harley and scout have been house hunting for a couple weeks now, trying to find the perfect fit for their little family. they’ve looked at countless options, but they haven’t been able to find the perfect house, one that all three of them can agree on. with the lease running out on harley’s apartment soon, the pressure’s on. “i think these countertops are nice,” harley offers up with a shrug, running his hand along the granite. if he’s being honest, this house doesn’t feel like the one, but he’s willing to settle at this point if it means scout and june are happy. “what do you think, baby?” he asks, turning to scout with an expectant expression.

        there’s  a  skip  in  her  step  as  rory  makes  her  way  through  the  shop’s  entrance,  a  bag  of  to-go  food  in  her  clutches  as  she  saunters over  to  where  she  figures  he’d  be  working.  beam  only  widens  as  dominik  comes  into  view  (  or,  the  half  that  wasn’t  hidden  underneath  the  latest  car  he’d  been  working  on  anyway  ).  “  dom  !  ”  she  attempts  to  capture  his  attention,  waiting  excitedly  for  him  to  emerge  from  beneath  the  vehicle  before  raising  the  bag  of  food  to  draw  the  male’s  focus  to  it  ––  grin  still  prominently  etched  across  her  face.  “  got  any  time  for  a  lunch  break  ?  ”

                       ‘  oh,  ’  singular  word  slips  past  supple  brims  in  disbelief,  small  body  pressed  against  the  seat  of  her  car  as  she  slunk  down  in  hopes  that  he  wouldn’t  notice  her.  and  a  perfectly  innocent  trip  to  the  store  on  her  way  home  from  work  had  suddenly  become  so,  so  much  more.  she’d  had  to  watch  from  a  distance  for  a  whole  to  confirm  it  was  him,  really  him,  and  not  some  cruel  trick  of  fate  she  was  faced  with.  when  there  became  no  doubt  in  her  mind  of  the  reality  it  was  like  her  heart  had  seized  in  her  chest,  a  tightness  catching  there  and  spreading  until  in  strangled  all  the  rational  thought  from  her  brain.  this  manipulation  of  her  brain  by  her  heart  was  what  led  her  feet  as  she  slowly  climbed  out  of  her  car  and  shut  the  door  behind  her.  it’s  louder  than  she  intends,  and  she’s  swearing  slightly  under  her  breath  as  she  desperately  hopes  it  had  gone  unnoticed  ——  drowned  beneath  any  other  number  of  construction-related  noises.  though  unsure  of  herself,  she  steadies  her  rapid  breath  and  attempts  to  remain  steely  upon  her  approach.  it’s  futile,  however,  for  her  composure  is  lost  the  moment  his  attention  turns  to  her  and  she  rests  her  gaze  on  a  face  she’d  not  forgotten  a  single  detail  of.  

     ‘    MY LIFE IS OVER. i’m literally going to -  i don’t even know. i’m going to do something and it’s going to be drastic to get over this stupid shit.     ’     why was she in vegas? why was she with THEM? why had her stupid drunk ass posted picture after picture, sans editing, on instagram and livestreamed their entire marriage debacle? harlowe had an image and she tried to keep it as pristine as possible, but this went against everything she’d built up since birth. the sweet, charitable girl that everyone saw had taken a back seat to a drunken mess that had thought it smart to marry the one person she hated most in the world. to add to that: she’d broadcasted it for everyone she knew to see and judge and now she couldn’t even quietly get an annulment without a wave of questions.     ‘    i hate you. this is all your fault.     ’  // @pcrified

“  so... did you like it ? “  a tiny smile breaks his earnest gaze at her, bottom lip caught in a nibble just out of habit. they’d just walked out of the movie theater, and alexis hasn’t quite processed the movie just yet because he’s too preoccupied thinking about why he decided to grab her hand back there. it’s like his last functioning brain cells had decided that it’s the best way to make up for his incredible awkwardness in the first half of the night, but the only thing it really did was make him space out in anxiety every ten seconds. obviously, he had hoped for things to go really well, but it’s one of those days where he just has to overthink every question and every joke she throws at him. maybe this is life simply saying that he hangs out with too many old men that he’s becoming one. “  i thought it was ... alright. “

after a long, hard and exhausting tour in iraq for a year, arlo was finally coming home. did he tell the other that he was coming home? no. was he keeping it a surprise because he wanted to see what their reaction would be? yes. he had been on a plane for a very long time, his jet lag was going to be a nightmare whilst he’s coming. he’ll want to spend every waking minute with them. finally the man’s uber had pulled up at their house, he handed him the money, got out of the car with his rucksack. he took off his hat and walked up to the front door. he opened it, put the bag onto the floor. “anyone home?” arlo called. @pcrified

                  being a single mother and juggling a whole diner by herself was never easy for veronica, but she wouldn’t trade her occupation as a mother and owner of a whole establishment for anything in the world.  at times it would be nice to have a break when she her work schedule and time with her daughter clashed, but her parents were always nice enough to step up to the plate and help her out.  the only problem was this time her parents had prior commitments and now she’s stuck at the diner with a teething baby crying her eyes out.  she’s visibly tired, spilling coffee on customers and bringing tables orders that aren’t theirs.  ‘ i’m so sorry, i can bring you a fresh pot of coffee and a pastry on the house.  ’  she’s apologizing profusely to the customer standing in front of her while bouncing her daughter on her hip to calm her down. 

“i have never been good at putting these things together,” the girl huffed, pulling open one tab of the box to gingerbread house. “with my luck, one of the pieces is always broken before i even open it.” she began pulling out all of the large cookie pieces, still intact, the sides, the roof, and then the icing and candies. “i learned from a young age because of these things, i’ll never be a carpenter.” grinning at the other, she tears open one of the packages of gumdrops and fishes one out, holding it up. “open wide.”