moved to champagns.

       “it wasn’t that bad.” he chuckled softly as he tried to stop her from being so down on herself. he knew that much like him she actually really loved what they did, it was other people that didn’t which caused them to be where they were. for her it was her mother and for him it was his father. he did his best not to look when she gestured to her body but he failed. cynthia had always been very sexual since he’d met her and it made other’s feel as though they could treat her like an object to take out their desires on and he always tried his best to not do that. she was a person, a beautiful person but still a person. “um, yeah…” he replies softly as she mentions his father. he moved to sit in a chair at one of the vanities before he continued. “we got into it really bad earlier this year and it ended with me dropping music and starting to fight again like he’d always wanted. then he got sick and… yeah.” he trialed off not really wanting to say the words but he knew that she’d understand. “so now I’m trying to run the gym while fighting, working here, and paying off all the very angry people that he owed.” he used her wording as he chuckled softly. “what about blind casting? use a fake name and let them see your talent before they judge you based on your name?”

      usually, sloan carrington never had any leisure time. she was either focused on her studies or on her sport; both taking up the majority of her days. but today was different— she had tennis practice early at six this morning, classes following and her homework being completed before noon. in a house as big as her’s and sebastian’s, one would assume that she’d have plenty of ways to keep herself occupied but that is far from the truth. this is one of those rare times where the wealthy blond was bored. acting quickly, she calls her best and probably on girl friend alexandria graham to come spend the night with her; deciding that there was nothing wrong with having a girl’s night. plus, she gets to spend time with one of the very few people she genuinely enjoys being around. it’s a win-win situation.

      “  mmm we need to get back to studying.  ”  though she doesn’t break away from him, fingers gripping onto his bicep as she continues to make herself comfortable on his lap. lips dance on the skin of mateo’s neck before meeting his. they kiss sensually for a few seconds before she pulls back breathlessly, a content expression painting itself onto her delicate features.  “  i’m being serious, mat. you know how professor hastings is.  ”  and even though she doesn’t want to, sloan slips from his arms and sits besides his figure on the silky sheets of her bed.

     reaching for her textbook, the female is interrupted by the ping! of her cellphone and the screen lighting up for a brief second— indicating that she has just received a new message. the device sits between them, and as soon as she reads who the message is from; she knows what’s about to follow. james: hey, want to meet up tonight? let me know before 9. they’ve danced this dance before, with mateo’s aggressive outbursts and sloan feeding gasoline to it to make the flames grow even hotter. making him mad, jealous, got a reaction out of her that no one else could ever dream of getting. that’s why she enjoyed it so much.

@champagns​        /        sloan   &   sebastian.

      “don’t you think it’s peculiar?”  he lowered his eyebrows as he spun his body around and rested up against the marble-topped island that stood in the center of the kitchen. before explaining himself further, he took a quick sip of water from his bottle. sebastian was now starting to regain a steady breathing pattern again from the game of tennis that he just shared with his sister.

      carrington against carrington–––– something that neither took lightly. the two of them competing was a thing of the past and they avoided it at all costs when possible. and despite the hint of competition that loomed over them in their day to day life, what with class ranking and social status, sebastian made sure that if a rare occasion of a lose-win situation went on between himself and sloan, the playing field was level. they were twins, one and the same, so they either accomplished everything together or nothing what at all. however, more often than not, sebastian didn’t have to try all that hard to have mercy on his sister. in fact, he put in little to no effort on most aspects. one of those being tennis.

      “when i lose a match, i get an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. sadness, i assume? or perhaps jealousy.“  if only sebastian felt anything but anger and hatred, because then it would’ve been less of a task to describe an unfamilar emotion that he wasn’t truly experiencing in the slightest.  "the same feeling i could imagine our dear james gets when he sees you with that vermin you refer to as a boyfriend. is that still going on, by the way?”

     blond hair is neatly resting in a plait, loose golden strands coated with sweat stick to the fair yet blushed skin of her cheeks and neck. it was currently fifty-three degrees in middlebury; the frostiness of the cold air has been nipping at her arms and legs all afternoon as she and sebastian indulged themselves in a friendly game of tennis out in their courtyard. she enjoyed playing with her brother, as he was the only person who could really challenge her athletic skills. the competitive nature within the two resulted in very interesting and entertaining matches.

     humming lightly, she opens the refrigerator doors and begins to look for her half-eaten fruit salad from breakfast. eyes light up at it’s sight and she takes it in her hand, closing the doors behind her as she sets the small container on the surface of the island sebastian was currently seated on.  “  get down, you’re getting your loser sweat all over it.  ”  sloan teases, popping a small cube of pineapple into her mouth. she reorganizes the fruits by what they are; separating the grapes from the melons and so on so forth. 

       there was something about her, something about all of them really, but about sloan in particular that james couldn’t explain. she was unlike anyone he’d met before, which maybe wasn’t so difficult when he came from such a mundane town, but he’s sure that it wouldn’t make a difference. it was an infatuation, if anything, an extreme fascination for who she was and the things she did. he wanted to know everything about her, and, if he was being really indulgent, he secretly believed that maybe they were the same.

       james had gone to the library in hopes of getting ahead on his translations when he spotted that flaxen head of hair that had become immediately recognizable to him despite only knowing her for a few short months. he walked towards her table, tucking his book under his arm. “sloan.” he greeted, taking the seat across from her. the library was crowded but sloan’s table was empty— none of the other students even dared to take up the same space. “where’s sebastian?” he cared only because it was so rare to see them without one another, to get a moment alone with sloan like this. / @champagns

       hazel eyes read the fine print of her novel gingerly, trying to analyze and memorize as much as the information as possible so that it could be used later on in an argumentative essay. sloan is intrigued as the story continues; characters evolving and arcs developing, the plot and the writing completely transporting her into another world. it was beautiful. index finger comes up to wet itself on the tip of her tongue before delicately turning to a new page, curious eyes ready to engross themselves into the storyline. however, she’s interrupted by a very familiar voice that makes the ends of her rosy colored lips tip into a flirty smile.