It wasn’t as if Jaxx particularly favored the days of the week to begin with, however waiting until next Thursday was truly hell on earth. The days between seemed to drag and drag, especially when she’d see Amelia at school, catching the girl brushing her hair over her shoulder as she chatted to her mini-me’s in the cafeteria, it was only when Jaxx felt her breath actually catch one of the times she caught the action that she knew she needed to come to her senses. She just had to wait a few more days then she could have Amelia all to herself again, to kiss her, touch her, make her blush and hopefully make her moan. Truly it was all that was getting Jaxx through the week were the thoughts of having Amelia in her arms once more.
Groaning as her alarm went off Jaxx dug around her bed, reaching for her phone to quickly shut it off only to instantly grin as she noticed the date. Thursday. Fucking finally.
Bringing up her text conversation with Amelia she quickly ran her fingers against the buttons.
“Sup Sleepin’ Beauty. I’ll see you after school.”
Was it still lame to put an x or an o? It totally was and she wasn’t that lame, no way in hell. Even if she really wanted to.
Rolling off of her mattress and on to the floor Jaxx groaned a little to herself as she stood up, stretching her arms over her head and wincing as her ribs stretched. They were getting better but still not a hundred percent yet. But getting there, another thing she truly credited to Amelia.
Making her way into the kitchen once her teeth were brushed and she’d gotten dressed Jaxx was just about to scrounge around in the cupboards for something to eat when she heard her phone go off, instantly pulling it out of her pocket she smiled a little to herself as she noticed the rose and crown lighting up the screen, meaning Amelia had replied.
“Little early for your Johns dont you think?” Came her fathers voice from the kitchen table.
Rolling her eyes Jaxx went to reply to the text, only getting a few letters typed before her phone was quickly knocked out of her hand and on to the ground.
“What the fu-”
“Focus up when someone’s talking to you.”
Shaking her head and sighing a little Jaxx bent down to grab her phone, just as she went to close her fingers around it her fingers soon found themselves squished under the toe of her father’s boot.
“Fuu...alright I’m listening,” she panted, attempting to pull her hand away only to wince as her father put more pressure on to her hand before he moved his foot. Cradling her hand to her chest Jaxx sighed a little to herself as she glanced at her already red fingers.
“I’m really not in the mood for this, I’m going to school.” she commented, using her own foot to kick her phone away from the table and her father before she bent down to grab it, making sure to stand up quickly this time.
“Who are you talking to?” her father demanded, giving Jaxx a look that made her feel like he could see right through her.
“No one, a friend.”
“Uh huh, you expect me to believe you have those?”
“I don’t expect you to ever believe anything I say,” Jaxx replied with a shrug.
“Give me your phone,”
“No,” Came the instant reply as she went to shove the device into her pocket. The moment her phone was away was the same moment her father forcefully stood up from his chair, swallowing thickly Jaxx went to back up only to end up smacking into the fridge.
“Just a friend huh? What are you hiding.” He demanded, getting closer.
“Nothing, it’s just none of your damn business.”
Clearly this was the wrong thing to say as soon her father was lunging at her, shoving her up against the fridge and trying to snatch her phone back.
“Fuck off! It’s mine,” She exclaimed, attempting to shove him off, which she managed to for a moment and within those split few seconds Jaxx took the opportunity to swing out and connect her fist directly with her father’s face.
Looking wide eyed as it connected what she had done all signs started flashing ‘abort!!” in her head as she went to scramble out the back door, only to have her father grab the back of her jacket and forcefully tug her back into the kitchen. Using his hold on her to his advantage as he shoved her up against the fridge, keeping a strong hand against her back to hold her in place while the other roughly pinned her head against the fridge door.
“Now that wasn’t very smart was it? Considering we’ve both seen you can’t even win a fight, that was pretty damn stupid of you.”
Attempting to struggle against his hold Jaxx groaned as he took the hand holding her head to pull it back and push it against the door once more.
“You come at me again, I’m gonna hurt you bad. You understand me?”
“Y-Yeah...” she mumbled, stumbling into the kitchen chairs as her father shoved her towards them.
Watching as he walked over to the counter Jaxx looked down at her hand, noticing her fingers still bruising and swollen she narrowed her gaze at them. Catching the reflective glint of something in the corner of her eye she let her gaze travel over to the drying rack on the counter, her eyes falling on the meat tenderizer in the rack. Taking a glance between the tool and the back of her father’s head everything seemed to move in an instant as before she knew it she had her fingers curled around the handle, arm raised towards her father as she moved behind him. Only he ended up catching her reflection in the glass of the cupboards before she could land a hit on him, quickly spinning around he grabbed the front of her shirt, pulling her closer and landing a harsh punch to the middle of her face, causing her to drop the tenderizer. However the punches kept coming, and coming.
Jaxx found herself falling in and out of consciousness, with every hit, however the last one had her father holding her up by her shirt as her legs gave out underneath her.
“You don’t fucking listen do you? You disrespectful little bitch.” With one last hit to her face he tossed her on to the floor, her head being the first thing that hit against the linoleum tile.
“Told you not to do that.” Her father stated simply, walking out of the kitchen and leaving Jaxx in a bloody heap on the floor.
Barely able to keep her eyes open, tasting nothing but iron on her tongue as her mouth pooled with blood the last thing Jaxx could think of was the fact she didn’t fully text Amelia back before everything went black.
****************
Slowly opening her eyes and realizing she could barely open the right one Jaxx winced as she slowly uncurled her fingers, feeling the cool tile around her she began to gain consciousness once more, the moment her vision focused and she could see the chair and table legs that was when everything came flooding back to her, what had happened, where she was, along with the throbbing pain in her face.
“A-Amelia....” Attempting to look around she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, slumping against the cupboards she pulled her phone out, noticing the time and the fact it was well into the night now. She must have passed out, for the whole damn day.
Fuck.
Shifting a little more to try to situate herself to type a text to Amelia she found she couldn’t focus on the screen, everything was blurry, her head was pounding, this was never going to work. For all she knew Amelia would think she’d blown her off and never want to see her again.
Of all days, why did this have to happen on a damn Thursday.
With a lot of effort Jaxx managed to use the cupboards to pull herself up into a standing position. Trying to push down the instant feeling of nausea she felt. Okay, she could do this. Taking a few minutes to steady herself at least until she could walk.
Once she found her footing Jaxx stumbled her way out the door and into the cool night air. She knew she could go to the bathroom, access the damage, clean herself up. But all she could think of right now was one thing, one person. The only place she wanted to be.
It took a long time to walk the distance and for a big part of it Jaxx had thought she was walking in the complete wrong direction until they came into view. The rose bushes.
Breathing a small sigh of relief she glanced the house over, noticing a light on in one of the upstairs rooms, what she was hoping was a bedroom. Shaking her head a little to try and focus her vision she looked over everything again with more detail this time, trying to plan out her route.
Bingo.
Making her way closer to the house she hooked her fingers into the lattice, instantly wincing as her swollen fingers made their discomfort known. Telling herself to toughen up she sucked in a breath as she hoisted herself up, making sure not to damage any of the rose bushes along the way as she climbed. Pushing herself onto a small side roof she sighed a little in relief, okay half way.
Cradling her head in her hands for a moment as the world started to spin once more she groaned internally. Just a little bit more.
Blinking a few times as she got her gaze to focus she noticed the window she’d been looking at was getting closer, and lucky for her there was a ledge in the siding.
Perfect.
Crawling across the roof she curled her fingers around the ledge, pulling herself up and quickly wedging her foot against the ledge to keep her held up. Managing to get high enough to peek into the room in question. Well it was a bedroom for sure, however an empty one.
Maybe it was Amelia’s, maybe she would come back. It was worth a shot, after all worse comes to worse the St.James parents call the cops on her, hell it would be better than going home.
Raising her hand she lightly knocked on the window, pausing for a moment to make sure neither of Amelia’s parents came into the room before she lightly knocked again.
She knew her biggest concern should have been her appearance. She could only imagine what she looked like, knowing her eye must be bruised and bloodshot, considering she could taste dried blood on her lips she was sure there was some around there still as well, and who the hell knows what else was wrong with her considering the way her head was pounding and her vision kept getting blurry at random times.
Sure she should probably be in a hospital, or a mental institution, but all she wanted right now was the girl she was praying would hear her knocking.
MISSION: n/a; post 423*PROMETHEUS
TIMEFRAME: Sept 28th, around 0200
LOCATION: warehouse kitchen
PAGING: open to all agents
West is a hot mess after the mission, both physically and mentally. Pretending to be rich and snooty for most of the night is a huge buzzkill, and any vestiges of a good mood are torpedoed by his conversation on the ride home. The first thing West does when they get back to the warehouse is slip out of the ruined suit. A sigh of relief escapes his lips when he loosens the last bit of the half-Windsor and unbuttons the top two buttons at his throat and neck. He carefully unties the silk scarf from around his arm, careful to keep it separated from his items. Once he gets back home, he’ll figure out where it came from and mail Jack a new one. After he shrugs out of the suit jacket and long sleeved shirt, he has space to assess the damage.
The cut is small. A small trail of blood sluggishly wraps down his arm and to his wrist, and West mops it up with his already destroyed shirt. His stomach growls, a firm reminder that he did not eat this evening because the food was actually awful. Using the sleeve of his shirt as compression, West wanders into the dining area of the warehouse, hoping to find enough to make something. He keeps a small, portable first aid kit tucked under his good arm as he moseys through the empty hallway. Most of the agents have retired to their rooms and West enjoys the quiet.
Not even five minutes later, after multiple failed attempts to open a jar of peanut butter with one hand, West has a classic PB&J on bread hanging from his mouth and a needle poised against his arm when another agent walks in. He looks up, head snapping towards the door as a majority of the sandwich falls to the counter from his bite.
“Uh, hey,” he says with a mouth full of food as his arm drips onto the counter, and thankfully not his sandwich.
LOCATION → Amber, Dani, Rachel, and Stevie’s apartment
DESCRIPTION → Sam makes a surprise trip to find out just why Stevie’s been acting so strange. And gets a bit more than she bargained for.
Mae was surprised that Stevie wanted her to come over. As in—Stevie was okay with Mae being around her apartment. Usually, Stevie insisted that she comes over to Mae’s place only to reduce the risk of getting caught by people they really didn’t want to get caught by, so this was different. And it was stupid of Mae to do so, but she had a little hope that maybe things were changing between them. Maybe there was more. But Mae knew. Mae wasn’t more than just sex to Stevie. A great ass. Hot until she opened her mouth. All that stuff. She’d take what she can get, though. And if sex was all she can get from Stevie, she’d just learn to live with that. But if Mae was being honest? It was starting to get to her. Mae wanted more and felt more than Stevie did, so it killed her that sex to Stevie was meaningless when it meant so much to her.
Regardless, Mae was here. Because she’d take what she can get. So long as it involved that pink-haired grump. As Mae made it up to Stevie’s apartment, she sent a quick text to Stevie to tell her she was reaching Stevie’s door. She knew Stevie wouldn’t want Mae to hang out in the hall for too long and create suspicion. Despite how complicated it all was, there was still something exciting about their situation. The sneaking around. The lustful looks they’d give each other from afar. All of it.
Stevie glanced around her room, doing a mental check of the minimalist space. She'd put away the acrylic paints she'd been working with and the piece she'd been working on was safely tucked away. Given how handsy she and Mae got, she didn't want them to bump into it and ruin all of her work. Patting her hands on her legs mindlessly, she looked over at the clock. Yeah, Mae should be over soon. Stevie made her way out to the living room, scrolling mindlessly through her phone. The texts from Reggie caught her eye and she scowled to herself. That shit at Battle of the Bands, it had lowkey pissed her off. And not in a dumb, jealous way, that wasn't it. She just... didn't like seeing Mae making out with Reggie of all people. Hadn't she and Harper just broken up? What the fuck was that shit? No, she didn't care who Mae slept with. She could fuck Reggie or Lara or anyone, it didn't matter to her. Just, the timing seemed shit on that particular front, that was all.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and, not even bothering to check it, she made her way over to the door. Running a hand through her hair to make sure her hair looked just right, Stevie nodded to herself in the hallway mirror. She looked fucking hot and she knew it. Stevie pulled open the door and shot Mae a lazy, cocky smile, "Hey. C'mon in." She said, gesturing for the other girl to enter.
Mae quickly smiled when she saw Stevie. “Hey!” Mae greeted back as she stepped inside. “It’s been a while since I’ve been here.” Mae tried not to cringe when she remembered the last time she was here was when she got completely drunk off of Stevie’s moonshine. Mae had made a complete fool of herself, and Mae couldn’t lie, she was still upset that moonshine didn’t taste like the moon. “Nothing’s really changed.” Mae mumbled as she looked around, anyway. Mae wasn’t sure why she was stalling. A part of her felt a little weird after the whole Reggie ordeal at Battle of the Bands. It wasn’t something Mae did on purpose. It just happened and it didn’t mean anything. And it didn’t really compare to Stevie. Mae would pick kissing Stevie over anyone. She was in too deep.
“Did you get tired of hanging out at my place? I thought you thought my bed was comfortable. And there’s no cute Duck to play with.” Mae added. Mae would admit that she definitely took advantage of Duck to get Stevie to stick around longer than usual. Or really any reason. Mae even fucked up her kitchen sink, so Stevie could stay an entire hour longer than usual. Mae drooled over Stevie’s arm most of the time.
Stevie shut the door behind Mae, fully ready to just kiss Mae and get things going but... She just kept on talking. What the hell? What, was she trying to make small talk? They didn't do small talk. That wasn't what they were about. Leaning against the door, Stevie folded her arms across her chest while Mae babbled, waiting for the other girl to finish talking. But goddammit, she just kept going. Mae was the fricking Energizer Bunny of nervous talking, Jesus. When Mae finally stopped, Stevie shrugged. "Just felt like switching it up. Besides," Stevie stepped forward, slipping her hand to rest on Mae's hip, "My bed's pretty comfortable too." She leaned in and kissed Mae, hard. She wanted to remind her that whatever that whole talking thing was? It wasn't why she was here. They were just friends with benefits, if she could even call Mae a friend. People with benefits? Whatever, Stevie liked it better this way.
Mae chewed on her lip as Stevie stepped closer to her and placed her hand on her hip. “Is it? Because I thought mine wa—“ Mae was interrupted by a hard kiss from Stevie and Mae groaned as she kissed Stevie back equally as rough, tangling her hands in Stevie’s hair. Mae pulled away. “Wait.” Mae paused, a smirk forming on her face. Stevie had a little control for a moment, but Mae was usually the one in charge when it came to what went down in the bedroom. “Wrong spot.” Mae pushed Stevie against the wall by the doorway. Anyone could walk in, but Mae wasn’t thinking about that right now. “One more thing.” Mae grabbed Stevie’s hand and moved it from her hip to her ass with a smug look. “That’s better.” Mae pressed her body against Stevie’s as she kissed down to Stevie’s neck, making it her mission to leave a mark or two on Stevie’s neck. Stevie could deal with that later. But right now? Mae didn’t care.
Something was going on with Stevie. Sam was sure of it. It'd been weeks since they'd spent any time together outside of soccer, and Sam was tired of waiting around and giving her sister space. This whole waiting and letting Stevie come to her thing wasn't working. For all Sammy knew, Rachel wearing her D.A.R.E. shirt around their apartment wasn't helping either. Stevie could have stopped 'just saying no' to drugs without looking back. Losing her sister to addiction, or maybe just to secrets, wasn't going to happen on Sam's watch. With a determined attitude, Sam made her way to Stevie's apartment and didn't plan on leaving until she got some real answers. "This isn't your fault. We can get you help," Sam practiced under her breath as she approached the door.
Stevie groaned as Mae pushed her against the wall, maneuvering her so that her back was pressed against it. Fuck. "Goddammit." Stevie swore under her breath, her hand squeezing against Mae's ass. God damn. As Mae moved her lips to Stevie's neck, her eyes fluttered shut. She was too focused on the sensation, the way Mae was pressed up against her. Fucking christ. She could feel the way Mae was working her neck and had a sneaking suspicion that there would be a mark left over. "You better not." Stevie warned, as she slid her hand into the pocket of Mae's jeans to palm her ass. Stevie was too focused on the way it felt to worry about the door, or even remember that she hadn't locked it.
"Stevie, you here?" Sam asked as she lightly knocked on the apartment door at the same time as she tried the knob. If Stevie was in trouble, Sammy wanted to be there to help her. No more giving her a chance to run off or avoid her. She was determined to get answers today. Luckily for her and her plan, the door was unlocked and swung open. "We really need to ta-" The words stuck in her throat at the sight that greeted her on the other side of the door. If told to make a list of all the possible things she expected to find, Stevie and Mae going at it wouldn't have been on the list at all. It was too crazy to even imagine. With Mae? Stacey's Mae?? "What the fuck?"
When Sam opened the door, Mae’s lips had made their way back to Stevie’s. Mae heard the door open and quickly pulled away. Mae was expecting Rachel, Dani, or Amber to be on the other side—which would’ve been fine. That could be handled well enough. But when she saw Sam on the other side of the door? Mae’s eyes widened and her face turned red. Well, fuck, Mae didn’t know what to do. And her first instinct? Well— “St-Stevie! Breathe!” Mae exclaimed as she smacked Stevie’s chest a couple times to get her to “breathe” again. “You’re good now.” Mae turned to Sam and laughed awkwardly. “She was—uh—she was ch-choking. Obviously. So…I was giving her mouth to mouth.” Mae nodded. “To save her life.” Mae nodded again. “Yeah. That’s what I was…what I was doing…” Mae trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck. That didn’t come out as well as her head imagined it.
Stevie's eyes snapped open when she heard the door open and she caught a glimpse of blonde out of the corner of her eye. A very familiar blonde-- FUCK. Pushing Mae away from her, Stevie stared at her older sister in shock. What the fuck was Sam of all people doing here? They'd been doing so well with the not talking and avoiding each other. It had honestly been really great. But, now of all fucking times, she was here? God, what the fuck. Before Stevie could say a word, Mae was smacking her chest, making her cough in surprise. What. The. Fuck. Glaring at Mae, Stevie rubbed her sternum as the other girl tried to bluster her way through an excuse. Ignoring Mae, Stevie folded her arms across her chest and stared at Sam. "What the hell are you doing here?" She asked, venom dripping in her tone to mask her fear. Christ...
Sam wanted more than anything to turn around and unsee everything she'd walked in on, but her feet wouldn't cooperate. Too much of her brain was trying to compute the scene in front of her, and that was before Mae started performing some sort of CPR. "Me? What are you doing here?" Sammy asked as she motioned her hand in the general direction of the two girls in front of her. "The only thing you could have been choking on was Mae's tongue." Looking between her sister and her other sister's ex-girlfriend, Sam could come up with no explanation that made sense. None. Not even close. And the more she tried and failed, the louder her voice got. "Does Stacey know? Is this why you broke up with her?!"
At the speculation from Sam that Mae broke up with Stacey because of Stevie, well, it was a thought in Mae’s head that she did toy with from time to time. It wasn’t that far off, but Mae didn’t like to think about that possibility. “No, that’s not…I didn’t cheat on Stacey. This started after Stacey and I broke up. So it’s not cheating it’s not bad— “ Mae closed her eyes and sighed. She wasn’t making this sound better because there was really nothing Mae could say that would convince Sam that sleeping with Stevie while being Stacey’s ex-girlfriend was a great idea. It wasn’t. Mae knew that, but her feelings for Stevie clouded whatever inner conscience screamed at her that this was a bad idea. “Stacey doesn’t know. And she shouldn’t know. It would…I don’t think that’s a good idea at all. So don’t…you know...” Mae chewed on her lip. "Don't say anything."
Stevie kept her jaw clenched tight as she listened to Mae try to explain the situation. They hadn't been sleeping together when Stacey and Mae were together, that shouldn't even be a question. Was the entire situation... less than ideal? Yeah. But she wasn't the other woman in this. No fucking way. "Besides, we're just fucking. Don't blow this out of proportion, Sam. I swear to God if you try to fucking lecture me about this..." Stevie warned, her hands balling into fists at her sides. What happened had happened, there wasn't anything they could do about it. But, starting now? They needed to fucking keep this on lock. Stacey could never find out about this.
"You'll what, Stevie, go fuck one of my ex-girlfriends?" Sam shook her head as she tried to understand the situation. She was far from innocent when it came to relationship drama herself, but at least she could have honestly say she was following her heart at the time. It'd let her into a mess that she was still trying to mend over a year later, but doing just over sex? It was the crazy cherry on top of the insane sundae she'd stumbled on. No matter which way she looked at it, nothing added up.
"I get it when you're a jerk to me, but this is Stacey. You know this would hurt her," she continued in a calmer tone. "You both do." Sam looked from her sister to Mae, wondering how she'd managed to misjudge someone so badly. "You guys can't keep doing this. Not without talking to her." Just imagining how much it would hurt Stacey left Sam torn. She hated having to keep her sister in the dark, but being the one to break her heart by spilling everything sounded even worse.
It felt like a hard gut punch to Mae when Stevie told Sam they were just having sex. Nothing else. Well, maybe to Stevie that was case. But for Mae? It was so much more. Mae looked over at Stevie with frown before looking away and sighing as she crossed her arms. For the longest, Mae ignored the feeling that what she was doing was wrong, so when Sam threw it to her face that it would hurt Stacey? She couldn’t hold back the guilt starting to grow in her. It’s not like Mae wasn’t facing the consequences, anyway. Stevie couldn’t give a fuck about her or see her as more than just a meaningless hook up, so maybe that was her punishment for what she took part in.
“You’re right.” Mae spoke up, looking at Sam. “We should stop.” Mae looked over at Stevie before looking back to Sam. “I don’t think I can keep doing this, anyway.” Mae hated being in this position. People were seeing her as more than sunshine Mae and it was fine if Stevie saw her as anything but, however Sam seeing her in a not so positive light? Kinda made her want to get the fuck out of here.
Stevie glared at her sister, folding her arms across her chest, chin tilted defiantly. "Maybe I will, don't fucking test me." She said. All of this was bullshit-- the way that Sam looked at her, the way that she acted so much better than her. She hated this. She hated this more than if Stacey had walked in on them. The way that Sam tried to tell her how to live her life, it was being a kid all over again. With Sam trying to boss her around, trying to tell her what was right. "So what? It's not a big deal. You can't tel--" Stevie's words caught in the back of her throat as Mae spoke up. What? She was agreeing with Sam? Swallowing, Stevie stared back and forth from Mae and her sister. Stevie nodded slowly, "You agree with her? You're taking her side on this?" She asked Mae, a pit forming in her stomach. It wasn't because Mae didn't want to see her anymore, that wasn't it. It was the fact that she was following Sam's lead. Just like everyone else did.
Turning back to her sister, Stevie's jaw clenched tight as she tried to contain her anger. "You always do this. Why can't you just leave me the hell alone? I don't give a shit about what you do with Kate or whoever you're fucking, so why do you care about who I'm sleeping with? You don't get to tell me what to do anymore, Sam."
"Why can't you understand that I care about you?" Sam asked with an exasperated sigh. There were quite a few people who had told Sam that she was wasting her time on Stevie. They told her to give up. They'd pointed out how she didn't need to sacrifice things for her sister. Said she shouldn't go out of her way to look out for her when it was clear to everyone that Stevie didn't care about family the same way. For the first time, Sam could see it.
"But if that doesn't matter to you, then know that I care about Stacey. I don't want to see her hurt, and that's exactly what this will do. I think you know that, or you wouldn't be hiding it." Seeing the smoke coming out of Stevie's ears the longer the conversation went on, Sam decided to leave it alone. Maybe it's what she should have done in the first place, but better late than never. She'd gotten her answers, and at least it wasn't drugs? Leaving Mae to deal with Stevie's wrath was perhaps unfair, but Sam knew she owed her nothing. Mae made her bed, or wall in this instance, and now she got to lie in it.
"And you're right, I can't tell you what to do, but that means I don't have to keep your secrets for you either. You're on your own, Stevie. It's what you wanted, and now you have it." Sam shook her head and headed out the door. No matter how much she wanted to stay and try to talk some sense into Stevie, to find a way to get her to see the right thing to do, she was getting nowhere. Closing the door behind her, Sam didn't look back.
When Stevie turned to Mae with a surprised look that Mae was agreeing, Mae opened her mouth to say more when Sam started to talk again and Mae stayed silent, chewing on her lip as Sam left Stevie and Mae to their own devices. Mae felt like she shouldn’t have been here for that. For Sam’s leaving—which felt like it was a matter bigger than her and Stevie being caught. Mae stayed quiet for a few moments before speaking up again.
“Um…I—I’m sorry.” Mae shook her head. “I know you’re angry at her, but she’s right. About us. About this.” Mae paused as she sighed, unsure of how to go about this. But one thing Mae knew for sure? They couldn’t keep doing this. The hooking up. It wasn’t just going to hurt Stacey, but it was going to hurt Mae too. Because Mae wanted more. Mae wanted Stevie to stick around and make her feel like she was wanted by her. And not just in a lustful way. Mae stayed quiet a little longer, debating whether she should say the next words on the tip of her tongue. And then she did.
“But she’s wrong about one thing,” Mae paused. “Stacey wouldn’t be the only one getting hurt.” Mae chewed on her lip. “I’d get hurt too—I am getting hurt.” Mae paused again. “Because I’m just sex to you and you mean more than that to me.” Even though Sam told Stevie that she was on her own now, Mae would stay if Stevie wanted her to. Stevie wouldn’t be alone. Mae would stay. Mae would stay for as long as Stevie wanted her to. All Stevie had to do was say it.
Stevie kept her lips pursed tightly together as Sam spoke, fuming all the while. She hardly paid attention to what her sister was saying, she didn't care. She didn't care what Sam thought, she didn't care what Stacey thought, she didn't give a shit about any of them. She didn't need her family, they were the ones who thought they could just interfere in her life. And they couldn't. But, when Sam turned her back on her, Stevie bit the inside of her cheek, hard. Fuck. This was what she wanted, it was. She wanted Sam out of her life. Then why did it suck so much?
"Yeah, just go." Stevie said, but the door had already shut behind her sister. Staring at the door for a moment, she turned to look at Mae who was already speaking. In a bit of a daze, she listened without really hearing the words. This was Sam's fault, this was her fault for butting in... But as she stared blankly, certain words trickled in, filtering through the haze. getting hurt... mean more than that....
That jolted Stevie out of her train of thought. "What? Hold the fuck up, what?" Fighting against the rush of panic that washed over her, Stevie swallowed hard. "No. No, that wasn't the deal." God, this was all going to shit. First Sam's bullshit and now Mae? She couldn't deal with this. She didn't want feelings, she didn't want "more", she didn't want to deal with Stacey, with Sam, with Mae, with anyone. She just wanted to be alone.
Taking in a deep breath to steady her nerves, Stevie pointed at the door. "Get out. Get out of my apartment." Stevie said, her voice quiet and calm as she stared at the floor in front of Mae. She didn't even want to look at her. How had this happened? How had it all been ruined?
Mae wanted to tell Stevie that it was Stevie’s deal, but Mae always thought about Stevie in a different way. As more. What kind of more? Mae didn’t want to get into the details. But it was more than what they had now. Or whatever was left of it, anyways. But Mae didn’t say anything. Mae didn’t even say anything when Stevie told her to get out. Stevie didn’t want her to stay, and that was fine. Mae had a feeling Stevie wouldn’t want her to, anyway. Mae nodded slowly as she pushed down the knot in her throat and quickly opened the door and left, exhaling as soon as she closed the door.
“Fuck.” Mae whispered as she kept walking. A part of Mae wanted to run back in and tell Stevie she lied. That she didn’t feel anything. That they could still have their arrangement and Mae would just suck it up. Because Mae wanted to pretend a little longer that Stevie wanted her whenever Stevie kissed her or touched or held her for just a second. Mae would pretend for Stevie for as long as she wanted her to. Mae was good at pretending she was something she wasn’t, anyway.
what: Dani and Abel talk about what happened the night before
notes: triggers include depression, grief/death, alcohol use
Dani had left Max's place and started on her journey home. On her way she made a quick stop at McDonald's for sweet tea and something loaded with more grease than she wanted to think about. It tasted good, that's what mattered right? Her head was still reeling from just how stupid she'd been by texting Santana, which didn't help the anger that was still bubbling under the surface over Abel walking out on her the night before. He was her best friend, one of her only friends, and she hated seeing him be miserable, especially when they'd gone out to forget.
Unlocking the door, she slipped in. "You up yet? I've got McDonald's." She called out as she headed into the kitchen. She wasn't nearly as hungover as she had been expecting to be this particular morning, which was nice, but she had a feeling Abel wasn't fairing nearly as well.
Last night should've went down differently, but he ended up leaving because he didn't want to ruin the mood even more. Which, he didn't understood why he had became depressed and moody. After he texted Marley when he woke up around noon, he jumped into the shower and just let the water ran down his body, trying to make sense of everything that happened.
He turned off the water, he grabbed the towel that was hanging up and dried himself before he wrapped it around his waist. He glanced at his phone, seeing if his parents texted him about Isabella but nothing and let out a sigh when he heard Dani.
Abel turned off the fan, headed out of the bathroom and yawned. "Yeah, I’m up. What did you get?" He asked as he walked into the kitchen and looked into the bag of food.
Dani looked back at Abel as he came into the kitchen. "An unholy amount of chicken nuggets and fries," she said as she began to pull the shirt off her back. It was soaked in sweat, between a nightmare she'd had and the walk home. Being free of it she draped it over her arm and turned her attention fully to Abel. "So, you want to eat before, during, or after I tear you a new one for last night?" She placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head. She really hoped he chose before so she could grab a shower, but it didn't entirely matter to her in the moment.
Abel nodded when he saw them and looked for the of sweet & sour sauce. He glanced over at her after he thought about it. "If you're going to slap me, go ahead and get over with it. I deserve it and I shouldn’t have been like that, I’m owning up to my shit and can always write a cute I’m sorry card and send sorry I’m asshole balloons to Max's place." He replied as he took a sip of sweet tea. "Also, if I knew why my mood shifted during drinks, I would tell you but I don't know why, aight? Don't know why I became distant or became an asshole. So go ahead and rip me a new one, I don't care."
Dani sighed as Abel spoke, taking the shirt off her arm and twisting it tight and then whipping it at him, the shirt slapping him across the abdomen. "While I'm sure he'd find it amusing, I do think it's unnecessary." She looked at him, wanting so bad to still be angry at him, to rage and fight, but if there was one thing that cooled her jets, it was someone feeling sorry. "You're grieving and stressed and alcohol is a depressant. Had we stayed here last night we'd have been drunk and crying into our ice cream. It's why I wanted to go out. I was hoping it'd help." She walked up to him, draping her shirt over her shoulder. "You want to know why I was angry? Because you acted like you being upset was the worst thing that could have happened to my night. You acted like just because you weren't okay it would bring me down, you know what brought me down? You leaving."
Abel let out an 'ow' before he glanced over at her. "Okay, I'll just give it to you then." He replied as he looked at her. He turned so his body was facing her and leaned against the counters. He opened up his mouth, closed it when she started to talk again and swallowed hard as he tried not to cry as he looked down at his feet. "I know that you had a shit ton of things going on, I knew me being sad and depressed last night wasn’t the key thing that you need. We went out because you needed a distraction from being held up in here. Granted yes, we would've been crying into our ice creams because we sometimes do that." He paused for a bit and let out a sigh. "I’m sorry for leaving last night, I’m sorry for bringing you down by doing that. The only thing I was focusing on was that, you were having fun last night with Max and I didn't want to ruin it and I guess I did that anyway by leaving."
She shook her head, rolling her eyes a bit. "Again, amusing, but unnecessary." She wrapped her arms around him and rested her chin on his chest so she was looking up at him. "But you neglected what you needed by focusing on what I wanted and what you thought I needed. Yes, we went out for me, but I never wanted it to be all about me. You're my best friend and I hate seeing you upset like that, but that doesn't mean I want you to leave when you do." Dani smiled at him. "Apology accepted, but please know I'm entirely blaming you for the fact drunk me texted Santana, cause you would have made sure I didn't do it."
Abel wrapped his arms around her when he felt her arms around him and let out a sigh. "I figured it would be for the best if I do leave, instead of making a scene right there and then." He replied softly as he glanced down at her and gave her a small smile before he raised an eyebrow. "Shit, next time I'll take your phone with me and make sure you don't get it back."
"Darlin', all you had to do was pull me aside for a min and talk to me, but you didn't. You made up your mind and left. All that ever does is make people worry 'bout you." She looked away, resting her head on his chest in a more comfortable position. "It's not all bad. I just needed someone to talk to after Max passed out and her number was there. I mean we got into a weird, important conversation which I fuckin' hate, but I was drunk enough not to care. Hey, it could be worse, I could have texted Angela."
Abel tried to blink away the tears but one escaped and rolled down his cheek as he rubbed her back. "I’m sorry." He whispered. He wiped away the tear as he listened to her and glanced down at her. "Yeah, which reminds me. Gimme your phone." He held out his hand and knew that he had to do this.
Dani looked up at Abel and nodded a bit. "Apology accepted." She then pulled away from him, eyebrow raised. "Hell no. Tell me why you want it."
"Thank you." Abel said as he looked down at her. He raised an eyebrow as he kept his hand out. "To rename Santana in your phone and I’m sure Angela is blocked, but gotta make sure."
Dani crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him. "Even drunk me knows Angela's number by heart so it doesn't matter, but her number and contact and all of her texts are gone. As for Santana, no. It's fine. It's not like I was typical drunk texting. I started talking about Max cause he's her fucking cousin and then the conversation changed. She asked about my drinkin’ habits and I made a snide comment about Angela and she asked if she needed to commit murder."
Abel coped her movement and looked down at her as he leaned against the counter more to look at her better. "So this entire time, Max's Santana's cousin? Well shit." He replied as he moved his arms so he can propped himself onto the counter carefully and crossed his legs over each one. "Oh so is she gonna pretend she didn't break up with you for her ex? 'Cause that's not gonna roll with me."
Dani shrugged. "Apparently. " Dani rolled her eyes, sighing at his words. "She's apologized more than she ever needed to. I was over her before the end of that year. Sure, being back I'm hit with feelings and shit but that's not just because of her." Unfolding her arms, she stuck them in her back pockets. "She wants to try being friends, I'm not against that. She cares, or something."
Abel listened to her, slowly nodded and looked at her. "As along she doesn’t hurt you, that's all I’m sayin'." He replied as he walked past her and headed into his room. He shut his door, walked towards his dresser and grabbed a pair of underwear. He slid his underwear on, slipped a pair of basketball shorts and hung his towel once he was in the bathroom.
Dani sighed, nodding. "She won't." While she couldn't guarantee Santana wouldn't, she had a feeling she wouldn't. Santana wanted to fix things, that wasn't a bad thing, was it? As Abel left, Dani slipped out of her shoes and jeans, digging through her suitcase in hopes of finding something decent to wear after her shower. She'd text Santana after she showered.
Meeting new friends wasn’t a hard -- he was overall a very positive man and his out-going personality and open mind allowed him to get along with different kinds of people with ease. Finding like-minded people, however, was always the highlight of these kind of new introductions and Matt was exactly that; from the moment the two men met, they bonded over their music taste and similar views on life in general. Therefore, his weekend plans were already settled. While usually he would spend it with his colleagues at the Grump Cave, Arin and Suzy were having a bit of an ‘alone time’ and the rest of the crew was busy with other stuff. Dan remembered an offer for a jam night that he made to his new friend and the next thing he knew, they were hanging out on the couch in his living room, music blasting through the speakers as the last chords of Baba O’Riley echoed through the room. “Shit, man. It’s so weird. I haven’t hear this song in ages and now it’s like all the memories are flooding back in,” Dan laughed light-heartedly and shook his head. “Hey, I was thinking of getting some food delivered, kind of feeling hungry a bit... you like Thai? Or Chinese? I could get Postmates here in a few.” || @royalmatthewbomer
The distance between Elliot and her girlfriend was beginning to get to be too much for her. She hadn’t seen Morgan in quite some time and it was both annoying and depressing. All she wanted was to be able to go to sleep at night holding the girl she loved and wake up to her kisses, staying in bed with each other. She figured that in order to do such a thing at the moment, she’d need to work more hours, or change her hours to earn more money. She’d saved up a bit to go see her, but the more she had, the more time she knew she could spend with Morgan. The only thing she hated about it was how much more time was taken away from them speaking to each other. Though, it was the one time their time difference played in her favor. By the time she was getting home from work, it was only about midnight for Morgan. Quite late for the both of them, they used it as an opportunity to fall asleep together on FaceTime or Skype. It wasn’t the real thing, but it was the best they could do.
Now currently on her way home from work, it was about 2:30 am. Elliot had been used to driving at just late times and loved it. It was dark, quiet and there were barely cars on the road. It was her favorite. She didn’t have to worry about people urging her to go faster, she got to relax and obey everything the road was telling her. It felt like for once the world was just serene. Driving down the road, she didn’t see a car in sight, meaning her light was going to stay green. Approaching it, she continued to have her light and drove through the intersection, almost home. But the second she was in the middle of the intersection, the bright headlights from a car breaking the law shined through, causing her to stop breathing and everything went slow. The car slammed into the passengers side and Elliot hit her head on the side of the car as it slowly began to flip, tumbling in the direction of the force. She tried to keep her grip on the steering wheel, feeling as if it was her only safe response, but soon enough everything just went black.
Getting the call about her daughter had to have been the hardest thing Elliot’s mother had ever experienced. To hear that she was likely to be in critical condition and had to be transported to the hospital was too much on her. This was her only daughter, this was her biggest fear. Frantically grabbing her items, she threw her emergency lights on and headed to the location. Getting there and trying to check in on the progress of Elliot, she was told that the girl hadn’t arrived yet. It was the worst feeling. How had she gotten there before the injured? Only a few minutes passed by and she heard the doors bust open, commands being shouted from everyone. Hesitating at first, she turned around and saw the paramedics quickly pulling a stretcher through the door and into the hospital. The girl on the surface was so banged up, but she knew that was her daughter. Letting out a yelp, she stood up and rushed over to see her, only to be stopped. The woman told her she wasn’t able to see anything and Elliot had to be transferred to emergency surgery as soon as possible. Hanging over a small bag of the items from the crash that survived, the woman apologized and rushed in after everyone, the swinging doors being the only thing left to stare her mother in the face. She couldn’t move, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. What was going to happen to her little girl? The feeling of someone touching her shoulder caused her to jump, not expecting it. Turning around, she saw a police officer with a remorseful look on his face. He was the first responder and sat Elliot’s mother down to chat with her about what had happened. “It was a drunk driver,” he started off, sighing. “Your daughter was following every sign, every light. She was doing the right thing. We checked every street camera. The worse threat about driving this late at night is what just happened. People think they can drive under the influence because there’s barely anyone on the roads.”
He continued to talk to her for a bit, trying to keep the woman calm. After their conversation ended, her mom finally looked into the small bag to the few things that she had. Her phone, quite cracked and banged up, turned on, but only by dim light. She’d spoken to Elliot about her personal life a few times. She knew that her daughter was currently in the relationship, but never delved into it. Elliot never wanted to speak about it and her mom understood why. Pushing the girl away for years because of her sexuality meant losing that trust and it was her own fault. But all she could do right now was try to locate this girl. With her hand shaking and her eyes still crying, her mom scrolled through her daughter’s latest call list and clicked on the name under the contact ‘Babe’ followed by a heart emoji. It had to be the girlfriend. A few rings later and she was greeted by a female’s voice, happy to speak to her girlfriend. It broke her heart even more to know she was going to have to break the news to this girl that she’d never met, a girl she didn’t even know the name of. “Hi,” she started out, her voice wavering. “This is Elliot’s mother. I don’t really know who you are, but I know that you are dating my daughter and deserve to know what has happened. She was, uh,” stopping for a moment, her Mother reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose, trying to calm herself. It didn’t do anything but make her cry even harder. “She was on her way home from work and got in a pretty bad accident. She was hit by a drunk driver, she was the one doing the right thing. But she’s paying for his mistakes. We’re in the hospital right now. She’s in surgery and they’re not telling me anything about her. I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know how bad she is and I don’t know what to do. But you should know.” She didn’t even know how many times she actually had to pause while she spoke. It was too hard on her. Before ending the call, she gave the girlfriend the location and sat back into her chair, waiting for either the best or worst news in her life.
The phone call left Charlie curled up on the couch, tears staining her face and her cell falling from her hand to clatter onto the floor. Miles never called her. It was always Jerrod, but she had made the mistake of mentioning to Jerrod how Molly had accidentally brought it up and the next thing Charlie knew, Miles was calling her. He was trying to convince her, not for the first time, that how she remembered things that happened between them was worse than they had been. That while she’d gotten angry with him and they’d physically fought, on more than one occasion, that he was in just as much fault, if not more, than she was. He kept trying to convince her that her trauma had made her react how she did, and was also why she remembered things in such a dark way. Jerrod could be heard agreeing in the background and it had set her off.
She’d yelled and screamed and cried. All she knew was that Dani had to have heard, hell, she was almost convinced Greg and/or Elena had heard her, as she’d also received an “are you okay?” text from them both. She didn’t want to talk about it, didn’t want to think about it, but it seemed as though everything, and everyone, was determined to get her to talk.
It had been a few months since he had seen his girlfriend. Lee felt a desperate need to see her. Yes, they would still talk to each other, he even became more familiar with muggle technology and forms of communication in order to talk to her. He still hadn’t found a job and didn’t want her mother to be the reason he had a job. He wanted to do it himself, his stubbornness was always one of his most apparent traits. After much pleading on his part to his parents, he left London to go to America. He decided to surprise his girlfriend as well as look for a career there, but the later was more of an afterthought. He owled his girlfriend’s fathers a week prior to his trip in order to go to the right place once he got there. But here he was, in front of the house his girlfriend was said to reside. He was both anxious and nervous to say the least, he had only met her fathers once and didn’t want to mess anything up ut also he couldn’t wait to see Rachel again. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door, waiting for someone to answer it.
