If you could have a ONS with anyone, no consequences, just for pure fun, who are your top three? 😉
“Aaron Tveit, Samantha Barks, and Chris Jackson. Broadway greats who are all honestly too talented to actual exist… but since I know you probably meant realistic, non-Broadway stars- even though I absolutely made out with Aaron in a bar once- if there were absolutely no consequences… I guess I’d have to say Sebastian, Cem, and Holly. For pure fun, of course.”
Warhol, or Holly for short, ( it is absolutely not a coincidence she is named after Austen’s favorite artist) is one of Beckett’s most prized possessions. She is a Royal Enfield Continental GT 650. She is custom built and as a gift, his parents went in on it with him. Beck’s love for bikes, or anything with a motor, comes from working on them with his dad as a hobby back in high school.
On Holly, he has added a few custom specifications over the years. Her seat is now a two seater so he can have passengers and she now has a built in radio.
Sometimes a girl just needs a sister, even if it’s not her own.
Lulu was ten years old, and the world was ending.
She woke up feeling the worst she ever had, earlier than she’d ever wake up of her own volition on a summer Sunday morning. For a while she couldn’t even process the physical pain in the wake of just how gross she felt on a base level. She dragged herself out of bed, on her way to wake Ethan and make him do something. A glance back at her bed, the flash of discoloration followed by a speedy run to the bathroom, eliminated that option completely from her mind.
Ethan was everything Lulu needed him to be and more: brother, teacher, caregiver, friend. There were some things, though, that were just completely out of his wheelhouse, and Lulu could recognize that without having to ask. Not that she particularly wanted to ask him about this anyways. She didn’t want to ask anyone, didn’t want to have to deal with this and all of the completely humiliating implications but that wasn’t a choice. So.
So, she changed her clothes, took Ethan’s old rusty bike and rode to the only place familiar enough that she felt safe going to at a time like this.
“I need to talk to Holly,” Lulu said in a rush when Merrick opened the door. The blonde furrowed her eyebrows at this, clearly surprised, but didn’t comment, leading Lulu into the house by her hand. In that moment, Lulu loved her just a bit more for not asking questions. There wasn’t much she didn’t share with her best friend at this point, but the shame ripping through her belly was already a lot more than she thought she could bear.
“Holly,” Merrick shouted, even as she took Lulu directly to Holly’s room. Holly was sitting cross legged on her bed, a pile of papers spread out around her. “Lu needs to talk to you.” Merrick looked at Lulu as she said it, obviously trying to sus out what prompted this. Lulu gave her a look back. Merrick, of course, seemed to understand, huffing a bit as she turned on her heel and left the room. Lulu shut the door behind her with her foot, crossing her arms as she faced Holly. The older girl looked more than a little confused, but welcoming in that way that way that only Holly could look. “What’s up, Lulu?”
Lulu rocked on her heels, trying get the words out. It wasn’t a big deal, she told herself. An obvious lie. At ten, it felt like the biggest deal. Maybe then it should’ve been a big deal to Holly too-- it was easy to forget that Holly was only a year older than Lulu. Nothing ever seemed like a big deal when it came to Holly, though, which is mostly why Lulu came to her. “I- um, I think I just got. You know.” She lifted a hand, vaguely gesturing around the front of her shorts. Holly raised her eyebrows, clearly not getting it. Lulu sighed, turning red. Maybe she shouldn’t have kicked Merrick out. Their nearly telepathic communication might’ve been useful at a time like this. “My period,” she muttered, eyes fixed firmly on the floor. Just saying it felt like dropping a nuclear bomb on herself. She was pretty sure if someone could die from embarrassment, she would have.
“Oh,” she heard, followed by the shuffling of Holly getting off the bed. “Come with me,” she said, placing a gentle arm on Lulu’s shoulder.
Lulu followed her into the bathroom, relieved in the knowledge that she wouldn’t have to do much now. She was right. Holly sat with her on the edge of the bathtub and talked, and talked, it out with her. It wasn’t pleasant no matter how you sliced it, but Holly’s voice, under the matter of fact tone, was soothing enough to stop Lulu from feeling like she was vibrating out of her skin. That alone was a massive improvement from five minutes ago.
And because it was Holly, after the painful parts, there were pancakes, and ice cream, and Lulu’s favorite cheerleading movies. Lulu didn’t even have to ask. That in itself gave her a warm feeling in her chest, a little overwhelming in its intensity. She blamed it completely on the hormones Holly told her about.
The treats were enough to distract Merrick from asking what happened, for now, and enough to make Lulu feel like maybe the world wasn’t ending after all.
And when they were finished, Lulu and Merrick promptly fell asleep, curled up against Holly on the couch. Safe.
