When the Stars Go Blue

I'm Tucker, a small town guy with simple dreams. I play football, baseball, and I swim. I'm also pretty nifty with a guitar. Yes, my mom works at the school. No, I can't convince her to change your grade. If Reed tells you anything about me and it seems weird and/or negative it's probably made up. Stop asking me to bring pancakes to the quad.

[camrigel]

Kay. You can buy. Just this once.

[tuckallen]

If it means that much to you, you can buy. But stop looking at me like that.

[camrigel]

We both know I’m a terrible liar but I appreciate you pretending to not know that I’m upset. You’re a peach, Tuck. And you’re definitely not buying.

[tuckallen]

Anytime. You're a peach too, but stop. Let me be nice and buy you food. It's the least I can do, don't argue.

[reed-foster-blog]

I feel lied to. Not that I care about that shit. Apparently it’s hard to believe that I could be a nun. Who knew?

Soooooooo, my wonderful friend, I have a mission for you. 

[tuckallen]

You know you have to care about religion to be a nun, right? You also have to sacrifice a lot because of your dedication to said religion. 

Oh god. What? What do you want? Don't suck up. I hate when you suck up.

[reed-foster-blog]

Hey, did you know that nuns aren’t married to God? I was so mistaken for years.

[tuckallen]

Yes, I did. I thought everyone knew. Those aren't the sort of vows they make. Get with the program.

[camrigel]

Stop, don’t be sorry, don’t apologize. I’m sorry, okay? It’s cool, pumpkin. Let’s go get some nachos, that sounds great.

[tuckallen]

What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything. You're allowed to be in a not so good mood sometimes. You don't always have to be happy go lucky Cam all the time. But when you're not, I'm going to notice. And I'm going to try to help, and nine times out of ten it's going to end up in me rambling on about nonsense that probably does more harm than good, but I'm not just going to let you sit around and be sad. I'll sit around with you while you're sad. Or tired. I meant tired. Because there's not anything wrong with you at all, you're perfectly alright. And I definitely believe that you're only suffering because of lack of sleep, and the reason you're not sleeping is regular school stress and nothing else. Come on butternut, I'm buying.

[camrigel]

No, no, don’t do that. Don’t apologize. It’s fine, Tuck. Thank you for trying to help, I really appreciate it, I do. It’s okay, really.

[tuckallen]

Sorry. I mean, no. I'm not sorry. Well, I am sorry but you told me not to be sorry so I guess I'm not sorry. Or I'm not saying it. Want some nachos? I'll get them with extra jalapenos and everything.

[camrigel]

My brother’s a soccer player. You’re like digging yourself a hole here, you know? Like everything you say is questionable. It’s not that time of the month, how am I acting time of the monthy? I’m just tired.

[tuckallen]

I said half of the time. He's Mexican, so he's probably good. He should be able to take a shin kick though, but whatever. Sorry, I was just trying to help. I'm not very good at it, obviously. I should've skipped that and gone to bringing you food or something. Sooo I'll just stop talking now. You're not yourself, I just assumed it was a side effect to cramping. I don't know. Sorry.

[camrigel]

A girl thing. What does that mean? I don’t need a mental health day, I don’t take mental health days. I’ve always had too much energy, not all of us can be babies like Reed. I’m not sick. I’m fine.

[tuckallen]

Guys don't shin kick. Unless they're soccer players or something, and come on, dude soccer players are like the lowest form of athlete half of the time. But your brother is bigger than you, according to Reed he's a lot bigger than you. Anyway, you know you wouldn't be able to overpower him so you kicked him in the shin. A guy would never do that. He'd rather be defeated trying to overpower someone by brute strength than stoop as low as shin kicking. Girls though, they don't care. It's a girl thing. Okaay. Um. Is this a time of the month thing? You're acting a little time of the monthy.

[camrigel]

What is that supposed to mean? Yeah— the project and school in general and track practice. Everything. There’s not much I can do Tucker, I can’t sleep, I can’t make myself sleep.

[tuckallen]

What is what supposed to mean? I said like twelve things. You sound like you could use a mental health day. I usually do so much during the day that I just pass out, so I don't know. You do a lot, but I guess that's not working for you. Sometimes Reed goes to sleep at like 8pm and sleeps for 13 hours, so maybe she can help you. Don't full name me, it freaks me out. Are you sick or something? Is that why you can't fall asleep? Or stay asleep. Whatever it is.

[tuckallen]

[text]: hey. Hey. HEY

[text] Whatever it is, Ashton did it.

[camrigel]

Mejico. You’re not saying it right. You’re terrible, my brother used to do that to me and I’d just kick him in the shins. I sleep. Usually about five hours a night, lately it’s been like two though and I’m not functioning very well.

[tuckallen]

I'm from Alabama, I'm not supposed to say it right. Of course you did, you're a girl. That's a girl move. He tries to wrestle me, but I'm obviously too strong for him to do that successfully. Oh. Is the project keeping you up or something? You know, that's not healthy, right? You can't get by on two hours of sleep. You're going to end up crashing when you least want to.

[camrigel]

Shut up. I’m not foreign I was raised in New Mexico. Don’t do that to your brother, what’s wrong with you? I’m just tired, I don’t know, school or whatever. I’m ready to go to sleep.

[tuckallen]

I think you mean, New Mehico. Nothing is wrong with me. He deserves it. Plus, now he knows it's a possibility and he'll do stuff for me. Like get me drinks from the fridge. That's it. I just don't want to move from the couch sometimes. What? You actually sleep? All this time I thought you were some weird hyper robot who never needed to sleep. I just thought you shut down to recharge a few hours a night. You learn something new everyday.

[jessicaxbradley-blog]

Is that an ice cream truck? –

[tuckallen]

You missed it. Looks like you were too busy taking balls to the face.

[camrigel]

I meant in the States. Yeah, that guy. He’s impossible, I’m way too tired to deal with him, I just want this to be over. But no, don’t— I need him, I need him to get an A.

[tuckallen]

Did you really just say 'the States'? You're so foreign. That's why I wouldn't actually hurt him. Just make him a little uncomfortable, and if he squirmed too much he'd end up hurting himself. I do it to my brother all the time. Why are you tired already? It's like six. 

[camrigel]

Everywhere you go serves supes fake Mexican but you have a point. I’m looking to drive a very sharp object through my term project partner’s neck, so yes, I’m looking to commit murder.

[tuckallen]

That's not true. I bet it's real in Mexico. The fuck you flip flops guy? That's it, let me at him. I can take him. I can put him in a headlock and make him be nice. Just hold him there the entire time you guys are working.

[camrigel]

Is it possible to successfully finish grad school from prison?

[tuckallen]

Yeah, totally. People get degrees in the big house all the time. But you can't see the sky and I bet they serve super fake Mexican, so you're not going. Don't even think about it. Is it murder? Are you looking to commit a murder?

[nadine-candler]

Mistletoe ;)

tuckallen

It was a snowy, winter night and Nadine was at a Christmas party. She didn’t really go to parties, but she didn’t feel like being a lone on Christmas weekend. She sat in a chair off to the side, one hand wrapped around stomach and the other holding a glass of wine. A figure came and stood in front of her. Slowly looking up, she came eye to eye with Tucker. She rolled her eyes and smiled. “Now, last time I checked, this was a party…You don’t seem to be partying.” He said. She raised her drink up. “This is my party.” She said, and took a small sip from the glass.

She stood up and walked past him, over to the snack table to refill her drink. He followed. “So what did you ask Santa for this year?” He asked, leaning against the wall next to her. She downed her drink and then answered “Not much, just a giant bag of animal crackers and Channing Tatum.” She raised her eyebrows and smiled.Tucker chuckled, “I’m ashamed, where is your imagination?” He said. “It flew out the door when I turned 10.” She replied and sipped her drink again. He snatched the glass from her hand and downed the rest of it. “Hey! That was mine.” She complained. “It’s the season of sharing, Nadine.” He answered. She rolled her eyes and walked away, and of course, he followed. “Oh!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop. He smirked and pointed up to the ceiling, “Now would you look at that.”Nadine looked up and saw a mistletoe on the ceiling above them. “I don’t think that’s how it works. You totally stopped me from walking.” She said, resting a hand on her hip. Tucker smirked widened and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. We both ended up underneath a mistletoe.”Rolling her eyes and smiling, she stepped closer to him and placed her lips on his. His lips moved slowly against hers, and she would be lying if she said she didn’t like it. Her hands fisted his shirt and she pulled away from the kiss and lingered on his lips. “Merry Christmas.” She whispered, and walked away.