* sorry / baby!

sofia’s found a home underneath the neon lights, wasting her free time at underground night clubs more than her actual apartment. it’s her routine, it’s what she’s ultimately used to by now. she could never see herself doing anything else, knowing she’d probably stick to this self destructive path until she died. she could only hope she died fast and young. but tonight seems to be just a little different, the blond not particularly feeling it tonight. she’s oh so bored with it all, even with alcohol and drugs swimming in her system. the room feels as though it’s spinning, shoving past people as she made her way towards the back of the club.

elizabeth lovelace does not chase anyone. oftentimes, she finds herself replacing. she changes people like she changes expensive panties - moving on to the next when she’s no longer satisfied. but it would seem as though leilani has proven to be an exception. lizzie’s not used to being the one whose texts are left on read, whose plans are blown off, whose left hanging on a thread and waiting for more. but there’s something about leilani that has her weak and therefore, lizzie stays. but just because she’s been left vulnerable, that doesn’t mean she won’t raise hell anyways. she’s determined to render leilani utterly weak, to bend her down to her will and not the other way around. either that or die trying.

“you didn’t embarrass yourself. i bet you held your liquor a lot better than i did.” julie said with a little chuckle as she moved even closer to her. their faces were close to one another as her arms wrapped around her waist and honestly this was the last place she ever thought she’d be, in juidth’s arms. she was seeing this whole other side of the author that she hadn’t seen before. from the books that she had read, that romance element was missing but she could just imagine that maybe something would spark deep inside of her. a small laugh slipped her lips as she shook her head. “and did you think i was expecting this? maybe i left a couple of hints at the tree lighting that you were cute but nothing like this.” gently julie cupped her face and hearing her confession made her smile. judith’s happiness was contagious and she could just feel that emotion spreading all over her body. “you make me happy, too. more happier than i could ever imagine.” playfully she pushed the corners of her cheeks up  so she would smile a little bit more before chuckling to herself. “i don’t think i’ve seen you smile this much, but i like it.” the two of them were cuddling in her bed, and she was just thankful that she didn’t have to teach today. she didn’t know if she could with the slight headache that she had anyway, that and she didn’t want to leave judith’s arms. her cheeks went bright red when she said that they had to try again, just sober and she chuckled as she tried to hide her face in the crook of her neck. “i mean… we should have another date coming up. why don’t i cook? i know it’s not as wild as the two of us getting drunk like we did last night but it could be fun.” she said with a little shrug of her shoulders. 

sarah playfully wiggled her eyebrows as she moved a bit so ophelia and her mother could be next to one another. she just hoped that the two of them would like one another, especially since sarah and her mother were so close. there was nothing that her mother couldn’t like about ophelia, but she knew that her family’s biggest concern was that the two girls were moving too fast. she hadn’t told them about them moving in together since it really just happened, but she also didn’t tell them that ophelia had most of her stuff at her place anyway. it was like the two of them were attached at the hip, and she knew that was one thing that concerned her mother. as she rolled up her sleeves, she gave the two of them a smile as her mom brought out some pizza dough. “see, she’s not just a pretty face. she knows how to make pizza, too.” sarah teased as she gave her a little wink before rolling out some dough. “do you two cook a lot when you’re together?” her mother asked as they continued to roll out the dough and made sure that everything was correct. “as in, does ophelia cool and do i eat everything she cooks? then yes, we cook all the time.” she said with a little laugh before shrugging her shoulders. 

“how do you know that you have more energy than me?” lila teased as she moved a little closer to him and wrapped her arms around his body. aaron had been taking up so much of their time lately, that she still had to remember to save some time for the both of them. now and when they first woke up were probably the only moments that they had alone, so lila wanted to take advantage of that. as she gently cupped his face, she gave him another smile. “it’s weird, some moments i feel like i could run a marathon, and then others i feel like i can’t get out of bed.” she said with a chuckle before shaking her head. all of this was still so new for the two of them. they hadn’t even attempted to bring aaron out of the apartment yet, but she knew that would make things even crazier. 

“do you think we’re doing a good job?” she muttered as she looked into his eyes. there was no true way to tell, or at least to her there wasn’t. sure, aaron cried whenever he was hungry or needed a new diaper, but other than that he seemed like a pretty happy baby. maybe that meant they were doing alright, maybe that just meant that their son was very laid back, she didn’t know and just hoped that kai thought they were doing a good job. “i know… it’s going to get a bit harder. we both have to work eventually and… i mean i don’t want to leave him anytime soon.” a little sigh slipped her lips as she pushed her hair out of her face. “i’ve been too worried about the future instead of just living in the moment with the two of you, and i’m sorry about that.” 

“because you look like you’re about to pass out.” the remark is followed up with a shrug. “but you make exhaustion look beautiful, as always.” truth be told, he felt as though he was about to pass out himself. even with getting sleep, he only wanted more. the rare moments of relaxation between the two of them were about to get a lot more rarer than before. aaron was doing good so far but even kai knew better than to get comfortable. their work was really about to get cut out for them. a lazy grin creeps onto his lips as he cups his face, the two of them close together after what felt like forever. “i mostly feel like the latter but...,” kai trails off, chuckling to himself. “but i guess that’s not too weird at all.” his smile then falters once he hears her question, confused as to where it had come from.

“well here we are, not planning just one more date together, but two. you might get sick of me.” henry teased before leaning back a little bit and fixing his arm around her shoulders. honestly he had never really planned for anything, not even to go to her art show but here the two of them were planning these amazing dates that he knew he couldn’t do with anyone else. no one would want to get a little messy with paints and just have a fun day, they’d expect something high class and fancy, but it was just nice to take a step back from all of that. “i feel pretty honored to be going on all of these dates with you.” he said with a little chuckle before smirking over at her. at least the two of them were having a great night that’s all he could ask for. the ferris wheel continued to move, and when it finally came back to the ground, it was like they had to go back to reality for a moment. 

the two of them climbed out of the ride, and they started to walk around the fair once more, henry playfully yawned again just so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders once again. it was nice to have her this close to him, and henry just hoped that elena felt the same. “want to get something to eat? i mean i know everything’s like double fried and wrapped in something else that’s fried… i wouldn’t mind sharing a little something.” he said with a little shrug. “even if it’s cotton candy or some popcorn or something.” it would be nice to be able to spend a little bit of time with her more, that and he didn’t want to assume too much and ask if she wanted to come over, because he thought she might get the wrong idea. sure, he’d like things to go in that direction, but he didn’t want to mess up what they had going on. “or some funnel cake… shit i didn’t notice how hungry i am.” he said with another laugh as he looked over at her and gave her another smile. 

“i doubt that.” very few could keep elena interested the way that henry had. elena’s used to type-casting people upon first glance, knowing exactly just who she was dealing with. but henry continued to surprise her and she wasn’t exactly complaining about that. although coming from the same background as her, he didn’t act like people who were privileged. he was a breath of fresh air, a well needed change from the stuffy life elena found herself forced into. “i think i feel just a little more honored to be going out with you,” she responds back, blue hues briefly scanning the male’s face. leave it to elena to still be the slightest bit competitive. she truly did feel happy that they were here, not eager to trade it in for the world.

“i mean i could start crying right now if you want.” damian said with a little laugh as he held he phone to his ear and continued to make his way back home. if only he could really take her out without having to worry about lola. even if they left her with a babysitter, he knew that the new parents would be worried about her every second of their date. “is it ever too late for pancakes? honestly i can’t remember the last time me and you got a full nights sleep.” it was almost rare at this point to sleep for more than a couple of hours before the little girl would wake up wanting a diaper change or a bottle. it was something that they still had to get used to, but ti was easier said than done. “i could do somewhere fancy.” maybe not too fancy, but he knew he could still throw the wayne name around and get them into a couple of places. “and actually… i might have the right person to watch lola.” damian was extremely privileged to have the nicer things in life, and even though those things were cut off right now, that didn’t mean that he still didn’t have a couple of cards up his sleeves. even though his father cut him off, that didn’t mean he still couldn’t call up his nanny. when he was younger this dear older woman looked after him while his parents were working, and thankfully the two of them stayed in touch. “you can’t laugh though when i tell you who it is. you gotta promise me that you won’t laugh.” he said before chuckling to himself as he turned the corner to their apartment building. “i could… i mean she’s probably not busy and changed my diapers, but i could call my old nanny. she was a really good lady and… i mean you’d have to meet her first of course.” he said with a little shrug of his shoulders. “it’s all up to you. the door’s unlocked, right? i’m almost home.” 

usually the minute he got off of the plane, he went right to the hotel to relax a bit but usually mallory wasn’t with him. they were in a new place with so many things to do, and he just wanted to get it all done with her. “i heard there’s a couple of cool hiking tails too, and before you laugh, i will hike with you as long as we get to see some cool stuff.” he said with a little laugh before nudging her playfully. the whole ride he kept his window down just so he could take everything in. this wasn’t his first time there, but this was a very important time for the both of them to be there. they had finally mended everything together, and everything seemed to be even better than before, if that was even possible. he took her hand and gave it a little squeeze as he continued to look out the window, sighing happily at all of the sights that he got to see. “now… i told them to cool it with the body guards.” his manager wanted him to have a whole team around the two of them, but he didn’t think that they would really need one. they were just being tourists like anyone else and he just hoped no one would make too bit of a deal. once they finally got close to the bridge, he hopped out of the car and sighed happily before helping her out as well. “i know we can’t go too close, but we can get pretty close.” 

the more time he spent in lacey’s presence, the more he wanted to. the world around him had always been such a mystery, one he’d been forbidden to get to the bottom of. but now he was getting older, his parents and management’s chains around him had started to weaken and his ability to be convinced by all their shallow answers and excuses had dwindled, too. to morgan, lacey was a mystery too, one he doubted he could get to the bottom of. though he was far too eager to try, or at the very least get to know her as well as one possibly could. she was worth more than the vapid and shallow approval that popularity could bring, though he was well aware of it’s allure. after all, he’d spent his whole life attempting to gain popularity. it being drilled into him from damn infancy that the more well known his name, the more likely it was he’d be successful and happy. now, he wasn’t so sure. he’d found more happiness in the time he’d spent talking to a girl he barely knew at a party, than he had…everything else he’d been told would bring him joy. “well, as long as you’re sure…” he teases, his smile gently as he lifts himself up, holding his hand out for her to take. it relieves him that she agrees to his suggestion, takes it as a sign that she must feel comfortable within his presence. “…let’s get going, you might have to direct me to this park…i’m very, very new around here.” 

it’s not as though he can expose to her exactly just how knowledgeable he was on the matter; suspecting she was bound to run off and tell her father or use it to her advantage in some other twisted way. perhaps that notion even entering enzo’s mind made him cynical, but he’d seen enough in his relatively short life to know not to trust anyone, to know that boundaries that most might’ve convinced themselves were forbidden to all, had been and would continue to be stepped over. there wasn’t anything some wouldn’t do or attempt to do in order to get what they wanted. which was always money from his experience. even if she irritates him, he knows when and how to hold his tongue. this is only the second job he’s had that could even be considered resume worthy, the first he suspects the only reason he even got this position in the first place. he didn’t want to mess it up, far too aware of his own shortcomings and failures. his job was to protect her, wherever that happened to take him, whatever dangers might’ve lurked. so, it’s with a deeply disgruntled sigh that he takes a seat next to her – not before he’s scared off the patron who’d sat there not seconds before, clearly attempting to woo her. “do you take pleasure out of making this job as difficult to carry out as possible?” he asks, the bitter edge that had filled his words now disappearing. “…you may think me and your father are dramatic, but at least he gives a shit about what happens to you. can’t say my own gives much of a fuck. can’t say i even know where he is.” he knows she didn’t ask and he’s not about to torture her with the details of his upbringing, but he wants to understand her, sure it’ll help him work out how to protect her. he doesn’t want to be some irritating hindrance that she’s desperate to rid herself of. they’d never get anywhere if she continued to view him as that. 

even if lizzie had tried to buy her affections, it’s safe to say that wasn’t what really lured annie towards her. the brunette had always been wildly independent…and purposefully so. she loved her family and her friends but  hated the idea of having to lean on them in any capacity. lizzie was no exception to that. she sometimes failed to see that there was a difference between being weak and needing a shoulder to cry on, something that she’s still working out. so, whilst she appreciated the ways in which lizzie had conveyed her affections, it was far from the reason that annie had fell so deeply or her. she saw more sides of lizzie than she anticipated anyone else got to – that in itself left annie feeling special, even if she’d never confessed to that fact. that was their biggest problem, she suspected…that the words uttered between them were often so shallow, the depths of their devotion often hidden beneath sarcasm and protective barriers. annie had seen heartache; through her brothers former relationships, through her step-mother’s heart-wrenching past. it scared her, even if she’d yet to admit that to anyone – herself included. still, in losing lizzie she had lost a part of herself, a part of herself she missed…almost as she missed the woman herself. “…maybe…it’s kind of hard to replicate that kind of excitement without you. not sure i have the knack…not sure anyone else i know does, either.” a smirk curls across her lips as lizzie continues on, though it dissipates at the mention of her boyfriend. though she knows she shouldn’t be jealous, she is – she can’t help it. “didn’t he know what he was getting himself in for?” she asks, though it’s clear by what’s already been said that he either didn’t…or he was hoping to change her, something that annie knew ( and hoped ) was an impossibility. “you could say that again…started to think there was something wrong with me when i stopped waking up with a banging headache every damn day…” annie giggles, biting into her smile. “are you happy?” it’s a deeper question than even she’d anticipated falling from her lips, but she needs to know. wants to know lizzie’s more than okay, that she’s happy – that they’d made the right decision, even if annie couldn’t say she’s the happiest she’s ever been. that didn’t matter…not if lizzie was thriving. 

      gotcha. his invitation was the gateway in to letting bianca slip her way in to his life (at least for the night). shrugging off her designer coat, she draped it over the back of the bar stool, easily sliding in to place next to him. a slender finger raises to grab the attention of the bartender and requests another two of whatever erik was having. usually, she was a dry martini type of gal, but she doubted she’d get a good one here. “really, really.” she nods. once the beer is placed in front of her, she eyes it for a moment before finally bringing it to her lips and taking the tiniest sip. “you’re too much,” bianca waves him off. leaning an elbow on to the bar top, she cups her in chin in her hands as she gazes over at him. “i just can’t get you out of my head because i want to know more…” she truly meant that considering her team of so-called professionals only came up with the bare minimum about him. “you’re just different.”

since damian was a child his parents have directed his every move. they’ve picked the nannies and tutors, selected the best schools, pushed him hard into following in the footsteps of all the men in his family by joining the family business. sometimes he feels there’s no way he’s truly his father’s son, if he’s the only one who struggles with how deep and dark the underbelly of the kiryakov family is. he feels guilt and shame, he berates himself for the excess he participates in. even now he wants to tear his eight hundred dollar dress shirt to shreds in his hands. exhaling sharply, he watches the way her arms uncross and he sees potential, as if lizzie is opening herself to this concept, this idea he’s put out in the open. “yes, if they found out, it’d be a scandal. we’d be the fucking talk of the town, but i think we assume their reach has no bounds, but i’ve hid things from my parents. haven’t you?” he points out, following the line of logic he’s been guiding himself through to even get to this point. there’s a step closer to him and he tenses just a little bit, but it quickly melts in his body as she offers him a smile. he wants to take a snapshot of it, to savour it, because sometimes he wonders between the smiles she gives him if it’ll be his last for a while. his own smile spreads across his features and he nods slowly. “you have no fucking idea.” he replies, taking a step closer to her and another as she continues. they’re dreaming big here, imagining not only escaping this endless war they’ve been forced to be part of but imagining changing the rules all together. “how do you propose we turn the tables, elizabeth?” he questions, his voice lower now because in all his haste to get close, now he’s close enough that he could reach out and touch. it’s a slow decision, the way his hand reaches out slowly, fingers practically aching until he manages to brush his over hers, electricity running through him. “because at the moment i have a bit of a one track mind and you are… the only thing i can see.” 

closed starter for : @grrlhoods 

As the other startles, Clove smirks, unable to keep her satisfaction to herself as she climbs in through the open window; and then the fresh, drizzling air is all around them. Spattering raindrops brought in from the outside as she tosses her wet hair from her eyes. “Don’t be scared,” She tells the other with a slight pant from the cold. There’s mirth in her tone – an excitement she’s unable to conceal. “I just need you to come with me for a minute.” 

      miller hadn’t laid a finger on why he enjoyed being hurt so much. previous partners had told him to get a shrink and talk out his problems, that he had mommy issues (which he may still have) and had told him to go to hell, which, he didn’t mind. people have thrown the book at him, yet imogen hadn’t yet. “why don’t you find out?” his smart-ass retort flew off the tongue. his eyes narrowed at the woman in front of him. he tried not to visibly drool at her words. imogen was enticing. in that moment he was willing to do whatever she wanted him to do. swallowing the dry lump in his throat, he continued to step forward, the distance between them shrinking with each step. “you’d KILL me?” his brow arches. miller always bragged that he wasn’t afraid of death, but most of the time he was certain he was all talk no action. “you should spare me so you can use me,” he begins to explain. “if you kill me then there’s no more fun. unless you’re in to dead bodies and in that case… i won’t judge. just unfortunate for me.” he sounds smug.

     she flipped the curtain of blonde hair over her shoulder before shrugging off her coat and draping it off the back of the bar stool. bianca slid in to place next to him and immediately ordered whatever he was having— whatever erik liked, she would like, too. “are you kidding? i love it here! i meet up with the girls from my old boarding school here all the time.” lies, lies, lies. she hated those girls and she thought this bar was dirty and germ filled. bianca examined the male from head to toe. she wanted to know every part of him. she checked her phone and sighed. “well, damn. i was going to meet up with my friends but they just bailed on me. i hate that,” bainca sighed. a manicured hand reach forward and grip on to his bicep. “i would love to join you.” a toothy smile is flashed in his direction. “you know it’s funny we run in to each other here because i have been thinking about you a lot.”