waiting for you

.

Everything about Candy Motta was extra and she liked that people knew about it – that’s why she had no problem screaming at the top of her lungs in the middle of the street as a way to call people who were in their house. Sure, it could have been easier to have picked her phone and called him, but this was way better. Letting out a small chuckle when the other mentioned his mom, she shrugged her shoulders. “Well, you’re welcome for that, I suppose.” She said, as she started thinking of all of the places they could go for some food – it wasn’t like she wasn’t that hungry, but she could eat. Besides, what else were they going to do? There was no way that she was driving all the way to the view with an empty stomach just to sit awkwardly in the car with Reggie. “Taco Bell it is then.” She said before she started driving again, now making her way towards the Taco Bell – part of Candy still hoped that Tracy could have made it, but she didn’t care about it either. Anything was better than staying at home, even if she did live in a mansion and being at home wouldn’t be a problem. At Reggie’s question, Candy shrugged her shoulders and gave him a nod. “Sure, whatever, just roll down the window and you’ll be fine.” She said with a smile, as she drove – Candy liked her driving skills, even if she wasn’t the best driver In the world, she hadn’t killed anyone yet and she had never got into any accidents. That was good enough. “So, don’t tell me that you were having so much fun with your mommy? What were you up to tonight? And what did I save you from?” She asked with a smile on her face, as she turned left.

“Do you ever think about how much money we waste on Taco Bell?” Reggie asked after a moment of silence before he was flicking his lighter once more and lighting a cigarette. He wasn’t even the biggest smoker (at least with cigarettes) but sometimes, it was just what he needed. “Like, I legitimately just got paid last week and I only have like, I dunno $30 left.” While he wasn’t thinking with his whole brain, it was a genuine thought he was having. Maybe Candy was rich and would flame him about his poorness until they got to Taco Bell, but he didn’t care. “Ew don’t call her my mommy, what’s wrong with you?” Reggie asked with his nose scrunching up in disgust. He wasn’t that grossed out by it. That’s what she was, but still. He liked poking Candy’s buttons. Softly. Not hard enough to get his ass kicked out of the car. “But we were having game night so yeah, thanks I guess.” He paused with talking before mumbling under his breath, “even if I was kicking her ass.” Once they pulled into Taco Bell, Reggie peered over at the menu like he wasn’t going to order the same thing he always did. “Crunchwrap and those lil’ cinnamon filled ball things,” he whispered to Candy, absolutely making her order his food. Once he finished with that, he leaned back in his seat and laughed softly to himself as he took another puff from his cigarette. “Get yourself... a reasonable amount of food.” He was paying after all and well, he was poor as shit most days.

Max was aware that he and Reggie were an unlikely set of friends. But pretty much anyone that wasn’t bible obsessed was an unlikely friend for Max. None of that mattered to Max though. Sure, it wasn’t like he was ever going to join Reggie and smoke under the bleachers, but he wasn’t ever going to join the National Honor Society with Sage or start nerding out in science club with Noah either. His friends, and cousin in one case, were his friends and it didn’t matter that their interests diverged, he still loved hanging out with them. He loved bringing his positivity to the obviously grumpy Reggie’s life, and there was something about the way Reggie just oozed cool that Max wanted to rub off on him. “I thought it was really fun!” Max chiriped in, agreeing with him. Candyland hadn’t been all that bad. “Why did you ditch her?” He questioned as he took another bite of his slim jim. Max wasn’t a relationship expert. Not even close. He’d been stuck with a crush on Winnie forever and he’d gone on his first real date ever with Candy, and even that felt like pity from her. But he’d offer Reggie a good bible verse for advice if he needed it. “Oh. I was there with the birthday girl,” he mumbled out, nodding his head. “She’s actually kind of nice. I thought she’d be sort of… stuck up I guess. But it was fun,” he explained with a shrug. “Maybe I’m ready to try going out more. You might see me at the next party.”

Whenever it came to conversation with Max, Reggie always prepared himself for an unheard of amount of smiling. It wasn’t that he was like, up the kid’s butt or anything with how friendly they were, but Max had a certain level of innocent that just made a person grin from ear to ear. It was easy to be happy and okay with the way life was going whenever the younger Fabray was in his presence. While natural friendship happened easily with Kaden, his friendship with Max sometimes felt more special with how opposite they were. “I dunno,” Reggie said with a shrug before he was bringing his legs up to cross under him, knowing it wasn’t at all sanitary - who cares? “I just wasn’t feeling her anymore. I knew Candy would literally kill me if I tried sneaking in or something.” Sage. She was the absolute reason he had ditched his date. Once he saw her at Candyland, he spent far too much time trying to build up the nerve to talk to her. Friendships were weird sometimes. “Candy’s cool, yeah,” a pause. “Did she like, yell at you or anything? She does that a lot,” another pause. “Wait, do you like like her or something?” Reggie hated a lot of things that came with romantic feelings (especially since every relationship was like his parent’s so it would end harshly). “If you’re coming to the next party, I solemnly swear to not drink just so I can call DD and make fun of your drunk ass all night.” Reggie hopped off the table before he was ushering Max over to the concession stand. “Want some nachos? I make the best ones. Don’t tell Nico I said that.”

“DEAL.” finn laughed lightly as she took another puff, then flicked some ash back onto the ground. now that reggie had relaxed, and was just conversing with her she found him much easier to photograph. she found when people posed, they thought too much, and that awkward energy showed up all too apparently on camera. but now that they were just chatting, finn had already foreseen at least four or five shots of reggie that would work. “you really should go to class.” she lectured, a little belatedly before sticking the cigarette butt back between her lips as she continued to photograph him. at his question for her, reggie gained a break from the lens as finn let her camera rest around her neck whilst she stomped the butt out. “i’m excited to get out of here for college, definitely.” finn began with a nod before she grasped her camera once again, “but i think i’m gonna miss here. my friends and family. you know? endings are endings for a reason, but it’s not like they’re easy.” lowering her camera slightly, she looked at reggie for a moment before shuffling about two steps to the left, then continuing to take pictures, “you gonna miss anyone next year? or are you excited for us to go?”

A smirk found its way onto Reggie’s lips as Finn nearly expertly handled the cigarette. Why was it strangely attractive? No, he thought to himself. This was not the time to become some strange cliche of having a crush on his friend’s sister. It was never the time for that in his mind. Regardless, she was scoring some major brownie points. Gone were the thoughts of her being a wet blanket. Finn Schuester was cool. “Go away Madame President. Bring back the photographer,” Reggie said with a playful smirk before he was looking off in a different direction. He was supposed to be natural but wasn’t zoning out a natural trait for people who hung out under the bleachers? It worked. “Yeah endings suck a lot.” While he didn’t have a ton of senior friends, he had Trace and that was enough to get him in his emotions. He was gonna miss his friends just as much as Finn was talking about. “Most of you guys can go but I wish a couple would stay, ya know?” Reggie said with a shrug of his shoulders. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the avalanche of feelings he was going to have whenever it was his own graduation date in process... his mom was going to lose her goddamn mind once she found out his post-college plans: traveling all over the country. “Where are you goin’ anyway? Or like, planning to go?” Had letters come out yet? What day was it?

Aurora liked to consider herself a decent student. She had always been an honor roll student, getting all A’s and B’s for as long as she could remember. But ever since she transferred to WMHS, her math grade had been tanking. It probably didn’t help that her teacher was just awful and not a great teacher. So, she took it upon herself to get some help from one of her fellow classmates. Waiting in the library, she sighed with relief when Reggie had finally made it. “Oh, you’re fine. Just, thank you for coming! I’m having trouble with Algebra 2. I swear, I am going to fail this next quiz we get. I’m stressing hard core right now.”

“Yeah whatever,” Reggie said with a exhaled laugh before he was pulling out a chair and sitting down across from where Aurora was seated. Sure, he wasn’t great with math and most of the time had no idea where he got his answer, but he was coming out of his shell more. This was a good thing. Probably. “Algebra 2 isn’t like, the worst thing,” he started, retrieving his textbook and notebook from the backpack that seemed to always be glued to his person. “You basically just have to memorize the equations and just... pray to whatever God you love that you’re doing it right.” Was Aurora most likely going to regret her decision in reaching out to Reggie for tutoring help? Oh absolutely, but at least there would be baked goods shared between the two of them to make up for it. 

Rora: PLEASE don't :( I don't want to be grounded

Rora: but yeah, sounds perfect. do you like brownies?

Reggie: omg i was just kidding. you're so literal i love it

Reggie: of course i like brownies

FINN NEVER HAD MUCH OF AN IDEA of who reggie was outside of being her brother’s longtime recently rekindled friend, so talking to him one on one was a little unexpected. picking up her camera, she rolled her eyes, “i’’m not a mole, i just want to take some pictures.” a pause, then she motioned, gimme with her hand “this is for a school project though, so you probably don’t want that in the shot.” she explained. when he reluctantly handed the cigarette over another time, she plopped it between her lips and held it there as she began to take a couple of photos. laughing a little bit, she plucked the cig from between her lips and held it down at her side as she dropped the camera, “stop posing….just….have a conversation with me.” she explained, then picked up the camera again. in order to loosen him up, and get him looking more natural, she asked, “what class are you skipping right now?”

The more his interaction with Finn continued, the cooler that Reggie was seeing her. It wasn’t that he ever thought her to be a... wet blanket of sorts, but maybe he had the passing thought once or twice. It wasn’t a bad thing, but just more so a thing that Reggie had never been able to be himself. “You owe me a cigarette,” he said with a playful grin before he was shaking out his arms. “Alright, conversation. Just a conversation.” As he repeated her words, Reggie moved back into his laidback lean against the support beams of the bleachers, trying to get back to the natural habitat kind of feeling that she had interrupted for... a rather lovely photoshoot. “Anatomy,” Reggie answered easily before he was shrugging his shoulders. “That shit is mad easy though, ya know? It’s just all about memorization.” Pulling his jacket tighter around his body, Reggie looked in Finn’s direction, choosing to ignore the camera. “Who cares about class dude. What are you up to? Not just right now, but in general. You gettin’ stoked for graduation or what?”

Rora: you have a better grade than me :( gosh....I have a C...PLS don't tell anybody!!

Rora: I mean, if you can physically meet me, I would love you 5ever

Reggie: im gonna make sure its front page of jbi jrs stuff this month ❤️

Rora: Omg, are you good at math? I'm legit about to CRY over this homework assignment :(

Rora: If you could help me, I would owe you my life....and lots of baked goods

Reggie: i mean im not great but i have a b in the class lmao

Reggie: plus ur taking baked goods so im listening

“Hello my beautiful mo-” Reggie sang out as he passed through the threshold of the office doors, immediately having his eyes fall on his moms usual spot behind the desk... but with Sage at her side. Whatever Reggie was walking into was very positive. They had been laughing and probably swapping some sort of story with one another, but the sight alone was one that made him smile. “Beautiful mom and Sage.” Even the way her name sounded falling off his tongue was enough for a noticeable smile to show on his lips. Things were good with Sage, right? They had been talking a lot more and had shared a dance at Candyland. He was allowed to smile at her like this. “I uh, you guys having fun?” It was comical, really. The image of Reggie standing just inside the office doors, coffees in hand, and the most dumbfounded look on his face. @sagemhowell​

if sage had already been enjoying her night, reggie had managed to take it to another level within seconds. engaging in light-hearted discourse with him had been all she wanted for so long, so to suddenly have it back? she was on cloud nine, and it was evident by the toothy grin that hadn’t left her lips from the moment he twirled her. “i’m sure your mom loved that,” sage noted as she watched reggie do an obnoxious twirl of his own. “how many pictures did she take of you before you left the house?” in a lot of ways, terri del monico was the closest thing to a mother figure that sage had. working as one of carl’s office ladies meant that sage had unlimited access to terri, and she’d made sure she took advantage of that. sage was very well aware of the fact that terri was her own brand of crazy, but at the end of the day, she owned her truth. “stop calling me that,” she sighed at reggie’s insane nickname. sage watched as reggie poured the punch into the cups, wincing slightly at the mess he’d made. if there was one person not to cross tonight, it was absolutely candy motta… and sage was sure candy wouldn’t take too highly to reggie’s clumsiness. “i’m glad to know i’ve crossed the threshold of being worthy finally,” she lightly teased. if they couldn’t share a small laugh at reggie’s expense, what was the reunion for?  sage followed reggie’s line of sight to his date, and after releasing a quiet, quick laugh, she focused back on his face. “if looks could kill.” sage returned reggie’s smile as she gazed up at him. “actually? yeah. i’ve been having a lot of fun and jaz..” she glanced around for her date, but came up empty-handed. “is amazing, as per usual. how come i haven’t seen you out there on the dance floor?” 

“Pretty sure she could fill a whole scrapbook of pictures from tonight,” Reggie said with a laugh before he was rolling his eyes. “Actually she’s probably working hard on it now to show everyone at work tomorrow.” Reggie loved his mom. A lot. Ever since his dad walked out on them, their relationship had only become better and more (definitely not) healthy. She was crazy, but she was his crazy mom. “I’m not going to stop calling you that,” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. They had been little kids whenever his mom made them watch the terrifying claymation movies, and of course, Carl had resonated with a lot of Hermey potential, but he was an adult. Reggie wasn’t about to just start calling an adult by a nickname, so Sage became the target of such a nickname. Now, it just kind of lingered at all times. It was cute, at least he thought so. At Sage’s joke though, Reggie couldn’t help but shoot her a playful glare before he was playing along. “Yeah I think you were in timeout for long enough.” This was good. While Sage and him had been teetering on a more friendly baseline as of lately, this was the first time that things felt genuinely good. “I’m not exactly the dancing type,” Reggie said, knowing that while he didn’t look like a big dancing goon or anything, it wasn’t one of his favorite activities. “Plus it’s hard to dance when my date is pissed at me.” After a couple moments, and a lot of punch consumed as Reggie tried with all of his might to think of a way to offer up his dance moves to Sage, he nearly slammed his cup on the table as he looked over at her. “Dance with me.” His words came out quickly and quite frankly, a little loud. “If my date is gonna be mad at me, I might as well give her another reason,” he tried before he was grabbing the cup from Sage’s hand and setting it down on the table before he was nudging her in the direction of the dance floor. “Come on.”

sage was trying. after coming out of yet another rocky remington funk, she was more determined than ever to make the most out of valentine’s day and the rest of her junior (and senior) year. that started with spending the evening with one of her favorite friends: jazmine evans. jaz’s sweet demeanor was infectious, and the longer sage spent laughing and talking with her, the wider the smile on her face grew. for the first time, in a long time, sage felt genuinely happy to her core. there was light at the end of the very long tunnel, and it was so close she could almost taste it. they’d been so caught up with excitment in conversation about their final year of soccer together next year that sage hadn’t heard reggie at first. in true reggie del monico fashion, however, he hadn’t let that stop him. when the sudden sensation of his hand wrapping around her wrist hit her, sage began to protest. “hey-” she started, but after a quick twirl, she was face to face with her ex best friend. “hey.” the wide grin was accompanied by a slight blush as sage looked anywhere but reggie’s face. “thanks. so do you,” she replied honestly, reaching up to push a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “you brushed your hair,” she observed. “i didn’t know you knew how.” the bright smiles and light teasing brought sage right back to their past, and she paused to relish the moment. maybe, by some weird taste of fate, reggie was really back. “why would anyone want to do that?” she teased as she allowed herself to be dragged. “are you having fun? where’s your date?”

The moment Sage was smiling in his general direction, Reggie’s night started looking a whole lot more enjoyable. Plus, it would be a lot easier to evade the glares from his long forgotten Candyland date if he was focused solely on Sage. “Yeah? Thought I would break out my fancy church clothes for someone other than God,” he joked before he was doing a twirl of his own, trying to show off his fit. He couldn’t have been happier about his decision to say sayonara to his old depressive habits of locking his friends out of his life. Ever since he had allowed himself the pleasures of friendship with the two of them? Reggie felt insane happiness. He was just lucky that they had left a spot open for him in their hearts after so much time. “Ohhhhh shit,” Reggie began as soon as he heard Sage’s playful tone breaking out, raising a finger to shake in her general direction. “Hermey came armed with jokes a plenty tonight, huh?” The laughter that exited his body felt like the most natural thing in the world. Once they neared the punch table, Reggie made quick work of pouring them both a cup - of course making quite the mess by dribbling all over the table cloth. It was a Candy Motta party, after all, why wouldn’t he purposely cause a mess? “Not sure, that’s why I thought it was my safest bet by stealin’ the attention of the only person worthy of talking to me,” he teased, handing over the punch cup before he was sipping from his own. As he drank, his eyes peered around the establishment for just where his date had ended up. After finding her angry eyes rather quickly, he focused back on Sage. “I’m having fun now. My date ended up being a dud, not to be rude. I’m sure she’s great. She’s just not uh-” a pause as Reggie tilted his head to the side and smiled at her. “Are you having fun, Sage? Your date treating you well?”