i had big plans.

"I'm sorry that Georgie's behaviour is bothering you. But... It's the fact that you're letting her treat you this way. Like you're... Second best. Because you're not." Aiyla paused, silence filling the space between them as her leg nervously bounced under the table. "You're not second best, but you're settling for someone who is making you feel that way and I can't understand why." maybe it was because she had always held Drew on such a high pedestal, or maybe it was because she had never truly gotten over what could have been. But either way, Aiyla had once again found herself fighting for a man to see in himself everything that she saw too.

He took a sip from his drink, his eyes on her as she expressed how she felt. Wasn’t he second best though? He’d been the second born, always believing his parents loved Ryan more than him. He’d been overlooked by all the girls in his year who had crushes on his big brother. It was shocking that Aiyla hadn’t opted for Ryan as well, and so when he realized that maybe Georgie also preferred someone else—it felt almost written in his destiny. He wanted to tell her that, but he instead found himself looking at her and noticing the way she was saying this so strongly as if she truly believed it. But then—this was Aiyla, who almost only saw the good in people so of course she’d tell him this. “What am I supposed to do Aiyla?” He asked softer now, looking back at her before shaking his head. “The only other girl I’ve ever loved…” he left the words unspoken between them because rehashing their past was never a good idea. But she was the only other girl he’d ever loved and she’d been hurt by him also, so why would he ever think he was good enough to deserve being someone’s first choice, being their priority. | @aiylademirci

"Drew, c'mon." she gave him a pointed look. "Why are you doing this to yourself?" clearly Aiyla wasn't thinking an awful lot before she spoke, and hurting Drew's feelings was the last thing she wanted to do. She just couldn't understand why he was pining over someone who wasn't pining over him. It wasn't a distaste for Georgie that Aiyla possessed, it was... Something else. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on and could quite happily ignore. "You know you deserve better than friends with benefits with Georgie." the muscles in her jaw tightened, her stubbornness taking a strong hold within her mind.

When he admitted to feeling down because of what he'd seen, he hadn't expected this reaction from Aiyla. Honestly it had caught him by surprise but he still had to understand what her thought process was for thinking the way she did. "Doing what to myself? Admitting it bothered me?" Because it certainly had. "Or..something else?" He needed to talk this through with someone and yet he knew most people wouldn't understand the same way Aiyla wouldn't. He took a small sip from his coffee before he heard her words and had to let out a hollow laugh, they both clearly thought the other deserved the world, too bad they hadn't been able to be that for one another instead. "Yeah? What do I deserve Aiyla? Because I sure as hell didn't deserve you back then, and I don't deserve this with Georgie so why don't you tell me...what do I deserve?" He didn't let his voice raise too much, keeping in mind that they were in public but it was hard for his emotions not to seep in at this point. | @aiylademirci

She had welcomed Drew with a warm smile as he returned with her order, making quick work of the croissant as she delicately picked at it with her fingers. Although when the topic turned to Georgie, Aiyla tried her best to not let her facial expression slip. It wasn't that she didn't like the woman, Georgie was great by all means, but just... Not with Drew. "Do you think she was worried about you while she was with Jace?" Aiyla snapped, although she was quickly flooded with regret. "I'm sorry, that wasn't fair." she sighed gently, her gaze averting his. Her fingers toyed with her coffee cup as she patiently assessed her next words. "Are you guys dating again?"

For now, though, Drew’s family tensions had his full attention, and he was glad Drew was getting it all off his chest. “Has he come around at all?” he asked, hoping that was the case. Hoping that Drew saying first meant there had been a change of heart. Hoping, most of all, that Drew wasn’t at odds with his entire family. “I mean, I get it. Of course, I get it.” He wouldn’t do it for his father, but Mr. Parrish was nothing like his father. Of course Drew had stepped in. “It’s not just your dad’s place, anyway, you’ve got memories there, too.” Memories he’d want to keep, and protect, and cherish. As for Ryan … well, Lee could definitely relate to a difficult relationship with your older brother. “Things like my sister?” Lee asked drily. He hadn’t seen any of the drama firsthand, but he’d heard enough through the family grapevine to know that all had not gone swimmingly between Tess and Ryan upon being reunited. “I think you can get it and still be pissed right back at him. It’s not fair that he’s taking it out on you. Why’d he care about the house, anyway?” | @drewparrish

“He ended up going on a fishing trip a couple days after I paid off the mortgage so I’m not even sure he knows. He should be back soon though so I’m sure that’ll be a fun conversation.” Drew had been trying to do something good for the family and yet they all saw it as a mistake or him overstepping some boundaries that he didn’t even know there were. “Thanks,” he said softly before looking back at Lee. Of course his best friend would get it. He’d understand where Drew was coming from and how he really hadn’t meant anything bad by doing this. “Exactly…it’s my childhood home and now that I’m in a space where I’m financially capable of taking care of it, why wouldn’t I want to?” He said quietly before taking a sip from his bottle of water and glancing back at his friend with a nod. “Exactly that. Basically he was pissed that I’ve stayed close to your family and know about the things happening while he…didn’t know a lot of it. Namely…about Waverly.” It was good to hear this from Lee though because Drew needed someone to help him see that he was allowed to get upset over his brother deciding to punch him. “Oh I don’t think it’s only about the house, I think it was more about Tess and everything related to her…the house…of course he does care about it, but maybe he’s just pissed that I did this when maybe he wanted to be the one to help out? I don’t know man..All I know is that I’m tired of being the person who tries to help out and then get pissed at like this.” That admittance felt rather good to Drew and he hoped he was able to come to terms with it sooner or later. | @leeabhrams

"I am the most spectacular part of your day aren't I?" She asked with a smirk, pouring the pasta into the boiling water and giving it a stir before setting the timer on the stove for nine minutes. "Sorry I didn't stop by, I had a few fires to put out... and a cardigan to set on fire. I don't know why Jameson insists on wearin' those grandpa sweaters. I think he's got a fetish or somethin'." She mused, taking a sip from her own glass of wine. "I'm just sayin', Beatrice isn't exactly the type to get you outta the office on time. Or order you the lunch you want, she always throws in a grapefruit like that's gonna keep you healthy."

Finishing off her glass of wine, Georgie poured herself a refill then moved over to Drew, setting the glass down on the counter next to him and wrapping her arms around his waist from behind as he prepared the salad. "Mm, then what about Rex? Or Bo Peep?" She mused, pressing a kiss into his shoulder with a quiet chuckle. "Or... Kevin?" There was a grin on her lips as she suggested it, picking up on his Home Alone reference and playing along. ( @drewparrish )

“At this point, I don’t even think you should be surprised about it,” he told her before taking a sip from the wine she’d poured him. “And while I’d love to give you the credit and say it’s because of how incredible you are, we both know my job is boring so…” he trailed off before shrugging at her words and giving her a smile before he had to ask. “You—set his cardigan on fire? How that man doesn’t fire you, I will never understand,” he told her with a grin. “He clearly has the patience of a saint,” he chuckled before nodding at her words and only arguing when he had a reason to. “She’s not so bad with the food at least, the last year has really helped her realize that sometimes I need junk food...even if it’s once a week,” he grinned at Georgie, wanting to tell her that his assistant worked for him because she reminded him slightly of his mother. She certainly cared about him in the way a mother would and maybe that was why Drew had kept her around especially in the beginning when they hadn’t been functioning quite as good as they were now. He couldn’t bare to part from the woman who reminded him so much of his mother. 

He’d been chopping the lettuce and tomatoes when he felt her arms come around his center which had him grinning as he glanced back at her. “None of those,” he said quickly before he heard her say ‘Kevin’ which had him grinning as he turned around to look at her properly. “You know—that might actually work, I am a Kevin in the Parrish household most of the time. The poor kid who gets picked on by his big brother,” he said these words with a smile even if it didn’t quite reach his eyes at this point. “So I have to ask—how is it in the Abhrams household right now with all your siblings together? Because I have to be honest and say I never thought it could happen like this.” | @georgie-abhrams

As closely as Lee was paying attention to Drew, he still didn’t catch the hollow quality to his friend’s smile. Lee nodded as Drew seemed to agree with the elements he’d named, not bringing up anything missing from that picture. He trusted that Drew would bring up anything else when he was ready, when there was something to actually talk about. After all, he’d always done so in the past. “Yeah, I know you would,” Lee said with a soft laugh. He didn’t feel pressured by Drew’s reminder of support if Lee were to move back permanently, but he wasn’t going to change his mind overnight either. As for his future doggy niece or nephew — “Believe what you want, but it’s a good thing you’re gonna be the one getting the dog, then.” Lee’s shit-eating grin was enough of a hint that Drew had the right of it. Still, Lee just wasn’t ready for that move himself — he didn’t even know where he’d be living next month, not to mention the strain that was starting to creep into his financial situation despite staying at the Abhrams estate. Maybe he’d be able to bring a dog in at his next job.

Lee shrugged — he’d managed, he thought, to leave town on good terms with pretty much everyone he was leaving behind — but he had been gone a long time. Things changed. “It has been good,” he agreed. “I felt like I was missing a lot, not being here. And probably, it’s gonna take more than a few afternoons to really catch up.” Still, Lee was definitely feeling the confines of staying in his hometown — namely that it felt like he was the only not-straight guy around for thirty miles. But no news was no news, so he was glad to turn the focus back to Drew — even if he wasn’t thrilled to hear about the tension between the Parrish brothers. “You’re gonna have to unpack that one a little more for me, but first— how did your dad react? Or did he get pissy, too?” | @drewparrish

But then that was selfishness on Drew’s part as well. He’d lost his big brother in a way when he’d been younger and the idea of losing his best friend wasn’t one that he could come to accept. It was why they’d both made that effort with one another and it was truly one of the things he was most grateful for during that period in his life. Lee had been there in a way for Drew when he hadn’t really known how to ask for that from his friend. It was something he hoped he could pay back even if he knew that their friendship had never been about keeping score of things like that. “That’s the nice thing about being back, you have all the time in the world to catch up with everyone you’ve missed. And yet you can still get away and head to other cities if you feel like it’s getting to be a bit too much, you know?” It was much easier for sure to talk about things like this, especially when they both had all the time in the world to tackle those heavier subjects later on if they both wanted to. 

But speaking of those heavier topics, he needed to talk to someone about what had happened with his brother and his father and there was absolutely no one better than Lee. Even if some of the topics surrounding it could be touchy, he trusted that his friend would tell him if he didn’t want to discuss it anymore. “Dad didn’t want me to do it when I first discussed it with him,” he admitted softly before looking down at the table by his feet. “But—what was I supposed to do Lee? There were all these notices from the bank and he hadn't even mentioned that he was behind on payments. I did what anyone in my position would do.” But the way Ryan had reacted hadn’t been only because of the house and while Drew knew that, it had definitely been a big part of it. “But I think Ryan’s just…annoyed with a lot of things right now and figured it was easiest to lash out at me. Not that I’m justifying it but like…I get it, you know?” | @leeabhrams

"Well in that case," she eyed the menu on the wall behind him. "I'll take a large latte with oat milk and a pistachio croissant, please and thank you." Aiyla smiled warmly, shrugging off her jacket and draping it over the back of her chair whilst she waited for Drew to return to their table.

“Sounds good,” he told her with a smile before heading to the counter and placing her order, making sure to specify that they warmed up the croissant while he returned to the table with the goods after a couple of minutes. It was only once they’d been chatting a little more that Drew finally spoke about what was messing with his mind on that particular day. “I—saw Georgie with um Jace earlier at the building,” he told Aiyla with a shrug before he let out another hollow laugh. “And while I know she’s free to do what she wants, it just…it pissed me off to see her messing around with someone like that.” Shit, he shouldn’t be telling any of this to Aiyla, she wouldn’t want to hear about his messy confusion of course. They were friends but that was…crossing a line, wasn't it? | @aiylademirci

Lee nodded as Drew answered his question, a little relieved that he was getting an answer, that he hadn’t pushed too hard. “With your firm and your future dog, huh?” And if Drew still held some of the same dreams he had when they were younger, maybe a family of his own too — with the right person. With the glaring absence of that person, though, Lee didn’t bring it up. He hadn’t heard about anyone significant in Drew’s life in years, since … well, since Georgie. He loved his sister, but he couldn’t pretend to have been heartbroken when they stopped dating. “You know, I’ve been starting to wonder about that myself. I don’t think I’ve learned that skill, the making peace with a place enough to really settle down.” Maybe he could practice, while back in Covington. After all, if he could find peace here … Lee gave a soft chuckle at Drew’s question, “I wouldn’t go right to like crazy, I think I’m gonna spoil your future dog just the perfect amount, actually.” Plus, if Lee was ever the one considering getting a four-legged companion, he knew Drew would spoil that dog just as much as he was threatening to do. As for this future dog preferring Lee to Drew … it was utterly inconceivable to Lee, and he didn’t bother to acknowledge the possibility.

“Good of you to space it out for me,” Lee quipped, his eyes twinkling in amusement at Drew’s promise to keep from giving him all the cheese all at once. “If there was anything interesting, I woulda led with it. Honestly, I haven’t done all that much. I’ve just been catching up with people, mainly. Aiyla, my siblings — oh, I ran into Sam the other night. But, yeah, that’s kinda it.” He had hung out with more people besides that, of course, but Lee suspected Drew didn’t want his full social itinerary. He was just trying to make sure he didn’t miss anything. | @drewparrish

“Yeah exactly, with both of those.” Drew said with a smile even if it didn’t quite reach his eyes this time. He loved the firm, he loved the idea of getting a dog to really help his social outings and he had a good set of friends, but there was something missing in his life now that he wasn’t quite ready to put a finger on. When Lee spoke about wondering if he could make peace with a place for long enough to put down roots, Drew turned towards him and shrugged, “it’s not always easy especially if you don’t have great memories in a place,” he started with before continuing, “but it’s always worth a try and if that place might be Covington for you, just know I’d be 100% supportive of it,” he grinned back at the other before rolling his eyes when they spoke about how Lee wasn’t going to go crazy spoiling Drew’s future dog. “I don’t believe you one bit Abhrams, I know you will because you know that if you end up doing the same thing and getting a dog—I’m spoiling the hell out of that canine,” he grinned before turning the topic to what Lee had been up-to during his return to Covington.

Under different circumstances, Wyatt may have commented on the barebones nature of Drew’s apartment. “I figured it was time to collect for all the times you showed up at my doorstep unannounced and lost,” hyperbole at its finest. Drew surely had sought him out in D.C., but it was not necessarily so haplessly as Wyatt was making it out to be. Nonetheless, as he leaned against the kitchen counter, he shrugged. “Well, I ran into Ryan a few weeks ago and he’s really bulked up. So, I can wager a guess as to how badly it hurt. That and the fact that the bruise is still there.” He nodded at the offer for a beer, accepting the can from the other, taking small sip as the other began to recount the reasons for the sudden violence.

And the explanation was surprising and yet understandable? As always, Wyatt had not bothered to ask for the details on why Ryan and Tess split. He did not know the details of their relationship now, but when she got married, he knew that it was not for love. He knew that her marriage had been orchestrated by their father. “It’s not my place to pass judgment,” Wyatt began, taking a seat by the counter and placing his beer down. “Nor my place to tell someone how to react to finding out their ex has a kid,” especially not Ryan. He lost that right even more than he did with his siblings the day that he decided to cut ties completely. “I guess the punishment doesn’t match the crime in my head,” Wyatt shrugged, his tone flat. As he assured, no judgement stained his observation. “Have you spoken to him since?” | @drewparrish

featuring: @drewparrish

Aiyla paused as she reached for the door handle, but stopped and spun on her heel with a grin. "You do remember I live on a nurses salary, right?" she teased lightly, having no qualms with Drew insisting he paid for the both of them. "I'm definitely not going to argue if you're happy to pay for mine, in fact, I might order a large." she widened her eyes teasingly, knowing that anyone would have to sell their own kidney to afford some coffee prices these days. "C'mon," Aiyla reached for his hand as she pulled open the door, making a b-line for a table tucked away in a corner. "If you wanna talk, we can talk. If you wanna drink coffee and try every single pastry on display, then we can do that too." she rested her chin upon the palm of her hand, smiling innocently.

He mentioned offering to pay for their coffee when she paused and turned to look at him. “Yes I do remember,” he chuckled before nodding with a smile, “Good—you order an extra large if you want Aiyla, I’m not going to refuse to pay for it,” he grinned before allowing her to pull him into the coffee shop before they headed to a table. It was a good choice in location that she’d picked—allowing the privacy if he did feel the need to talk. “I think we can do both,” he told her with a smile before asking her what she wanted. “Let me get our coffee and pastries first, and then we’ll talk…deal?” | @aiylademirci

Hearing his friend’s support brought a grin to his face. "Cheers, mate. It's been a while since I've felt this way about someone, so I'm hoping it goes well." He leaned against the pool table, his blue eyes thoughtful. He wanted to make a good impression and show her he was genuinely interested. Though he was also worried she only saw him as a friend. But that kiss on the cheek. He didn’t think anyone who wasn’t interested would kiss a member of the opposite sex on the cheek.

"Flowers and chivalry, got it. I'll save the serenading for a special occasion then. Don't want to come on too strong right out the gate." Nolan chuckled. He was joking anyway. It was nice to have someone to talk to about these things, especially because he didn’t have many guy friends in town. "What about you? Any lady loves you're seeing lately?"

“Well then here’s hoping it works out for you because you clearly are very smitten and as long as you’ve got good intentions, I think it’ll work out. But yes—no serenading until a little later in the relationship.” He told Nolan with a grin before taking his next shot and missing the socket before looking back at Nolan with a quick shake of the head. “Nah—I don’t really think there’s anything happening in my life.” He could mention taking Georgie to Atlanta for her birthday, but then—that was just a friend doing something for his friend…nothing more, right? That was pretty much how Drew saw it—they were friends, with benefits and so there was nothing more to say. “You got any good friends you’d want to set me up with? I might be game for that.” | @nolan-jackson