( that's me, i'm all soul )

𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕒 𝕘𝕚𝕣𝕝:

❝ she would have swallowed the sun to make you warm enough. she was nothing but love. she was nothing but love.❞

        the chain around his neck dangled towards one side as the smell of coconut sunscreen and salt flew in the air around them. it wasn’t all that often he got the chance to see a beach unless an impromptu trip to the lower east coast called his name at any given time. “that’s the confidence i need to see from you more, sagey.” he smiled over at her, offering one of the chips from the small big he had bought just before they chose their spot on the warm sand. “mm, trying to find me a meet-cute now? i think my hands are already full but nothing wrong with a little make-up now and again.”

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Sage rolled her eyes, shrugging her shoulder. “The meek get the earth, remember. I’m trying not to ruin my inheritance.” It was funny to say, from a girl whose lineage was hidden behind her father’s surname— her mother’s legacy and bloodline was that of a world set to inherit everything, there was scarcely a swath of fabric of stray jewel in Europe that didn’t belong to the Arnault family in some way or another. She scooped up the chip, crunching on it thoughtfully. “Hm, you’re right.” She shook her head, “Let’s not make this about you, you’re getting more than enough attention.” The brunette laughed, “Maybe we’ll have to pencil in a unibrow on you or something, just so I’m cuter in contrast.”

to many that made up the student population of rye university, a life of affluence was expected. it was not often that any of their students heard the word “ no, ” and the bartenders in ibiza seemed to be happy to oblige given the wads of cash they were handed as recompense. the mint julep she had been sipping on had begun to sweat, condensation pooling at the bottom of the glass ( though the blonde who had been soaked in sunlight didn’t mind ). “you said that after the third one,” she cooed, green eyes wide as she leaned back in the chaise, adjusting the sunglasses that laid on the bridge of her nose. brigid pondered sage’s question for a few moments, clearly lost in thought with pursed lips and her index finger pressed against her plump lips. “i could certainly try,” she admitted sheepishly, a chuckle bubbling past her lips, “but begging a concierge to let us roll a luggage cart back to your room might be the better plan of action.”

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Sage swirled her glass in her grip, and the muddled bits of greenery moved with the motion— dizzying her for a moment before she tipped it back once again. “I don’t say anything that should be taken as the truth or seriously before noon, especially when it comes to poor decisions.” The brunette set the glass down, opting instead to card dark hair away from her face. A smile touched her features, “You’d just roll me up there like a sad lump of potatoes. That’s so depressing, maybe we should get some crackers or something before I start getting reckless and embarrass us both.” She stretched, studying the colour gained on bare skin before tucking back under the umbrella. “You know, I don’t think we do this enough. I barely know what you’re up to these days.” Her head canted, and the hair she had pulled back now fell to one side of her neck. “How are you?”

she’s dazzled, the full moon bright and shining over them and the tranquil ocean waters. a whisper seems fitting– the scene before them, surrounding them, holds a kind of beauty that seems fragile. she wouldn’t be surprised if something as simple as a raised voice could suddenly make it burst. she can’t bring herself to part ways with the moon, with her gaze, but the girl does nod softly and offers a smile that’s both sweet and calm. a miracle, too, coming from a firecracker like herself. she dumps a red skittle on her mouth before nodding a little more enthusiastically: she’s not one to really read about anything, but stories about the moon and the stars told at night have always stuck. there’s a magic surrounding them and she’s convinced said magic moves, wanders and settles on a new body as the words are shared, spoken out-loud. “oh i know a pretty one!” she whispers back, this time meeting sage’s pretty gaze, “do you know what tanabata is?”

.

Sage tucked her feet under herself, leaning back on one hand as she watched both the stars and the woman beside her. She had a sort of mystical air to her, as if Sage herself had dreamed up the image of Mitsuki, conjuring her from the most magical parts of her imagination. She longed to be a creature that was as compelling, to have the same draw to others that she felt at current. Her smile curved, “No, I don’t.” A story. She liked to hear them told— her childhood had been spent curved at the feet of her mother’s friends who told long tales of nights that had never ended, weaving together truths and lies and magic just for her benefit. Her best memories were a tapestry that she could run her fingers cover, feeling every misstep and mistake as well as the happiness that flowed like silk. “Tell me about it.”

        avery and sage had the typical, almost spot-on relationship that you’d see with an older brother and little sister, except they knew how to get along. he leaned up to look over at the entire group of boys that were jogging by before leaning back into his chair again with a shake of his head. “tsk tsk, sagey.. we’ll go find you an authentic spaniard.” for once in his life it wasn’t him who was on the lookout for the next person to demand time from. “we haven’t even been here for a week yet, babe. how about you and i go out tonight, get all dolled up, and we’ll find you someone, hm? i’ll even pretend to be your boyfriend so people can pull the i’m-better-than-him line, or whatever.”

.

“I want it to be very clear that if I wanted to, I could pull anyone I wanted.” It was a lie, but she felt better for saying it, leaning forward to punctuate the thought with her finger. In fact, she felt coltish lately— too tall and awkward, stumbling about as she tried to navigate a world that felt brand new. Sage envied those who could master the world so easily, it had never laid in the palm of her hand in the way that she desired, not like how her mother told stories about her own youth. “But I’d also never say no to going out with you.” She grinned, “Can I do your eyeliner? I feel like we could get a very sexy look going on for you, very,” Sage gestured, “Captain Hook’s son in energy. That’ll make them all seething with jealousy, for sure.”

↳ INSTAGRAM: @SAGEWALSH UPLOADED A PHOTO 13 MINUTES AGO FROM IBIZA, ES

don’t think i’m ever coming back home ☀️

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        his head practically snapped over towards sage at the word she said so calmly spat out while they sat in complimentary chairs on a rather crowded beach. “babe, if that’s your smash then you need to raise the bar a little bit.” avery shook his head while the sun was hitting both of their skin in a glistening manner — thank you, sunscreen! leaning over, he pinched the girl’s thigh gently just to grab her attention back with a roll of his eyes. “see, now i don’t even remember!”

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Sage canted her head, watching the man in question saunter away before yelping as Avery quite literally pinched her back into the present. A pout formed on her full lips before she carded back dark hair, leaning back against her chair. “He was cute, I promise. Huge potential with a haircut, I’m an artist remember? See the sculpture within the block of marble, or whatever.” In truth, the bar was practically affixed to the floor these days— attention was attention and she sought it out where she could, readily and hungrily, from whoever it was that was willing to offer. “Or maybe he just looks good from behind.” Her nose scrunched, and the brunette took a sip from her drink, letting out a sigh. “Where’s my spring break meetcute? Ibiza is dropping the ball completely.”

The sand is pearl white beneath them and the sky is painted in beautiful shades of lavender and orange, dusk was approaching. She remembers the conversation with Calista, about how the beaches of rye were shitty compared to paradises like this. Emilia for once understands, a steady exhale and she laughs. “You have to be in the photo with me.” she squishes her cheek next to Sage;s and hopes they can pull off the shot. She does her best attempt at blue steel, intimating ben stiller with squinty eyes and puffed out lips.

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Sage laughed and her long arm held the camera out— putting them both into frame as she instead turned her head to press a lipgloss-sticky kiss to Emilia’s cheek. Dark eyes squeezed shut and she clicked the picture off, once and then twice for good measure before bringing her phone back into view. It was too bright to properly see the screen and she squinted at it before shrugging. “Hopefully it turns out. I’ll get it printed and framed, I need something cute for my bookcase.” The brunette reached forward, taking her thumb to rub away the makeup that had transferred before grinning. “I should get one just of you though, you look so, so beautiful today.”

“This is the prettiest moon I’ve ever seen.” Sage whispered the words over the top of her bottle, tonight she was drinking ice-temperature peach sake, settled onto a beach in the sand. Mitsuki had joined her, and the evening was lit by only the stars and the full-bellied moon that held itself above the still ocean waters. It was the sort of evening that she would later try to paint onto canvas, to depict the cool light and the calm that flooded from it. Her head turned, studying instead the delicate profile of the girl beside her, offering a smile. “Do you know the names of the stars? Or stories about them? You seem like the kind of girl who would, you know.”

“Smash.” Avery’s gaze suddenly cut over to Sage so quickly that she nearly spat out her drink— instead she leaned forward quickly, sputtering a laugh. “What, is that not what we’re doing right now?” She lowered her sunglasses on her nose as a group of rugby players from what she could only assume was some English school on holiday jogged by, getting their cardio in while treading shallow water. Her hand raised and she wiggled her fingers at a russet haired boy before turning her attention to Avery, “Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll actually listen now. What were you saying?”

“Come on, let me get a picture of you by the water.” Sage was already tugging Emilia along, reaching for the other woman’s hand to lead her along the beach. “If we don’t get any pictures, how would anyone even know we were here?” The break from Rye and the gloomy spring days on the east coast seemed to be just what she needed; with the sun beaming down and laughter surrounding the students of the esteemed university instead of the patter of rain, she felt completely revived. A smile curved at her mouth easily, and she gestured for Emilia to pose. “I’m a professional, give me your best blue steel.”

location: by the hotel pool

“I really think that we should stop after this one,” Sage voiced, leaning into Brigid’s side. The two of them were set up by the pool, under an umbrella in a sunny shade of fried-egg yellow, close enough to the open bar that their afternoon plans were very blatant. A ball cap shaded the already pink bridge of the brunette’s nose and a sweating mojito in her grip was the accessory to punctuate her thoughts, paired with dark eyes cutting over to verdant ones. She took a noisy sip from her drink, laughing as she leaned back. Sage had skipped whatever lunch they had been offered in favour of getting a good spot by the pool— which meant that the drinks, strong as they were, hit like a brick wall. “Or maybe I should stop.” Full lips pursed, “How strong are you Brig? Can you carry me back up to my room if I keep going?”

    “Who cares about the case?” Finn had to laugh about her comment. It was a sleek black case, something one could find in any store or online shop. He folded his arms in front of his chest, then shrugged his shoulders. “Well, since you bet it’s fine, I have to bet it’s not, right? I say the screen is broken.” Gesturing with one hand towards the phone, he smiled at her. “Do you want to do the honors of picking it up?”

.

“You know,” Sage said, gesturing— “Most people? I like mine, I’d be bummed if it got busted because some girl who can’t figure out where she’s going broke it.” She nodded as her new companion took up his side of the bargain, figuring that either way: she would win. The brunette pursed her lips in consideration, “I think technically we should have a third party to do it, so that we don’t end up with foul play or cheating, but I pinky-promise that I’m honest.” She leaned down, reaching for the sides of the mobile, before bringing it back up, turning it slowly in her palm. Dark eyes squeezed shut in jest, “I can’t look, it’s too much pressure.”

the thought of the childhood game brought joy to her visage, a light that was almost impossible to dampen. it wasn’t so much that lane missed her childhood. it had been fine — as good as it could have been given the circumstances of über famous parents. no, she did not miss what life was like back then — merely the innocence of the world. the way she viewed life with such joy and excitement, ready to devour any knowledge the world had to offer without any true responsibilities placed on her shoulders. “i think,” she paused, eyebrows furrowing as she tried to gather her thoughts and collect them in a sequence that made sense. “..i wouldn’t want to re-live it all, but i miss the days i could spend curled up in my room without a care for the outside world. or at least, the days where i could do that and the world didn’t come crumbling down because i had shirked off some other responsibility.”

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The fireball had done its trick, and Sage leaned heavily against the bartop— gone was the rigid structure of her spine or her smile, instead she curved into the material and looked over at Lane through makeup-dark lashes. “Do you think that the world would crumble now, if you let one or two things go?” Her head tipped and dark hair fell against one side of her neck in waves. Often, she questioned if her own presence was as important as she made it out to be: she owned nothing that she had built on her own, there was no one who relied on her really. Full lips pressed together, sticking briefly from the gloss that she had applied before leaving that evening. “I think you should just take an entire day for nothing more than enjoying yourself. Give it a go, do something crazy. The sun’ll still come up, the world will keep turning, and you’ll feel better about it too.”

        he chewed on only half of the large marshmallow that the girl had brought for the two of them on this given day at the beach as he listened to how she theorized he would act given the continuous questions on the blinds gossip post. “you wouldn’t want to watch a fun little video of me, sagey?” avery smirked with a chuckle, leaning over to bump her shoulder with his own. “you are not boring, don’t ever say that again. you think i would hang out with a boring person?” avery was only teasing with her, though he didn’t lie about her not being boring. “you’re.. you’re sage. a sweetheart. keeping me sane, if that means anything to you.”

.

“No, I think my tummy would hurt so bad and then I’d never be able to look you in the eye.” She canted a brow, “Or worse, what if I fall in love with you and then I’d be insufferable and you’d friendship break-up with me which is literally worse than any heart ache. I think it’s best that I truly never see it.” Sage pressed her lips together, and they were sticky from the sugar consumed over the course of the evening, peeling apart glossily. “I don’t want to be boring, but sometimes I just don’t think I have any sparkle. Like, look at Kenna.” The name made her belly flip, thinking of how the blonde curved into Rhys and how he welcomed her closeness. “So beautiful, I bet no one has ever accused her of being boring.” Sage laughed, tucking her chin back into the crook of Avery’s shoulder. “It means everything. Unfortunately, you’re one of my favourites, which means I care so, so much what you think.”

        the moment she said it out loud came to his conclusion that maybe it wasn’t something he would hate: filthy stories written about him. “i’m not one to have people wondering about how i am in bed when i can easily demonstrate that for their own well-being. would save them from carpal tunnel, too.” the man shrugged, smirking over at her as he leaned back to grab yet another large marshmallow to snack on, planning to share half of it with the girl he sat by. “how kind of you, making sure the good side of me sticks out past all the worst?” avery didn’t think he was as bad as everyone made out, and he already knew that the idea of him being a good guy was not in anyone’s mind. “you are the humblest person i know, sage, i hate to break your heart with that one.”

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“I’m sure you’re bound to add that to your online career— I can see it now,” Sage teased, “You’ll come up to me and say, ‘Sagey, I was just so tired of everyone asking how good I was in bed, so I just filmed it and posted it online for them’ and then I’ll have to cover my eyes and pretend to be shocked and hope to never ever come across it on the internet.” She pulled at the half of the marshmallow that he offered her, sticking the fluff against her tongue to melt. All the sugar would sit in her stomach like a rock later, making her feel sick, but for now it was nice to share something. “Someone has to do it you know, you’ve got quite the sweet streak in you but everyone’s too distracted by that pretty face to notice it. I’ll do the hard work, very go little rockstar of me.” Sage considered, pressing her lips together. “Fine, I’ll be humble pie. I hate that it makes me sound like I’m boring though. Be honest, am I boring?”