steal my love

Enzo went silent when she revealed she’d heard the entire conversation on the phone. He sighed, leaning against the counter closest to him. “She contacted me months ago when I was drunk and stupidly decided to answer the phone. I’ve been giving her money since.” It felt as if an entire weight had been taken off of him, but it didn’t help any because no he was going to ask her to lie. “JC doesn’t know. And i need to do me a favor and not say anything. I know that I’m likely being bullshitted. But..she’s our mom.” Enzo was rarely serious as he was now, and the look on his face to Gemma had to show it. “Please.”

Gemma nodded, placing the spork back on the table, her appetite not as apparent any more as she took in what Enzo was saying. “Wouldn’t she understand though? I mean, it’s your mom. Of course you want to help her out, even with all the stuff you guys have been through with her. It doesn’t change the fact that she is your mom and you’re going to care about her. If you explained it to JC, I’m sure she would understand...” she argued, wondering if she was right or not. She didn’t have that sort of family drama, so she couldn’t say what she would do herself. She sighed deeply, her shoulders slumping. “I won’t tell her,” she finally mumbled, not wanting to hurt either of them. “But you have to tell her eventually. Secrets never stay secret for long.”

“Maybe I’m just feeling anxious too then, school just sucks let’s be honest.” Juliette said with a small laugh. “Do you wear glasses when you read? I know my eye doctor told me if I do stuff like read for long periods of time or watch tv for long periods of time that I need to wear my glasses.” and well Juliette definitely watched plenty of tv on days that she was home. “I’m kind of super jealous of you right now.” The blonde told the other, she had honestly considered giving herself a break but she knew that would probably be the last straw for her parents. “Oh come on, we’ll watch something that’s scary but not super scary. I promise.”

“I do have reading glasses, but I don’t always remember to use them,” she admitted honestly. “I only really need them for reading and doing stuff on the computer. Anything close to my face really.” Gemma at least remembered them when she was editing videos, so that was something. “Yes, please be jealous of me and my super anxious and insecure butt who couldn’t figure out what she wanted to do with her life so she dropped out,” she joked with a giggle. “Okay, but if I get scared, then I’m cuddling with you.”

    she didn’t need to be a kardashian, will found little appeal in them. but gemma was a different story, he could talk to her for hours and not find himself getting bored. “ really ? they give you books for free ? and you just have to talk about them ? ” his eyebrows raised in surprise. although he had watched all of her videos upon the first night of discovering her channel, he had no idea of the success she had found. her comment on the book had him making a mental note of bringing it to the top of his must reads list. “ you wouldn’t get it. athletes don’t think like normal people. I would just be … letting a lot of people down. ” people on his team frequently paid others to write their essays for them, so being caught with a fair amount of books had raised suspicions. they lived and breathed soccer. it was a way of life. unfortunately, there was little room for anything else. from time to time he had made an excuse of having a crush on gemma, just so his teammates would leave him be.

“Yup. They aren’t all great, but I’ll gladly let you go through some of them next time I get a batch in that I’m not interested in. I don’t have to talk about them if I don’t want to, at least if I don’t have some sort of written contract with them. When publishers send them without even asking, it’s hoping we will want to talk about them, but we don’t have to,” she explained. It could be hard to understand unless you were in the world yourself. She rested her chin on her hand, examining him a moment. “Some of my brothers are athletes and as far as I know, they aren’t like that. I mean, one of my brothers is gay and was on like every sports team in high school and anyone knew if they said a word against him, he’d kick their ass as well as most of his teammates. And I’ve forced them to read before and their friends didn’t say anything about it. I don’t think it is as bad as you seem to think it is,” she stated, shaking her head. “You’re a wonderful person Will. How could anyone not like you?” she questioned, as if it was some sort of great mystery as to why anyone wouldn’t like the real him.

“Has he met them yet? Your birds?” He asked in curiousity, thinking that one of them would be freaked out by the other. “I will take him any time you need to,” he stated with a cheeky smile. Of course, he would have to make sure he would be home first to help keep an eye on Pongo. In this very moment, he wished he didn’t have such a tight schedule. Having a hard time finding a companion in a girl, he knew things would go over much easier if he just had a puppy. Mateo felt that he was getting old and running out of time with nothinh to show for except all of his time and attention spent on the family business and school work. When was the last time that he had ever had any actual fun? “August 8th? I gotta mark that down in my calendar! I’ll be sure to spoil him like he was my own,” he laughed.

“No, but at least they are used to dogs. Back home we have a couple dogs and they were around them a lot, so I’m not too worried about their reaction to him. I just have to hope he won’t try to eat them,” she admitted with a shrug. “Maybe it was a bit impulsive of me to get him, but I was kinda lonely at home even with the birds and so when I just went to see the animals, he kind of just called out to me,” she admitted with a shrug. She grinned happily at Mateo, glad she had a sort of partner in her dog rearing. “So basically, you’re going to be his dad now? I’m totally okay. Every young man needs a good father figure,” she joked, scratching Pongo’s ears. “I was going to pick up some stuff for Pongo before heading to the apartment. Wanna come with me so you can start on the spoiling early? And this is not just me trying to get you to buy most of the stuff.”

“Do you ever study for too long that you end up with a huge headache and also kind of nauseous or is it just me?” Juliette asked the other person. She at least knew headaches were common but she wasn’t so sure about the second part and well she wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a her thing. “I just kind of miss freshman year where I didn’t stress out about exams just what party I was going to go to.” She let out a small laugh as she ran her fingers through her blonde hair. “Okay, how about you come back to my sorority with me and we watch some scary movie to cure my headache or if you have an issue with coming back to my place we can go to yours.” | @halfordstart​

“I did sometimes, but I think I got so nauseous because I was so anxious about passing my classes and stuff,” Gemma admitted with a light shrug of her shoulders. “And I sometimes have headaches when I read too much, but it can be pretty rare. It’s usually because my eyes are tired.” The blonde could always be found with a book, so it was no surprise that she read a lot, especially to the point of headaches at times. “But now that I’m taking the year off, I just get to read my books, so no studying for me! Yay!” she declared with a laugh. “I don’t know about the scary movie... I’m such a wimp.”

       will wasn’t educated when it came to anything other than soccer. which was something he used to be proud of, now it embarrassed him. “ wait … you get sponsors ? ” his eyes widened, impressed with the girl beside him. he couldn’t imagine a career outside of soccer, but sometimes gemma had him imagining. which was a dangerous thought all in itself. “ I’m a sucker for spoilers. don’t tempt me. ” he wasn’t about to admit that he had hardly passed english in high school, only scraping by. “ you know, one of my teammates spotted a book in my gym bag. I’m running out of excuses. ” his book obsession was one he was struggling to keep a secret.  

“Sometimes. I mean, it’s not like people with millions and millions of followers or anything. I’m not a Kardashian or anything,” she joked with a smile. “But Booktube is a small community, so we get a lot of sponsors. I get a ton of books from publishers, arcs, subscription boxes, and stuff like that,” she explained. Not many people outside of the community knew about all the stuff that publishers were willing to give book influencers for a shoutout on their channel or Instagram, but Gemma didn’t do it for any of that. She did it simply because of her love of books. “I won’t. Besides, it’s really hard to explain, so I won’t even try.” She looked over at him, studying his features as he mentioned running out of excuses for books. “I don’t see why you have to have excuses. I mean, being well read is nothing to be ashamed about. Besides, you’re in college. Despite being an athlete, you have to try to keep your grades up, so you might have to carry a few books around with you.”

“The world wouldn’t be able to cope if I were into girls, the power I would have would be unmatchable. They would be quaking.” He leaned down to kiss her quickly on the top of her head, “You’re too kind to me Gemma, compliments really hit differently when they come from someone like you.” Sam shrugged, laughing a little. “Well it was worth a try. Booktube, I don’t know why but that word always makes me want to giggle.” He had to bite his tongue as to not make a comment about her boring choice, he thought he’d have more chance in getting her to try something more adventerous if he eased her into the adventure. “Well then lets go get us some noodles. I get to pick the flavour though, deal?”

“You would have women in the streets fighting over you,” she agreed, smiling a little as her friend kissed her head. “But even if that were the case, I would always get special treatment because I was there from the beginning!” Well, that may not entirely be true, but she would believe it if it meant she was important to her friend. “As they should because my compliments are completely unique and wonderful. Don’t mock my chosen profession. I love booktube,” she said with a pout. It may not be wildly popular or as profitable as other influencers, but she enjoyed it. “Deal,” she agreed with a nod, thinking he couldn’t possibly make it too bad.

         a  genuine  grin  spread  across  her  lips  , “  of  course  !  i  understand  !  i  bet  he’s  excited  to  see  his  new  home  too  . ”  lelila  said  before  quickly  reaching  down  to  path  her  friend’s  dog  . “  oh  ,  don’t  even  worry  about  it  .  ”  a  little  chuckle  escaped  her  lips  at  her  friend’s  comment  about  the  temporary  nature  of  crushes  .  “  love  is  just  a  neurochemical  con  -  job  anyway  .   there  are  far  more  important  things  .  who  needs  love  when  you’ve  got  power . ”   the  guedes  girl  expressed  ,  arms  extending  out  dramatically  . despite  the  silliness  in  her  actions  ,  the  Guedes  girl  adamantly  believed  that  the  value  of  love  was  nothing  when  compared  to  the  possible  possession  of  power  (  or  perhaps  ,  it  was  the  reverse  —  that  it  was  her  desire  to  be  loved  ,  to  be  truly  and  genuinely  loved  ,  that  generated  her  poisonous  ambition  )  “  don’t  you  think ? ”

“Lead the way and we can get this puppy play date on a roll!” she said with a grin, glad to see Leila so excited about all of this. She couldn’t help shaking her golden head at her friend’s portrayal of love though. “That’s not true at all. Love is far more than just some chemicals in your brain. I mean, I know there is science there, but it is far more than just that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t create art about it or incredible stories. Love is in all parts of our lives in different forms,” she argued, her romantic nature not allowing her to think of love as anything less than spectacular. “What is the point of power if you have no one to share it with? If you have nothing to use your power to defend or fight for? I’d much rather be powerless and happy with love than with all the power in the world and alone.”

“Pigs would fly way before that.” He replied,  being serious in an Enzo Carlisle way. Enzo grinned as wide as he could at her teasing him, not at all phased it because he knew he was extra. “I can honestly say that I think she’d lock me in my room somehow.” He watched as she tasted the cake, his heart pounding slightly faster out of fear the cheesecake wouldn’t taste great. Thank god that she ended up loving it. “I’ll be sure to give you a bigger piece to g-” Enzo was interrupted by the sound of his phone vibrating. The smile on his face quickly faded away at the notification of his mother calling. “Sorry, G. One second I’ll be back.” He walked away towards the back, making sure to be out of sound. His mother spoke to him for a brief moment acting as if she wasn’t going to ask him for money before the question inevitably came up. “Yeah. Mom..I’ll fucking send it. You know I’ve given you money to know when your bills are due, so there’s no use lying.” Enzo quickly hung up the phone, not realizing he’d been on the phone for 15 minutes. “Sorry. One of the cheerleaders has been asking me to help her with a project and I’ve been blowing her off.” He was lying, but didn’t need this getting back to his family.

She laughed, completely agreeing with him. That would probably never happen, even when Enzo was an old man. “And it would be my last day breathing on this Earth, so I’m glad we’re in agreement,” she said with a grin. As he stepped away to take the call, Gemma didn’t mind, though she was eager for more of that cheesecake. Since no one else was around, she wandered around the counter, helping herself to another bite. Once she was closer to where Enzo had went, she could overhear his conversation, though she wasn’t trying to. It surprised her to hear him talking to his mom. As far as she knew, him and JC didn’t talk to her much. She turned as he came back, biting her lip nervously. “I didn’t know you were talking to your mom... or giving her money,” she said, admitting that she had overheard everything.

“Of course I do, I mean look at you.” He could feel himself blushing a little as her lips touched his cheek. “We’re the most adorable non-couple couple in this place right now. “You’re lucky I don’t want to lose my cheese because you know that I would have had you. Next time, you won’t get away so easy.” Sam scowled, playfully, as he tried to come across as menacing. “What if I played some music to drown out the horrible noises? Then my input would still be music related? Win win, for me at least.” Sampson had given up on actually getting her to eat the food a long time ago but he wasn’t letting this attempt at a joke die just yet. “I wouldn’t want to make my own channel then dwarf yours, that wouldn’t be fair. Ooh so you will try some? Well so I’m not disappointed why don’t you pick what we’ll try next.”

“If only you were into girls. You would make a great boyfriend,” she said, sighing dramatically like it was so awful that he was gay, even though she didn’t think that at all. “Well, you’re usually the most adorable wherever you are, so I feel very lucky that I get to be a part of this,” she joked. Gemma wrinkled her nose, sticking her tongue out at Sam playfully. “Not even then, but good try. I’m on booktube. My channel is going to be small considering I am in a smaller section of Youtube, so don’t worry about it. Well, I feel like the obvious thing would be some sort of pasta dish. I think they have ramen over there. Noodles and cheese usually go together,” she suggested.

         that sure was a question, wasn’t it ?? not one jason had an answer to despite being both a guy and a psychology major. placated that gemma was fine, he straightens with a shrug of broad shoulders.     “ can’t tell you — ”     his gaze roams the crowd, certainly not exactly drexmont’s best and brightest — though that seemed to be the case for any party given enough time and alcoholic beverages. gaze catches on the guy he’d just shooed away, glaring at him ; he merely raises a brow back at him. like dude, you had your chance to take a swing.     “ —how much have you had to drink ?? ”     he asks, glancing back down to her. she hadn’t seemed too terribly inebriated when he’d pulled her to the side, but it never hurt to check.

-

Gemma slowly stood up, walking closer to Jason and resting her forehead against his arm, taking a deep breath to calm down. She didn’t really expect him to answer her question. Guys rarely seemed to understand their own actions, let alone each other’s. She looked up, frowning a bit at his question. “Just a couple. I’m not drunk,” she mumbled. Even a few could be too much for the petite blond. She was always a lightweight when it came to drinking. “This party sucks,” she declared, moving to walk around Jason before tripping over her own feet.

“Who you callin’ a softy?” He grinned as he continued to pet Pongo. “Are you kidding? I’d be honored to have me some puppy cuddles,” he continued as his voice began to speak in a baby voice once again, “and if you needa dog sitter, Pongo can come hang out with uncle Matty!” He finally gave Gemma his full attention after kissing the top of Pongo’s head, clearing his throat, feeling slightly embarrassed about the side of him he just presented in front of the girl. “Anyway – when’s his birthday?”

She just giggled in response, not answering his question. What was it about hot guys and being sweet to animals that instantly made her fall in love? It was irresistible, even when the logical side of her knew there was no chance in hell of anything ever happening. Sadly, her romantic ideas always stayed just that - ideas. “I will definitely take you up on that. I don’t like keeping the birds cooped up in their cage, so if he decides to be mean to them, I may send him to you so they can get some exercise. At least until I get him more trained,” she explained. Having her two birds at the apartment now made her extremely happy and at least they were used to dogs back home, but she wasn’t sure if she could say the same for Pongo. “I think the shelter said it was like August 8th, so he’s a little over a year old now.”

     the disappointment was clear on his face at learning the limit to be eight books. however, it didn’t linger as gemma informed him of another option. saving trips to the library and still being able to read ? it sounded too good to be true. there was so much that remained to be learned. luckily for him, he had gemma to enlighten him. “ wait … you mean I can listen to books while I exercise or cook food ? ” his tone incredulous, bright eyes looking into hers. “ why didn’t you tell me this before ? ” he craved to be in her world, immersing in books all day long. sitting down beside her, long limbs stretching out as he placed the pile of novels he had collected onto the table. “ mostly classics. like george orwell’s nineteen eighty-four. I was supposed to read it in high school, but I never gave it the chance. ” which he was ashamed to admit, a feeling that was often present when books were part of the equation. however, this time he was ashamed because he hadn’t read a book, and not for reading it.

“Yes. How did you not know this? I have sponsored videos every once in a while by an audiobook company! I thought everyone knew about them,” she giggled, shaking her head. It was a funny image to her as the giant of a man sat down, feeling like it must be impossible to get his long limbs situated in the seats. “I like 1984, though the ending I sort of hated. But it’s way better than Animal Farm. I didn’t like that one at all. I didn’t read either in high school. I read them a couple years ago,” she explained so he wouldn’t feel bad about not reading them in high school.

“I should have known you were going to ask something like that, I swear you’re the most dramatic person I know, and have I ever told you how crazy you act sometimes?.” She rolled her eyes at the red-head, a smile appearing on her face not even a second after as she looked at the pictures on Gemma’s phone. “The first one kind of looks generic, like something I’d definitely scroll past but the second one is good enough to at least warrant a minute or two of my attention ”

“Yes, yes. I’m wonderfully crazy and bring a smile to everyone’s face. At least life is never boring with me,” she teased with a grin, not at all bothered by the other girl’s words about her. She turned more serious as she studied the pictures as well, taking in what the other had to say. “Okay then! Thank you for this vitally important input,” she stated, turning off her phone and putting it back in her bag. She would worry about finishing editing the video later. “Now you have my full and undivided attention.”

ren ambled into the bar aimlessly until she heard a familiar coo of her name. her head tilted towards the source and there she saw her favourite bartender ready to help her on her mission to get wasted. lifting her hip flask, filled aplenty with vodka, to her lips, she took a short swig before hoisting herself onto the bar stool and sliding the flask back into her pocket. ‘  i’m here for a good time not a long time. you should know this by now,  ’ the brunette mocked playfully. ‘  so my answer is whatever’s gonna get me completely fucked up.  ’

“Did you really come in with a flask already full?” she asked, shaking her head a bit. “You say that, but I can sometimes make you stay for a long time,” she teased back, sticking her tongue out playfully at the other. “Well, if that is your goal, then I guess mixing a bunch of stuff together like I did the other night is a good idea. I was told it was a deadly combo and no one should ever have it again, but it did make that guy pretty drunk fast,” she said, pulling some bottles down to mix the drink.