n. balliol

"I love hanging out with you!" Yasmin squealed out, smiling wide at her friend. "Maybe we can do Take Me or Leave Me from Rent?" She suggests.

"You already know I'll sing whatever you want to sing." She smiled at her. "Seriously, do you have a song you want to sing more?"

The late afternoon sun was dipping below the horizon. Tanner found the perfect place in Japan. It was away from the bustle of everyone and quiet with a wooden platform tucked away from a main path of the temple. The cherry blossoms swayed gently. He nervously adjusted the collar of his jacket, his digits brushed against the small, velvet Tiffany box hidden in his pocket. "This place feels like a fairy tale." He says softly, catching her hand, his thumb began tracing gentle circles over her knuckles. "Being here with you...that's what my everyday life feels like. I don't ever want this fairy tale to end." He takes a step back, slowly dropping to one knee, pulling the ring box from his pocket and opening it. "Nicole, will you marry me?" @nicolexballiol

Nicole was excited to be with Tanner, not just becuase they were in Japan, but because she needed this vacation. She needed a break from reality and the last thing she had been expecting was for Tanner to propose to her, so when he got down on one knee, her eyes welled with tears and she nodded. "Yes. Oh my God, Tanner!" She smiled and kissed him.

"I know I'm used to traveling but one thing I always need whenever I do travel, is an energy drink. I promise once I'm done with this Monster, we can go and do whatever." @rededgerpstarterblog

"Please tell me that's the only Monster you've had all day, because if not, we're going to have to have a serious talk." She joked.

"Thank you for joining me for karaoke. I know it's not for everybody, but I appreciate you tagging along." Yasmin says to her friend she invited out. "Do you think you're going to sing too, or just watch?" She asked. @rededgerpstarterblog

"Of course Yasmin! You know I will never turn down us hanging out or doing karoke, I love to sing."

"Thank you so much for coming." Dorian said with a smile as he walked up to meet his friend in the VIP section of Velure. "How have you been? I hope you're having fun tonight." @rededgerpstarterblog

"I've been doing fantastic, thank you so much for letting me come here tonight, Dorian. I needed this."

"Look what I found." Nadia smiled as she walked up to a friend with a bottle of wine from the mayor's wine cabinet. "The mayor won't mind one bottle being gone from this party, right?" @rededgerpstarterblog

Nicole smiled and shook her head. "No, whoever the mayor is, won't miss it at all." She said. "Now, let's crack the bottle open and drink."

Teddy was getting into a project for Illiana and for himself, but more for Illiana. He wanted to build a bigger closet for them, so that she could fit more of her things in. He wanted to make her feel more at home. So he asked for a friend to help out with that. “Thank you so much for coming to help out. I’ve gotten all of the wood cut, stacked up, sanded, and now we can just get it all dolled up. But I don’t know what color the closet should be besides white… what do you think?” He looked over at his friend as he stood in the closet while drinking his beer.@rededgerpstarterblog

Nicole looked at Teddy and smiled. "I think you can literally do whatever you want to it, and she'd love it. Though, I do think she needs a full length vanity mirror."

"How long do you think it'll take them to realize that just because they said that they used to be captain of the football team in high school, doesn't mean that anyone actually cares?" He looked at his friend after the asshole that had been talking to them walked away. "What a fucking tool, you okay?" @rededgerpstarterblog

"If I had to guess, I'd say that when he's on his death bed and nobody is with him except for his hospice nurse."

“ This is the creepiest event I’ve ever been to. I can’t really see, I’m already blind, and I keep tripping over god knows what,” Lori said to her friend. Then she looked around touching her body “ Wait, where’s my purse ? Has anyone seen my purse ?” She asked. @rededgerpstarterblog

"I can't see shit, so how can I see a purse?" Nicole asked with a laugh.

"You are so right, Nicole." Serenya smiled at her friend. "Honestly, perfect beach days don't come that often in the winter so I say we take full advantadge of it."

"They really don't and I am so damn glad you agree. We can try to tan and just live our best lives."

"I do, yeah. It feels so nice to be out of the shop and just relaxing and not having to worry about anything."

Nicole smiled. "Are you enjoying Italy, I take it?" She asked with a smile.

Elias looked at Nicole and smiled. "It really is, but we also live in a coastal town, it's rare that it gets too cold for a day at the beach."

"That's true, but also not true at the same time. I mean, it does get cold here, which I honestly hate, but it's better than just being freezing for a whole fucking season."

Veronica tipped her sunglasses down just enough to peer over the frames at Nicole, one brow arching as she glanced out at the water. “In the middle of winter? Absolutely not,” she said dryly, though the corner of her mouth betrayed her. “But I will admit… it’s suspiciously perfect. Like the universe is trying to distract us from something.” She let the sun hit her face for a second longer before looking back at Nicole. “If this is winter, I’m scared to see what summer’s planning. But yeah. I’ll give you this one. It’s a perfect beach day.”

"Oh come on, you act like it's minus five outside." Nicole said with a smile. "It's warm and the the wind isn't horrible." She told her with a smile and her smile grew when Veronica agreed. "Good, so that means you'll come with me to the beach."

Tanner could feel the box in his pocket, nodding at her as she asked the question. "Yeah, I'm okay. More than okay." He said as he leaned down to kiss her cheek in return. "Are you okay?" He asks as he got his car keys and took her hand, walking out the door to his car and unlocking the door.

"I'm with you, of course I'm okay." Nicole smiled at him. "Thank you." She said and kissed his cheek as she got into the car. She buckled up and waited for Tanner to get in, before she asked, "So, where are we going?"

Tanner had been quiet all morning. Too quiet—and it wasn’t lost on him how obvious that probably was. He stood at the kitchen counter, phone face-down beside his coffee, fingers drumming against the ceramic mug like he was counting down to something only he knew. He kept checking the time, then the window, then the small velvet box hidden deep in his jacket pocket like it might suddenly disappear if he didn’t. Every nerve in his body felt tight, wound up, like one wrong look from her might snap the whole plan in half. “Hey.” He said finally, glancing over at Nicole with a half-smile that didn’t quite hide the nerves in his eyes. “You—uh. You got a minute? I was thinkin’ maybe we could go out for a bit. Just us.” He cleared his throat, shoulders lifting in a quiet breath as he reached for his jacket. “There’s somewhere I wanna take you.” @nicolexballiol

Nicole was excited to see Tanner. Ever since they had gotten back together, she felt like everything in her life was going right and the last thing she wanted to do was screw things up. Walking into Tanner's house, she smiled when she saw him and raised a brow. "Uh, okay." She nodded and kissed his cheek. "Are you okay?" She asked, concern lacing her face.