love lies.

KENZIE: If I needed your help to plan a surprise for my girlfriend would you say yes?

Brooke was only able to check her texts once her game was over, and she saw that Audra had texted her saying she was going to come over. Brooke had checked the time, letting out a relieved sigh when she saw that she still had about an hour to get home, shower, change, and act like she had been home all along and was most certainly not playing soccer. But as she walked into her apartment, slightly sweaty and still adorned in her soccer uniform and cleats, Brooke faltered as she saw the other girl already on her couch. Well, fuck. The blonde decided to just… carry on as usual, pretending like this wasn’t the exact opposite of what she was supposed to be doing due to her injury. “Hey,” she smiled, letting out a small breath as she kicked her cleats off and got a water bottle from the fridge. “Pour me a glass?”

Audra assumed her friend was out grocery shopping, getting coffee, saving homeless giraffes that were down on her luck, pretty much doing anything but playing soccer, so when Brooke walked into her own home in a soccer uniform with a light glistening of sweat on her skin, Audra was in pure shock. She couldn’t even bring herself to form words for far too long. Instead, she sat with her mouth hanging open like a cartoon character as she stared at the blonde acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. “Brooke!” She finally said, standing from the couch, her voice more of a screech than anything else. Audra raised a hand, gesturing at the other woman, as if she would understand what she was trying to say without actually speaking. “What are you - what? I mean. Water you doing!?” She asked, her voice rising an octave with every word it seemed, though it didn’t stop her from the words coming out sounding like ‘water you doing’ instead of ‘what are you doing’, which just made her get angry with herself. “Sorry, this isn’t a time for jokes, but seriously. What is this?”

This thing with Dahlia was the longest relationship Dougie had ever been a part of. And it wasn’t even a real relationship. But he hadn’t hooked up with someone for so long before. He didn’t have too many complaints. Well, he mostly wanted her to completely leave her asshole boyfriend. Not because he wanted her to run off and be with him forever, or anything like that, but she deserved better than what she had with that guy. Dougie wanted her to leave her boyfriend and he wanted her to be safe. And he figured the safest place for her to be would be his place, but she never agreed to it. She was sticking it out with that asshole for whatever reason. He let out a small sigh as he heard his front door open. It didn’t take long for him to realize it was Dahlia. Her calling out his name really convinced him that it was her. He pulled himself up from his bed and made his way into his kitchen. “Hey,” he greeted with a smile. “I didn’t know you were coming over,” he grinned, leaning over to press a small kiss to her cheek. “What’s up?”

She gave him a weak smile when he greeted her. “I didn’t either, I should have called.” Dahlia sighed, but she relaxed when he kissed her cheek, if he didn’t want her there, surely he’d be colder to her, she thought. “I have the weekend to myself, I thought maybe if you’re free I could hang around here?” She said, her voice hopeful, being careful not to mention Jaime’s name. It wasn’t as if Dougie didn’t know about him, but she liked him being an unspoken part of the equation, she could pretend he didn’t exist that way. Jaime went out of town for work sometimes, and she liked to be able to come here, be out of that house for a few days. Being at home was never pleasant, sure Jaime being away was better than him being there, but it was still full of him. She felt like she couldn’t even live, she didn’t want to disturb his things, or do anything wrong, even when he wasn’t there to see it. It wasn’t like that with Dougie, he was warm, and made her laugh, and she could relax with him. It was so strange, how he could completely throw her off, but keep her calm all at the same time. Dahlia moved a bit closer to him, one hand reaching forward to gently grasp his forearm, the other resting against his chest as she took in the scent of him. “I missed being here.” She admitted as she rested her forehead against his chest as well. Dahlia was sure that at some point Dougie would end whatever this thing was. He’d get tired of her showing up, or tired of being a secret, or maybe he’d just get tired of her in general, but for now, she was sure to soak up every minute with him that she could. 

EMILY: I don't know, I think he spends most of his time at our house. I don't know how he'd have time to be anywhere else.

EMILY: Well, thank you. I really appreciate it, and I know they do too.

EMILY: Oh, no, everything's great! We all love it so much. Do any of the neighbors have a black and white cat? We keep getting visits from one. He doesn't have an ID tag, but he tends to always be in the area.

ADDIE: Well, I'll have a talk with him, he's going to need to start pitching in on the rent.

ADDIE: No problem.

Considering Sophie was her kid, Kristy could obviously be pretty biased in thinking spending time with her was undoubtedly the best pastime, but she knew how much her family adored her, too. It was always nice to see how excited Sophie would get around them, and Kristy grinned as she watched her wrap her arms tightly around Kenzie’s neck. “I mean, I think so,” Kristy agreed, gently shrugging a shoulder. Instinctively, she reached out to smooth down Sophie’s wavy hair. “Right? She’s going to be bigger than Finn soon,” she joked, stepping back to allow Sophie the room to run by her and toward the playground once Kenzie had set her down. Almost as if she’d somehow been caught red handed, Kristy’s brows raised in response to Kenzie’s question. “What?” she asked, eyes crossing as she watched Kenzie lift her hand to her forehead. “Oh, yeah, no, I’m fine.” She cleared her throat, frown wrinkling onto her face. Making sure Sophie was out of earshot, but of course that she could still keep an eye on her, she shook her head. “Actually, no, I’m not fine… I mean, I am, I’m not sick or anything.” Her shoulders slumped, voice lowering. “Dude, I did a really fucked up thing.” Cheeks instantly reddening, she continued, “I slept with this guy, which I mean, is fine. Whatever.” Awkwardly, she lifted her hand to the back of her neck. “Uh, but he’s married. And I knew it before we did it. So… Yeah. Apparently that’s the kind of asshole I am now.”

Kenzie grinned at Kristy’s joke about how much Sophia had grown, she was adorable, and growing way too fast, there was no denying that. Kenzie tilted her head to the side as she listened to Kristy talk, trying to gauge how serious the things she were about to hear were. When the shorter girl said she’d fucked up, Kenzie’s brows furrowed, surprised that Kristy would say anything like that, and as she continued, Kenzie couldn’t help but let out a slow breath. She was sure her shock was written across her face, but she hoped it didn’t look like any kind of judgement. “You’re not an asshole.” She whispered, stepping forward to give her cousin a hug. “You did do something kind of fucked up, I’ll give you that, but you’re not an asshole.” She said, not wanting to pretend like everything was fine, because that just wasn’t true, but she didn’t need to beat Kristy up, not that she could, when it seemed like she was doing that pretty well on her own. “I mean, cheating is bad, but ...there are worse things you can do to someone you love.” She said, speaking from personal experience, both from her parents and her past relationships, not that that excused anything. “What’s his relationship like, are they happy? I mean, you’re not planning to do it again, are you? Do you think he’ll tell his ...wife? Husband? Spouse?” She asked, realizing she’d began to ramble. “Shoot, sorry. I’m sorry. I’m not helping.” She stopped talking, taking a deep breath instead. “What happened?”

The way Lydia giggled at Audra’s terrible southern accent was definitely not acting. It was just so unfairly easy to be around her. “No, ma’am, you have not,” she responded in her own version of a southern drawl that also left much room for improvement. It was difficult to miss the way Audra’s pale cheeks seemed to grow pink, and Lydia couldn’t help the way she smiled sincerely in response. When this had first begun, Lydia’s nerves were mostly in response to the idea of being found out for straight up using Audra, but the butterflies that swirled instantly through her stomach as the other girl leaned in were for an entirely different reason now, and she couldn’t help the way her lips curved upward as she returned the small kiss. “You know I’m not complaining about that, right?” she shrugged a shoulder lightly, gaze settled on Audra’s face. Fingers parting to allow room for Audra’s to slot between them, Lydia delicately tightened her grip, using the hold she now had to gently tug the other girl closer. “Come here,” she murmured, lifting their arms to wind her own around Audra’s back. She pulled her comfortably into her side. “You make me happy,” she said softly, the words coming out without thought. “Did you know that?”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t.” Audra joked, when Lydia said she wasn’t complaining. She let Lydia control the situation, happy to just go with the flow of whatever the other woman wanted. Maybe it was just that she’d grown up in a household of type A personalities, and felt the need to pretend to be one herself, even though she certainly wasn’t one, but she liked that with Lydia she could be herself. Audra grinned up at the other girl once she’d settled against her, “I didn’t, I’d hoped, but I didn’t know. I’m glad you told me.” She said gently, “You make me happy, too.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it was hard to speak louder when so many thoughts buzzed through her head, how happy she really was, how completely crazy it was to her that she could make Lydia happy. Looking up into the brunette’s eyes, her mind quieted down, and she reached her free hand up, letting her thumb gently graze her cheek. “Do you want to spend the night?” She asked, a bit out of the blue, but she suddenly realized that the idea of not getting to hold Lydia all night was just about the worst thing she could possibly think of. 

CLARK: Oh my God. I guess I better say yes then or I'm getting dumped.

LEN: Nah, I'm just kidding, but I would really enjoy some hot chocolate, and I can't have any here because my face would probably melt off.

Time away from the baby always made Sidney feel weird. He wanted to be around her all the time, but he knew it only made sense for him to get a break every once in a while. It was the same with Magda. If there was time she could have to herself then he wanted that for her. But he missed his daughter. A lot. There wasn’t enough jogging in the world he could do that could make him think about something else. He was actually kind of thankful that he’d found this stranger’s abandoned phone because now he had something else to worry about. “No problem,” he replied with a shrug, making sure to hand over her property. It was wild to him. He knew he would have been a mess if he’d dropped his phone somewhere. “Oh, I’m Sidney,” he responded with a smile. “You seem like you’re in pretty deep thought,” he explained nodding his head. “Everything okay?”

Kenzie was never very good at talking, especially not to strangers, but right now she was grateful for the interruption. “Nice to meet you, Sidney. And thanks again,” She said as she held the phone up, before beginning to gently tap it against her palm before shoving it back into her pocket, making sure it was safely in there this time. When he continued she let her eyes widen slightly at his question before shrugging it off and nodding. “Oh yeah, I’m good. I’m fine.” She said, a meek smile spreading on her lips. “I just...” Kenzie began trailing off and then decided that maybe a stranger was an okay person to express herself to. “Sometimes I can’t get my brain to shut down. I’m a nurse, and I work with premies, so sometimes it’s just a lot, and also I’m thinking about proposing to my girlfriend, which is also a lot?” She said, not meaning for it to sound like a question, but it did anyways. “I mean, I kind of have a terrible history with dating, I’ve only been in one relationship and it was...horrible, and ended even worse.” She said, “So proposing is kind of terrifying.” Finally finishing, she was surprised by how the sudden burst of honesty actually did make her feel a bit better. 

Kenzie let out a short laugh as she realized her rambling, “Sorry. I’m so sorry.” She said, her voice still light, though she did feel some real guilt for laying all of that on him. “You were being nice, and I totally just ... I’m sorry.” She said again, and shook her head. “Okay, well your turn, I guess. Everything okay for you? I have to say, unloading your problems on a stranger is weirdly therapeutic.”

It was always devastating to see Cassia any variation of upset, so Amber wrapped her arms around her tightly as she sank into her, wanting to let her know she was here. She ignored how torturous it was to have the other girl pressed up so closely against her; this wasn’t about her, after all. “I know,” she soothed, though unintentionally froze up as Cassia continued. How can you spend four years just lying to someone? Unfortunately, Amber knew the feeling, though made quick work of shrugging off the thought, and instead focused on her friend. She grabbed the wine bottles, before dutifully following Cass through to the living room, and perched comfortably down on the couch beside her, gently taking the glasses from her grasp and busying herself with pouring their drinks as she listened. “I think most things can be controlled to some extent,” Amber murmured, handing over a glass—she knew from experience, after all. Sympathetic smile on her lips, she studied her friend as she vented out her feelings, head shaking gently. “I don’t know what to say, Cass.” Setting down the wine bottle now that both glasses were filled, she shuffled slightly closer, focusing her gaze on Cassia’s face. “I know he made you happy, but this just…it kind of proves he didn’t deserve you, you know? And I know that doesn’t help but…” she trailed off. “I don’t know, maybe he never did.”

She wanted so badly to be comforted by Amber’s words, but it really didn’t help, she just felt herself let out another sob instead. “I hate that I’m being so pathetic about this,” She whispered, her own self hatred seeping in with her anger and sadness. Her emotions were always much more heightened than they needed to be, although this felt like the time to be about as mad as you could manage, so she tried not to beat herself up for it. Cass reached forward to fill one of the glasses and then quickly swilled half of it down, she needed to numb herself. “I’m so lucky to have you,” She whispered, reaching up to brush a lock of hair behind Amber’s ear. It wasn’t just anyone that you could count on to always be there, Cass knew that all too well but Amber had never let her down. “I’m sorry you had to rush over, were you busy?”

EMILY: LOL. It's weird you should say that, Christian keeps saying there's a ghost in their room. It's normally when the toys are all left out after I asked them to put them away though...

EMILY: Wait, are you sure?

ADDIE: Ahhh, yes, the infamous ghost of messy rooms. I hear he travels to a lot of houses of young kids. Weird.

ADDIE: Totally, I mean, I can check with him if you're worried, but I doubt he'd care. He's got so many toys.

There was something almost comforting about meeting Kya in the flesh and seeing that she looked around Emily’s own age. Not that young parents were exactly unheard of, but Emily was used to receiving judgmental looks from other parents, so it was nice to be able to hopefully level with someone. Kya’s nonchalance easily helped her to relax, and Emily ventured a small, genuine smile in response. “Yeah, no, it’s fine, I’ll talk to him when we get home,” she promised, watching as Christian made himself at home with the other children. It was strange how proud it made her, hearing that Gabriel had behaved himself, mostly because he really was a good kid—it was just one of those parenting things she was still getting used to, taking compliments about the kids she was raising. “I don’t know,” Emily chuckled, “Your kid looks like an angel… Kennedy, right?” A blush rose to her cheeks, embarrassed by how rude she felt for not knowing for sure. “Um, anyway, about the mom-sister thing… Can we talk?” She paused, quickly adding, “I mean, unless you want us to leave, like, right now. Which is totally fine, I don’t want Gabe to have outstayed his welcome or anything.”

Kya just nodded in return as Emily said she’d talk to her kid at home, she knew how it felt to be embarrassed by your own child, or brother in this case, she guessed. “Kennedy, yeah. She’s no angel, she got her mother’s bitchy attitude.” She said, soft enough so the kids wouldn’t overhear her swearing. “You should relax,” She said, a small smirk on her lips as Emily backtracked on her request. “You’re totally cool, you don’t have to rush out, Gabe is welcome here whenever, don’t worry. I own a bar, so I deal with annoying and obnoxious people all the time, there’s pretty much nothing you or your kids could do to annoy me enough to make you leave.” She said, before walking out of the room to the living room and gesturing for Emily to come with her. “You want something to drink or a snack or something?” She asked, before making herself comfortable. 

Lydia had been uncomfortable with this entire situation the whole time. But, she was an actress, she could act the part, because there was a very important end goal here. Plus, the more time she spent with Audra, the less acting she had to do; she really was enjoying the other girl’s company, and somehow that made Lydia feel even worse about her original intentions. Audra was sweet; really, really sweet. And she was pretty, and just genuinely good, so it wasn’t difficult to actually enjoy spending time with her. Lydia wasn’t acting at all right now, in fact, as she glanced up from her spot on the couch to watch Audra walk back into the room, heart fluttering of its own accord as a grin spread itself across her lips. “I was so worried, I thought you were never coming back,” she whined theatrically, back of her hand pressing to her forehead. Of course, she straightened up at the more serious tone to Audra’s voice, with Lydia’s brows raising as she tugged her closer. “Okay… What is it?” She asked, almost concerned, before Audra continued, and Lydia couldn’t help the smirk that rose to her face. “I thought I was the dramatic one here,” she chuckled, shifting her body to better face Audra. Instinctively, her hand settled against Audra’s thigh. “Mm, how about we forgo the cheese dip, because I might worry that you’re never coming back again, and I don’t know if I can survive the two minutes you’d be gone.”

Audra raised her hand, the back of it resting against her forehead as she sighed dramatically. “I’ve never done a dramatic thing in my life,” She drawled in a very poorly executed southern accent. Scrunching up her nose, she nodded at the other girl, feeling her cheeks turn pink at the feeling of Lydia’s hand on her thigh. “You can’t just say things like that and expect me not to kiss you,” she whispered, leaning forward and pressing her lips to Lydia’s, enjoying the softness of the other woman. Audra pulled away a few seconds later, settling back into her place on the couch, though she’d have liked to continue kissing her the entire night, but she thought it might be rude to invite her over for movies and then not let her watch any. Instead, she slid her hand over Lydia’s, and laced her fingers between the brunettes, hoping that she knew how much she was enjoying her company. 

@andiesmu​ / mackenzie hoffmann

If three day hangovers were a thing, Kristy would be certain she was currently experiencing one. Of course, she knew the real reason she felt like crap, and it had nothing to do with alcohol… Or okay, maybe it did a little bit, but Kristy hadn’t been entirely wasted on Saturday; she knew what she was doing, and now she had to deal with the consequences. She wanted to keep it to herself, pretend it had never happened, but that was much easier said than done; her impromptu, very much not okay hookup had been eating away at her the whole weekend, and she needed to talk to someone about it before she burst. Her cousin, despite her strange friendship with Jessica, seemed like a good person to vent to, though Kristy was admittedly nervous as she saw Kenzie coming into view. She was totally going to judge her, and she had every right to. Still, Kristy greeted the younger girl with a friendly smile, leaning down to unfasten the straps of Sophie’s stroller. Was the playground the best place to have this kind of conversation? No, maybe not, but it was Kristy’s week with Sophie, she had to keep her entertained. “Look who’s here to hang out with you,” Kristy cooed to the almost-two year old, lifting her from her stroller and immediately handing her over to Kenzie, mostly because Sophie would’ve screamed bloody murder if not. “Hey,” Kristy greeted breezily, “I know you probably have way better things you could be doing with your Tuesday, but Sophie wanted to see you.” She did her best not to give off any hint that anything was going on, and instead focused on pleasantries. “How are you doing?”

Kenzie would really take any excuse she could get to see her family. After growing up in the household she did, she cherished the family members that didn’t cast her out, so when Kristy requested that she joined them at the park, there was no way she’d turn it down. She loved kids, especially babies, and she never turned down the opportunity to play with a healthy one, not when she spent so much time at work with sick ones. “Seeing Sophie is always the best thing there is to do any day of the week.” She answered, picking the toddler up and pulling her into a hug. “Oh my goodness, you’ve doubled in size since your birthday!” She said excitedly to the small child in her arms, before placing a quick kiss on her cheek and setting her back down so she could begin to play. “You okay?” She asked, as she looked back up, finally taking the sight of Kirsty in. Her cousin was gorgeous, and she still looked gorgeous now, but she didn’t look like herself. “Are you sick?” She asked, the back of her hand reflexively reaching out to rest against the other woman’s forehead to see if she could detect a fever. 

It had been almost a year of Dahlia sneaking around with Douglas, though it didn’t seem that long, she really wasn’t sure how things got to be like this. She found herself fantasizing about leaving Jaime all the time, moving in with Dougie instead, though she doubted that would ever happen, the thought of it was all too scary for her to ever try to make it happen. Leaving Jaime was scary enough, but what if Douglas didn’t end up wanting her? They’d discussed her leaving now and then, but that didn’t mean he’d be signing up to be her full time boyfriend anytime soon. Having her around full time might make him realize that he never really liked her much. She shook those thoughts away as she let herself into his house. Dahlia still found it difficult to make herself comfortable here, not because Douglas didn’t try, he did, but she felt uncomfortable anywhere she went. She suspected it was a side effect of knowing that you’re always a second away from doing something wrong. “Douglas,” She called out quietly, as she wound her way into the kitchen, then stared at the fridge for a few seconds before daring to get herself a glass of water. 

Kya had never been exceptionally affectionate, and she was basically an unbreakable safe when it came to opening up, but this just wasn’t something she knew how to handle. As much as she knew this day would come, she also hoped it never would, but it had happened, Kennedy had asked why she’d never met her father. It was strange, that she’d turned up at Emmet’s for support, she normally felt like she needed to shield him, but she needed someone who would listen, and be gentle, but also honest with her. She knocked on the door, and shuffled around, her fingers fidgeting with the buttons on her shirt as her nerves bubbled inside of her. She’d been lucky enough to brush the question from her daughter off, but she knew it would come up again, and she needed to know what to do about it. 

Audra wasn’t always great at figuring out her feelings, it wasn’t that she was shut down to them, she just didn’t really understand them. Sometimes small things felt huge, and huge things felt like nothing, and her emotions would get so boggled in her mind that she didn’t know how to tell them apart. Though, that was probably everyone from time to time, but right now she needed to figure some things out. She decided it was a good time to drop in on Brooke, hopefully she’d be able to sort her out. Letting herself in, she settled on the other girl’s couch, after pouring herself a glass of wine from the bottle she’d brought for the two of them. Knowing she was early, she was sure Brooke would be there soon.