the hippie

monty couldn’t fake the joy he experienced every time he caught a glimpse of those hazel eyes, a portal to some other world, one where everything was calm and loving. his smile widened, peeking at his cheek bones as he grumbled awake. 

“ breakfast ? sounds amazing. “ the boy groaned, hand swirling around her waist as he pulled her close, a soft chuckle on his lips. he knew they were alone, his sister having stormed out last night, so he didn’t have to be afraid to show how much he cared. 

his fingers curl at her jaw, a soft smile on his lips as they push forward, gently grazing against her own. without a moment more of hesitation, he placed a proper kiss on her lips, a soft hum echoing in his throat. 

she loved his arms around her. she loved all the little secret ways he found to let her know he was there. there were reasons they couldn’t do this in public yet, reasons they couldn’t tell tess and do this in their own homes, but it didn’t mean will didn’t wish that they could just say screw everyone else and do what they wanted. be happy together. not care what anyone thought.

gigi nodded. she could’ve said hello. “no, i sniff cheese all day for fun, yes i was on kitchen duty.” she tried her best to make that sound as lighthearted as possible because willow had done nothing to earn her sarcastic nastiness, but she wasn’t quite sure it came across.

willow started to relax again and let out a little laugh at gigi’s joke, even though she could’ve been snapping at her. will preferred to let anything less-than-pleasant be a joke, unless something serious was going on. “at least it’s not garbage duty, right?”

robbie was still left astounded that the two of them were friends, even after all these few years. there differences stuck out like sharp and deadly thorns, but willow was always there to saw them down, making a path to safety for their friendship. robbie fought for them as well, she just wished she knew what made willow love her. she’d be forever grateful, nonetheless. “ that’s what you always say. “ she chuckled lightly, plopping down on the couch with an exhausted sigh and a sore-ridden moan. 

willow could name a number of reasons why she loved robbie. she could go on for days. but one of them was that robbie didn’t like to talk about stuff like that. even so, will knew she spent a lot more time thinking about it than she liked to admit. she shook her head at the deflection, and reappeared with a bowl of pasta, fork, napkin, and glass of water. “because it’s true,” she said. “provecho!”

monty felt disoriented, like his mind was in a blur and his vision was obsolete, but the one thing he could make out clearly was that soft, soothing voice breaking through the haze of his head. the blur of the sunlight began to subside, and monty could finally see the other clearly— willow. 

“ hey, “ he mumbled through early morning husk, but the smile on his lips was unmistakable. “ the stairs ? “ he glanced down before him, chocolate hues meeting rigid hardwood, “ oh. “

he pushed himself up, but the feeling of her fingers through his head nearly dropped him back to the floor. “ god… well, no matter where i fell asleep, that was the best wake up ever. “

she loved the look on his face when he saw her, realized who was waking him up. her fingers slid down the side of his face and she leaned down to give him a peck on the forehead. 

“hey, mon,” she said softly. she rubbed his cheek with her thumb. she chuckled and her hand went back to his hair. in will’s opinion, he could fall asleep anywhere he wanted as long as she could wake him up. he was just so cute with that look in his eye, happy to see her and a little bewildered.

of course the person who scared her was someone who wasn’t threatening in any way, shape or form. she knew who willow was due to her constantly being attached to tess at the hip. gigi nodded, taking a breath. “it’s alright, it’s my bad. we’re in a public place, i should be used to there constantly being someone around at this point.” she shook her head. “i’ve seen so much cheese today i don’t know that i’ll ever eat it again.”

the apologetic smile stayed on her face longer than necessary, but willow’s heart swelled with concern at the idea that she’d caused any stress. “that may be true, but i could’ve said hello first,” she offered as compromise. “were you on kitchen duty?”

robbie could never thank will enough for everything she had done for her. while she had been a bit of a bad influence on the girl, she couldn’t believe the size of the girl’s heart, that she had enough room to fit a lost cause like her in. as she protested, robbie gave her a small, 1,000 word smile as she returned the grip. “ sauce, please… you’re too good to me, will. “

there was nothing lopsided about robbie and will’s relationship. willow knew that perfectly well, but she felt like robbie always had to be convinced. well, as much as you could convince a person you cared for them. willow just tried to show her in little ways, every day. “i’m just the right amount of good to you,” she corrected, getting out the leftovers from earlier.

gigi peeled off her gloves, tossing them over-dramatically into the trash. “if i so much as look at cheese ever again, i might just die,” she groaned to what she thought was an empty room, jumping when someone answered.

“you don’t like cheese?” willow asked with unabashed intrigue. and then immediate regret when she realized gigi hadn’t noticed she was in the room with her. “oh my gosh, did i scare you? i’m so sorry.”

“ jesus… what time is it ? “ monty wasn’t exactly sure where he was, only that his body had finally given into the temptation of dreams, and he had crashed on the spot. now, the sun was in his eye and another was leaning over him, he couldn’t really picture the face. “ and uh… where am i ? “

willow felt awful that monty and tess were in the middle of such a huge confrontation since prom. they didn’t need that, especially not right now with so much else going on. she could easily see both sides of the story, and she was finding it hard to try and give her comfort to both of them at once. she’d come from tess straight back to the de luca residence to find monty out like a light, curled up on the staircase. so she sat with him until he woke up.

“good morning, sleepyhead,” she said softly, running her fingers through his bedhead. “you are on the stairs. i have no idea how this was comfortable for you.”

robbie had barely made it home— it took her two hours just to convince herself allie would be okay if she left for a bit, and then another hour in itself to get home. she had stopped and changed her mind a million times on the way over. she was almost relieved to be home. “ yeah, uh— sorry, left my keys at lucas’ last night, would’ve been here sooner… “ she trailed off. while that wasn’t a whole lie, she had left the keys at his place, but that wasn’t the entirety of her journey home. “ pasta ? yeah, uh… i’ll take some. thanks, will. “

willow could tell—almost always—when robbie had rampant thoughts running around in her head, but she had never been able to convince her to share them. now, when she noticed that look, she offered distraction instead. “don’t apologize!” she protested, laying a hand on her arm. “i’ll make you a bowl. sauce or butter?”

// * @justwestofwillow

“ hey will. “ robbie greeted her friend with a soft sigh, her body exhausted from the night. she was worn and torn, but she was pushing through. she could really care less about what happened, but allie… allie was her priority, and last night she needed her the most. that’s all that mattered. 

but the girl before her was a sight for sore eyes, her gracious presence warming robbie, just a bit. 

he craned his neck to see her as she made her way into the living room. he gave her a soft, weak smile before his hand drug down the worn skin of his face. “ hey. “ he sighed, placing his hand over hers. 

“ i just… got a lot going on. “ monty bit down on his lip, remembering what his father used to say. honesty is always the best policy. “ vicky uh… she stopped by earlier, because uh… she kissed me at prom. and i kind of didn’t remember it ‘til this morning. “ he managed out, squeezing his eyes shut in fear of retribution.

she leaned into the couch over his legs, taking his hand so their thumbs rested on each other’s. absently, she started tracing tiny circles into his. her brow raised, mostly in curiosity. she knew he’d tell her whatever was going on. they were good like that.

but she did not expect to hear that. “well, what happened? why did she do that?” will wasn’t one to jump to conclusions, but with vicky... she couldn’t help it. the whole thing was contradictory—she cheated on him and now what? she wanted him back?

monty’s head was reeling, the ever-lasting hangover of the night before, and the stress of everything that happened had taken it’s toll on the teen. after vicky’s visit, he didn’t know what to do— how was he supposed to work through this ? 

the sound of the door creaking open caught monty’s attention, his eyes snapping over. he released a sigh of relief once he heard the soothing, sunshine-laced voice. “ wills, i’m in here ! “ he called from his slump on the couch. 

she peeked into the kitchen before she got a response, sliding off her sandals at the door. “monty?” she said again, coming around the corner into the living room as she heard him.