set this world on fire.

Hearing the noisy group of people, James just ignored them, they were probably just kids or something. James was minding his own business, till he heard the interactions between two of them. A male and a female, he was daring her to do something but he could’t quite hear what he said. Next thing he knew he was being turned around and kissed. He was caught off guard and didn’t know what to do. The lips were soft and sweet against his. Hearing the group of people leave, James took at look at the person in front of him.”Well that was unexpected.“

“Unexpected, yes. But it was also very effective.” She whispered, giving a sly smile. Pulling away, she straightened the man’s jacket, her gaze as seductive as ever. Of course, the seduction was a mere mask of ambition. Because at the end of the day Eli wasn’t looking to get laid--no, she was looking at a much bigger picture, one that had nothing to do with any form of relationships. “But, considering I’ve just given you the makeout session of the century, I might as well introduce myself, yeah?” She offered her hand, “I’m Eliana. Thanks for playing along back there.”

Sera was just getting a drink when the beautiful woman spoke to her. “Hey,” she smiled, and she couldn’t help but notice that the woman’s expression seemed to be flirtatious. Sera had no problem with being pulled closer and playing along with the kiss, though the muttering from the guys nearby had a terrible thought cross her mind. As the kiss broke apart, she said quietly, “Please tell me you didn’t kiss me for their benefit.” She didn’t want to be used for some guy’s confusing fantasy of what gay girls were. Then again, the sounds coming from the young men seemed to be disgruntled rather than cheers.

“Their benefit? Hell no.” Eliana whispered, pulling back to look at the beautiful brunette in her arms. She was vaguely aware of the group of jerks walking away in disinterest. “I was just trying to prove a point that I’d rather kiss a beautiful, random  yet surprisingly willing girl than I would any one of their perverted mouths.” She smiled softly, tucking a strand of hair behind the other’s ear. “Although I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it.” She gave a playful wink, pulling away and holding out her hand. “I’m Eliana.”

Violet couldn’t help the smile that pulled at the corner of her lips, Eli’s whole dedicated teacher and public servant thing was adorable. Adorable enough to make Vi want to forget that they’d just nearly been blown to smithereens for reasons unknown to either of them. She reached for the bottle in Eli’s hand, the girl’s slurred words betraying how hard it was hitting her. “I don’t know.” She lied in response to Eli’s question, not about to tell the girl all the reasons she could think of for why someone would want to blow them all to hell. That party had been full of criminals and poor Eliana had no idea what she was caught in the middle of, something that just made Vi want to protect her from it all. “It doesn’t make sense.” She mumbled, tilting her head back to take a drink from the bottle. “Are you okay, though? You can talk to me… I know I haven’t been a perfect friend but, I’m here for you. I mean that.” She insisted, reaching to set the bottle on the bedside table.

She crawled into Violet's lap, her arms around the blonde's neck, and suddenly they were thrown back in time to when neither of them gave a fuck about what they were. No fighting, no jealousy. Just chemistry, and confusing emotions that were numbed by alcohol or drugs or, sometimes, both. "I don't need to talk about it right now." She whispered, looking down down at Vi, their lips inches apart. With both of her hands cupping either side of Vi’s face, she couldn’t help but notice the undeniable, familiar spark of sexual tension that was almost always present when they were in the same room. But now, this close together, that tension was multiplied by a thousand. And then she went for it, deciding to fuck any and all promises she’d ever set for herself when it came to Vi. Crashing her lips against Vi’s, Eliana pressed her body against the other girl’s. Ignoring the fact that both of them were covered in dirt and soot, all she could focus on was the sweet taste of Vi’s lips, something she had missed more than she was willing to admit.

It’d been a couple of days from he’d sent the text to who he believed was Bailey. He didn’t think much of it since he’d been doing all he could to not think of the event - also the fact that the man didn’t seem to like technology at all, or at least to the extent that Jeb did, and maybe hadn’t checked his phone or something. He’d been keeping busy so he didn’t even think to check if he’d definitely sent it to the right person.

It wasn’t until Eliana had came back out of nowhere was he forced to think of what had happened again. Their mum wasn’t home, and although she was due home any minute, he was just sitting on the sofa, watching TV with his two dogs. Automatically assuming that it was his mum when he heard the door open, he was surprised to see that it was actually his sister. Pleasantly surprised, for once. So pleasantly surprised that he was about to get up and give her a hug - something he hadn’t done for as long as he remembered. But then she brought out her phone and snapped at him, and it suddenly all made sense without him needing to read what she was showing him.

Jeb had sent it to Eliana. The text he meant to send to Bailey about the bomb he’d sent to Eliana. He didn’t say anything for a minute. He couldn’t say anything for a minute. He supposed that he must’ve been so tired he didn’t even bothered to check that he was sending it to the right person. He was at the point where he was only averaging two or three hours of sleep per night due to being woken up in the middle of the night by night terrors, which had grown in number drastically over the past number of months.

“Y-you’re alive,” he stuttered, his voice more of a whisper than anything. Part of him was genuinely shocked that she was alive. He had began to think the worst after the number of days it’d been. Part of him was trying to avoid the question. There was only two ways to approach this, and neither of the ways would workout well. He could either tell her straight out that he was in a gang - the Royals to be precise. He had no idea if she knew much about the gang. The other option was to make a scene, perhaps try to intimidate her into being silent, but he wasn’t really a bad guy. He certainly wasn’t going to do what his dad did to his mum for years on his sister. “Where have you been?”

Eliana missed Beo. She loved the dog with  all of her heart, and so when he came bouncing up to her to lick her all over, Eli couldn’t help but reach down to give him some love. And then she saw Jeb and her hands started shaking so hard that she had to hide them behind her back. “I--Yeah. I’m just as shocked as you are.” She tried to joke lightly, but any attempt at humor proved futile at the moment.

Her relationship with Jeb had always been a complicated one, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love him. Hell, it didn’t mean she wasn’t worried out of her mind...because she was. She was fucking terrified. And receiving that text from Jeb had scared her that much more. Because at the end of the day he was her little brother, and it was her responsibility to make sure he was safe when their mother wasn’t around to check in on him herself. Yeah, maybe she’d been a crappy sister. But all she wanted now was to show him how god damn sorry she was--so sorry that tears legitimately burned in the back of her eyes and a choked sob caught in her throat. She would not cry. She could not cry.

But that exhausted, broken look on Jeb’s face broke her too, and she couldn’t help herself. “I--I thought... I don’t. I couldn’t c-come back...” She couldn’t help the small sob that escaped her lips. “Just come here.” She whispered, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around Jeb tightly. Inhaling shakily, she felt the tears fall from her eyes finally, falling down her cheeks as she held her baby brother close to her for dear life. Closing her eyelids, she rubbed his back gently with her right hand, her left one squeezing his shoulder gently as if to say ‘its okay, I’ve got you. You’re gonna be okay. We’ll be okay.

But she wasn’t even sure how true any of that was. She honestly couldn’t tell if they would ever be okay, or if she would ever have her brother back. But she still wanted the truth. And as she hugged him, crying quietly as she tried her hardest to mask it with a strong voice, she couldn’t help but feel a sort of pain from the fact he had...or might have betrayed her in some form by doing a very, very bad thing. “Jeb...” She began, pulling back to look at him. She gently wiped away a few of his own tears before looking away, unable to meet his gaze as she said what had been on her mind ever since receiving his text.

“Did... Tell me you didn’t help set off that bomb. Tell me that--tell me you aren’t in the middle of this.”