w. belmont

Jake: Yo stud, back in town. I know you're not with ron ron bc i just ran into her. Does that mean youre back to?

Jake: Huge news for the ring bearer. xplain when i see your country bumpkin face, and it better be covered in hickeys

Will: yeah. been chillin out in the barn. ran out of $$$ and cant face the rents yet

Looking at the pile of wood Will was gesturing to, Noel picked one up and tried to follow along with what Will had been doing. Having gotten away with spending most of the day wondering round finding people to talk to he didn’t really know what he was supposed to be doing so took an educated guess and followed the other boys work. “Missed a few assignment, the classic. What about you? Punished for playing a mediocre sport?” He joked before letting out a short laugh at the memory of that classic Kahn prank. “That was hilarious, so worth all the trouble I got in. God knows though, wouldn’t surprise me if they had blue pits for weeks.”

It was common for the opposing male sports teams to jerk each other around about the sports they all played. Hence, Noel dissing basketball by calling it a “mediocre sport.” Will gave a snort and  lightly tapped Noel with a piece of wood. It was all in good fun. No harm, no foul. “You’re one to talk. Lacrosse doesn’t even have any major leagues. Past high school you guys fade irrelevant. Diss it now but you’ll be mad jealous when we make it pro while your ass is still smashing B-cup jailbait.” Will gave a laugh and then handed Noel the extra drill. He didn’t think twice about it because Noel wasn’t the type to get angry as easily as some of the other guys. He took everything with a grain of salt and roll of his shoulders. Because to himself, he was untouchable. “Instead of blue balls, you made it rain blue vags.”

As punishment for some of the girls not meeting their times, their coach made them work on the floats. She said it looked good on the team for helping out but they all knew it only made her look good. Emily didn’t really care, it was less time being at home and she had a day off from work. She walked around with her fellow teammate before seeing Will; she excused herself and walked over to the boy from her math class. She giggled at his comment “At least you now know that isn’t a option in your future, now you can cross that off your possible job list” she said with a smile. “I know what you mean though, my dad usually makes it look so easy. I’m hoping I’m on painting duty or anything else really.”

Will didn’t know a whole lot about Emily. Other than the fact that she was an athlete, and was one of the only two girls from the swim team that didn’t fall victim to Noel’s prank of slipping blue dye into their school’s swimming pool after 6th period a couple months back. Will always thought Noel ripped the idea off of Jake (Will’s Bff) who was the real prankster of Riverwood High. “Your dad’s a carpenter?” Will wasn’t the prying type. He was just making conversation. “How’d you get roped into participating? I can’t imagine you’d be serving time like the rest of us.”

Despite having just spent all of her time with Will, she couldn’t help but wander over to him when she spotted him setting up a float for the parade. It was probably a good sign that she wanted to spend more time with him, right? It at least meant things were going in the right direction. With a smirk on her face, Veronica’s eyes glanced over at the float and she tilted her head to the side. “No, it’s really… nice,” she teased, pressing her lips to his cheek as a greeting. “But I think you probably have a better chance at a future in basketball.”

He could tell by the smirk that a sarcastic New Yorker quip was coming. Not that Will minded. He liked that Veronica constantly kept him on his toes. They weren’t exactly an official couple yet but they were well on their way to becoming one again. And he couldn’t be happier. “Ha ha,” he mock laughed but then actually laughed. “Tell me how you really feel,” Will joked. It was a rhetorically sarcastic comment. Given she already told him how she felt in that he sucked but followed it up in a way that strangely boosted his confidence? She was right. He still had basketball. “I missed you,” Will sighed after a moment, as he leaned down to gently kiss her cheek. His breath still lingered on her skin while he took her hand in his, “Guess this means your mom didn’t ground you for running away to see me, huh?”

An amused smirk appeared as he walked forward, eyeing the floats Will was working on. They definitely needed a little more work, but he couldn’t do any better so he held his tongue. “Oh, I wasn’t going to say that at all. You totally have a future in building house, but… maybe just for hamsters, yeah?” He joked, knowing very well that Will didn’t like him but he wanted to keep the conversation light.

“Hilarious,” Will scoffed while that voice in the back of his head reminded him to play nice. Maybe, he and Caleb got off on the wrong foot. Hanna wasn’t in Will’s life anymore and there was no reason the two couldn’t get along. Unless, both realized they really just couldn’t stand each other. Thus, Will was going to try harder to make an effort. “I think I’ll just stick to basketball. How was Cali?” Will didn’t know a whole lot about Caleb’s reasons for ditching Vegas but he knew he left for California.

She hadn’t intended to see Will, she was literally just taking a shortcut to drop off a load of pastries for the Sheriff and the cops of duty. Something her mom had asked her to do seeing as they were all working extra hours to oversee the parade. But as she darted past a few of the floats still in preparation she spotted him and her eyes narrowed at seeing him back after he to had done a disappearing act. She could spare a few minutes and she really needed to clear the air and make things right between them so she headed over, letting out a small chuckle at his comment. “Oh I know….our back door you ‘fixed’ a while back still has the massive crack in it.” she replied, voice teasing somewhat. 

Though, things were still a little tense with Emma and a lot of things remained unspoken, Will wasn’t interested in avoiding her. Shit happened and they both made mistakes. If Will wanted Emma to get past his, he had to get past hers. And thus, he was more than willing to put any prior bullshit behind them, and in the past. Right now, he could use all the friends he could get anyway. After he left town to dodge a brutal beating from his father, Will hid out in a hotel room 3 hours away from town on Jake’s dime after doing him a few favors. He fixed things with Veronica and in the spirit of making amends and moving forward, he also wanted to calm the waters with Emma. “Yeah well, if someone wasn’t so clumsy I wouldn’t have had to ‘fix’ it in the first place.” Will laughed as he recalled that night he convinced Emma to sneak out with him for a late night picnic by the lake. It was the first time she had ever gotten drunk and she ended up stumbling directly into her back door when he tried dropping her off at home. That’s when she hit her head against the door and Will carried her up to her bedroom. He barely got out without waking Maggie but somehow managed to tuck her in safe and sound and still make it home in time before his dad noticed he had gone missing the night before one of his big games. 

The last place that Betty wanted to be right now was at the parade, although as a writer on the school paper (the only one), she couldn’t exactly skip out on it. She was still shaken up over the whole Ghostface thing, her hair mostly hidden under a baseball cap and out of it’s usual ponytail. It was hardly obvious, but to her it seemed like a flashing neon sign. Since then she had hardly been sleeping, a fact that was made more apparent by bags under her eyes and the lack of makeup on her face. Which is why she let out a breath that was more of a sigh when none other than Will turned around to address her, hoping to avoid seeing him when she looked like this. “It’s more than I could do,” she offered, tugging down on the brim of her hat as if she would be able to disappear behind it.

It didn’t take a genius to notice that something was off with Betty. Her usual attire was different for starters. Her pastel colors, neat ponytail and all natural make up were non existent. And to replace them was more layers, bags under her eyes and a baseball cap. Will wouldn’t even think Betty would own one of those. It was a little big too which made him think she must’ve borrowed it. As soon as she came completely into view, (more so than when he first addressed her), Will’s brows pulled together with concern as he stepped closer. “Hey, are you okay?”

At school Noel did a lot of bad things and got his fair share of punishments for it, all the way from detentions for skipping classes to suspensions for getting in fights. His recent week of missed homework assignments had landed him helping out with the thanksgiving day parade floats. After spending a fair share of his time there wondering around, he was sent over to help one of the other boys. “I wasn’t going to say anything,” Noel commented, trying to resist laughing at the other boys work. “Although if I ever needed some handy work done for me I definitely won’t be calling you. Let me give you a hand.”

The familiar voice caused Will to roll his shoulders as he glanced beside himself and saw Noel Kahn lending a helping hand. Knowing he wouldn’t do it of his own volition, Will’s brows pulled together questioningly. The free manual labor could only mean one thing for the jocks currently helping to put the main float together; they were all serving their own punishments. Noel, included. “I’d appreciate it,” Will gestured to a stack of wood planks that needed to be drilled onto the core platform. Will had successfully finished 2 and was struggling with the third because the wood kept splitting. “Didn’t peg you as the type to do free manual labor. What’d you get detained for? Putting blue dye in the school’s girls swimming pool again? By the way, how long do you think it took them to wash all that off? That one chick Kara still looked like a smurf 3 days later.”

Riley straigthened herself and shook her head- a sigh escaping her lips as Will approached her. “ No, I was actually going to say that you’re doing a good job for someone who probably didn’t knew nothing about this before today.” she tried to compliment the other. “ But…yeah, no future in the carpentry should be on your wishlist because that would be hard to get. Not impossilbe, but hard.”

“Thanks, Riles.” Will flashed Riley a small smile, grateful for the words of encouragement attached. As soon as the silence filtered in a moment later, Will brushed off his hands on his jeans and leaned against the wooden plank he had just drilled several holes in. “It’s been awhile. How have you been?”

As fun as his little getaway from Riverwood was, it was time to get back in the game. Especially if Will wanted out of this town for good. He was helping set up one of the floats for the parade (his punishment for missing three consecutive practices), when he caught the eye of someone he knew, making their way towards him. “Before you say it, I’m aware I don’t have a future in carpentry.” 

RONNIE: Where are you?

Jake had planned to stay in bed all day watching old movies with Brooke, but there was something from his house that he needed; an heirloom his mother, Vera, gave to him in Mexico over the summer. Vera always knew she’d give it to Jake. This past summer seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so. Vera had a long, deep conversation with Brooke before the blonde put her guard down and confessed her love to her childhood best friend. Brooke always knew, but she needed someone to talk to. Monica was no help and Quinn, well he wasn’t exactly a Jake fan. That left her friends, which were biased when it came to Jake. Vera was her best option; honest, supportive, and there for her little hermosa. After that conversation with Brooke, Vera found Jake and handed him a ring. The brown eyed boy looked up confused at first, why was she handing him a ring and why was she upset? Did something happen between his parents? No. Quite the opposite, these were happy tears. “Not now, Chico, but one day, you’re going to need this, for Brooke. When the time is right and not a day before. This isn’t to encourage you to rush into such a big commitment, but it’s a reminder of what you and I have always known. This ring has been in my family for generations, and when you and Brooke are in the place I was in when your father proposed, you’ll need this.” It was Vera’s blessing. She’d known for as long as Jake has, that they would end up together and after her talk with Brooke, she knew this was the time to hand it over to Jake; not to use right away, but to hold onto. “Thanks, mom.” Jake looked up, past Vera was Brooke walking across the sand coming over to them. “Now, shh. For when you know…” funny thing is, Jake already knew. He was just waiting for Brooke to realize it too. That night Brooke asked Jake out. No more hiding and no more back and forth; she confessed her love for the first time and Jake would have taken the ring out in that moment but it would have been too soon. So he hid it in his bedroom and planned to use it after they finished high school. Propose during graduation. In front of everyone. But, Brooke beat him to it by a year. And now he was texting Will to retrieve that very ring to make it official.

“Babe, I have to ask you for a huge favor. I know we just took the drive yesterday but I got another 911 from Will. We need to meet him back at the park. I’ll get you food on the way and we’ll stop by some attractions and do something fun.” They were both sore and exhausted but it would be good to get some fresh air and do something outside of the house for a couple of hours. At least, that’s what he was trying to persuade her with. The real reason he wanted to go was so that he could get the ring from Will. It took a few kisses and some light pleading with, but Jake got her in the behemoth and they stopped for pancakes and some snacks on the way. “C’mon, gorgeous.” Jake helped her from the truck. He didn’t want her to wait behind. If he learned anything at all, it was that they needed to stick together. Especially when Quinn was still missing and Tyler was on the hunt. As they walked hand-in-hand, Jake stopped by the same ice cart he met Will at before and bought Brooke a rainbow sherbet again. “Did you know there’s a horse ranch around here? Are you too sore to ride with me, like old times?” when they were younger, Brooke tried teaching Jake how to ride a horse. He was awful and scared and had to sit behind Brooke on her horse for the longest time before he finally realized what ‘male pride’ was and insisted he ride his own.

When Will came into view, Jake stepped closer with a casual, “what’s up, dude?” though his face read differently, ‘do you got the box?’ He wasn’t sure if Will peeked, but he knew Will most likely figured it out. I mean, it was obvious. It was in an old leather box, straight out of mexico. “Brooke popped the question…” Jake told his friend up close, “time for me to lock it up for real. You’re the first and only to know. I love you bro for making this possible. I owe you more than one. I owe you everything and I’m gonna start making shit up to you ASAP….” Jake placed his hand out for him to shake, “We cool?”

@xmoron

After receiving Jake’s vague but urgent messages, Will assured Veronica he’d be back. He kept the details to a minimum. Not because he was protecting Jake’s desires for secrecy (although maybe) but Will genuinely didn’t know more than what was sent to him via imessages. Granted, when one of them called in a 9-1-1 emergency, the other always swooped in and had his back. As many times as Jake came through for Will when he needed it the most, Will figured he kinda owed him one. Or several. Afterall, if it weren’t for Jake, Will currently wouldn’t have a place to stay. The hotel Will was crashing at, was paid for by the Jake-truly.

Riverwood was an estimated 5 hours away. That was to and back. That gave Will a good enough window to slip into town unnoticed. It was early in the morning, like 9 am and Jake’s parents were still sleeping. Will used the spare key Jake kept hidden for him under one of the boards in the cabanas out back. Will was careful not to wake Vera, knowing if she heard him, she’d likely maul him to death. The Nike shoebox was exactly where Jake said it would be. Will rummaged through it until his fingers gripped the black leather box. As curious as he was, he didn’t open it. Really, he didn’t need to. Anyone with half a brain could figure out what it was. Will wasn’t entirely sure what Jake was planning to do with it. Maybe he aimed to sell the ring for cash so he and Brooke could continue to hide out and live off of it. Who knows. Deep down, Will had a feeling Jake was planning to do something really stupid. Not that he could really judge him. He’s done his fair share of stupid things. Especially in the name of love. For Jake, it had always been different. And perhaps, Will was a little too harsh and judgemental the last time he saw him.

Either way, when Will arrived, he had the box tucked away safely in his pocket. And thank god he did because when he arrived Brooke was already there with Jake. She smiled at the two of them and Will couldn’t help but notice how both of his friends were glowing. As soon as Jake pulled him aside, Will knew why. Jake was planning something stupid and permanent. Yet, Will had never seen him happier. And it was definitely weird. But, in some bizarre way, Will was kind of envious? “Shouldn’t this be done the other way around?” Will joked. He waited until Brooke’s back was slightly turned before he took out the box and thrust it secretively into Jake’s hands. “With you, ya know, you popping the q instead?” Will talking about it, might’ve suggested that he wasn’t judging and was lowkey lending his support. Maybe he was? Maybe a little bit of time away from Riverwood helped him to gain alternative perspective. Will couldn’t say he was confident Jake was thinking this all through but he didn’t come to fight. Or even argue. He came because Jake had always been there for him. And if he needed that now, well, Will supposed he could try to get on board with the idea. “We’re cool,” Will half smiled as he balled his hand into a fist and bumped knuckles with Jake. “I wouldn’t go out of my way to be a part of this if not. I hope you know what you’re doing. But, either way. I got your back.” This time Will held out his hand and when Jake shook it, they half hugged. Will stopped and pushed Jake off with a playful shove when he caught Brooke looking. He didn’t want to blow the surprise by acting all serious and mushy so Will played it off like Jake said something totally outlandish, “Yo man, no way!”

Jake: Yeah. Stealth mission dude, like when i used to sneak you over. [ because will had a habit of running away ]

Jake: i owe you

Will: got it

Jake: Yeah it is. You'll see.

Jake: K. txt me when you got it and txt me when ur on your way.

Jake: & yo, dont be snoopin through my stuff. grab n' go

Will: ok 👌🏼

Will: yeah yeah. What about the rents? They still home?

Jake: Brooooo. BRO COME ON.

Jake: Nothing against ron ron but she told ty i was with brooke. This is a serious matter. Like, more serious than everything else. She cant wait at the hotel for a few?

Will: fine.

Will: what's this 911 about anyway? Brooke?