𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓪𝔂 𝓭𝓸𝓰!

Finally,  as  if  nothing  had  happened  (as  if  she  hadn’t  just  reenacted  a  cinematic  meltdown  on  a  lounge  chair),  she  took  a  delicate  sip  of  what  was  left  of  her  drink  and  turned  toward  the  pool  -  that  warzone  of  shrieking  teens.  “Tell  you  what,”  she  said,  head  tilted,  expression  beatific  -  like  she  was  offering  a  blood  pact.  “I’ll  get  in…  if  you  get  in.  Fair’s  fair.  I’m  nothing  if  not  democratic.” 

“…The fuck was that?” he finally muttered, taking a long, necessary sip of whatever lurked in his cup. Still, he couldn’t quite bite back the laugh that snuck out around his mouth, almost unexpected. “You’re outta your goddamn mind," he said, not necessarily unkind - always just an observation.

The offer - deal? challenge? trap? - lingered in the air. “Alright, Congress,” he finished the last of his drink with a dramatic flourish, then dropped the empty cup onto the ground with no real regard for littering. They had... people for that, didn't they? “Let’s legislate.”

And then Lenny backed up a few paces like he was psyching himself up for a duel, and sprinted toward the pool with a sort of chaotic commitment. He cannonballed in, water exploding outward, dousing at least three kids and probably most of Liliana's lounge chair.

When he surfaced, he let out a gasp, hair plastered to his forehead. Lenny pointed at her with both hands like he was calling her bluff from the deep end. “Your move, Serrano.”

The  backyard  reeked  of  chlorine  and  overcooked  meat  -  the  kind  of  summer  stench  that  clung  to  the  skin  and  made  everything  feel  a  little  too  sticky.  Sprawled  across  a  lounge  chair  like  some  sun-drunk  statue,  Liliana  looked  carved  from  decadence:  legs  elegantly  crossed,  a  sweating  virgin  piña  colada  limp  in  one  hand,  sunglasses  perched  low  on  her  nose  so  she  could  observe  the  chaos  without  being  pulled  into  it.  She  wore  something  daring  -  obviously  -  barely  held  together  by  gold  hardware  and  sheer  audacity,  her  sun-warmed  skin  catching  rays.

Somewhere  behind  her,  the  older  folk  were  laughing  too  loud,  their  voices  muddled  with  bourbon  and  barbecue,  paper  plates  sagging  under  the  weight  of  sides  no  one  really  wanted.  In  front  of  her,  young  teens  circled  the  pool  like  mosquitoes  in  a  hormone-fueled  swarm  -  the  entire  scene  resembling  a  live-action  psa  for  birth  control.  “You  gonna  keep  standing  there,”  she  finally  said,  “or  are  you  actually  planning  to  get  wet?”  Her  gaze  slid  to  the  figure  lingering  by  the  water’s  edge,  one  brow  arching  lazily  behind  designer  frames.

One hand clutched a cup with something vaguely lime-colored and alcoholic inside, and the other was resting on his hip in a way that screamed: This is not my natural habitat.

“I was plannin' on getting wet,” he called back, tone dry as he looked back at Lili. Had Liliana Serrano ever spoken to him before today? “But then I saw the cloud of Love's Baby Soft hoverin' over the deep end and decided I value my lungs too much.”

“You always look like you’re about to be airlifted to Monaco,” said the man who couldn't tell you where Monaco was on a map as he wandered a few paces closer, toeing the edge of the pool like it might bite him. “Do you plan on gettin' in or you too chicken shit to find out you might melt?"

Lot's been happenin' in Misty Mountain, as of late... Y'all got to come up with the questions last time, and this time I've come up with some of my own. Reblog this post to participate, and get to askin' your fellow Mountaineers the hard hitting questions... I've got a feelin' the inside of your heads are lookin' mighty dark as of late.

🎧: you haven't tried to leave town yet... who's the only person you'd do it for?

💋: if you knew your last kiss was tomorrow, who would you want it to be with?

😱: buck was a pretender... if you thought another one was walking around, who would it be?

🧣: who have you just wanted to strangle lately?

👖: the world is ending! who are you slipping out of your jeans for one last time?

🛒: what's the last meal you'd wanna cook for yourself?

💄: surprise, my kiss was poison! you have two minutes to live, but you finally got to kiss me... in your wildest dreams, who am i?

💍: fmk: buck, [blank], [blank] 

👅: reveal one awful thing you thought about buck whitaker.

👾: reveal one awful thing you think about someone close to you.

🤨: reveal one awful thing about yourself.

🌶: have you ever gotten so mad you wanted to to kill someone? who? 

🎞: do you think you're strong enough to kill? 

🍸: what's the worst thing you've ever done while you're drunk? 

✨: if someone offered you the chance to forget everything that's happened in the last few months, would you do it?

😡: tell me off like i'm someone you're mad at.

😬: imagine you knew buck would die that night at the water tower. would you have tried to save him?

😢: would you have shot bobby hugh?

😁: would you have shot lou or major? 

👁️: what do you think you would see if you looked into the Man Eaters head? 

 🔪: do you think it's wrong that sheriff buddy is in jail for a crime he didn't commit? 

 🔥: would you take the fall for someone else's murder? 

💀: be honest... do you want to bang an abignale? which one? 

⚠️: if vesta asked you to shoot a gun, and lined up a "witch" in your crosshairs... would you pull the trigger?

Well, well, well... It's been a little while since we got to have a little chat, huh? We're all just DYIN' (too soon?) to know what's on your minds over here, so - what do you say to pullin' up a chair, and havin' a good little bout of Front Porch Gossip? Some say it heals the soul!