live in the now

[thedanmontgomery]

lincolnmontgomery‌:

“Maybe, I dunno. I might just stay in tonight and hang with mom and Maddie. And you, if you’re gonna be around.” Lincoln knew that answer was bound to put up a red flag for his brother, but he didn’t see the point in hiding it. Whether it happened now, or after dinner, he knew Daniel and his mom would be curious about his decision not to go out, and he didn’t see see the point in delaying the inevitable. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be a piece of cake. Brad said once he invested in a pair of dark sunglasses last year, he basically spent all his shifts napping while he was up on the chair getting a tan. Seems like it’s gonna be a hell of a lot better than being yelled at by middle aged ladies over things out of your control, that’s for sure,” Lincoln agreed. At the mention of running into his friends, the younger boy sighed softly. “Not as many people as usual, no. Just Jemma, out at the beach earlier. She was there with her dog. And after I saw her, I just spent the rest of the day unpacking,” Lincoln explained, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke.

It didn’t take Daniel wrong to be given concrete proof that something wasn’t right with his brother. For the life of him, Daniel couldn’t remember the last time Lincoln voluntarily skipped going to a party without a good reason, especially when he’d gone all year without much contact with his ‘summer’ friends. “So what you’re saying is, that I should be extra cautious when Brad is on duty?” It was an attempt to keep things light, but he wasn’t sure how well it would land, considering he was still mentally trying to put the pieces together over what seemed up with the younger male. He’d fail as an older brother if he just walked out of the room and pretended that he had no clue that something was amiss. Maybe he could send Maddie in to try and get some answers, but he had to have a go first. Realisation flashed onto his face as he heard who his brother had run into, he didn’t know all the details, but he knew enough to know the two of them weren’t on the best of terms. “How was that?” Not great seemed to be the obvious answer if Lincoln’s apparent mood was anything to go by, but he didn’t want to push his brother into saying something he didn’t want to. “How did you feel about it?” Which was the important thing. Most of what he knew about Jemma came from Maddie and Lincoln, which meant his opinion of her had always been tied to what the other two thought of her. If Lincoln wasn’t her biggest fan, he’d follow suit – even if Maddie was still friends with the girl.

[thedanmontgomery]

maddiewalkcr‌:

“It was okay. I slept a lot, up until the end when my mom turned the last hour of the ride into a one woman Beatles concert. I was worried my ears would never stop bleeding, but they seem to be doing better, so I think they’re gonna be alright,” Maddie joked, adjusting her grip on the bags she was carrying as the started to slip from her fingers. “Oh, I’ve got big plans for the summer. Huge. Skydiving, bungee jumping, a few tattoos, maybe some piercings. The usual,” she said nonchalantly, though she was only able to maintain her serious demeanor for a moment after the words came out. She instantly cracked a smile, surprised she was even able to make it through her sentence with a straight face. “So, the answer is no, I don’t have any plans. Nothing specific, anyways, unless you count the book and report I have to squeeze in at some point for my summer reading. I’m gonna try to make it a little more eventful than my usual basking in the sun by the pool all day, though,” Maddie admitted, swinging her bedroom door open once they were up that stairs so that they could drop her first load of bags off. “What about you, hm? Nothing exciting on your radar yet?” To Maddie, Daniel was far from boring. But she knew him well enough to know that the chilling and seeing what came along was much more… him.

“Ouch, you have my dearest sympathies for having to deal with that.” He spoke, lowering his voice – partly to make it more humorous and partly so that Mrs Walker didn’t overhear them. He had never bought into blindly respecting your elders, respect was earned no matter your age, but Mrs Walker was someone he’d always respected. He’d known her for so long, that he couldn’t quite remember a time where the Walkers weren’t a part of his life, even if it wasn’t a permanent thing. As she described her ‘usual’, he couldn’t help but smirk. There were without a doubt people around who had those exact plans, but Maddie had never seemed that impulsive. It was one of the things that made her easier to talk to than most of the people around her and Lincoln’s age. “I’m not sure most people count homework as having summer plans.” He chuckled, omitting the fact that he was in the minority that would call it a plan. “For the record though, bungee jumping is pretty great, if you ever do get around to it. A group of us did it last summer, and it’s one of my best memories.” He’d agreed so that his friends would let him finish some of the work he had to do – but he’d ended up enjoying it more than he ever imagined, and he imagined Maddie would be the same – and she deserved a good summer. “My plans are nowhere near as interesting as your tattoo filled ones. I’ve got plans to meet up with friends for lunch tomorrow, was thinking about doing some volunteer work, but nothing concrete. Mom thinks I should take some time off from planning everything. If she could, I think she’d threaten to ground me if I planned my entire summer out right now.”

[thedanmontgomery]

lincolnmontgomery‌:

“Mm…” Lincoln hesitated. There was a party that night at Clay’s house, one he’d been invited to earlier that afternoon, and Lincoln had felt like he should go. After all, it had been a whole year since he’d seen his friends in Cousins. And he was excited to catch up with them, he really was. But he didn’t want to do it right then, not like that. There was no doubt in his mind that his friends would be hammered that night. And while that’d normally amount to a fun night for the young boy, with the funk he was in after seeing Jemma earlier that afternoon, he knew it wasn’t a good idea to throw alcohol into the mix. “Yeah, I can do that. Tacos sound good. I just have to swing by the Park District before we eat to pick up my the swim trunks I’ve gotta wear for my lifeguarding “uniform”. I start work in a couple days, so, I gotta make sure I have ‘em,” Lincoln explained. 

At the hesitation, Daniel was expecting a no and was caught slightly off guard at the answer. “I’m sure mom will love to hear that. She doesn’t have to try and blackmail you into it. It’ll probably be over early enough that you can go do something else if you did have plans.” He shrugged, feeling as if it was implied he’d cover for his brother if he stayed out later than their parents would like. Daniel could admit he wasn’t always the most present sibling, but it was in the older sibling bylaws that you had to cover for your younger siblings no matter what. It’s why he’d almost felt like a failure at the end of the previous summer when something was off with Lincoln, and he wasn’t sure how to help the younger male out.  “As far as summer jobs go, you did manage to get a good one. I’d take being a lifeguard over working at the concessions stand any day. I’m still recovering from last summer where that mother argued with me for an hour that her water wasn’t at the right temperature.” It had been a ridiculous scenario, but he didn’t mind – if nothing else it gave him a story to tell. He’d been about to turn and walk out of the room, when he paused at the door, deciding he should probably question why Lincoln’s mood had seemed to shift since that morning. “Did you run into any of your friends when you were out earlier? Seems like you can’t go anywhere around here without bumping into someone.”

[thedanmontgomery]

maddiewalkcr‌:

The car ride to Cousins had taken Maddie and her mom ten hours. And normally, with how anxious she was to get there, the ride felt like it took ten days. But that day, it had gone by in what felt like ten minutes to the young brunette. Her mind had been moving at full speed the entire ride. She had butterflies in her stomach just thinking about everything that laid ahead of her that summer. Would it be the summer of her first real crazy party, or even her first kiss? Or would it finally be the first summer Daniel realized she wasn’t the naggy twelve year old she’d once been, and start to see her as something more? She doubted the last one, but still. She was getting older, and it was her mission to make this summer the best one yet. One she wouldn’t forget. When she heard Daniel’s voice from behind her as she was unloading a few of her things from the trunk, she wanted to say something mature. Something flirty and funny, something that would force him to see how much older she’d gotten in the past year. But like she always did when it came to Daniel, she chickened out. “Oh yeah? That’s the only reason you wanna help me, hm? Rude,” Maddie teased, sticking out her tongue playfully. “But I’m gonna take you up on that offer, even if it was forced upon you. That bag is really heavy, can y’grab that one?” Maddie asked, gesturing to her light blue duffel bag.

Holding his hands up in mock surrender at the words, a smirk crossed his face. “Hey, Linc’s the nice one, I have never claimed not to be rude.” He replied keeping his tone even, despite the fact his facial expressions clearly gave away the fact he was joking. They may have only spent time together over the summer as they grew up, but it was long enough for them to get a decent idea on the other’s personality, which meant he didn’t have to fret over the idea that she might take his words at face value. “As the lady wishes.” He quipped, mock bowing as he went to grab the bag that she’d pointed out. Throwing it over his shoulder after he pulled it out of the car, he turned back to her deciding to make conversation – knowing that moving everything the Walker’s had brought inside without speaking would be awkward. “How was the drive down? That’s always my least favourite part of spending the summer here. I swear it almost seems like we spend three months in a car getting here, but worth it in the end right?” There was no point complaining about something as trivial as a long drive, not when he knew there were numerous people who would gladly step into their shoes in order to have a three month vacation. “Got any big plans for the summer? Or are you going for the chill and see what happens route? I have to say the latter is my favourite, but that might just be because I’m too boring to plan an epic summer.” He finished, joking even if it was at his own expense.

[thedanmontgomery]

After finishing talking with his mother, Daniel made his way upstairs passing by his own room to head towards his brother’s. He knew that there were siblings out there who got along better than the two of them did, but there was something about moving for the summer that always seemed to make them get along better – and that was one of the few reasons he liked coming to the beach. Knocking on the door, he waited for his brother to answer before opening it and leaning against the door frame. “Mom wanted to know if you had plans later. She’s cooking dinner and would ‘heavily prefer it to be a family affair’ – her words, not mine.” He finished, holding his hands up in mock surrender. Out of the two of them, Lincoln was more likely to have plans between them. Daniel had his share of friends around town, but he seemed to keep a closer knit group of people around him than his brother. Which wasn’t a bad thing, sometimes he wished he had more of Lincoln’s apparently effortless charisma. “If it helps, she’s making tacos, and who doesn’t like them?” @lincolnmontgomery

[thedanmontgomery]

Daniel knew he was lucky to get the opportunity to spend his summer at his family’s beach house, considering most people didn’t own their own beach house, but that summer there was part of him that didn’t want to be there. It felt like he should be back home, helping run the summer soccer camp or taking summer classes – anything that was more productive than spending his summer relaxing at the beach. His parents on the other hand, seemed to like reminding him that he needed a balance between work and fun, and he didn’t have it in him to argue with them. Walking up the driveway, he paused when he noticed another car, before reminding himself it was probably the Walker’s, a thought that was proven true when he saw Maddie walk towards the trunk of the car. “Need a hand moving anything inside?” He asked, walking over to her. “Mom might actually kill me if I don’t offer to help you out, and that doesn’t seem like the right way to start anyone’s summer off.” Of course he would have offered to help because that’s what someone should do, but it didn’t hurt to tack the joke on, even if it was a poor one. @maddiewalkcr

[briennesjaime]

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