was like a force of nature, even then the way she talked was like a way to control any man on her path. He walked to her and sat down next to her, it was easy for her to say he could relax, and it should be easy for him to feel power over the fact that he was paying for her company, her guidance, but it was not the case. “I don’t want to ruin all, but Clara and Henry end up getting caught on very violent riots as they finally are able to publish all their investigation and uncover all the crimes, so all the rush of having no guarantees that they will go out, being far from home the excitement of everybody talking about their work and feeling like gods, the rush and adrenaline just make them fall for each other to release the tension to feel alive, safe even when the world around them is completely falling apart. So there a lot of sex and rush on it, and one big cliffhanger at the end.”