* 𝕖𝕞𝕡𝕥𝕪 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙨 ,

“god, you have no idea. my husband decided that this would be the perfect week for his business trip and he’s much better at the whole morning routine thing than i am so when they woke up and saw that i was in charge, they were devastated because, well…you know how bad my breakfast making skills are.” she said with a sigh, rubbing her forehead. she had been a mother for eighteen years and had four children and yet, motherhood still didn’t come easy to her, no matter how hard she tried. she still made novice mistakes on a daily, still didn’t know the right things to say or do in a crisis and often questioned her abilities. but as long as the rest of monterey thought she had it together, she supposed that that was what mattered. “you do know threatening them is only going to make things worse, don’t you?” she said with a raise of her brow. “and as much as i would love for them to not act like absolute brats, i want them to look at me as a friend, too, you know? i mean, for fucks sake, i’m thirty three years old and talking to my mother still terrifies me. i never want the girls to feel that way.” she said with a sigh. becoming a mom at such a young age, she always tried to do the opposite of what her parents did when it came to her own children and while it seems to have backfired on her immensely, she still didn’t have the heart to be the disciplinary figure like archie was able to be and she envied him for it. she was always more concerned with being liked, especially after their divorce, but it seems as though trying to hard came with a price. reaching for her wine glass, she lifted it to take a sip before realizing it was empty. lips pressing into a tight line, she once again gave a cautious once over of the cafe before slightly leaning forward in her seat. “this wine was absolute shit and i have a brand new bottle at home. i think it’d be pretty pathetic if i were to drink it all by myself and the kids don’t get out of school for another four hours…” she said, her voice low enough for only him to hear as she flashed him a smirk. “are you busy?”

a grin silently tugged up the corners of his mouth to expose rows of pearly whites, amused to know that cooking the most important meal of the day still wasn’t exactly her forte. it certainly wasn’t his either, but that’s why he and clara had interviewed countless nannies before finding the perfect fit to make balancing their careers and parenting a little easier, including meal preps. “i’m choosing to plead the fifth on this one, still, but you should get the nanny to help you out. that’s what they’re there for, you know.” there was a teasing quality to his tone, though archie stopped himself short instead of going on and on about her basically driving herself insane to be super mom. of course, a similar conversation had unreeled a few times before, but he knew better now; he had his parenting tactics and she had her own, which generally balanced each other out in one way or another. “they’re eighteen, gisele. i doubt any teenager looks to their parent as a friend, unless their parent just so happens to be that cracked out mom from mean girls― which you are not.”  the fact that he even remembered the title of a chick flick so promptly had to be proof enough of the amount of time he’d spent with his daughters.  “you’re also not your mother,” he continued and picked up the coffee cup he’d forgotten about to finish off its contents, tip of his tongue poking out to smooth over his bottom lip afterward. “so just relax, don’t overthink all this parenting fuckery. the girls aren’t afraid to talk when they want to, and you don’t have to bend over backwards to be their best friend. it’s just some shitty adolescent phase ... it’ll pass.” and the day that it did pass couldn’t come soon enough. archie adored his daughters, he really did, and he couldn’t imagine his world without them, but the bratty sass experienced from whatever hormonal transition they were going through was exhausting. while he’d been warned countless times before by family and friends, he really hadn’t been prepared. 

she loved her children, she really did. but days like today, they tested her patience and had her wanting to run for the hills without looking back. and while those stresses weren’t something she could express with her husband, who was the practical epitome of perfect, she knew archie would get it. he had seen her at her absolute worst, after all. “little hellions is putting it nicely. i was thinking more along the lines of little soul sucking demons. but for the sake of me maintaining my good mom points sure, let’s go with hellions.” she said soft laugh leaving her lips as she took yet another sip from her wine glass. anyone walking by wouldn’t think anything of the pair. they were simply two amicable exes, setting a wonderful example of co-parenting to the rest of monterey. nobody would guess in a million years that the two had found their way back to one another’s beds. it was terribly wrong and gisele went to sleep every night with the guilt of it weighin heavily on her heart. but with how crazy her life was, it was the only thing making her feel truly alive. a playful roll of her eyes followed his snide comment. “of course you do.” she said, shaking her head as she thought about just how much had changed in the last eighteen years. “yeah, feels like it was just yesterday that they actually liked me. i genuinely don’t remember being so god damn mean as a teenager.” she said with a huff, before finishing off her glass of wine. “i hope we did alright. and i hope that them driving me to drink this shitty wine at eleven in the afternoon ends up being worth it.”

bizzy cringed upon hearing her full name, knowing trouble always seemed to find her after it. “yeah, dad?” she asked softly, nearly cringing entirely post reading his body language. “it’s just a usb drive, my summer reading project.” she blurted out, before she was juul-less. “wha– no!  wait, s t o p!!” she protested, lunging forward in an attempt to retrieve it. “my lungs are fine. vaping is way more healthy than cigarettes !!” she called, folding her arms in protest. “don’t worry about where i got it.”

on paper, she had the perfect life. after everything she had been through at far too early of an age, it seemed as though she had gotten her happy ending. she had the perfect husband and on top of her twin daughters, she had two more beautiful children that she loved to pieces. but at the end of the day, everything just wasn’t enough for her. there was a void, a feeling of things being far too perfect that caused an uneasy feeling to sit like a pit at the bottom of her stomach. and if nine years ago, someone were to tell her that her ex-husband would be the one to fill that void, she would’ve laughed in their face. and yet, here she was, the girl who had finally gotten the perfect life, putting it all on the line because of the person she had once claimed to hate. their relationship was toxic and messy from the time they were fifteen years old and had they not had two children, they certainly wouldn’t have lasted as long as they did. but the years had passed and they learned to tolerate each other, so much so that they even became friends again, but the two of them could never be ‘just friends’ for long. they craved the drama and intensity far too much. giving a quick once over of the cafe to make sure there were no ears listening in on them, she turned her attention back to archie, slightly leaning forward in her seat. “perfect.” she said, smirk mirroring his as she raised her glass before taking another long sip from it. “saying it was a rough start would be a bit of an understatement. but hopefully i’ll be picking up kids that are a hell of a lot happier than they were when i dropped them off. but until then…” she said, wiggling her wine glass. “mama needs to recharge.” she said, letting out a soft laugh. “and to drink away my sorrows due to the fact that i’m now the mother to two seniors in high school. how the fuck did that happen?”

✭・.・― have you seen ARCHIBALD ‘ARCHIE’ SINCLAIR around monterey? every time i see the JOSEPH MORGAN lookalike, all i can think of is A MAHOGANY BOX LINED WITH CUBAN CIGARS, BOYISH CHARM AMPLIFIED BY A DEVILISH SMIRK & FRESHLY PRESSED DESIGNER SUITS. known around town for their job as a CEO OF SINCLAIR INDUSTRIES, the THIRTY FOUR year old CISMALE is known for being ELOQUENT & ASSERTIVE but could also be ENIGMATIC & ROGUISH. i don’t know if you know, but their big little lie is that HE’S BEEN HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH HIS EX WIFE.

(   sinclair‚ a.  ;  intro   )

(   sinclair‚ a.  ;  isms   )

(   sinclair‚ a.  ;  portfolio   )

(   sinclair‚ a.  ;  dialogue   )

(   sinclair‚ a.  ;  soundtrack   )

(   sinclair‚ a.  ;  answered   )

(   sinclair‚ a.  ;  task   )