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[sundrifts]

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GONÇALVES   ,   𝘽𝙇𝙔𝙏𝙃𝙀  .   (   introduction   .   visage   .   musings   .   )

[pixiiewings]

　　♡　　“ i wouldn’t , ” georgia insisted .  “ you know me. you’re supposed to know me better than that. ” the certainty in her voice replaced with a desperate plea. supposed to. wanted her to. it wasn’t as simple as she made it sound, but georgia had always been heart over mind. “ i wouldn’t. i don’t. ” even with the part of her that blythe held, more than she had kept for herself, fractured — she couldn’t. “ i know how great he is. okay, i get not telling liza when she, like, hated him. or yourself if you were someone different. for the same reason. ” or pretty much anyone. “ but me ? maybe, ” she started, stumbling over her own shaky breath. “ maybe if you had talked to me about it, you wouldn’t have had to feel like that. it didn’t have to be a big thing with el and amelia. ”

amelia. a year ago. best friend . . . ex. “ and it would have been fine, “ she repeated, like if she saying it enough times would make it so. “ and maybe you guys could have actually become really good friends from it. you guys wouldn’t have had to keep being mean to each other and you wouldn’t have been mean to eliza tonight — ” this week ? timeline unconfirmed. “ because you feel bad. ” musa, however, well that was something she couldn’t wrap up in a neat little bow.

a problem for anthony, if you asked her. not because georgia was picking any side. both of them had hurt her. betrayed her each time she said the other’s name and received nothing but coldness. small, unnoticed. at least, explained away with good faith. all hitting her at once. death by a thousand cuts. but musa was anthony’s best friend. he owed him the explanation more so than an ex. “ i know, ” mumbled in response to the apology. she didn’t. how could she ? she had to beg for it, but blythe had granted her request, georgia couldn’t argue.

[sundrifts]

blythe’s  shoulders  slumped  even  further,  if  that  was  possible,  as  georgia’s  words  washed  over  her.  the  pain  in  her  friend’s  voice  was  a  physical  ache,  a  mirror  to  the  one  in  her  own  chest.  “ this  is  like  the  worst  thing  that  i’ve  ever  done,”  she  confessed,  her  voice  barely  audible.  “ i  thought  that  if  i  felt  this  way,  you  would  have  to  too.  that  you’d  see  me  as...  as  someone  disgusting. ” 

quickly, she threw  her  hands  up  in  frustration,  a  sharp,  jerky  motion  that  spoke  volumes  about  her  current  state  -  she’s  jumping  from  one  emotion  to  the  next.  “ i’m  not  being  mean  to  eliza  because  i  feel  bad !  i  don’t care what she  thinks  about  me ! ”  the  words  were  a  bitter,  angry  snap,  a  defensive  reaction  to  a  pain  she  couldn’t  quite  articulate.  “ i’m  angry  at  eliza  for  lying  to  me. ”  the  betrayal  was  a  fresh  wound,  one  that  stung  almost  as  badly  as  georgia’s  disappointment  in  her. 

she  doubled  over,  one  hand  clutching  her  stomach,  which  was  still  doing  somersaults.  the  combination  of  alcohol  and  emotion  was  a  toxic  cocktail,  and  she  could  feel  the  contents  of  her  stomach  threatening  to  make  an  appearance.  “ you  should  head back. i  want  to  be  alone  when  i  heave. ”  the  confession  was  a  pathetic,  miserable  thing,  but  it  was  all  she  had  left:  she  wanted  to  be  alone,  to  wallow  in  her  own  self-loathing  without  an  audience.

[sweetfridays]

♡ CAMILA MENDES wired

[strcngth]

musa took in a breath, humming, "i still love you too, blythe." it was impossible not to, after all they'd seen each other through, after how in love he had been. he was afraid that he may never feel that way about someone else again. "liza and i are close, but not like that." he told her, "i've just been trying to be there for her with all this shit." and being around her made him feel better, safer, but that wasn't something he could say out loud ( especially not to blythe ) or even just to himself.

"it's not stupid." when she moved closer and squeezed his arm, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders — first of all, she was probably pretty cold in just her pajamas. "i don't think i've ever looked at anyone the way i looked at you." musa murmured, "our relationship is... it's the only serious romantic relationship i've ever been in. i don't know what love even feels like outside of a what we had." it was his only point of reference. and even if he fell in love again, he knew it would be different than his relationship with blythe. you never forget your first love, that much was true, but it was especially hard to forget when your first love was blythe gonçalves. "and, for what it's worth, a relationship is the last thing on my mind right now," he admitted, "too much other bullshit keeps comin' our way."

[sundrifts]

musa’s  reassuring  words  settled  over  her,  spreading  neosporin  on  a  wound  she  hadn’t  realised  was  still  open.  his  arm  around  her  shoulders  was  a  familiar  weight,  a  comfort  she  hadn’t  known  she  needed  until  it  was  there,  pulling  her  back  into  his  gravity.  she  leaned  into  him,  letting  her  head  rest  against  the  solid  warmth  of  his  chest  for  a  moment,  her  eyes  closing  as  she  absorbed  his  confession. 

“ so  what  you’re  saying, ”  her  fingers,  which  were now intertwined  behind  his  back,  began  to  trace  idle  patterns  against  the  fabric  of  his  shirt. “ is  that  i’ve  completely  and  irrevocably  ruined  you  for  everyone  else ?  that  i’ve  set  the  bar  so  impossibly  high  that  no  one  else  will  ever  compare ? ”  she  tilted  her  head  back  to  look  up  at  him,  grin  wide.  “ i  think i might just want  that  on  my  tombstone. ”

[silcntfigvre]

the second blythe spoke, nic could not help the way their eyebrows raised. possibly in judgement, definitely in surprise. while nic was often not one to turn down a drink, this didn't feel like the kind of night to be drunk off your ass. clearly, whatever had happened earlier was too much, and blythe needed a bit of a distraction. "nice." nic said, watching as the plastic cup was tossed into the fire.

okay, so it was going to be that kind of night.

"yeah, seems like dionysus is favoring you tonight for sure." standing up, nic walked over to blythe and held her hand out for the girl to take. she may feel warm, but that didn't meant she was warm. in fact, she was probably the least prepared out of them all. "it's black. which means it matches anything, so you don't have to worry about it clashing. come on, we'll get it together." nic wasn't exactly the most stylish person in town, but who cares. hopefully not blythe. they really couldn't handle a text in the morning with her complaining that nic forced her into some ugly, uncle looking hoodie.

[sundrifts]

dark lashes  fluttered against  blythe’s skin as  her  head  lolled  to  the  side.  a  pout,  plush  and  dramatic,  bloomed  on  her  lips  at  the  mention  of  the  greek  god.  “ ew,  no,  not  him ! ”  she  allowed  nic  to  pull  her  up, fingers  laced  through  theirs  with  a  surprising,  loose-limbed  trust.  “ dionysus  is  all,  like,  about  crazy  parties  and  then  you  wake  up  and  you’re,  like,  a  dolphin  or  something. ” 

“ persephone  is  way  better ! ”  she  insisted,  her  voice  swelling  with  a  tipsy  passion.  “ she’s,  like,  the  queen  of  the  underworld  for  half  the  year,  but  she’s  also,  like,  the  goddess  of  spring ?  goals. ”  she  swayed,  a dance  of  inebriation,  her  free  hand  gesturing  vaguely  toward  the  star-dusted  sky.  “ or  aphrodite.  i  mean,  she’s,  like,  the  literal  goddess  of  love  and  looking  super  hot  all  the  time.  so  iconic. ”  her  heel  caught  on  a  gnarled  root  hidden  in  the  grass,  sending  a  little  tremor  through  her  frame  as  she  stumbled,  yet she still tries her  best  to keep  her  pace.  “ i  like  black,  so  thank  you !!! ”  the  exclamation  was  a  bright,  bubbly  burst  of  sincerity.  “ honestly,  if  i  knew  this  was  gonna  be  a  party,  i  would’ve  worn  something  a  little  better… i look like a two-year-old.”

[pixiiewings]

　　♡　　“ a y — a year ago ? ”  georgia didn’t really know what she had been expecting when she asked, but a year had been so out of the realm of possibility until it had left blythe’s lips. it pre dated all of this. the excuse she had been ready to give them. everyone is a little crazy right now. maybe they had been told to do it on new year’s eve like other people had been given tasks. pretty weird of tag, but so was murder ! or if it had been something they chose to do, they were under strict instructions to not tell georgia. nope ! every out she had tried to give them crumbled. “ you’re meant to tell me when you make a mistake. it’s what best friends are for. ” georgia told blythe everything. told anthony everything, too. assumed they were doing the same. had no reason to believe they weren’t. “ it would have been fine. ” maybe even something they could laugh at later, if it really had been under the circumstances blythe described.

valentine’s day, when he had taken wren on a date. georgia sat on his bed and they spoke about nerves for their first dates like they were sixteen again. how long had it been since blythe was in it ? did wren know ? it almost made georgia feel bad for being upset. until the sound of blythe’s voice saying his name hit her between the ribs. not just his name, formal like he was on trial. or someone meeting him for the first time reading his name off a sheet of paper. ant. a familiarity to it. of course, it was just georgia spiralling. it sounded no different than any other time she had said his name. “ you could have had anyone. ” the both could have. “ you’re smart. and gorgeous. and funny. you could’ve had anyone. why, blythe ? why him ? ” she had considered musa. at least, after a year and a few weeks, she had.

but georgia ? even standing in front of her, “ you haven’t even said you’re sorry, ” she pointed out, the last word catching in her throat. “ you’ve lied to me for a year, you can’t do it one more time ? ”

[sundrifts]

each  word was a  precise  hit  that  chipped  away  at  what  little  composure  she  had  left.  georgia’s  hurt  was  a  palpable  thing,  a  suffocating  blanket  of  disappointment  that  made  it  hard  to  breathe.  blythe  looked  small,  utterly  deflated,  her  shoulders  curling  inward  as  if  she  could  make  herself  disappear into the dirt.

“ i  did  want  to  tell  you, ” she  claimed,  her  voice  cracking, “ but i  felt  so  bad  about  myself  over  it,  i  didn’t  want  you  to  feel  the  same  way. ”  yeah, which is why she went back for round two ! “ i  felt  like  a  total  whore  and  i didn’t want you  to see me as that. that would  fucking  kill  me,  gia. ”  the  confession  was a  desperate  plea  for  understanding  that  she  knew  she  didn’t  deserve. 

georgia’s  question,  ‘why  him ?’,  echoed  in  the  hollow  of  her  chest.  why  him,  indeed.  she  didn’t  have  an  answer  that  would  make  any  sense,  not  to  georgia,  not  even  to  herself.  but  before  she  could  come up with an excuse,  the  final,  devastating  observation  hit.  you  haven’t  even  said  you’re  sorry. blythe’s  head  snapped  up,  her  eyes  wide  with  a  panic. “ of  course  i’m  sorry, ” she  choked  out,  the  words  thick  with  a  fresh  wave  of  tears.  “ god,  i  am  so  fucking  sorry. ”  the  apology  was  a  frantic,  messy  thing,  tumbling  out  of  her  with  all  the  grace  of  a  car  crash. “ i should’ve trusted you. ”

[loverzhq]

blythe's refusal to look at her stings, even if she had started the conversation doing the same. she doesn't understand how things got so fucked up, why it felt like everyone in her life was slowly slipping away, why some of those closest to her found it so easy to believe the worst over the truth. first, the castros with the funeral video. now blythe. who would be next?

"it's not an act," she turns to look at the other woman, a tiny shake of her head, "so is this it, then? you've just made up your mind about not believing me? nothing is going on between musa and i. nothing happened."

[sundrifts]

her  jaw  tightens,  a  subtle  shift  in  the  architecture  of  her  face.  she  finally  turns,  her  eyes  finding  eliza’s.  “ don’t  start, ”  the  words  are  firm  yet  quiet,  trying  not  to  draw  attention.  “ i  don’t  want  to  think  that  you’re  a  liar. ”  she  looks  away,  toward  the  other  partygoers  who  look  like  they’re worlds  away  from  blythe  and  liza’s  drama.  “ but right  now  my  vision  is,  like,  all  shark.  everything  is  red  and  i  just  want  to  bite.  so  trying  to  convince  me  of  anything  is  honestly...  pointless.  it’s  a  total  waste  of  your  breath. ”  blythe  runs  a  hand  through  her  own hair,  a  soothing  motion.  “ so,  we  can  talk  about  it  another  time. ”  in reality it  means  eliza’s  next  call  will  go  to  voicemail,  the  next  text  will  sit  on  read.  she  takes  a  step  back,  creating  distance.  “ honestly,  you  should  focus  on  something  else...  like  maybe  not  dying  tonight.  i mean, this  whole  thing  was  thrown  for  you,  wasn’t  it ?  and  i’m  assuming  by  you  know  who. ”

[strcngth]

he kept his gaze trained on the side of her face, illuminated by the orange glow of the flame and the light seeping from the cabin behind them, "yeah. yeah, i definitely get that. all the valentine's bullshit and this fucked up surprise party... whatever the catch ends up being." it was enough to keep him on the brink most of the time, teetering on the edge of his fear. he felt like sometimes the stress was practically seeping out of his skin.

musa frowned and furrowed his brow then, shaking his head, "i don't think you're stupid, blythe, why would you say that?" her tone made him stand up straighter, shoulders tensing. he relented just a little, not outing what he knew or how, but acting as if he was simply picking up on context clues, "if this is about... me holding liza's hand, we're just friends." though, the words somehow felt wrong on his tongue, "we thought we were about to get murdered or something inside. wouldn't be the craziest twist."

[sundrifts]

“ it  just  made  me  feel  a  bit  shitty,  is  all. ”  blythe  admitted,  “ i  don’t  know... i  know  we’re  not  together  and  we’re  not  in  love,  but  i  still  love  you,  y’know ? ”  she  gave  a  slight,  helpless  shrug.  “ like,  obviously  you  don’t  owe  me  anything,  but  it  still  feels  like  a  slap  in  the  face  seeing  you  all  close  with  one  of  my  best  friends. ”

a  beat  of  silence  stretched,  taut  and  humming,  filled  only  by  the  crackling  of  burning logs  and  the  distant  whisper  of  wind  through  the  trees.  then,  the  smile  returned  to  her  lips.  she  leaned  in  just  a  fraction,  reaching  out  to  give  his  arm  a  gentle  squeeze.  “ it’s  stupid,  i  know.  but  my  brain  is  a  mushy  mess  right  now. ”  she  took  a  small  step  closer,  sighing  heavily.  “ i  just don’t  think  my  nerves  could  take  it  if  i  saw  you  looking  at  eliza the  way  you  used  to  look  at  me. ”

[blindedbystarshine]

closed starter for @sundrifts location near the campfire

humming to herself softly, paige looked up from her small notebook towards the fire. fire was always interesting to draw. sometimes she liked to imagine it like a dancer. the flames moving in ways that were like a person across the stage. smiling, she looked back down to her page, smoothing the flames out like they were a skirt.

soon enough she began the familiar curve of legs when she heard someone shuffle near her. looking up again, she caught sight of blythe. earlier the older woman had left the party quickly, anger trailing after her that had left paige a little confused. they may not have talked in years, but there was a time they were at least friendly. she could remember the brunette’s laughter ringing through the halls of their house when the two would study together.

paige didn’t hesitate for a moment, “blythe!” she called out but didn’t yell, just enough to catch her attention. moving to stand, she closed and put her little pencil and notebook back in her small bag before moving towards the other woman. “is everything okay? you seemed unhappy earlier..”

[sundrifts]

the  alcohol  she’d  consumed  was  a  dull  thrum  behind  her  eyes,  softening  the  world’s  hard  edges  into  something  more  manageable,  something  almost  beautiful.  she  was  just  beginning  to  feel  the  knot  in  her  shoulders  loosen  when  a  familiar  voice  cut  through  her  thoughts.  “ paigey ! ”  blythe  opened  her  arms  and  closed  the  distance  between  them,  wrapping  the  younger  woman  in  a  hug  that  smelled  of  woodsmoke.  she  held  on  for  a  moment  longer  than  necessary,  drawing  comfort  from  her presence.  when  she  pulled  back,  her  hands  lingered  on  paige's  arms,  hues  sweeping  over  her  with  an  appreciative  glint.

“ don’t  you  worry  about  me,  i’m  fine ! ”  a  well-practised  lie  that  sounded  convincing  even  to  her  own  ears.  she  waved  a  dismissive  hand,  “ i probably have cabin  fever  or  something.  but  look  at  you !  my  god,  you  look  frickin’  pretty  tonight. ”  her  head  tilted,  the  tipsy  curiosity  taking  over.  “ how  long  are  you  back  for ?  don’t  tell  me  you're  just  teasing  us  with  a  quick  visit. ”

[pixiiewings]

　　♡　　the physical tether she had kept to blythe all night snapped in one sharp move .  georgia stepped back, removing the hands from her shoulders. she stared at her best friend. waiting for a gotcha ! moment. or for the actual words to catch up to her ears. to fix what had gotten lost in translation. stared until the person in front of her eyes had become something unfamiliar. the way that a word starts to lose meaning when it lives on your tongue for too long.

georgia hadn't even processed the confession before mentions of their relationships with musa hit her ears. “ he’s my friend too ! ” she didn’t have the chance to muster a casualness to her voice. the raw whine held every bit of emotion that she would normally cover with a joke. “ my friend, ” she repeated. “ mine. you didn’t even like him. ” it wasn’t the act that georgia cared about. there was another universe where her arms wrapped around blythe with a squeal. two of her favourite people ! “ i couldn’t have you guys in the same room without worrying about you guys being awful to each other. ” which wasn’t ideal when they were the only two that had been voluntarily told about her family.

“ and then you were what ? just meeting up behind my back ? ” her own words taunted her. i know everything about you. between this revelation and the fight with eliza — did georgia know a thing about blythe ? “ how long ? ” she asked, as close to a demand as she could muster in her pathetic tone. “ you guys just spoke over my head like you think i’m stupid. ” a common opinion, but not from them. “ you owe it to me to tell me how long you’ve been doing that. ”

[sundrifts]

georgia’s  words  were  a  series  of  sharp,  precise  cuts,  and  with  each  one,  blythe  seemed  to  shrink.  the  frantic  energy  drained  out  of  her,  replaced  by  a  cold,  heavy  shame.  her  hands  fell  from  georgia’s  shoulders,  limp  and  useless  at  her  sides.  the  bravado,  the  drunken  certainty,  all  of  it  evaporated,  leaving  behind  a  girl  who  looked  small  and  lost.  her  voice,  when  it  finally  came,  was  barely  a  whisper,  as  quiet  as  a  mouse.  “ it  wasn’t  like  that… ”  she  insisted,  her  gaze  fixed  on  the  ground.  “ it  only  happened  twice. ”  she  shook  her  head,  a  miserable,  defeated  gesture.  “ first  time  was  maybe a  year  ago.  we  were  drunk  and  it  was  a  stupid  fucking  mistake.  it  meant  nothing. ”

she  swallowed  hard,  the  memory  of  the  second  time  a  blurry  fog  of  loneliness.  “ the  other  time  was...  was  before  valentine’s  day. ”  she  hesitated,  trying  to  grab  onto  a  detail,  any  detail,  that  made  it  sound  less  calculated.  “ ant  told  me  to  come  over,  so  i  did. ”  did  he ?  or  was  she  the  one  who  instigated  it ?  in  her  current  state,  she  couldn’t  be  sure,  but  this  version  sounded  better.  “ it  was  fucking  stupid, ”  she  repeated,  her  voice  cracking.  “ but i  was feeling  lonely. and i know that isn’t a valid excuse, but fuck - i made a mistake. ”

[pixiiewings]

　　♡　　georgia watched blythe’s hands gestured towards herself rather than their general surroundings at ‘ this ’ .  okay, maybe not about tag and the weird dollhouse ( them ) it seemed to be playing with. naturally the only other conclusion. “ no. ” not a scold or harsh correction. “ no, honey, no. you and musa were happy together. don’t say it like that. you’re not stupid. ”

blaming a relationship for existing in the past as a reason for pain now, it wasn’t the strangest conclusion that georgia had jumped to before. “ and, yeah, maybe it does do thing like this. it also does really great things. we’re like little puzzles. ” like she had just been talking about with william, how he’d always make smores the way charlie had taught him. “ and the people we love get to paint all the pieces. this is happening but so many good things happened too. ”

and would two of their dearests painting a few pieces for each other be the worst thing ? possibly not, but georgia knew better than to say that.

“ do you still love him ? like, in love love. ”

[sundrifts]

you  were  happy  together.  do  you  still  love  him ?

the  words  hit  her  like  physical  blows,  each  one  completely  missing  the  mark.  georgia’s  kindness,  her  attempt  to  frame  this  in  the  neat,  understandable  box  of  a  past  heartbreak,  was  so  utterly  wrong  that  it  short-circuited  blythe’s  drunken  brain.  the  sobbing  stopped  for  a  second,  frozen  by  sheer  disbelief.  then,  with  a  surge  of  desperate  energy,  blythe  grabbed  georgia  by  the  shoulders,  probably  a  tad  too  hard,  as  she  forced  her  friend  to  look  at  her,  to  see.  her  own  face  was  an  overflowing  river,  a  flood.  “ georgia, ”  she  gasped,  her  voice  a  ragged,  desperate  whisper  that  felt  louder  than  any  scream.  “ i  fucked  anthony. ”

the  confession  didn't  bring  relief,  only  a  fresh  wave  of  panic  that  crashed  over  her,  making  her  tremble.  “ you  can't  tell  anyone, ”  she  pleaded,  her  voice  cracking.  “ you  can't.  it'll  ruin  his  relationship  with  musa,  and  it'll  ruin  my  relationship  with  him,  too.  god,  gia,  i  don't  even  know  how  it  happened. ”  the  words  tumbled  out,  a  jumbled  mess  of  self-pity  and  terror.  “ you  can't  say  anything.  promise  me  you  won't  tell  anyone.  please ! ”

[eloiscbridgerton]

PARKER POSEY as VICTORIA RATLIFF THE WHITE LOTUS SEASON 3

[strcngth]

"hands full? with what?" he played dumb, having told liza that he wouldn't let slip that she told him about blythe's feelings about their friendship as of late, "like work...? i would call off work for you, if you needed me." he would do a lot for blythe if she needed him. even all these years later, there hadn't been a romantic relationship that had come close to what he'd shared with her. still, among everyone he surrounded himself with now, she knew the most about him — his brother's death, his family's inability to process things related to his brother, his crippling self-doubt and self-consciousness, some of the lies he told to climb the social strata. it scared him how much she knew about him, how much of himself he had trusted her with. those weren't things he had taken lightly and her feelings weren't something he would ever take lightly. he just hadn't anticipated that she still cared enough to be upset over the idea that he could have something going on with liza. "what's going on, blythe? are you alright?" he repeated, head tilting a little.

[sundrifts]

“ i'm  fine. ”  she  turned  her  gaze  back  to  the  fire,  letting  the  flames  lick  at  the  corners  of  her  vision.  “ just...  stressed  over  all  this  shit  going  on. ”  it  was  a  convenient  excuse,  a  blanket  to  throw  over  the  real  monster  at the party.  amelia's  death,  the  messages,  the  constant,  gnawing  fear  -  it  was  all  real,  but  it  wasn't  the  reason  her  heart  felt  like  a  clenched  fist.  “ i  just  feel  so  wound  up.  like,  so  on  edge.  it's  making  me  feel  fully  psychotic. ”

her  attention  remained  fixed  on  the  flames  and  the  smile  that  had  been  a  fragile  shield  dissolved  completely,  leaving  behind  only  the  raw,  unvarnished  landscape  of  her  bitterness.  “ you  know,  i  wish  you  wouldn't  treat  me  like  i'm  stupid.  you're  totally  adding  to  my  cortisol  levels, babe. ”

[strcngth]

for @sundrifts by the front stoop of the cabin

"hey," he approaches blythe, hands in his pockets, he can hear the buzz of the party behind the front door and the quiet crackle of the fire out in the yard, "are you alright? you ran out and i didn't get a chance to check on you then... i wanted to see if you were okay." of course, he knows it was due to the fact that he and liza walked in holding hands, but in their defense, they had thought they were walking into a murderer's plot. they're just friends. just like musa and blythe are supposed to be just friends these days. as if he needs more to be confused about. "y'know, that's why i came out here in the first place — to the cabin earlier, i mean. you — well, fake you — texted me and said we needed to talk." the message was cryptic, but enough to make him drive all the way out to the woods to make sure blythe was safe.

[sundrifts]

she  should  hold  him  to  a  higher  standard.  that  was  the  truth,  wasn't  it ?  he  wasn't  eliza.  no, he  was  the  one  who  had  traced  patterns  onto  her  skin  and  whispered  love  yous  into  the  dark.  he  was  the  one  who  had  known  the  architecture  of  her  heart,  every  beam  and  joist,  the  precise  location  of  every  fault  line,  every  crack  that  ran  deep  beneath  the  surface.  he  had  been  inside  the  house  of  her  soul.  and  yet,  she  couldn't  blame  him.  this  was  simply  what  men  did,  and  she  couldn't  fault  him  for  being  so  terribly,  achingly  predictable.

the  fire  in  their  view  crackled,  a  living  thing  breathing  sparks  into  the  velvet  dark  sky,  and  she  watched  it  for  a  long  moment,  trying  to  ignore  the  presence  behind  her,  a  gravitational  pull  she  both  resented  and  craved.  finally,  she  turned  and  a  wry  smile  touched  her  lips.  she  raised  her  gaze  to  meet  his,  and  one  brow  arched  in  a  curve  of  disbelief.  “ i'm  surprised  you  made  the  trip  out...  i  would  have  thought  your  hands  were  full. ”

[knewitalls]

a closed starter for: blythe @sundrifts location: in the cabin

hanging out in the cabin wasn't the most appealing of options, given that randy porter was once again dj'ing and loud music was not good for william's concussion, but... even the fear of worsening a concussion (again) couldn't stop his investigative spirit.

everything had come together. he had connected most of the dots (minus some specific involvement), and he had the promise of even more answers at the end of the night. but as someone who had always benefitted from actually seeing things laid out (thus the conspiracy board), it felt wisest to spend some time exploring the cabin that night.

of course, that also meant he needed to socialize.

finding that most of his friends were elsewhere, it was a near run-in with a glaring tilly that had him turning towards blythe. a friendly face, and someone he'd been meaning to connect with since the night of the valentine's dance. he didn't say anything at first, though, as she seemed a little busy. instead, he watched as she raised her phone (had it been on the whole time?), clearly looking for service out in the middle of nowhere. it was only when it seemed like things weren't going to work out for her that he spoke up.

"do you want me to try?" he asked, gesturing to her phone. "sometimes being higher up can help."

[sundrifts]

she  had  drifted  through  the  night  like  a  moth  to  a  series  of  bright  bulbs.  the  bonfire  had  drawn  her  in  to  have  a  mini  breakdown,  and  then  randy  had  tempted  her  with  a  dance,  and  then  one  tilly  martin  endulged  in  a  whispered  conversation  about  the  sacred  laws  of  friendship.  now,  in  the  quieter  hum  of  the  cabin,  she  found  herself  chasing  a  different  kind  of  light:  the  signal  bars  on  her  phone.

she  held  the  device  against  the  wooden  beams  of  the  ceiling,  her  arm  extended  in  a  gesture  that  was  a bit of  hope,  and a bit of  resignation.  it  was  a  foolish  attempt  -  searching  for  connection  in  a  place  designed  for  its  absence.  the  screen  remained  stubbornly  blank,  a  void  where  her  instagram  feed  should  be.  a  sigh,  soft  and  almost  soundless,  escaped  her  lips.  just  as  she  was  about  to  lower  her  arm,  to  surrender  to  the  digital  silence,  a  voice  cut  through  her  thoughts,  gentle  and  observant.

blythe  turned,  and  the  frantic  energy  that  had  been  propelling  her  all  evening  seemed  to  settle,  like  dust  motes  in  a  bright sunbeam.  it  was  william.  georgia  really  liked  him,  which  meant  by  law  she  had  to  like  him  too,  but  looking  at  the  other  now,  blythe  thought  she  might  have  arrived  at  that  conclusion  on  her  own.  “ god,  yes,  please, ”  she  breathed,  the  words  a  puff  of  air.  she  extended  her  hand,  the  phone  a  small  offering  in  her  palm.  “ i was  trying  to  upload  an  instagram  story,  but,  like,  i'm  getting  no  bars…  do  you  think  that's  why  we're  here ?  so  we  can't  call  for  help ? ”

[loverzhq]

𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑: @sundrifts 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: the snacks table

liza has been having a difficult time wrapping her head around the whole blythe/musa situation. the more people she'd consulted (aka william and anthony), the more she'd felt validated that she wasn't doing anything wrong. musa is her close friend, he has been since their first summers home from college, and they'd only gotten closer when he returned to wrensted full time. him sleeping over didn't seem weird to her, nor did holding hands when they were walking into somewhere unfamiliar and potentially dangerous. and while she hadn't actually witnessed blythe's blow up, the look in her eye when she left the cabin told liza everything she needed to know. even before she spoke with anthony.

"i think i have some leggings or something in the car if you're cold," she says when she spies blythe out of the corner of her eye. she's studying the table full of drinks and snacks she wasn't planning on touching in a futile attempt to remain casual, maybe it was best not to be the first to bring it up. "definitely a sweatshirt."

[sundrifts]

blythe  didn't  turn,  just  kept  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  arrangement  of  snacks  and  red cups.  the  colours  blurred  together,  a  meaningless  landscape.  she  scoffed  at  the  mention  of  a  sweatshirt  -  as  if  the  cold  was  the  problem.  as  if  her  skin  wasn't  already  crawling  with  a  heat  that  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  night  air.  “ i'm  not  cold. ”  her  voice  was  a  flat  line,  a  shoreline  with  no  tide. 

she  picked  up  a  bag  of  pretzels,  the  crinkle  loud  in  the  small  space  between  them.  she  turned  it  over  in  her  hands,  studying  the  nutrition  facts  as  if  they  held  the  answer  to  some  of  life's  unanswered  questions…  but  the  numbers  were  just  numbers.  sodium,  carbohydrates.  nothing  actually  important. she  finally  let  her  gaze  shift,  just  enough  to  see  liza  out  of  her  periphery.  “ you  don't  have  to  do  that, ”  she  continued,  her  tone  still  devoid  of  inflection.  “ the  whole  'concerned  friend'  act. ”  she  placed  the  pretzels  back  down,  precisely  where  she'd  found  them.  “ but thanks for the charity. ” 

[sundrifts]

— SUGGESTED FOR YOU ... BABYBLYTHE

instagram inspo for blythe gonçalves.