#c:lula

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tallulah “lula” sullivan x albert fitzgerald iv. @ albert’s room

Sunday mornings were always Lula’s favourite. No matter how badly, or even good, her week went, she knew that she had Sunday morning to look forward to. That was because Sunday mornings meant that Albert was home for the weekend from college. Even before he left for college, that was when she got to see him and hangout. She liked to think of it as their special time together and she never missed it for anything in the world, even more so when Albert started college and wasn’t around as much anymore. No matter what she had going on, or did the night before, without a doubt, Lula would be up bright and early every Sunday to go see Albert.

This Sunday happened to be Sunday brunch as well, where her family got together with Auntie Billie’s at Auntie Nikki’s (aka the Unholy Trinity). Though this didn’t stop Lula from wanting to get her special Sunday hangout time with her favourite person. Everyone always knew that she had this little crush on Albert, but often shrugged it off and said that it will pass. This was years ago and this “little crush” was stronger than ever. That was Lula for you. When she knows what she wants, she has a level of tenacity that was equally admirable and headache-inducing. Many who knew her could attest to this, but it was just one of her many charms.

As soon as the front door to the Fitzgerald home opened, Lula immediately pulled whoever it was into a hug. “Hi Uncle Teddy! Thank you so much for having us over for brunch!” she greeted. “I hope Auntie Nikki will like these. I got them from the farmers’ market in Soho this morning,” she smiled, handing Teddy the bouquet of fresh flowers.

As everyone shuffled into the townhouse, she tried to casually ask, “Sooo... Is Albie home from school this weekend?” Sighing, Teddy replied, knowing full well where this was going, “Yes, he’s in his ro-,” but before he could finish, she was already making her way towards the stairs. “Yay! I’ll go get him!” she quickly offered. Passing the kitchen, she greeted, “Hi Auntie Nikki! OMG it smells ah-mazing in here. Gosh, you’re like, the best chef in the world, Auntie Nikki. And don’t worry, I can go get Albie!” 

Opening the bedroom door as quietly as she could, Lula poked her head inside. “Albie?” she said softly. Seeing a bit of his hair from underneath his covers, she smiled, closing the door behind her. Glancing around the room and seeing no signs of Albert’s lady friends (because believe her, the amount of times she’s made that mistake was one too many), the smile on her face grew. Forgetting that he may still be sleeping out of pure excitement, Lula climbed onto the bed, resting her hands on his chest as she situated herself comfortably on top of him.

Ignoring the groan from underneath her, she jumped into a conversation right away. “Hi Albie Walbie! How was school? Did you miss me? I missed you so much this week and I have a bunch to catch you up on.” In typical Lula fashion, she immediately dived into a long tangent on how her week went, telling him everything from the new vintage Chanel bag that Harper helped her find to getting her first A- in chemistry class. Finally, she asked how his week was, adding that she watched most of the livestream of his recent football game and how well he played. Yet all she got in response from Albert was a tired, “Be quiet or get out.”

Remembering that it was still early, she replied sheepishly, “Oops, sowwy Albie,” as she moved to lay beside him instead. Sliding underneath the covers beside him, his arms instinctively wrapped themselves around her. Deciding to be quiet to let him sleep more, she was just content that he was back and she could see him. Though she couldn’t help but run a mental list through her mind of all the things that she wanted to talk to him about later, despite all the different voicemails she had left him during the week. She had opened her mouth a few times to say something that she had just thought of, but seeing the peaceful look on Albert’s face, she didn’t want to disturb that. 

tallulah “lula” sullivan x albert fitzgerald iv. @ somewhere in brookyln

How the hell did she end up here and what the hell was she thinking? Well, Lula knew what she was thinking - to hell with Albert Matthew Fitzgerald the 4th. As for how she got here? That was nothing short of a miracle, given her notorious driving skills, or lack thereof. Navigating the streets from Manhattan to Brooklyn in her Jeep with just a learner’s permit and the spatial judgement of a drunk Hulk, it really was a miracle that she’d caused minimal damage and arrived with her car in one piece. Hopefully. She did hear a loud ‘clank’ as she hit the curb while pulling up in front of Reyes Auto Repair. Now why was she at an auto shop in the sketchy part of Brooklyn when there were perfectly good ones in Manhattan? That required a bit of backtracking...

“ASSHOLE!”

Lula shouted as she put all her weight into her leg and stomped on Albert’s foot with everything she had. Which wasn’t a lot, but she was sure that the message was clear. Letting out a ‘hmph!’, she crossed her arms and tilted her head away from him as he told her that violence wasn’t the answer. “I don’t care! Body shame me again and next time that won’t be your foot!” This was yet another argument between the two that often erupted from A) Lula relentlessly being loud and proud about her longstanding unrequited crush on Albert, B) Albert insisting that she was too young, too immature and in today’s case, too flat, for him to date (hypothetically if he even dated), or C) all of the above. 

As Albert gave her his usual speech about her deserving someone better who would treat her better than he could, etc., etc., an idea popped into Lula’s head. If he claimed to know her so well and know what she deserved, then who better to help her find a boyfriend than him? Then somewhere along the way, he was bound to get jealous and realize that he did in fact like her all along. It was a foolproof plan! ...Except the part where he refused to go along with her ideas, as per usual. Was this how her dad felt whenever Uncle Presley was being a party-pooper? All Albert said in response to her dramatic tangent about how helping her was the least he could do after she spent so much time crushing on him was, “I trust your judgement to find a Walmart version of me.” And if you thought she had already snapped before, well, homegirl was ‘bout to pop off.

“UGH! FINE THEN, ALBERT MATTHEW FITZGERALD THE 4TH! I’ll just go back to Brooklyn where we met those two hot drug dealers then! And you know what, maybe I’ll date both of them! And FYI, you’re the cheap Walmart version! ...I don’t remember their names, but Drug Dealer #1 is totes the Gucci version of you and Drug Dealer #2 is obvy the Prada version! I don’t need you when I can date two Man-Crush Everyday-worthy hotties! It’s your loss, cheap knockoff Albert!”

And that was how she ended up at a car repair shop in the sketchy part of Brooklyn, where one of said hot drug dealers stood. After checking her hair and makeup in the rearview mirror, Lula waved at Drug Dealer #2, then got out of her car. “Hey... you!” she greeted, still not remembering his name. After exchanging short pleasantries, she got right to the point before Quinn could show up to foil her plan. “Soooo listen, there’s this party uptown tomorrow night and I was wondering if you’d be my date. I really really reallyyyyy need you to say yes, like I’ll totes pay you ‘cause I have a point to pro-” Her spiel was suddenly cut short when she felt someone grab her by the waist, then throw her over said person’s shoulders.

Turning her head, Lula was met with the familiar side profile of the face she’d spent much of her time daydreaming about. Quickly realizing that Albert was there to foil her plan, she began squirming and shouting for him to let her down. “What are you doing?! Let go of me, Fitzgerald! I don’t need you to baby me, I’m not a goddamn child!” she shouted at his backside, to which he responded, clearly irritated, “Shut up, you’re acting like one.” She continued yelling at him, as he miraculously managed to buckle her into the passenger seat of his car, and didn’t stop even as they began to drive off.

“Don’t tell me to shut up, you jerkface! I was just doing what you told me to do!” she huffed, pouting like a child, despite insisting that she wasn’t one. Despite his constant ‘shut up’ to her venting, she went on talking over him. “You don’t want to date me, but you won’t let me date some other hot guy. What the hell is your problem, Fitzgerald?! You don’t even like me, so why can’t you just leave me alone??” As the car came to a stop at a red light, Lula’s ranting continued, as she went on about dating whomever she wanted because she was done with him. It was only Albert leaned in to kiss her that she finally stopped talking.