Home Sweet Home

"You don’t have to spare your own feelings by saying that, Lo. You don’t let me be right, I am right. How is that tainting the popcorn! It’s enhancing it! Salty and sweet all at the same time, cuts the fumbling time! You know my motto,” she leaned forward on her elbows. “Work smarter not harder. You burn out that way,” Marley settled back into the cushions, kicking her feet up. Everything inside of her screamed to tidy up the living room but this was how Logan and Jules liked it. A humble disarray of beautiful life. The pang of regret rang through her. If only she knew earlier on that her career would eclipse her desires to be a mother. “I mean Florida is nice? I would miss the hell out of you two but I get it. We all have to fly from the coop to know if it’s where we’re supposed to be.” Marley rolled her eyes. “I just happened to be only one with a medical license in the room but if there were another doctor, everyone would have been fine without me.” The rolling burn of Maisie’s white lie seared her skin. “I mean if anyone can amuse her it would be him. I am not even mad that it’s him but that they didn’t tell me. Am I that big of a baby or a villain that they I’d overreact?” 

Matt gingerly held onto the bottom praying that the flashing red and blue merging lights wouldn’t flag them down. Driving under a state of emergency was one thing; driving under the assumption that one is also drunk would be detrimental to his future plans. He snuck a couple glances at her before allowing them to drift back to the muddled middle line that divided the street. Even in the assault of blurred droplets, the predominant canary yellow brightened up the void against the obsidian asphalt.   He didn’t know why he decided to flee from the populated area of Karen’s. Maybe it was to get away from the prying eyes that wished nothing but bad fortune on the outsider. 

“Karen’s seemed a little too cramped for me,” he mumbled. His father’s status as mayor didn’t help his son’s isolation. Especially not when he had lived so far removed from the town; he missed Italy and his mother. “So, thought swimming home drunk as a skunk was the best plan?” 

Her eyes squinted when she heard a voice suddenly, knowing right then the jig was up. She noticed it was that Matthew jock boy from high school. Chloe puddle jumped her way to the passenger seat of his car, letting herself in as she hugged the bottle of Jack to her chest, coiling in for some warmth now that she was no longer being poured on. “Looking for cover, ha. You?” Her head lolled back and forth in her drunken state as she watched him with wonder.

Chloe Ellen Parker. 

I should have known...

“Marls man, you gotta cool it now.” Logan laughed. “I’m telling you that you are definitely wrong and I am right. This is just how its always been.” He shrugged with a light chuckle, joking the Saturday away with Marley. Balancing his life out had become and odd phenomenon these days. Where one part of him felt badly that he was relishing in time away from Rosie, merely because he liked to escape the woes of the world in his friendship with Marley, but still, there was this weird sense of guilt that came with it. He couldn’t deny the feelings that fluttered through him whenever she’d been around. It wasn’t like he’d forgotten when she’d gone off to college by any means but shit had happened. There were no regrets to be had there, except those few tweaks to his soul where he wondered what it would’ve been like if he’d just waited for Marley like he’d promised to himself all those years ago. For now though, he was just happy to be beside her. “So how was getting through that storm during Burning Boat? Crazy stuff out there. You make it out okay?”

@treexhillxmuses

Matt scowled at the wetness that rolled down his forearm as his window disappeared into the door. “What in the hell are you doing,” he called out gently not to scare her.

“I knew you would AJ. You’re smart.” She neared closer to him, leaning up towards his face where she placed a kiss upon his cheek. “How about we go to Charlotte and catch a concert..” She pulled two tickets from her purse, flashing a band he’d mentioned in passing long ago. 

“I wouldn’t go that far but I’ll take it.” AJ wrapped his arm around her waist, his forehead pressed to the crook of her neck. “Charlotte? The Clash reunion was sold out...” the words tapered with the sight of the tickets that were tucked between her fingers. “Paige no way!” He gingerly took them from her to expect the validity of the gift. “You really shouldn’t have but holy shit.”

AJ: I have a feeling you're mad.

Paige: I'm not mad AJ. You are who you are and I like you for that.

“Yes I am, Seth. You baby me,” she shot back. Chelsea knew that since the moment she came into his life, Seth did everything in his power to protect her. She loved him for his devotion but he needed to realistic with his truths. She knew herself well enough by know. “You’re right, you’re right. We also got all the good looks,” she beamed with a wink. “You should call him, Seth. I know he misses you and that you miss him. He’s probably more worried that you haven’t called. Hell, if you won’t call him, I will.” Chelsea leaned over to make a grab for his cellphone. “The world gives me many reason to hate it thank you very much.” Seth made a good point. All the man that walked through the door took a piece of her. After a while, there wasn’t much left to her and she couldn’t help but hate being so vulnerable. She squeezed her eyes together knowing the lecture she was about to get. “He wanted to know how I was. I was going to tell him where to shove it but than he asked if we could get coffee and I said sure.” Chelsea bowed her head. “Don’t say it, okay?”

Paige: Sounds like that was exactly what you needed.

Paige: I know it's okay.

Paige: Good luck with your test.

Paige: I'm really glad to hear that. What brought you there?

Paige: Well you're the relationship expert here but aren't you supposed to bother me about that stuff so we can support each other?

Paige: Well I want to see you too. But I'm only in the mood to see you and I'm sorry if that makes me a horribly selfish person but I don't have the energy to do anything but snuggle with you and do flashcards.

AJ: Honesty and a guitar.

AJ: I'm not a relationship expert but I know you've been trying to adjust. I didn't want to fuck that up.

“That’s not going to help!” AJ knew he should be reading the textbook and try to be productive. The thought of having to memorize all the verbs and their tenses made him less and less inclined to focus. There were moments in life when you just knew that the end was near; the end of this term would come with a big fat ‘F’ if he didn’t at least try to focus. It just seemed so long since they had a good time. “I am! It’s not my fault I am this funny. It’s a gift!” AJ lifted brow and peered over he edge of his book. Her laughter sounded so beautiful to his ears; it seemed like forever ago that he had the luxury of a real one. “Oh really? I think I’d make a fine sex slave,” he scoffed before tossing the book back onto the bed. He rushed to her side and begun to tickle her. “My almighty tutor can’t boss me around when she’s so vulnerable to a tickle attack, HA HA.”

Paige: No I just mean that the subject of it was mundane. How are things with Fritz lately?

Paige: How come you never mentioned it? You know that I've been speaking Spanish my entire life right?

Paige: It's okay, I've got a date with ice cream. I'll be fine. You guys probably have a system and I don't want to mess that up.

AJ: OH. Things are good. I think that we're finally in a better place. A healthy one.

AJ: I didn't want to bother you.

“I do but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Chelsea didn’t understand why he wasted his time on someone like her. She was broken beyond repair; just a collection of frayed edges and broken shard of a person. Chelsea accepted the reality that she wouldn’t be like all the other girl’s with their perfect little future. She just wasn’t. Charlie made her feel less broken like the weight of the world hadn’t turned her bones into dust; but it was a perfect illusion because women like never won. Chelsea fiddled with the wires, connecting the conductors with glee. “Are you saying you’re in the business to proving me wrong?” She leaned over her work to catch his lips again; a gentle anchor to keep her posted to the ground. “You ever try to close a chapter of a story but it won’t budge? Someone I used to know has re-entered and it’s just dredging a lot of shit I don’t want to deal with.” Chelsea looked back at him with a budding smile. “I created a program algorithm that calculates the probability of risk in a situation. Thought it would be helpful when struggling with hard medical decisions before having to entertain them on the table. It’s still young in it’s stages but why not test it on my doctor..”