.

muse  list,   updated  november 17th 2020.

robert “bobby” hidalgo.  /  primary 

caleb covington.  /  secondary  

april byrne  aka  1/2 of the hgc peacock twins.  /  primary

ray molina. /  secondary.

rose molina.  /  tertiary.

willie.  /  primary. 

jason navarro. / secondary.    (  affiliated with @kayndie.  )

        there’s been a heavy static blanketing her mind all day. it’s silly, her mind tries to cruelly remind her, to be so sad, when they wouldn’t even be celebrating today together if he was still alive, but she can’t help it. of all days to mourn her ex-boyfriend, she should be allowed to do so on valentine’s day, shouldn’t she? the boy by her side eases the feeling just slightly, just having the comforting warmth of someone with her chipping away slightly at the suffocating weight sitting on her chest, but it only goes so far. he’s pitying her, she can tell, but bell doesn’t have the energy to be irritated by it. if she’s really being honest, it’s kind of sweet. bobby’s never been a warm and fuzzy person, even before their lives crashed and burned around them, and she knows him well enough to recognize this as him trying.

        ❛ it’s okay. ❜ she twists the silver ring around her finger as he speaks, the cool metal almost burning with each spin. ❛ we really don’t have to go out or anything. ❜ if anything, she’d honestly rather not. bell doesn’t know how much she likes bobby’s hiding away from the public, but if it means they have an excuse to stay inside and away from the hordes of happy couples filling up the streets, she’ll gladly accept it for tonight. she sighs, glancing up at him with a tired look in her eye. ❛ that sounds nice. ❜ this isn’t something they do, isn’t something that fits into the mess of a routine they’ve somehow ended up in, but bell finds herself shifting across the couch anyway, the buzzing in her mind too loud to give her movements a second thought. as she lays her head on his lap, her voice comes out softer than she expects it to.  ❛ you can pick the food, though, i’m okay with anything. ❜

      the irony of him being the one to comfort her like this isn’t lost on him .          back  when  sunset  curve  was  a  band  and  not  a  slow  -  healing  wound,    he  was  notorious  for  being  the    least     emotionally  inclined  of  them  all.        and  now  the  ex  -  girlfriend  of   mr.  heart  on  his  sleeve  is  using  his  lap  as  a  pillow,    obviously  nauseous  over  memories  she’ll  never  get  to  make  with  a  guy  that  isn’t  him.       for  once,   though,  there  isn’t  an  underlying  bitterness  to  his  demeanor.       chalk  it  up  to  the  fact  that  he’s  almost  face  -  to  -  face   with  a  reflection  of  grief  he’s  been  trying  not  to  feel.       the  whole    ALOOF  THING    isn’t  doing  bobby  any  favors  when  it  comes  to  moving  on.       he  won’t  talk  to  his  therapist,    he  won’t  talk  to  his  parents,   and  he  won’t  talk  to  bell.    but  he  will  bring  a  hand  down  to  rub  at  her  shoulder,   and  he  will  stroke  her  back  with  a  few  calloused  fingers,    and  that’s    pretty  good    considering  his  track  record.    

  ❛    —   i’d  say  we  could  go  out,   but  . . .     ❜         he’s  kind  of    DEAD   to  the  public  right  now.      no  one,   not  his  parents,   not  his  publicists,   no  one   wants  to  see  him  on  the  streets  right  now.      bobby  feels  a  shred  of  guilt.      if  he  could,    he    WOULD    take  her  out.      he  runs  a  hand  through  his  hair  and  shrugs.       ❛    uh,   i’ll  order  you  in  anything  you  want.       and  you  can   . . .   pick  a  movie,   maybe  ?       the  night’s  young.  ❜ 

        ❛ i can see why, ❜ she says, voice airy as her attention flickers between the boy in front of her and watching luke’s boundless energy from across the room. how he can look ready to do an entire new set after having just finished a gig, she’s pretty sure she’ll never know. they’ve only known each other a short while, but it’s already one of her favourite things about him. bell glances back to the boy in front of her, immediately recognizing him as another member of the band. luke had rapid-fire spun their names off a few times, but now that’s she’s actually faced with one of them, she’s realizing she totally didn’t absorb any of that information. thankfully, knowingly or not, he doesn’t let her flounder.

        ❛ bell. ❜ she nods at him, taking the shirt with a grateful smile. she can’t help her grin as she looks down at it, fingers brushing against the printed logo on the front. she’s not sure who did their design, but it’s really nice. her gaze flickers back up to bobby, and her smile widens as she folds the shirt up against her chest. ❛ thanks. and i will be, though i think i might have to mention that getting tickets might not be all that easy. that was a pretty huge crowd tonight. ❜   

   ❛    this is probably our last garage gig .    we’re playing   the double tap  next weekend.   ❜         and  this  time,   it  was  because  the  owner  of  the  club  had  asked  them  to  come  back   ;   not  because  they’d  waited  in  line  to  sign  the  open  mic  night  sheet.       telling  bell  this  could  be  taken  as  an  invite  if  she  really  wanted  it  to  be,    but  bobby  wasn’t  an  idiot.        he  saw  the  way  luke  was  looking  at  her  during  the  show  and  the  way  she  was  gazing  at  him,   almost  in  shock,   in  return.      and  inviting  a  girl  to  your  next  gig  was  a  rite  of  passage.       he’d  be  stepping  on  toes,   which  is  pretty  annoying  considering  the  fact  that  luke  isn’t  around  to  step  on  them  himself.      bobby  deliberates,    although  quite  casually  by  the  sight  of  his  hands  half  -  dug  into  his  pockets  and  his  face  rather  plain.      

   ❛   yeah ,   i kinda figured i would after you dumped one of the little bottles over my head .  ❜         though  bobby’s  tone  oozes  an  unhealthy  amount  of  sarcasm,   there’s  a  teaspoon  of  humor  in  the  slight  crease  of  of  his  cheek  as  he  fights  off  a  smile.      he  can’t  give  in  to  it  and  seem   amused   by  the  fact  that  his  aunt’s  kitchen  looks  like  it  was  just  hit  by  some  kind  of  holiday  hurricane.     if  this  wasn’t  cleaned  up  by  the  time  she  was  back  from  the  mall,   he  was  going  to  be  a  dead  man  and  everyone  else  involved  would  get  off  scot  -  free.     

  honestly,   bobby  isn’t  really  sure  how  some  simple  cookie  decorating  designed  to  keep  the  girls  from  going  haywire  escalated  into  a  full  on,  as  his  partner  -  in  -  crime  called  it,   “sprinkle  fight.”      it’s  not  like  bell  hasn’t  helped  him  babysit  isabelle  and  keiki  before.      in  fact,   she’s  the  one  he  calls  on  when  he  knows  he’s  gonna  need   effective   backup.     and  with  his  little  cousins  hopped  up  on  gumdrops  and  the  knowledge  that  santa     (  oh,  the innocence,  )     would  be  visiting  soon,   he  needed  all  the  help  he  could  get.      that  help  backfiring  to  this  extent  was  not  a  part  of  his  plan,   nor  were  the  sprinkles  raining  from  his  choppy  cut  every  time  he  dared  to  shake  his  head  in  disappointment  at  the  antics. 

       bell  seems  to  be  having  fun  though.      her  laugh  is  crystal  -  clear  as  she  points  out  his  misfortune,    the  little  empty  bottle  in  question  sat  on  the  table  beside  her.      bobby  attempts  to  keep  up  his  thoroughly  unamused  routine,   but  it  falters  slightly  as  she  absently  licks  some  cookie  icing  from  her  fingers.      after  that,   all  his  attention  is  on  his  broom  as  he  starts  to  sweep  up  some  of  the  mess.

 ❛   oh man ,   i can see that !     200 presents ,  all for your old dad  . . .  you really shouldn’t have ,  mija .  ❜         ray  laughs  from  behind  the  grocery  bags  he’s  carrying,   last  minute  christmas  dinner  shopping  finally  done.      after  surviving  the  melee  that  was  the  local  supermarket  parking  lot  a  few  days  before  the  25th,    all  he  really  wants  is  to  take  a  quick  breather.      however,   every  square  inch  of  the  kitchen’s  counter  and  table  space  has  been  taken  over  by  julie  and  her  couple  hundred  gifts.     he  sidesteps  a  roll  of  wrapping  paper  and  shakes  an  orange  chocolate  bar  out  of  one  of  the  bags  for  her  to  munch  on  while  she  continues.

        yes,  she  may  be  exaggerating  when  she  ventures  into  triple  -  digit  territory,   but  there  are  an  awful  lot  of  gifts  around  for  just   . . .   him,  carlos,  flynn,  and  victoria.      either  she’s  providing  for  their  entire  extended  molina  family,   or  she’s  suddenly  gotten  real  popular  at  school.      the  latter  option  isn’t   TOO   ridiculous  considering  the  success  of  her  hologram  band.    julie  has  a  big  heart,   after  all,   just  like  her  mother.

and when may begins to waver once she realizes the impact this is all having on willie and alex’s relationship,  april is torn between a rock a hard place,  because if she covers for her  ...  caleb won’t be happy.    but april’s main weakness buried deep, deep, deep down inside her is her sister.    she loves may.   may is her other half.   but she isn’t a fan of may turning on caleb either,   and may’s attempts at dragging april back from the deep end are pretty futile.     but this weakness for her sister kind of uncovers all her anger,  all her other issues and insecurities that lead her to depending on caleb in the first place.