recoil.

Christian raised his eyebrows and nodded in understanding, laughing quietly at her dramatics. “I mean, I’m sorry it took me so long to realize this, but you two actually have tons of things in common! For starters, you’re both hardworking and absolutely breathtaking, and you both take up a huge part of my heart.” He could never help how cheesy he was when speaking to or about Jo, and he hardly minded. “Having you as a best friend is definitely one of my biggest achievements.” He smiled at her, and took both of her hands into his, squeezing gently and shaking his head at himself. “Okay, enough with my cheesiness. Are you having a good time?”

She blushed again under his praise, moving to hide her blush behind her hands, smile bright. “You’re way to nice to me, you know that?” She squeezed his hands back, lacing their fingers together. “You? Being done with the cheesiness? I thought that day would never come!” She joked. “I’m having a great time, being here with you definitely helps with that.”

“Thank you.” She responded, smiling at the compliment. “It’s been fun, way more fun than I would of though. How’s Archer?”

“Everything okay with your mom?” She asked. “Just walking around I guess. They said I wasn’t supposed to leave my room, but I was getting way to claustrophobic.

hair was being thrown from side to side by the strong breeze. it blew through the sleeves of his oversized sweater. staring down into the water, benjamin was vaccinated. just one step forward or a losse of balance & he would be HISTORY. he would just disappear. it made him curious though, ( not that he wanted to die perse ) just the idea of disappearing happened to intrude him. ‘ would you notice if i wasn’t around anymore ? ‘ the brunette might have been a little overthoughtful at this point. but his question was the least depressing tone. he was smiling brightly. a smile that wouldn’t flutter anytime soon. he felt infante. standing on the edge with his arms spread wide open, it gave him a rush. one that didn’t compare one bit to getting yelled at by a girl for taking a picture where she happened to be in. art was a rookie game compared to standing on the edge of a bridge with a broken railing like this.

Jo had been walking across the bridge to get home, books tucked under one arm as she wrapped her hoodie tighter around to to ward off the breeze. She saw Benji standing on the edge of the broken down bridge, her heart leaped into her throat. In a few strides she was only a few feet away from him, dropping her books on the ground. “Benji what the fuck are you doing?!” She yelled.

‘ can you stop talking so fucking fast, I literally don’t know what you just said! ‘

She raised an eyebrow at him. “My bad dude, you know I start to talk fast when I get excited about something.”

baby gurl 💙

“Whatever you say, Jo.” Christian chuckled, despite wanting to argue that he could lift her up with one arm, whether it was true or not. He was looking forward to prom for as long as he could remember, and he didn’t know what to do with himself now that the night had arrived. Christian quirked an eyebrow at her, “Angelina Jolie wouldn’t question my dancing skills.” After a moment, he placed a hand on her waist, partly to be close to her, partly so they wouldn’t be separated in the crowd. “But…. you know how I said Angelina is the only person I’d rather go with? I was totally kidding. You’re the only person for me.” He smiled at her as he began dancing, beginning with exaggerated moves as a joke.

She let the conversation drop, laughing as she found a hole on the dance floor filled with other juniors and seniors along with their dates, feeling goosebumps travel up her side when Christian placed a hand on her waist. She raised an eyebrow up at him. “Well, Jo is as close t Angelia Jolie as you’re going to get tonight.” She said, taking a step closer to him. The second blush on the night crept its way up her cheeks, only to be stopped with a smile. “Well I’m honored then. I never thought I’d be up to par with Angelina Jolie when it came to you. Honestly, it’s one of the biggest achievements of my life.” he said, placing a hand over her heart for drama.

He scrunched his nose up and shook his head. “Are you trying to tell me I’m not strong enough to hold you up for a couple songs? I’m hurt.” He feigned offense before laughing to himself. Christian intertwined their fingers and squeezed gently, unable to keep his eyes off of his date. He wanted to make the night special for her, even if he did make it seem like a friend-hangout type of thing when he asked her to attend with him. It definitely meant more than that for Christian. “I thought you’d never ask.” He smirked as he followed her to the dance floor, facing her once they met their destination. “Just going to warn you, though, I’m like the dancing king.” He raised his eyebrows at her, his smirk remaining.

“Nope, I’m trying to tell you that you are plenty strong, I’m just not that light.” She joked, her smile not faltering. She was hoping more would come out of tonight then the ‘just friends’ evening Christian had advertised, her small crush definitely having developed into something bigger the more time they spent with each other. Especially when she was basically living at his house for a few days. “Oh, are you now? I’m afraid you’re going to have to prove that.” She said, biting her lip to keep her smile in check, poking his chest lightly with her finger.

Christian bumped shoulders with her lightly. “Still me.” He grinned at her. He held onto her to maintain balance as she took off her heels, nodding as she spoke. “That or I can carry you while slow dance. I don’t think anyone will notice with how long your dress is, and everyone will think you’re a pro.” Christian suggested, half-jokingly. “Well, only if you’re as bad as you say you are, but I think you’ll do just fine. Swaying from side to side is way easier than it looks.” He assured her. He enjoyed slow-dancing, and if it were up to him, he’d probably find a way to do it every week. “Since it is prom night, you’re welcome to an unlimited amount of piggy back rides as well.”

She smiled at him once her shoes were off, standing much more comfortably on the ground, her long dress covering her bare feet. She laughed at his proposition. “Your arms would get tired real quickly, I’m not that light.” She said with a laugh, moving to grab his hand. “And by bad I mean ‘I’ve never ever done this before’ type bad, so like, really bad.” The brunette laughed again, twisting one of the curls in her hair around her finger. “Hey you never know, when my feet are tired near the end of the dance I might take you up on that. Speaking of dancing, shall we?” She asked, gently tugging on his hand toward the dance floor.

“Sure thing.” She agreed, walking over to the table Matthew had pointed out and sliding off her shoes, placing them underneath her chair. “Oh, thank you! Luka helped me pick it out. I like your tux. How’s your night been so far?”

Christian chuckled softly, shrugging in response. “I’m not even sorry. You’re stunning, Jo. I’m the luckiest guy here, for sure.” He complimented her once more. The girl beside him always meant a great deal to Christian, for as long as he could remember, she’s been one of the most important people in his life. It didn’t surprise him when he began falling for her, and Christian decided to confess his feelings for her at some point during the night, although he knew she’d call him out for the cliche. He smirked, “You’re allowed to take off your heels at any point if your feet hurt, I actually kinda miss being a whole foot taller than you. Either way, I like seeing your eyes this close up.”

The brunette blushed, which she hoped wasn’t visible under the layer of foundation her Aunt had convinced her to put on. “Well I don’t see anyone looking as handsome as you tonight, so who’s really the lucky one?” She asked, smirking up towards her best friend, feeling unwelcome butterflies in her stomach at the eye contact. She laughed, moving to place her clutch don on a nearby table. “How about this, I’ll take them off for most of the dance, but for slow songs I’ll put them back on so I can blame all of my stumbling on them.” She bargained, moving to take the said shoes off and placed them in the car, going back down to her naturally short height.

Walking into prom with his best friend on his arm, Christian couldn’t hold in his excitement, and the smile spread across his features made that quite clear. He turned around to look down at her, but not much as usual since her heels brought their faces closer to each other. “Have I told you that you look absolutely beautiful?” He beamed at her, knowing he’d been complimenting her since they met up.

If it had been anyone else, Jo would of been pretty nervous about tonight, but knowing she was with Christian made those nerves slip away. She knew he wouldn’t make too much fun of her if she slipped on her dress or couldn’t slow dance, which already made her night even better. “Only a couple hundred times.” She said, a smile bright on her features as she held Christian’s arm, partly for the comfort and partly for balance.

Normally, Jo would be out there on the dance floor with her friends and her date, but her claustrophobia got the better of her and she felt the need to move to the sidelines for a few minutes. She didn’t notice Matthew until they’d bumped into each other, leaving Jo laughing. “You’re fine Matt, I’m wobbly in these heels anyways.”

“Hey,” Eloise offered softly, keeping her voice down so as not to intrude. “I just wanted to pay you a visit… see if you needed anything? I could grab something if you’d like…?”

“Hey Eloise.” Jo smiled, seeing the kind face. “I’m glad you came by. Oh no, I’m okay, really. The nurses are actually really nice here.”

“I mean, I could ask the same of you.”