there's a blaze of light in every word

It was strange to be in your element and still feel utterly terrified. Impressing the family, showing what a good choice of partner she was... it was something that Briar had always excelled at. There weren’t a set of parents she couldn’t charm, or a gaggle of siblings she couldn’t win over, or any mysterious aunt or uncle who didn’t eventually become her best friend. And shouldn’t it be easier if it wasn’t even... real? When Briar returned home, after this was all over, she’d never have to see Jake’s family again. The bonds she’d made, the relatives she’d impressed; they’d never have reason to speak to her again once the charade was over and done with. And shouldn’t that have made things even easier than normal? Where did all this terror come from, boiling and roiling as it did at the pit of her stomach? “...and then, when I turned back around, he was down on one knee,” she cooed affectionately, looking up at Jake to the oooh’s and awww’s of their audience. Briar was acutely aware of just how tightly she held onto him, both arms around his waist, but she couldn’t stop herself; behind that affectionate smile lay a slithering, slimey nervousness the likes of which she’d never felt before. And if she let him go, she feared she’d slip on it. “How could I not say yes?” Their proposal story was as fake as they came, but Briar loved telling it. Normally. Normally she fed off the attention, the smiles, the envy -- but with Jake’s whole family as their audience, with all his relatives eating up every last little detail... it only made her stomach churn. 

LOGAN & AMELIA.

—  @untidywords. (x)

you’d have to be completely and utterly inept to not sense the tension between the two of them — and it wasn’t the good kind. while logan kept his eyes trained on the ground, he could still feel her gaze. feel the weight of the challenge and strength he heard in her voice. “i was never one for disney movies, so i wouldn’t know,” he replies automatically as she slips past him and into the car. “don’t particularly think bowing would have made a difference if i did it earlier, anyways.” truth be told, he’d much rather just leave them all to their day while he took an absence. yet wasn’t that what he was good at? running away? even so, he slides into the car after her, face a mask of being less than thrilled by the situation. pressing himself as close as he could to the door, logan tried to create as much space between them as possible. one, so he didn’t have to deal with the awkwardness and two, so she didn’t particularly have more fuel to throw at him.

"No, of course you weren’t,” Amelia shrugged with a snort. Her body language the epitome of mixed signals -- the casual soprano of her voice a stark contrast to the intense annoyance of her snort -- Amelia made herself as comfortable as she could in her friend’s backseat. There was little to no comfort to be had, in truth, but that wasn’t going to stop her -- the least she could do for herself was to disregard Logan’s evident need of space, what with his mile long legs and all, and take up as much of it as she could possibly muster. After all, it paled in comparison to the way Logan had disregarded her feelings way back when; and she made sure he was still very much paying for that, if ever so passive-aggressively. “So what makes you think it’ll make a difference now?” Amelia shot at him casually. There was no hidden malice in her words, no poisonous snake waiting to spring from the grass -- just the casual truth and its ability to hit Logan right at home. Well, she hoped, anyway. 

“Mmm,” Danny groaned, from low in his throat, when he truly felt how tight Lucas was. “So nice and tight.” He chuckled, low in his throat at Lucas’ words before he slipped his finger carefully into and out of Lucas, testing the waters before he gently brought in another finger, hoping to warm him up ahead of the inevitable sex that was about to occur. “Can’t wait to be inside of you, to finally fuck you…” He admitted, his hand that was around Lucas’ cock beginning to stroke harder, in tandem with his fingers, stimulating Lucas. 

Letting himself in, Perry chuckled when he heard Amy calling out to him. “Hello to you, too, beautiful.” He responded, leaning down to press a kiss to her cheek in greeting before setting down the bag from the corner store on the coffee table and pulling out its contents; two different kinds of Oreos. “Lucky for you - or the both of you, rather - I was able to get your text in the nick of time. I got Double Stuff and the ones with the red filling since I wasn’t sure if you’d have a preference. I nearly picked up a package of the new flavors they’ve got… How do they keep coming up with new ideas to flavor Oreos with, that’s what I wonder.” Perry quipped before offering: “D’you need a hand with the DVD player, Ames? I have been known to be decently helpful when it comes to technology.”

“I hope you saw my text in time, because this is a big bad one!” Amy called out when she heard the door to her apartment close, signalling the arrival of Perry. She was sat in front of her DVD player, trying to get the old thing to work in time for their scheduled Netflix & Chill session -- she hadn’t yet bought an HDMI cable to hook her laptop up to her TV, so the good old-fashioned DVD player would have to do. Luckily, she had Guardians Of The Galaxy on hand, and so their Netflix & Chill wasn’t entirely without its Netflix. “When I say craving, I mean craving. Get-me-some-oreos-now-or-I’ll-murder-somebody craving!” 

Wally couldn’t help but automatically grin back when she grinned at him. Hayley was… Electric. There was a charge that bounced back and forth between them that he couldn’t deny. Chemistry, like his mom would say. She always had something to say about when she had first met Wally’s dad - the ever stoic, present force that was Mr. Paul Baxter - was how it felt like they were “the only two people in the world from the moment their eyes met.” There had never been a time in his life when Wally felt that way about someone, not even in his early days with Glory, but looking at Hayley, even among this crowd of people, with the thumping of the music, the darkness and the flashing lights… Somehow, he was beginning to understand. Because when he looked at her, nothing else mattered.

When her hand closed around his wrist, he chuckled a little, letting her pull him toward the dance floor. “Lucky for you, I’m an excellent dancer.” He responded when she moved in a little closer, his fingers briefly rubbing the skin of her wrist without a second thought before he let go. “I bet you’ve got some great moves. Show me what you’ve got.”

A small part of Ronan felt bad as he watched his girlfriend’s facial expression go from pure worry to absolute surprise; she’d really been worried about bringing this to light. He watched her with an amused grin, following her movements as she sat up straighter in order to be taller than him. “You worry too much,” Ronan laughed heartily, reaching his hand out to reassuringly touch his girlfriend’s thigh. The words ‘beardy, bulky and idiotic’ definitely described him to a T though, and the description drew out an even deeper laugh that he welcomed happily. “Well, in that case it’s all good - I’m basically the poster child for beardy, bulky and idiotic. Especially idiotic.” He paused as his smile faded a little and he reached out to link his fingers with Madison’s. “Honestly, Carter telling me about it back then helped me realize that I was uh… well, that I was jealous. Crazy jealous.” He raised one eyebrow at Madison with a chuckle and added, “Imagine that, huh? I talked to him a lot when it came to you, actually. He helped me a lot, encouraging me to at least attempt to see if there was anything between us– though that was probably before you two hooked up. Guess I should be thanking him.” He finished that last bit with an amused huff and for a moment, brought Madison’s hand up to his mouth to plant a kiss on the back. “Seriously though, don’t be afraid to tell me things. You can be honest with me. I’d like to think I can handle it.”

I told you so, hangs on the tip of her tongue but instead of uttering the words, Evan lets out a heavy sigh and fights the urge to roll her eyes. “You’re safe,” she answers. “I found you on the outskirts of town in the storm. You nearly froze to death.” Standing, Evan shifts to the small fireplace, shifting the burning embers with a poker before she throws in a new piece of dried wood. The rush of heat is welcoming — even inside the cold has seeped its way through the walls. “Until we can get your temperature under control you’ll feel like shit, but if you need something to eat or something warm to drink, we can get you that as well.” She turns then, letting the heat of the fire wash over her back as she regards him curiously. “What were you doing out there by yourself?” the question comes easily as her arms cross over her chest. “You could have died.”

Jacob licked his lips, cracked and dry as they were. His mind felt sluggish, the information not registering with him as quickly as it would have had he nearly not died from hypothermia. “Which town?” he said hoarsely, looking at the young woman with an unsteady gaze. Nothing else mattered but the fact that he was in the right place -- if he were to die tomorrow from his attempt to get there, he’d die a little bit more at ease knowing he’d at least made it. That meant someone else could make it in his stead. “The one by the foot of the mountain?” A wave of cold sweat washed over him, and it was with a groan that Jacob closed his eyes against the sensation. The room felt hot and cold at the same time, and his body couldn’t seem to make up its mind about which temperature to tap into. The tips of his fingers ached something fierce, and it felt like they were going rot off his hands any second. He slowly shifted to lie on his side, curling up to gingerly bring his hands into his armpits. “I was-- trying-- to get to the town by the foot of the mountain,” he said, a shudder passing through him as he spoke. Jacob hesitated for the briefest of seconds, but it was no use to delay it any longer; even if he failed to get where he’d needed to go, it seemed these people weren’t going to kill him, given that they’d wasted resources to nurse him back to life. He didn’t need to obfuscate the truth. “My people, we’re-- we’re running out of supplies. Fast. We’ve got no medicine left.” He looked at the woman, and there was a sincere desperation in his eyes. “We’re dying.”

Huh, he’s charming, Hazel thought, watching Graham retrieve blankets from a dresser not too far from where she’d looked. “Thank you. I’ve uh… only been here a few hours, obviously,” she answered awkwardly. But there it was of course, the question everyone asked her in regards to this unusual retreat - why? “The houses here take the win over the ones in America, because none of them house my ex-fiancé.” She shrugged nonchalantly (at least she hoped), casting her eyes to the floor for a moment. “Actually, he wasn’t even my fiancé, just– just my boyfriend of three years and two months.” She paused. “Not that I was counting or anything, it’s just–,” she sighed, closing her eyes momentarily. “I came here to escape my partner who broke up with me when I was expecting him to propose,” Hazel huffed out with an awkward smile. “I didn’t want to be asked questions during the holidays, so I decided to come here so I can perish sad and alone in the middle of nowhere.” She chuckled that last part, intending it to be a joke. “Anyway!” she continued, her voice stronger as she moved over to the sofa where Graham had taken a seat to sit down herself. “Tell me about you and Laura? She never mentioned you.”

Already feeling himself on the path to becoming completely sober, Graham focused on Hazel with a lot more clarity as she talked. A joke was on the tip of his tongue before her words made him pause; by the sound of it, she deserved much more decorum than what his joke allowed for, and Graham wasn’t one to let his tongue slip regarding such matters. A small, sympathetic smile played on his lips. “You didn’t want to be asked questions, and now you’re here getting interrogated by an intoxicated Englishman,” he joked mildly, if a little apologetically. He should have figured people don’t just take off halfway across the world for no serious reason around Christmastime. Then he half-sighed, half-chuckled, continuing, “Well, would you have accepted her offer if you knew a strange, drunk man might possibly come knocking on your door?” It was a joke more than anything, as Graham definitely would not have come there had he known somebody else would be staying there, but... for all intents and purposes, it could be true. If Laura had taken off without telling him, he surmised that she direly needed it, and thus didn’t have the time nor energy to explain. For whatever reason. He waved the joke away dismissively and stood up, smiling down at his hostess. “I’m much too sober now to tell you all the embarrassing stories I know about my sister,” Graham said, making it over to his sister’s liquor cabinet and procuring whiskey and a glass. “This whiskey -- like most whiskeys -- is best drunk by more than one person at a time,” Graham joked, holding up a second glass in a gesture aimed at Hazel, “so I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask...?”

Ronan had been ready for anything really; anything but the mention of his best friend Carter. For a moment, his brain struggled to fully grasp what Madison said, but then it clicked and he was unable to hide a little twinge of a smile. Madison was obviously a little nervous about revealing her past encounter with his best friend, that much was obvious from the rapidness with which she uttered the confession, and it was amusing because Ronan already knew. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from teasing her a little. “With Carter?” he brought out, raising his eyebrows for emphasis. He let out a surprised ‘huh’ and rubbed his hand over his mouth and chin. “Didn’t think he was your type, to be honest,” he said steadily with a frown. As he did however, he struggled to keep his composure and eventually dropped the act with a laugh. “Okay, okay – I already knew. He told me. He didn’t want things to be awkward if I … you know, randomly found out that he slept with my other best friend.” At the time, Ronan hadn’t even known Madison was interested in him. Carter hooking up with her was, at the time, not a big deal. His confession had, in the long run, contributed to Ronan realizing he was jealous because he was into Madison himself; if anything, he needed to thank the lawyer. With a grin, Ronan nudged Madison’s leg and continued, “I appreciate you being honest with me, but it’s totally fine. We weren’t together then. Now…,” he paused, stretching backwards slightly on the couch, playful tone still in place, “if you were to tell me you were still interested in tall, dark, lanky and lawyer-y – now that would be a problem.”

Pop’s Diner. The last time Alana remembered setting foot in that place, she’d been on a date in her junior year of high school. She’s gotten all prettied up, shared a milkshake with Chad-whatever-his-name-was, and on the drive home she’d let him touch her breast. The memory made Alana smile now, the innocence and experimentation of her teenage years being rather comical in retrospect. Today, however, she wasn’t meeting Chad, and as far as she knew no one was going to touch her breast -- but she was taking another trip down memory lane. The familiar cling of the door didn’t seem to draw anyone’s attention, which suited Alana just fine. Her eyes swept the vicinity and spotted the entrance to the kitchen and a nearby empty booth, to which she made a beeline. Having been seated so as to not be immediately seen, she couldn’t help the grin on her lips as her childhood best friend missed her entirely. “So you were just gonna walk right past me, huh?” Alana shot playfully at Carrie’s back, crossing her legs under the table and tilting her head to the side. 

she’s being cautious. at least that’s what she tells herself as she sits by his bed. evan had been the one to find him. had been the one to bring him in. if that turned out to be the wrong decision, she should be there to handle the situation, not someone else. so she sits and waits. keeps the fire inside the room burning and the layers of blankets from slipping off the bed. but really? she’s curious. a vast number of questions circulate inside her head, making her antsy in anticipation of finally being able to ask them.

an exhaustion inevitably takes her, shifting her eyes closed as she dozes. the rough grate of a voice is what rouses her and evan jerks awake, momentarily startled. a short beat later has her relaxing into her chair, hands shifting up to rub against her eyes from beneath her glasses. “don’t try to move too much,” she tells him, unconsciously answering his question just by speaking. “i have some pine needle tea if you’d like it. or some warm water. both will help get your body temperature up.”

Instinctively, Jacob did the opposite of what he was told. Had he lost a limb? Lost his motor skills? Had he been strapped down somehow, perceived as a threat, and when he realized it, he would struggle even more? As soon as he tried to sit up, however, every muscle in his body protested violently; he froze up with a painful groan, and slowly sunk back into the bedding. “Where--,” he panted, beads of sweat forming in his forehead despite the fact that a chill ran through his body, “Where am I?” For all he knew, he could’ve been found by someone not belonging to the town, someone belonging to a nearby settlement or underground bunker, which was the last place he needed to be at that moment. Thoughts of his own people ran through his mind, though with a few deep breaths Jacob had worked himself out of a total panic. At the very least he wasn’t dying, and right at that moment, that was the most important part. Whatever happened from here, he could contact his people again eventually. He hoped.