⌜ ❱❱ ft. teondra

Yasmin gave a warm smile, "That sounds like a great idea, then." She was glad that Teondra already knew Cohen and Courtney. Her cheeks flushed at the mention of Cael. "He is an interesting man." One that had intrigued her for quite some time. "I will see if he will come." Though, Yasmin knew that she wouldn't hold her breath over it. "If you need any help, just say the word." She said, nodding her head as she offered the help. "I do believe you fit here, Teondra. There's a fire about you that this town has needed." Yasmin told her, her smile warm. "I was born here, yeah. Been here my entire life. I taught well before I became principal, too. So I have the utmost faith in you." @teondraxmay

Teondra smiled making a mental note of things, especially how Yasmin flushed at Cael's name. She enjoyed seeing that little spark in others when a particular someone was mentioned. She had that once or twice in her life though young and hardly fully lived it was the old soul in her. “I am glad to inspire such confidence that I won't let you down. It's really nice to see you give yourself to the place that made you and to really do all you can for it. Do you know any local artists that would make custom pieces - not that I'm decorating decorating yet and still... Yasmin if I use you as my go to source for all info regarding kismet harbor please don't be cross with me” / @yasminxmoreno

Christopher nodded his head along to her words. When he thought of his younger brother, he never thought of someone that was perfect. Though, Christopher didn't think that about himself either. The Murray family had expectations and as much as he knew his younger siblings thought he had it all figured out, even he fell short with them. No one would ever be good enough for their parents. "He needs people that worry about him." More than just Christopher. It had become a full-time job in addition to his surgeon career. "He should be happy to have you back in his life again, Tee. Don't give up on him." @teondraxmay

Don’t give up on him. The words make her smile only very briefly knowing she never had and even when the lying and the fighting about nothing tore them apart and forced her hand - even after that Tee had never completely given up on a man she would always love. Always love. Sitting in his brother’s office Teondra knew this to be true that even if she were to move on, meet someone new and start a romance if it came to taking care of Nolan, fighting for him to be the best he could be or even just okay what she wouldn’t drop to be there for him over a new person. How to let Nolan know he was still that important to her after all this time without getting him to bolt, to fight it was the hard part. She hated that he even when they were kids felt unworthy of good things. “I don’t know if he’s actually happy to see me again. We’ll see. I have arranged with him to get ice cream next week. I’ll let you know if he shows. Christopher, just keep me in the loop if something happens to him or with him so I can be there. Im afraid if I try to cultivate a friendship again he’s going to put that brave face on and not tell me things so I don’t worry if he chooses to. I handed you the record right?” She says unsure if she had handed the bribe over of the rare collectible. “You too - I’ll worry about you too. When the house is fixed up I’ll have you over for dinner. You’re not allowed to say no” / @christopherxmurray

𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 @teondraxmay

Teondra thanked the crowd as always even if this was a new crowd- she still treated them as if they had been there for her first syllables and her mini symphonies as a child. There was never a moment she wouldn't be great full for an opportunity to perform even of it wasn't her chosen path to make a name shine in lights. The world had enough famous May's to last them a long time not that they would have talent or the gift. Most of her relatives coasted on the glory of a former generation or her parents. Moving off stage it had been the first time she performed in the longest of times publicly. Packing up the guitar she had, popping it in its case she looked towards the crowd. Eye catching on a curious woman before speaking up approaching her. “Did you enjoy the performance. Open mic is hit or miss when it comes to things people like or want to hear.” / @madeleinefoster

Nolan had a rough few months, and he felt for a long time that it wasn't getting any better. But it took him nearly getting arrested for things to change. The police didn't arrest Nolan, because he only took food and called his brother Chris. Who came and picked up Nolan and took him home? It took Chris taking him in to help Nolan to start getting things back on track slowly. But still he felt pretty crappy.

Tee had taken to walking the beaches, it was a calming, grounding experience to refresh a day with. Dolly didn't love being outside, thoroughly a house cat so it was only Tee on these walks. Muse came and went, lyrics to nothing scribbled down and generally she ended up wading into the tide to get her feet wet and then carry back her sandals to tackle more home improvement projects. On this walk though she saw a familiar form, beautiful and handsome as he was even of he didn't believe so and whatever his circumstances were. A small little smile curled on her lips as she tip toes up and beside him sliding onto the bench. “Hello handsome. You catch anything good yet?” She wonders out loud turning to face him “It really is gorgeous out here. How is my Nolan?” Tee again asks, smile still adorning her features, setting her flip flops on the bench. /@nolanxmurray

Open Starter: Dinner party at someone's home!

“That couldn't have been all they talked about for two entire hours. You're totally pulling my leg, you have to be. I'm so sorry though that was awful. If I were there we would've had a better conversation” she chuckles, forking the food in front of her but making no move ot eat it yet. He was entertaining this man, a friend of a friend in town and both invited to a dinner party. Blinking she chuckled shaking her head. “I don't know where I stand it could be. I work with little kids so they can make anything into a sandwich. Before I give my answer what do you think or is it a Jaffa cake situation where technically it's both a cookie and a cake but not?” / @ryanxfields

He looked at her, "I know you are...but it's been a long time since we were teenagers..." and he just wanted to warn her now and let her know before it was too late. He didn't want her her, or cause her to get into his problems that he was having right now. "you should setting into this town and your job without having to worry about this blonde..." he teased himself as he sat back in his chair and took a bite of the ice cream. As much as he wanted to just stay with her all day, get to know her again. He was so worried she would find out how bad he was, that he messed her up, he wanted to stay away from her.

She smiles, that bush flooding her cheeks as the familiarity of being around him does bring her back. Her happiest days were with him and despite the nagging concern at the back of her mind pointing to the imperfections ( his broken arm, his clothes, his reluctance to eat the wrap she'd half bought with the intent to insist he have it, the wall she could feel thrown up around him ) Tee would take it as a good omen. The best part of her life in Nashville was here to tell her what would be the best parts of Kismet Harbor. These were the fragments of a teenage Tee's dream. Her name never in lights but there was a beach, a nice place to live and there was her best friend. "We're not that old Nolan. When we have forever - no. It I firmly believe is a good thing, a positive sign that as I settle into town and my new work place that this blonde is there. The town is really living up to its name" She shakes her head knowing he is teasing her. "Perfect them - we meet next week for ice cream."

Yasmin fought back a groan at the way Teondra talked about the food, "Okay, yes," she laughed softly, shaking her head, "that would be spoiling me and you can count on me holding you to it." Adventurous was food was something that Yasmin had always been and never turned down the opportunity to try food from others as well. "It's coming to a close quickly," the principal nodded her head in agreement. The school year was going to be over for the students and teachers before they knew it, though it was never truly over for the principal. "I'm glad you're enjoying it, thus far." She stated with a warm smile. "You do?" She smiled more at the fact that Teondra already knew Cohen's wife, "Then yeah, Cohen is a great resource in town." Yasmin's smile grew, "Open mic night, too? I'm going to have to come down and spectate, then," Yasmin teased, always finding herself supportive of those in her life. "As for surfing," she hummed, trying to think, "I don't think we have a surf club directly, but one of the life guards teaches surfing." Yasmin had a few lessons before. "You're fitting in already around here." @teondraxmay

"I do know Courtney, Cohen a bit by extension so you mentioning them or rather just a Blake does really give me a vote of confidence that this might be the resource I seek out. " She nods chuckling softly over the shake of Yasmin's head. "I spoil my friends, my family when I can and Kismet really feels like the place I will have both in for years to come. The summer will be an interesting one certainly." Tee admits just a little sad she hadn't technically been around for an entire school year, that those little ones she taught so excited to bang on instruments only got part of her but the next year she would inspire more young little minds towards the arts. "The next open mic night I will save you and perhaps …Cael a seat. He's an interesting man, hard but I like him. Surfing though! Maybe I could talk to one of the life guards or the life guard and we can start one. You think so, Yasmin? You really believe I fit? You make a girl really believe. Were you born here? I don't believe I ever asked that " @yasminxmoreno

Chris leaned back in his chair, arms folding slowly across his chest as he listened to Teondra. "You've got nothing to prove to me, Teondra." He had always respected someone that didn't dance around the truth, like she was now. When it came to his brother, he felt his job tighten. He leaned forward now, resting his forearms on the desk. Without raising his voice, he began to speak. "His arm is merely a symptom." He paused a moment, letting the words sink in a moment. "He's lost his way and digging himself a hole that he's not letting anyone help him out of." Or so, it seemed that way to Christopher. There was no judgement, however, when it came to his brother. If anything, they weighed heavily with concern and exhaustion. "He's angry, ashamed and that combination makes it damn near impossible to ask for help." He sat back now, giving her a faint nod, "I can't fix this for him and neither can you," he stated matter of fact, "but if he's got people who really see him, he might have a shot at fixing it himself." @teondraxmay

"When he was mine-" She speaks, she hesitates as she takes in a deep breath knowing this would be a heavy conversation. Tee hadn't spoken about their break up to anyone since it had happened. By all means a person ought to be over it and yes Teondra was but… to see Nolan like this and know he was hurting part of her couldn't help but feel guilty about it knowing maybe she had set him on this path years ago. "When he was my Nolan he wasn't perfect and I did everything to love him. He was better. He was at his best and sure my parents mentioned how they wanted me to go to college in front of him more times then I could count or how he was towards the anniversary of you remember.. He was happy, I could bring him back down to earth and I saw him. You know I always saw him. When everyone else didn't even when we were just friends and just kids."

Hearing what she said, he didn't want to smile at it; he didn't want her to get back into his life and wrap up in his problems. "I don't know if I am the best person for you to get to know again..." he said, looking back at her, but still gave her a smile. "But teenager me was even more stupid than adult me..." he knew how he used to be and sometimes felt like he was worse now.

"Nolan, I'm a grown woman I can be the judge of who the best people for me to get to know again are. Teenager you was my favorite thing about Nashville and you know how much I loved the music and not just because I'm a May." She sighs softly giving a shrug committing to that being that last dip into the past but scratching her neck unsure of where to put her hands fingers ran over the little guitar on her collarbone. Tee as talented as she was and as half decent with a guitar was never as good as he was. She'd had that tattoo for a decade and people always assumed it was something tied to her musical family. Only Tee knew it had been the first time she'd gotten wild off emotion and gotten something tattooed. Never drunk no but she had when the family members who asked over and over if she was alright got up and went directly to a tattoo parlor and came home with that. She shrugs with a soft smile adding it to a list of things Nolan didn't need to know about her last decade he avoided her like the plague. As if the songs she sold weren't the ones written about him either. Tee had been a mess. The Teondra speaking now was - fairly well adjusted she was her own. Tee had always been herself.

Nolan looked at her and nodded before looking away. "I mean we did live in Nashville for years and didn't see each other... and was here a few months and didn't till now..." he did his best in Nashville to keep away from her. He didn't want ot hold her back or cause any problems for her. He looked back at her, "I don't know if they want some random guy coming into a school like that," he joked with a small chuckle. He didn't really mean it.

"Maybe I'd like to run into you again? You have met you right? Even if you are different from the boy I used to know I think the man whose grown in his place could be an interesting friend to get ice cream with. Not to mention he is pretty handsome. Teenage you would've lost out in a heartbeat" She smiles, brushing hair behind her ear before that internal voice was ringing alarm bells. flirting? was she actually attempting to flirt with an old friend and why was she half staring at him choosing to ignore the obvious signs there was something going on that it was unlikely he'd ever tell her about. It was true though if she saw the Nolan present before her now back then teenage Tee would've drawn hearts around his name the moment she met what was surely a walking red flag in the making. Luckily perhaps was the fact she liked the color red. Every pair of cowboy boots she had were red.

Chris had been reviewing a chart when a voice cut through the hum of the hospital. "Teondra," he said, the name causing him not only surprise, but he recognized her almost immediately. Chris glanced at the vinyl sleeve she just tucked away, his lips curling into a faint smile. "The collection has got harder to keep up with, but I remember missing that one." He motioned to his office, just across the hall, "You can still call me Chris," he stated, pushing the door to his office open and gesturing to the seat across from his desk. "So, what brings you here?" He questioned, sitting down and placing the chart off to the side so that he knew that he had to continue to review it. "Or," he let out a sigh, one that was equal parts frustration and concern, "are we skipping the small talk and talking about Nolan instead?" @teondraxmay

Teondra took the seat across from his desk noting the degrees on the walls, the medical journals and the soft lack of what she vaguely remembered as a wife. She half wondered when Chris' marriage failed knowing in the brief glance to his hands there wasn't one anymore. Tee almost sympathized with him but Tee had only been Nolan's high school sweetheart and best friend in the age whe fairytales only existed in the chords strummed out of a guitar and when she hit a perfect high note. "In a musical family when half of the halls of fame are godparents coming by an original pressing and having it signed is fairly easy. One of the few privileges of privilege but I prefer to strike out on my own these days. May money in my bank account is only the money I've earned, Doc. Chris" She nods not sure why she feels like there was a need to explain but the young woman does anyways. Maybe its because he's more a real person than her siblings living on the laurels of a family name and barely a modicum of talent when she had the lion share and chose to be a teacher. "We can skip it, Chris. We're adults here. I saw him earlier and while we're not anything to one another anymore I do care about him… do you know what happened to his arm? He vaguely alluded to a rough time and I wanted to know if you knew what was really going on because I know Nolan won't tell me the truth if I were to ask and I don't kow. Part of me still sees my friend there in his eyes beyond all that happened before we went and screwed it up by getting romantically involved. The vinyl in full transparency is bribery… Let me know and let me help whatever the hell is going on" @christopherxmurray

Courtney smiled at Teondra and gave a little curtesy, "why thank you. And I'm doing pretty well, about you?" She asked in return, always glad to see a friend out and about town. Someone she had gotten close to through volunteering, which made the time pass quickly and less sad. Though she loved volunteering, sometimes it bummed her out and having a kindred spirit alongside her made it all the more enjoyable. Plus a friendship stemming from that was absolutely good by her. "Oh stop, you don't have to thank me," she waved her off before chuckling, "and I do. And if you insist, who am I to say no!?" @teondraxmay

Tee shrugged with a smile having spent most of the day investigating the town, shopping in the little locally owned locations learning to fall in love with a new place and its unique bunch of people. If - no - because this was the place Teondra intended on making her own it was necessary to weave herself into the fabric of tow ad support it how she could. Being an adult rather than some teenager coming into town she couldn't just go to every party there was to put her permanent mark on the tow and Nashville bore enough of the marks of her youth to know who Teondra May was. She would make a name on her own here and that's what she'd been doing. "I'm doing well. Finding my footing in town and investing my paycheck back into it. Won't be a townie for I would expect some time but when I can wear that official title we'll have to have a party." She smiled shaking her head. "Looking for repair people for my appliances but I won't bother Cohen just yet though he comes highly recommended"

He shook his head as he looked over at her and smiled. He was just trying to get by right now. But he did want to spend time with her, but at the same time, he wanted to get away from her. He was such a mess he was going to hold her back and pull her down with him. He was in trouble for her before in high school; he got her into trouble and caused problems. He wasn't a great student, and he knew her family didn't like him for that.

"Well if we are going to be living in the same town - we're bound to run into one another from time to time and in a place much smaller than Nashville we will have the opportunity to see one another. We could make getting ice cream and catching up a thing even every once in a while unless you decide to stop by the elementary school to play guitar for one of my classes though I would have to clear that with Yasmin first or you could come to one of the open mic nights to maybe hear me play?" She suggests as she orders both scoops and then chocolate for him awaiting the cones. Tee asked in her way to see him again, to reconnect with her friend even if he held back from telling her something and even as Teondra kept shouting at herself she was just inviting him in for the opportunity to wound her again. Still the reasoning however for asking to occasionally get ice cream with him or to have him listen to her play after all these years of silence between them was that she hoped they could co-exist together in the same space. Maybe they could be friends again. "Kismet hasn't seen my wild yet. They've only seen my mindful and demure side. Do you want my number? It's chaged - one of the few things that has. You could call me whenever you care to catch some waves or we decide to try all the flavors they have in the shop" @nolanxmurray

He shrugged "I wouldn't mind if you did," he tried to take in what she said. But really, he would just nod and drown out if a person kept talking to him. Part of his ADHD and part of him just not caring sometimes. But he did care about her, so he would do his best to take in what she was telling him. He still didn't forget their ending, what he did to her, to them so many years ago he did hate that he hurt like he did. "I do what I can now." It was so hard now, but he wasn't going to let her know any of that, what had gone on with him the past few months. "I do like things a little more like Chocolate...." he looked at her, thinking she would get the hint that he was giving her. He may be the classic blue-eyed blonde there was, but it didn't mean he liked what he was always.

"You're gonna make me dead with laugh" she smiled, the smile wide and the little slip of an island phrase knowing full well if her mother were here the boisterous Ladonya would've had some things to say. She'd likely call him too skinny like a chicken bone, a little dirty but give him a good washing and fatten him up gradually and your pretty boy wont wander far. Her parents hadn't been his biggest fan from time to time but when they realized how much she cared for him they were supportive in their way. When he broke her heart that changed and she wondered if Nolan had ever tried to come and speak to her, if he'd tried to come back and was met by the hard stare of her father or her mother's piercing gaze when Ladonya was of a mind to give someone the business. If her mother were here right now it had been long enough where they'd likely forgotten their romantic involvement and would just see the boy Tee called her best friend only a little more grown than before. Goodness she missed him, missed hearing his voice - she would take this softly as a sign that yes it had been the right decision to move here. A blessing from the past that there was a future here. Nolan had been a major part of her life and she was starting something new.

Yasmin's smiled widened, a genuine warmth in her eyes. "You are spoiling me already," she teased, with a soft laugh. "Dinner sounds lovely, though. I'll hold you to that." She leaned back in her chair, arms folding loosely over her chest as she gave a nod of approval, "I had a feeling that you were going to fit in here." Yasmin tended to follow her gut instinct when it came to hiring teachers and Teondra was no exception. "I've already heard such wonderful things about you in the halls." Which always brought Yasmin joy. "The joys of home ownership," she laughed softly, shaking her head. Yasmin had her fair share of home troubles, the most recent being that her entire home was engulfed in flames. "Yeah, I can give you the number to Cohen Blake, he's a jack of all trades kind of guy." She told Teondra, "If he can't help you, Mateo Torres would be your go-to person." She smiled at the woman, "Both are very reliable and neither will upsell you on something that you don't need." @teondraxmay

Teondra had always been the sort of person who was made sure everyone ate, hydrated and lived every day as fully as possible never ending it with the question if someone cared because she would be there. The girl had been generous as much as she was musically gifted since she was a baby and parents surely claimed it was part of being a May or a Deleon but it was just Teondra she just wanted to make sure others felt loved and cared for. Maybe it was she hoped as much as she put out into the world one day it would come back for her so when life got hard someone might pick her up in return if only just once. Smiling over at Yasmin she chuckles softly shaking her head with an effortless smile. "I'm hardly spoiling you yet, Yasmin. Please hold me to that - I'll have a reason to make dishes from both sides of my family. A little southern comfort cooking from the May's and some Jamaican food, especially my great grandmama's gizzada or coconut cake recipes. College I really fell in love with cooking especially for my study group. I made sure we hade all the good food all the time" She recalls specific memories when talking about food but declines on revealing older memories involving faces who've wandered Yasmin's town longer. They weren't that close yet to reveal to her boss and new friend ex relationships or anything too deep in the May family vault of perfectly flawed flawless public personas.