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There were cracks in her argument, but Shelly had no intent of stopping. In fact, all of the anger she'd been holding to her chest was released on the other blonde. It wasn't just Tink who had gotten under the skin, this reaction was truly for Shelly's mother, Eric, and even Oliver all the same, the final strike before her armor shattered. "You're not fooling anyone," she shot back before closing the space between them. A hand was up to pull at her hair before the words had even left her mouth. "Especially not me." That was the beginning of something more, it only took a move to set off the dynamite. A catfight had broken out before anyone could come in with common sense. Shelly had her fist tangled in the blonde's hair, taking her to the floor once the anger was reciprocated. "Leave him alone you fucking bitch."

Even the way she spoke about him made Shelly's blood bubble, wanting to pull a fistful of her assumed extensions out. She tried to calm the anger building in her chest but it was becoming a moot point. "Don't you act like you're so smug, like you aren't just as insecure and stupid as everyone else. You've only ever wanted to please men. From Peter, to Dash, now Oliver. And you act like you're some high and mighty girl who isn't just as weak for a pretty face as the next bitch," she spat back. He had deserved someone who trusted him, even if this wasn't real but Shelly couldn't be certain. With the distance he was forming with her all she could assume was that it had been due to the other blonde before her. It was then that the last string snapped and the space between them was widened by Shelly's hands shoving the other back. "Don't fuck with him or I'll fucking ruin you."

The words sting as they exit the smaller blonde's lips, striking a nerve that Shelly hadn't even known existed. Jealously never suited her aesthetic but she was unable to hide it now feeling as if it was her who should've come in on Oliver's arm. The lines between reality and his job were blurring as far as she was concerned. What had started as a job for Hook had now landed him a girlfriend. "Please," she started, her voice going lower. "How do you know he isn't only doing it all because he wants to get info from you? Since when do you trust the right hand of Hook anyway?" Apparently, Oliver was a better actor than Shelly had anticipated, being half convinced that what the other blonde was saying was actually true. "Is that your judgment slipping? What would Peter say about this?" Her anger was bubbling but she knew it couldn't get to a boil, the combination of the last few months piling up to another single moment of weakness. "We both know I've done things with him you never will. I know your little body isn't that flexible. You're always just going to be second best."

As she thanks him for not telling the whole Isle about what she was, he can’t help the sting of betrayal that courses through him and thought that she would even consider that to have been a possibility. “I guess you don’t actually know me at all then either, if you thought I’d ever do that. To anyone, no matter how badly they’d wronged me,” he comments with a soft scoff at the start. With the drinks ordered and handed over, Eric’s ready to walk away and call this an end - but it seems she has a different plan as she beckons him to follow her away from the bar and over towards a small standing table a few feet away. It’s a bad idea, following along and continuing to entertain this conversation, but something pushes him to do it either way. Like he needs to hear her out or just stupidly wants to still be near her. If it weren’t for the fact that Mary had promised him that the siren song was lifted, he might have thought he was still under the blonde’s spell for the way he felt right now. Shelly’s promises that she didn’t lie much and giving examples of how things that still rang true doesn’t help any with the doubts and troubling tides racing through his head over this all. “But you kept the spell going the entire time we were together. Were you ever going to lift it?” The thought of living the rest of his life under the siren’s song with no clue was a horrifying one. His potentially forever lost autonomy was a fear that he’d held ever since he was a boy and knew the future that his parents were going to force upon him.

Shelly had dug a grave here, finally getting a taste of her own medicine and it was bitter on her tongue. She had to put down her own drink as it tasted awful amidst the words while it was all true she hadn't wanted to relive her mistakes. It was only recently that the blonde turned over a new leaf, though the same leaf, Shelly believed things could be different now. "Just appreciative I'm not being hunted," she threw back before taking their seats. The table was small but enough for the conversation the blonde hoped they could have. It was overdue, a fault that fell onto her, and now it might've been too late to get anywhere.

His question hit like a brick to her chest and she had to catch the breath that was snatched from her lungs. The truth wasn't anything she wanted to share because once it was out in the world there was no hiding but Eric had always deserved to know. "I wanted to for a while, I just didn't know what would happen if I did," the blonde started. "If I undid it then you'd know what I was, what I had done, but I wanted you to want just me without it all. And I know, I know, it's my fault that you couldn't." Shelly hadn't been sure how to get out of the situation when she was in it. At the time all she knew was she didn't want to lose him but ended up losing far more than that. "I was scared to come clean and tell you what I'd done." Fear was never to be admitted according to her mother though Shelly saw her as part of the reason this happened in the first place. "I really did love you, none of that was fake or not to me. It didn't fix anything but he needed to know, she needed him to know.

Shelly wasn't entirely convinced, giving him a quick raise of her brow in uncertainty before nodding anyway. Her doubt was apparent and words didn't need to be exchanged for him to sense it. "I didn't know people ate more fish around the holidays," she replied flatly. There was something different about him after their conversation. While Shelly saw it as the door creaking open to a room she was afraid to step foot in, he'd seen it as one closing and she wondered what was on the other side. Before now she'd never thought about Oliver with someone else or just how much she hated the thought of it. "Busy with what? He doesn't still have you trying to get the dish on Peter since he left, right?" The blonde posed a question she feared the answer as much as she was curious, reaching out to take a few peanuts from the bar, crunching them between her teeth to keep herself calm. "Then thanks for fitting me into your busy schedule." While it wasn't how he intended it insecurity had crept in and started to second-guess what she thought to be true. "You haven't been around in a while."

While really all it would take is stepping foot in the Underworld for Holt to come out, he and Jackson had decided a while back that they could do the transformation before even making it to the club, giving the hotheaded alter ego a chance to warm up and prep for his shifts. So it’s with complete confidence that he walks into the building, shouting heys and sups to the bartenders as he makes his way to the back breakroom where he’d stash his and Jackson’s stuff while he was out on the stage. It’s always fairly busy back there, people coming and going from their own shifts either setting everything up and restocking all the bars during the day or performing during the night when the club was actually open. So it’s not a shock that some of the dancers were already hanging around, moving in and out of the too small dressing room as they used both those mirrors and the one in the dressing room to get ready. What is a bit of surprise is seeing a familiar blonde sitting off to the side rather than being all up in the middle of the rush. She looks perfect, as usual, but there’s clearly something dragging her down. “Hey Sea Shelly,” he greets, dropping the oversize backpack he and his other half share to the ground before settling into a chair at the table in her little corner. “Who pissed in your coffee tonight? One of the other girls giving you a hard time or something? ‘Cause I’ll totally fuck up their music on their solos, just say the word.” It’s an empty offer, Holt not willing to actually risk his job or the wrath of any of the other dancers, but he hopes it will at least get a small chuckle or smile out of the girl.

Something was off, she could feel it. The blonde tried to ignore that feeling in her chest but when he wouldn't reply when she expected him to be free after work was suspicious. Not that Oliver didn't have friends but Shelly had never struggled to get in contact with him before, coming to actually miss seeing his name pop up on her phone. What originally started as a reliable hookup had evolved into words she didn't want to mutter but struggled to lie to herself anymore while staring down her screen. "Hm?" The blonde's eyes carried up to the male who joined her. "Hi Hottie Holt." A half smile was cracked at his comment, giving an exasperated sigh and spinning around on her stool to face him. "You're my favorite DJ, have I ever told you that?" Shelly cooed before settling in to tell him what was weighing on her chest. "It's this guy. I have this weird feeling he likes someone else when I thought we were like actually becoming something real." The words tasted bitter as they came out, she frowned at the situation and how silly she felt even admitting it. "I don't know," she said turning back around to face the mirror to avoid going deeper into her blossoming feelings and accompanying jealousy.

SYDNEY SWEENEY

SYDNEY SWEENEY

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The silence had been deafening. Shelly was unsure where the sudden sense of care had come from but now wondered where he had gone. She thought she was getting close to something, to the very thing she'd been avoiding, and just like that, it felt out of reach. Maybe the ball was in her court, something the blonde had no idea what to do with. While Shelly had been in relationships before they were all orchestrated by her behind the scenes and now the loss of control was sending her into a spiral. Oliver was supposed to be something to fill her time not the person she obtained actual feelings for. That's why as the blonde occupied her usual booth at the bar and waited for him there was a scowl already consuming her features. Work had been chaotic as usual, with the worst types of people coming in before the holidays hoping to get out their sins before the new year. All of it combined into a cranky end to her evening and the start of their conversation. "You're late," Shelly said with arms folded over her chest. Even though it was normally one of the things she used to get her way, it could be withheld when she was upset as a power move, not that it still worked with Oliver after all this time. "What kept you?" She asked in the hopes of getting confirmation it wasn't the other blonde he'd been having to entertain. "You didn't forget about me, did you?"

He had every right to be mad at her but it wouldn't stop her from expressing her remorse for the actions. Shelly would argue she had no insecurities, that any man would be lucky to have her, yet when it had come to Eric the opposite proved true. In fact, she'd been unsure he would've even looked at her if she hadn't used her siren's song to lure him in. That whole night she spent wondering if by chance the blonde could catch his attention without any luck. "More than you think," she confessed while knowing it changed nothing. Whatever came out of her lips wouldn't take back her actions and now Shelly would be left to convince him at least her words were true. "I have no reason to lie here. You already know the truth about me, I want to at least thank you for not telling the whole Isle. I'd probably have been hunted for my tail by now," the blonde laughed softly, hoping that it could help lighten the mood. Her hands stayed up in innocence as he made the request. "Of course, that's all I ask." Shelly waved to the bartender, asking for another round of whatever he was having and one for herself. Once their drinks were present she led them towards a table a few feet away so that they could talk privately, but still in the eyes of witnesses which she assumed he wanted in the case she pulled anything funny. "I didn't lie about as much as you think. I do have a bitch of a mother, I absolutely love fast food even if it's bad for me, and I really did care about you."

Commitment was a big word for a girl who only ever dated boys she manipulated into liking her. What their situation started as was a convenience for Shelly, enjoying his company had come after seeing what he offered in the bedroom. It hadn't been until recently that the blonde even considered there being something more between them. She couldn't pinpoint what had happened but things had felt different, Shelly was coming around just to see him, doing nice things for him just because, all the makings of a relationship. The girl had pulled back by then so that she was able to watch him as he explained. It wasn't necessary to have asked for Oliver to define what it was he meant but a part of her was genuinely curious if she was understanding correctly. Most of these conversations were easier when it was she who had control, knowing the beats that were to come next, now being at the mercy of the boy who asked. Shelly never had a man be the one to have her cornered and could almost not believe what she was saying. "I didn't really plan to go anywhere once you were better," the blonde shrugged as if it was the simplest thing. Any sort of emotion he could see she tried to curb it with the sharpness of her usual tone but only Oliver could peel back the layers. His nervousness was not only genuine, it made Shelly feel comfortable enough to show a bit of herself in return. "But what if you see me and you don't like it?" No one had yet accepted her including the darkness she kept locked away; maybe he could be the first. "I don't want things to change like that because you know, I like this and being here... with you."

"Okay, okay, fine," she snuggled in deeper, getting into the perfect spot on his chest to rot away the evening. Shelly really couldn't even believe it, cooking for one but giving it to someone else. Selflessness wasn't something her mother had taught. In fact, it seemed to be everything besides that. Shelly could look at a man from across a room and dissect how to destroy his life in a matter of minutes but not putting herself first was unheard of. This wasn't anything she'd been sharing with her, in fact hadn't even yet told her mother that she was no longer seeing Dash. That had been one who gained the approval of the matriarch but Shelly wasn't certain she wouldn't see him in the same way. "I mean I just kind of assumed-" The blonde started before fully processing what he'd meant by that. She pulled back slightly so that she sat up next to him on the couch, her legs now folded halfway into his lap to be just close enough. "I don't really know how to do that," Shelly confessed with a heavy exhale filling the space between them. "I don't really do this." She pointed between them and the situation they'd found themselves in. "Not with the boys I don't call," the girl said, referring to her abilities to lure in men like a moth to a flame. "I don't really know what that means," Shelly hummed wanting to squeeze out a little more direct of an answer before laying herself bare.

It was so much easier when she used her powers, finding the consequences of her own actions harder to swallow. While he was still a man she'd come to realize he was one of the good ones but it was too late now to try again. At the time Shelly believed a man of Eric's stature wouldn't have given a dancer like her another thought and he'd proven her wrong. Now it was up to the blonde to deal with that fact. "No, but you know me well enough to know I don't apologize for no reason. When have you known me to ever say I'm sorry?" A word that rarely came from her lips but if anyone deserved one from her it was Eric. He'd been one of the only men she actually cared about and the only one to come out of her trap that she regretted ever catching in the first place. Shelly knew now that he had been the one who could've met the Rochelle beneath it all but it was too late to introduce them now. "Come on, just one and I promise, cross my fucked up heart, that I'm not trying anything. I know it's too late to change anything but I do miss you." He'd been her best friend, the only man she saw herself marrying until the monster of truth reared its head. "No tricks this time just me." The blonde had never laid herself bare in front of a man so blatantly but Eric was different, Shelly had something to prove to him and mistakes to make up for. "Then you never have to talk to me again and can imagine I got lost at sea."