crush

guidelines muses wanted opposites wanted plots

“c’mon...” ellie’s voice is as high-pitched and needling as she can make it, blinking endearingly. “it’s, like, a flurry of snow. if even. and you know they will be too busy fighting to notice anything.” she keeps up the pleading act for a few seconds more, before sighing. “fine. stewy told me about these old tunnels that run all under the resort. he even showed me a map --- there’s a way to the cable car without going out in the snow. i’ll just go by myself.” 

“okay, well, when you have to tell my parents why their daughter was mauled to death, i hope you remember this moment.” tessa ?? overreact ?? never. she wraps her arms around reece’s elbow tightly, squinting over his shoulder into the dense trees. “shouldn’t you --- i don’t know --- check it out ??” she drops her voice to a whisper. “i mean, it could be whoever killed rebecca last year.” 

“you think trey and kenzie know how to do anything around here ?? okay.” stewy’s voice is warm even as it fogs the frigid air, sticking his hands into his pockets with an exaggerated shiver. “rumour has it that all their staff and shit refuse to come back here after, y’know, the last fun extravaganza we had.” he should be exhausted too - sneaking up here at the break of dawn to set up everything just so, then hightailing it down before anyone caught him. but the thought of the night ahead, of making these people pay, plus the proximity to dakota --- it’s got him buzzing, excitable. “c’mon, irvine. adventure awaits.” he throws her the torch, whirling about until he lands on a seemingly random corridor, but which of course he’d chosen carefully. “i think they have a stash of firewood down here.”  

charlie lets out a nearly imperceptible groan as she settles back against him, hoping she’ll put it down to a sudden ache in his arm. honestly, her putting it down to anything rather than a by-product of him trying desperately hard to get his dick to behave will be preferable. “yep.” he says eventually, hardly daring to breathe as he stares over her head, breathing in the dizzying smell of her shampoo. “so.” there’s a long pause, his brain short-circuiting before landing on this conversational goldmine --- “do you have any other survival tips for a power outage ??” fuck. 

“well, at least i know people don’t pretend to like me because of my status or money.” she throws the words out carelessly, but they’re carefully chosen --- honestly, if sarah didn’t have plans for psychiatry, she’d run a great cult. “for fuck’s sake ---” she sinks back in her chair, trying to get as far away from him as possible. “gunner.” now she sounds like she’s talking to a petulant child. “how many women have you fucked since me ?? do you think that number is gonna make me angry ??” maybe not angry, but she does feel a certain pull in her stomach that she doesn’t want to look at too closely. 

“i’m not fucking blaming it on you, am i ??” it’s too late - charlie has an intuition that’s normally extremely accurate, and everything in him is screaming to get out of here. of course, that’s not possible, and now all that energy has nowhere to go. “and of course someone’s out to get us, but we can’t mention that without your brother going off on one - fuck !!” he punctuates the last word with a well-placed punch to the cable car station window. it shatters, leaving his hand bleeding but with a way in. “after you. maybe there’s a radio or something in there. unless you wanna climb down the mountain.” he shakes his hand out, droplets of blood staining the snow scarlet. 

“yeah, it would be a killer merch idea, though.” jane says drily, though her eyes are sparkling. “spoiler alert branded voodoo dolls.” she wriggles her eyebrows suggestively, staying exactly where she is with her face barely visible over the water line. “well, i’m the sanest out of all of us, and so are you, so it’s inevitable that we end up together, right ??” she winks. “plus, we’re low-key the hottest. the twitter polls say so.” 

“whoa. okay.” peyton’s lips are pursed as the cogs in his head clearly turn behind his eyes, trying to figure out how to play this - play her, his difficult girlfriend. “i’m not thrilled at the prospect of you keeping shit from me and winding up in trouble with me having no idea about it. because i care about you. but that’s clearly a foreign concept to you, so fuck it.”  

marie shrugs half-heartedly, eyes shifting like she can maybe will herself out of this conversation. “i mean. you can ask.” 

“i’m making you look like an idiot. okay.” ivana scrolls mindlessly through instagram before narrowing their eyes at him over their phone. “that’s sort of spineless of you, el. if you dislike them that much then you should stick to your guns. besides, sammy isn’t even that bad --- plus he has a killer jacuzzi.” 

god. saoirse literally hurriedly changed her lock screen from a beaming photo of her and rebekah at her bachelorette to one of her dog once she realised where this evening was going, but she still can’t help the jump of guilt in her throat every time javi so much as looks at her. as if it’s going to stop her, though. she smiles daintily, reaching out to brush against his arm. “i’ll take the red. biggest glass you have.”    

there is an awkwardness just suffocating them both, right ?? it’s not just her ?? with a grim sort of smile georgia reaches out for the hoodie. “no offense, liam, but this nudity is making me feel like you never actually lost your virginity. and i was at that party.”  

“did my mom say anything to you about the pie i made ??” astrid talks over her, tugging at her hair anxiously. “she hates my baking, but she won’t say because she’s terrified of confrontation, you know ---” zelda’s words only process a few seconds after she speaks, and the flush on her face is deep as it is genuine. “aren’t you supposed to ask me on a second date first ??” 

if addison is uncomfortable then charlie is terrified, which is an emotion he’s not used to. he’s actually buttoned his shirt up to the collar, afraid to let a muscle relax, hating that the tenseness he lets permeates his entire life is now creeping into this friendship, too. he considers pretending to be asleep, then groans. “okay. do you wanna just ---” he slips onto his side, tucking his arm under her neck. “is that better ??” 

“i am cool and edgy, but that’s not the point. astrology’s not real.” spoken like a true capricorn. “well, at least someone around here appreciates me. i swear, if i have to get one more talking-to from jane because i upset anna’s delicate disposition ---” it’s not the first time she’s been interrupted mid-rant by a kiss, but it’s probably the first time it’s actually worked in that every single thought goes out of her head, moving closer to lily-rose instinctively, like this is something she’s always wanted and just never realised. at that, when her friend pulls away it takes a few seconds to readjust, blinking like she’s just come into bright sunlight. “i --- what ?? no.” she catches her wrist. “didn’t you see the group chat ?? they’re in the club. is that what you were so strung out about ??” she’s immediately practical again, just so she doesn’t have to think about her racing heart.