we the bomb / chain react

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                NICK LAUGHED LOUDLY before resting his chin behind his arm, looking at Tanya with bright, delighted eyes. “Aww, he knows,” he said. “Like he doesn’t know that he trips over his own feet? He’s got a whole lotta wonderful qualities, but his ability to remain on his feet isn’t one of them.” There’s very few people he’d actually tease Cal with, but Tanya is person number one, two, and three of that list. 

He was tempted to reach down to help her out, since it was his leg that was getting boa constricted by the mic cord, but considering how much Tanya was struggling with it, he figured that adding his hands to the mix would just be putting too many cooks in the kitchen. So instead he tried to stay as still as he could, watching her as she deftly untangled him. “I’m not trying to FLATTER you,” he protested. “You’re gorgeous! And talented! And super smart, really pretty, and you sing like an angel.” He grinned. “That’s flattery. True, but flattery.” He adored her: she knew it. “You’re awesome, Tanya. That’s why I fell for you.” 

        she can’t help but laugh along with nick, that crazy infectious laugh of his ringing through the space as she shakes her head with a fondness for both boys. she twists her finger between a tangle as he waxes poetic about their friend’s clumsiness, grin widening as she tugs on it and it unravels. just a bit, but it does. ❛ i bet his ears are just burning right now, ❜ she says, before she glances up at nick with a wink and a sly grin. ❛ i hope they are. ❜

  he’s never been the best at  comforting  people one on one.             his  heart,   brimming  with  passion  at  all  times,   may  be  too  big  for  his  body,   but  luke  has  a  tendency  to  handle  it  awkwardly  when  it’s  in  his  hands.       reggie  and  alex  he  can  handle.       he’s  even  gotten  better  at  soothing  julie  in  her  sullen  moments,     a  big  leg  up  from  when  he  was  too  off  -  put  to  console  her  after  she  sang  again  for  the  first  time,   but  that  doesn’t  mean  he’s  ready  for  a    crying  tanya.      luke  stands  before  her  helplessly  as  she  does  her  best  to  convince  him  she’s  fine.      if  he  was    TANGIBLE    to  her,    he’d  simply  give  her  a  hug  and  let  her  wail  it  out  into  his  shoulder,    but  that’s  clearly  not  an  option.     and  that  leaves  him  at  a  loss.    

   ❛     —   tanya,  ❜         luke  figures  that’s  a  good  start.        he  shrugs  off  his  jacket  almost  absentmindedly,     eyes  glued  to  her  without  making  direct  contact.      ❛   why  don’t  you  just,  uh,  sit  down  for  a  second,  kay  ?          take  a  sec  to  sit  down  and  cool  off  and   -   breathe.     i’ll  sit  with  you,    if  you  want.   ❜

@orangecrsh   /   CALL CLOSED .

       she feels pathetic. she’s sure she looks it, too, eyes brimming with tears that only seem to multiply the more she tries to force them down and arms wrapped tight around herself, fingers digging painfully into the sides of her arms as her grip grows tighter. she’s half-tempted to tell luke to leave her alone, but —that wouldn’t be fair when he’s only trying to help ( and she doesn’t really want to be alone right now, either, even if she’d try to protest she does ). wordlessly, tanya slides down the wall at his suggestion, curls bounding against her shoulders from the impact of her hitting the floor. the realization she’s forgotten her hair tie sends the tears in her eyes spilling over all over again.

《 @orangecrsh 〈 tanya 〉 liked 》

          It was late. Not, like, super late. Late enough that Charlie texted her mom to let her know she’d be staying at Tanya’s after the game – whether or not that was actually where the two girls were going to spend the night. The football team had left the field maybe an hour ago – maybe more. The home and visiting fans had cleared from the bleachers. The cars mostly gone from the parking lot save for the truck that belonged to the overnight janitor, one of the only three remaining inhabitants of the school’s campus until it would be flooded with students again on Monday.

          Charlie had thought that sticking around after the game and watching the stars from the field sounded like a fun idea – until she and Tanya spread their blanket out over the spongy turf, lay down to face the night sky, and sighed at their own stupidity for not realizing the stadium lighting completely washed out their view.

          Charlie sat up to look at Tanya, hood snug around her face and drawstrings pulled tight. “I mean – this is still kinda cool, right? I’m pretty sure we’re at least breaking some rules to be here. That’s gotta count for something.”

        if she’s being honest, she’s not really upset at all about their impromptu attempt to watch the stars going awry. like, sure, stars are super pretty and all, and she’s got nothing against stargazing, but the main selling point of charlie’s idea really had been that it was charlie’s idea. and visible stars or not, her friend is still laying next to her on their blanket, her hoodie tied up in that dorky way that always makes tanya smile, so — really, it seems like a win in her book anyway. 

        ❛ you kidding? it’s way more than kinda cool. ❜ she laughs, opting to tilt her head to the side to glance up at charlie rather than sitting up when she does. tanya holds her arms up in the air loosely, gesturing at the open space of the empty stadium staring back at them. underneath their makeshift spotlights, she grins, her expression shifting impishly as she rolls onto her stomach.

-

          “Oh, yeah. Not even sure why I asked; You sound perfectly fine.” He pushed off the wall and gave her a once over. If it had been a better moment, he would have taken the time to tease her about her half-candied state. But he’d been too attuned to the panic in her voice to muster even a quick laugh. The way he looked at her, he couldn’t have made it anymore obvious that he wasn’t buying her bullshit – It wasn’t often that he did. Despite how successful the girls could be at messing with him when the stakes were low, he could usually tell when something was up when it mattered.

          “Why don’t you hang out a sec?” He asked, and gave her a look that said ‘it’s probably best if you do.’ “And like, get some air before going back in there?” Cal didn’t know what Tanya had been ( literally ) running away from – he could only imagine it had something to do with Carrie – but he knew that if it caused an outburst like that, it probably wasn’t in Tanya’s best interest to immediately return to it.

          "You’re not gonna fuck anything up by giving yourself a few minutes to breathe.” The girls still had some time before they went on, Cal would be in there, front row, already if they didn’t. He took a beat to collect his thoughts, trying to wrap his head around exactly what Tanya said when she stepped out that door. “I don’t know who’s not taking you seriously, but you guys are like – the most serious of seriously talented people I know, and my mom once introduced me to Adele.” He gave her a sortof-almost half smile before sighing.

          “You know Carrie just like – says shit, right? That’s what shouldn’t be taken seriously.”

       shit. shit, shit, shit. for the first time, she wishes cal wasn’t so perceptive. it feels like he’s seeing right through her, and her current state is uncomfortably vulnerable right now as it is. tanya’s fingers twitch again in her pockets, bunching up the fabric in her hands as she twists around to face the door she’d just come through as though searching for an escape. the movement causes an unruly curl to bounce into her eyes, slipped free from a loose pin she hadn’t fully pushed in, and it’s another reminder of what she’s just done. sure, she didn’t make a scene leaving or anything, but they’re bound to realize she’s gone soon enough, and when that’s discovered — well, it’s not like carrie’s exactly known for her subtlety. or her patience. 

       ❛ i really should — uh ... ❜ there’s an uncharacteristic hesitance to her voice, eyes wide as she tries to search her addled mind for literally any way to talk herself out of this. if she’s being honest, the idea of standing out here with cal sounds, like, really nice. or at least a lot nicer than facing the rest of the girls at this point. she bites down on the inside of her cheek, allowing herself to the consider the thought, her heart still pounding in her chest so loudly she can’t help but wonder if cal can hear it ( she wouldn’t be surprised if he could, she’s pretty sure it’s the same beat he was playing the other day ). 

-

          Another night of playing roadie for the girls. Cal honestly didn’t get how they managed to keep convincing him to tag along. It wasn’t like Carrie’s dad couldn’t hire someone to do all the menial tasks the girls asked of Cal when he was around. Maybe they appreciated his particular brand of moral support that involved him absently drumming his fingers along to the beat of their music and occasionally handing out a heartfelt compliment hidden behind a sense of irony. Or maybe it had something to do with them genuinely enjoying his company. And maybe it never actually took that much convincing on their part, because he genuinely enjoyed theirs.

          He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at his own inner monologue as he tapped away at his phone. He’d been standing outside the back entrance to the venue – not really interested in killing time amongst the crowd while he waited for Dirty Candy to go on – when the door he was leaning next to opened, revealing Tanya, who didn’t exactly seem show-ready.

          “Woah – hey hey hey –” He tucked his phone in his pocket and gave her his full attention. “What the heck are you talking about?”

        it’s been a hard fucking week. she’d never admit that, not out loud — but it really, really has. she’s not even sure why, it’s not like anything fucking happened, but she’s just felt, like, one wrong move from just totally snapping in half for the last few days. it was really starting to get old— and her mom wasn’t coming back home for another week still, so it wasn’t like she could talk to her about it. she loved her girls, but she so wasn’t going to dump that on them when it wasn’t even, like, a big deal or anything. it’s not like she’s never done this before, anyways. she’d be fine, and the performance would probably make her feel better. so it was fine.

        but obviously shit never turns out the way it’s meant to, and after one too many sharp remarks and one too many stupid fucking backhanded jokes and honestly just carrie being carrie ( ‘cause seriously, she loves the girl, but she could be a massive bitch to her friends a lot of the time  ) her chest felt like it was about to fucking explode, and before she knew it, she was pushing her way out of the dressing room, not even caring that she wasn’t finished pinning up her hair, stray curls tumbling into her just-barely-finished eye makeup. she wasn’t even sure where she was going, just that she was, and she’d barely even realized it was cal in front of her until after the words had tumbled out of her, heavy and far too truthful for her liking.

-

               WHEN SHE FINALLY freed the bottom half of his face, Nick grinned up at Tanya. There was a hint of sheepishness and chagrin, but he was mostly just HAPPY TO SEE HER. “It’s a medical mystery that’s gonna plague us forever,” he replied. “It’s weird, because I’m usually super coordinated, you know? But get me around your mic cords and it’s like I’m Cal or something.” He grinned at a particularly potent memory of his best friend in the whole world somehow managing to trip over his own drum set. Cal wasn’t a danger to himself or others usually, but…. man. There were times when his body did stuff that Nick couldn’t even totally explain. 

He flashed his very best smile, because he knew that the Dirty Candy girls were usually nicer to him when he did that ( though, with Tanya, it was kinda a coin flip ) and put his chin on his knee as she tried to help free him. “Have I told you that you look really, really pretty? I was coming over to say that you guys sounded insane today! And then the cord decided to sneak up on me and, like, lasso me to the ground.” 

       the teasing dig at their friend is unexpected, but welcome, and tanya has to bite down on her lip hard to try to suppress the surprised laugh that bubbles out of her. she can not afford to lose her focus right now, not when she’s so damn close to untangling this knot. but still ... she can’t let nick have all the fun. ❛ damn, he’s not even here to defend himself, ❜ she says, glancing up at him with a sharp grin. eyebrows raise as she lifts one hand in the air, wiggling her fingers momentarily before returning it back down to dig at the tangled cord. ❛ you’re still missing the lanky-ass limbs you’d need to be cal, but you’re definitely giving him a run for his money right now. ❜