justincalhoun-blog

[justincalhoun-blog]

6♠️ & 6♣️

↬ CASSINO TIME!

6♠️ - Does your muse believe in fate/destiny?

To some extent yes. He sort of feels like the universe has its own set course but with hard work and dedication, you can alter your path in the slightest.

6♣️ - How do your muse’s “gut feelings” usually turn out?

Fun fact Justin is sort of psychic, he can predict things like 75% of the time. He once made a $500 bet with his brother that the 49ers would win the 24th super bowl, they shook on it and on January 28th 1990 Justin Calhoun had just become $500 richer.

[justincalhoun-blog]

all the A's

↬ CASSINO TIME!

A♥️ - Who was the first person your muse ever fell in love with?

If we’re being really honest, it was probably Kelly LeBrock in Weird Science. As a twelve year old seeing a woman walk out of a cloud of smoke after just being created in a computer program blew his little mind. But if we’re talking about people he’s actually interacted with, he’d have to give that title to Julie Adelman who he’d known since grade school. He tried to kiss her after his high school team won a baseball game and she punched him in the nose before never speaking to him again.

A♣️ - What’s your muse’s strongest talent?

He doesn’t have many talents but he’s a pretty face typer. But that’s not much of a talent, is it? He can sort of play the drums, there was a period of time where he really considered starting a band and he learned to play the drums but gave it up after a few years.

A♦️ - What is the most important message your muse has ever received?

Probably his acceptance letter to Columbia. He reread the letter about thirty times just to make sure he was reading it correctly. He remembers his parents both  crying and his brother sitting at the other end of the table with a smug smile on his face.

A♠️ - What was the most painful loss your muse had to go through?

Long before Jamie, Justin best friend was Daniel Breen. They lived on the same street since they were kids. Danny and Justin were always together, their parents ended up becoming close and he practically become another brother to Justin. As the got older as Justin focused more on baseball, Danny grew further away from Justin. He was Justin go to friend for getting drunk, he always either had alcohol or was able to get some. He died in a drunk driving accident months before Justin went off to Columbia. It’s partially the reason he was a little quiet in his first months of college. He doesn’t like to talk about it in the hopes that he’d forget about it.

[justincalhoun-blog]

↬ jamiefwalsh:

↬ graciewclsh:

It never ceased to get old, looking out on to the Washington skyline as if she had some claim to the city, sitting with her two best friends in the entire world- her family. It was moments like this that she refused to let herself take for granted, soaking everything in, almost unable to tear herself away from the view to look at the menu that had been placed in front of her. There was something magic to the atmosphere, a radiance that came from the sheer exclusiveness of it all- people aware that they were in on a secret.

“One exclusive restaurant at a time.” She laughed, as though there was anywhere else in the city that could be so picture perfect. Although the restaurant was exclusive and extravagant, reserved for the upper-echelon of the food society, she couldn’t help but already feel at home at the tucked away table. Though she could have been comfortable anywhere given the company. “I don’t know who could top this.”

She looked down for a brief moment to study the specialty drinks, eyes constantly trying to flicker back the view as though it could disappear at any moment. “Where do we even start?” Though she normally ordered a glass of wine in public, always finding it simpler than picking something she may or may not have liked. But given the menu in front of her she couldn’t imagine just shrugging and going with her safe bet. “Anything but gin.”

Tonight was one of Jamie Walsh’s rare nights off, and he had chosen to spend it with family. In recent months, tearing himself away from the White House had become quite difficult as the administration doubled down on energy reform. He was almost considering moving into his office for how much time he’d been spending there. Even now, sitting on the rooftop terrace with the best company he could imagine, Jamie’s thoughts wandered back to the work he’d left unfinished on his desk.

And yet, they hadn’t even ordered drinks and there was something intoxicating in the atmosphere. He looked at Gracie sitting beside him, and Justin sitting across from him, and smiled. Work could wait. The air was just cool enough that he was thankful for the herringbone sports coat he was wearing, buttoned across his chest over a black sweater. “The view is certainly… something,” Jamie said, and looked down over the National Mall, city lights glinting brightly off the reflecting pool like glass. It’s almost sweeter, he thought, that it’s a secret. 

Jamie turned his attention to the carved wooden menu at Gracie’s prompting, eyes scanning over the different combinations of exotic ingredients. Anything but gin, his sister said, and Jamie smiled. He knew that. It was one of those facts about Gracie that he’d filed away in the back of his mind, along with her favorite color and her favorite TV show. ( Robin’s egg blue and Dawson’s Creek. ) 

He brought a finger to the menu as one in particular caught his eye. “Gracie, what do you think about the ‘Violet Royale’? Dom Perignon and Creme de Violette,” he said, and grinned, glancing between the two of them. “It’s a liqueur made from wild violets picked in the Alps. It only became available in the U.S. around ten years ago.” He would have opted for a beer in a dive bar, or a bourbon somewhere on Pennsylvania Avenue, but the circumstances demanded something more. “First round’s on me, by the way.”

“We’re just a bunch of lucky bastards aren’t we?” He takes a few seconds to take it all in. The view is gorgeous he must admit but shift his eyes to left just a tad more and by his side are two people he holds close to his heart.

The sight of the two of them looking over the menu reminds him of sitting across the table from his older brother and his mother. Not only did they remind of him of family, they practically were his family. Between twenty-odd years of being Jamie’s best friend and his weekly catch up sessions with Gracie would place them up there besides his mother with the most interaction he’s ever had with people. It may seem odd to anyone one else but between the three there was an inseparable bond. 

He looks down at his own menu eyes running over the dozens of drink combinations. Some with Liquors he’s never heard of. Luckily for him their resident drink specialist was within arms reach. He places the menu back on his table and listens to Jamie explain ‘Violet Royale’. He rolls his eyes at Jamie when he offers to cover the drinks.

“Firstly Walsh, this entire things on me so don’t even think about reaching for your wallet tonight, this goes fro you too Gracie. Secondly, what should I go for, there’s too many options so you’re the final say here.” 

[justincalhoun-blog]

hans-starke:

“Oh wow,” Hans sighs– pleased. Resting the latest Washington Post issue face down on the table, he turns to his companion, smile ready. “I actually don’t think I’ll even have to try at all get this thing to die.” This thing, being the Energy Reform Bill, of course. “It’s already shitty enough as it is.” 

Justin watches Hans toss the paper on their table. He nods and leans back into his seat as he smears cream cheese onto his bagel. “Lucky for you,” he says more focused on his bagel. “I’m all for change or whatever, but this a big push. This bill aint’ moving.”

[justincalhoun-blog]

juliettejacobson:

Coffee was the life blood of the congressional staffer.  Juliette may have had a much more important role, but some things never changed.  However, when she looked up from her cup to see someone standing there, Juliette’s eyebrow rose.  Five minutes.  All she wanted was five minutes.  “You know, sometimes I think I should buy stock in a coffee company with how much I drink it.”  She rubbed at her temple then and sighed.  “One evening of fun and now we’re back to the grind.  Did you have a nice Halloween?”

The amount of coffee he consumed was quickly approaching a dangerous level. Yet the daily grind of the federal government hadn’t stopped and nor would he. Although he wasn’t opposed to taking days off to just reset from the night before or even the week before but today, he decided to show up. Even though he had a coffee as soon as he got out of bed this morning he could already feel himself slowing down. He made his way to the capitol for a meeting on home based cyber attacks but decided to make a quick coffee pit stop. “Oh believe me, I think you and I would be scrooge mcducking it if we bought stocks.” he says, his lips upturned in a smile. He empties a raw sugar packet and then a splenda packet in his cup. “What do you consider nice? I got more than 4 hours of sleep so I’m thinking that’s something. What about you?”

[justincalhoun-blog]

[ wimbledon ↬ justin & evelynn ]

This has to be at least their ninth time doing this, in the past three months alone. The whole search for who’ll last Justin more than three weeks (read as: who’ll put up with Justin for more than an hour) began years ago, when Evelynn realized she’d potentially loose her husband to his perpetual bachelor of a best friend. 

Justin wasn’t a bad guy on paper. He had a nice relatively clean apartment, a stable job, and he wasn’t too hard on the eyes either. Yet what he lacked was commitment, growing bored of things fairly quickly and wanting to move on to something new. He knew it was shitty; getting bored of you girlfriend after months or more often weeks, in his case. But the day always came where he’d roll over, wake up, and call it quits.

It wasn’t like he didn’t envy what Jamie and Evelynn had, there was always a small part of him that liked the idea of getting married and going down that preconceived all American path. Yet every time he’d look up from a menu on a dinner date or watch as she ordered a drink from a bartender, he could never see a future with her and knew exactly when he’d wake up and have to make that phone call. 

“Hi Anna, you’re absolutely wonderful, I just don’t see it working between us.”

So as he checks his watch for the third time in the last 15 minutes and takes another sip of red wine, he looks for where he can make his great escape. Although Evelynn does this out of the lack of kindness in her heart, every time they sit across from one another it becomes a tennis match of passive aggressive remarks and they’re both playing for olympic gold.

He resists the urge to roll his eyes when he notices her enter and opts instead to knock back the last of his drink so he’ll have enough time to come up with his serve. As he places his glass back on to the white table cloth, he licks what’s left of his wine off his lips. “Glad you could show up to the dinner you made the reservation for, how’ve you been?”

@evelynnxcarmichael

[justincalhoun-blog]

JUSTIN CALHOUN ↬ WAYNE CAMPBELL (WAYNE’S WORLD)

Justin can vividly remember going to see this movie in his twenties and it instantly becoming one of his all time favourites. Although his original plans were either LBJ or Tony Montana, nothing beats a wig, baseball cap, a black t-shirt and some jeans.

[justincalhoun-blog]

[ family ties ↬ justin, @graciewclsh & @jamiefwalsh ]

Lorenzo was reserved for him and Gracie and almost every five star restaurant was reserved for Jamie and him, which only left one place for the three of them. The 202 was amid of all the hustle and bustle of downtown Washington, D.C. but nestled up on the 22nd floor was practically invisible to the common passer by. But, to those immersed in the D.C. food scene 202 was a incredibly well kept secret. Knowledge only passed by word of mouth and some card handed to you by the person recommending it to you. The three digit code printed on the little black card was all you needed to get in, from there you’d become in on the secret and understood what the hubbub was all about.

The entire restaurant was a wrap around terrace. At the center was the bar and behind black walls was the kitchen. Wherever you sat, there was a gorgeous view of all of D.C. perfect for Instagram. Although you weren’t allowed to post anything regarding the exact location of the place. Although between the three they we’re sufficiently versed in the Capitol’s food scene, this was another level. 

Neither Gracie, Jamie or Justin were handed a little black card but instead we’re personally invited by the owner and head chef himself. Coincidentally, they’d met at some cocktail soirée at an opening of some other restaurant. So when the trio had arrived they were escorted by the Maitre D to a secluded table with a look straight onto the national mall. As the sun set the view was simply spectacular.

As they took their seats, the owner himself came out to introduce himself and place their menus on the table he’d carved himself from Brazilian Mahogany. They were encouraged to order whatever they desired since they were under the care of his best waitress.

As Justin flipped through the cocktail menu he whistled. “I think we need to befriend more people like Etienne,”

[justincalhoun-blog]

Justin can vividly remember entering his dad’s office for the very first time. The six foot, scrawny actuary that was his dad was a simple man. He remembers walking in with his brother and being very underwhelmed. Where his brother had talked about huge windows, a big mahogany desk and liquor cabinet that went unmatched, what met them on the other side of the door was very different. One crummy window looked out onto the street bellow, the desk that took up a majority of the small room and two huge filing cabinets pushed up against the wall that’d hit the back of his chair whenever he’d scoot back. The only good part where the bulky upholstered chairs, they were asked to be seated in as their dad finished up his last calculations.

As Justin grew older, he knew he wanted the office originally described to him by his brother. So just that he did, although the office lacked the floor to ceiling windows, everything else was just as described. A mahogany desk sat at the center with a liquor cabinet just off to his left.

Justin looks up from his laptop only to see one of the interns enter with the aged whisky he’d ordered last week in hand. He couldn’t stop the smile on his face as the intern hurried towards him at his beckoning.

“50 year old bottle of whisky! Only ran me about a grand—Would you like to sample it?” He asks over his intern’s shoulder.

[justincalhoun-blog]

graciewclsh:

Interesting. She laughs again as if there’s anything funny about the situation; but if she didn’t keep her mind off the details then it was simply a bad night out. It was simply the kind of thing that greasy pizza was made to heal, she reminds herself as she takes another bite, tomato sauce threatening to drip on her chin. Instead it stains her fingers red, but there’s time for a napkin later. “Interns asked? I didn’t realize I was in the presence of a celebrity.” For all his self-depreciating humor, she had to wonder who asked about his night. “I think they were happy there wasn’t the need for a replacement.” She always held out a faint glimmer of hope that his job wasn’t quite what he described- but every story wore away at that notion.

“I can’t believe TMZ ran it. Once a story hits tabloids, there’s nothing good left.” She used to chide herself for always bringing conversations back to her job, as though Justin needed some kind of lecture about how the news was produced. But she’s learned to let the little additions into her conversations, if only because he doesn’t seem to mind as much as she thinks he should. “There’s only so many ways to keep a handful of facts entertaining” Which is being generous when it comes to the level of fallacy she’s read before published in the name of breaking news.

“Next gala I’ll be tempted to stay home and watch my Netflix queue.” As if the next event wouldn’t need twice the media coverage. But it was so far in the distance, she could at least dream of the scenario where she was cozy in her apartment, safe from whatever happened. “I’m talking suggestions now, in preparation.”

He watches with an intensity only reserved for her. It’s been around since they’ve started doing this whole pizza thing. Listening and watching diligently as she talked about anything everything. He’d become a great listener in all the years of friendship with her brother, that he had no problem listening to her exhaust herself as their pizza got cold; it was therapeutic in a way. 

He chuckles and puts down his slice and then reaches for a napkin. “Yeah, don’t worry— you’ll get an autograph before we leave tonight.” He places his arms down on the edge of the table, careful to make sure his white button down doesn’t get stained. He moves his head from left to right, as if he’s weighing the truthfulness of her statement.”Ehh, probably.” He says with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“Woah don’t rag on TMZ too hard, it’s where I get all my Kardashian news,” A smile tugs at his lips as he awaits her response. As though there’s absolutely no truth in his statement (he probably can’t even name a Kardashian) he was never opposed to toying around with Gracie. “Mmhm,” He says almost absent-mindedly as he pulls a piece of pepperoni off his slice and puts it in his mouth.

“See now that’s smart, I have tons of shows to catch up on,” He reaches for the napkins again, pulling out a couple for her and handing them over the table to her. “For Netflix shows? The Sopranos is a classic if you haven’t already seen it, and Westworld too,”

[justincalhoun-blog]

✧ for hans

THAT’S WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU!

send a diamond for what Justin thinks about your muses…

I would kill you. ✧ I would physically hurt you. ✧ I would attack you unprovoked. ✧ I would manipulate you. ✧ I dislike you. ✧ You annoy me. ✧ You scare me. ✧ You intimidate me. ✧ I hope I intimidate you. ✧ I pity you. ✧ You disgust me. ✧ I hate you. ✧ I’m indifferent toward you. ✧ I’d like to get to know you better. ✧   I’d like to spend more time with you. ✧ I’d like to be friends with you. ✧  I’m unsure what to think of you. ✧ I’m unsure how I feel about you. ✧ You are my friend. ✧ You are my best friend. ✧ You are my mentor. ✧ I look up to you. ✧ I respect you. ✧ You are my hero. ✧ You inspire me. ✧ You are my enemy. ✧ You make me happy. ✧ I want to protect you. ✧ I would fight by your side. ✧ I consider you an equal. ✧ I think you are beneath me. ✧ I think you are above me. ✧ I would lie for you. ✧ I would lie to you. ✧ I would sleep with you. ✧ I would sleep by your side. ✧ I would hug you. ✧ I would kiss you. ✧ You are family to me. ✧ I would die for you. ✧ I would kill for you. ✧ I would trust you with my life. ✧ I would trust you with my most precious belonging. ✧ I would trust you with a secret. ✧ I would trust you with my biggest / darkest secret. ✧ I love you (platonically). ✧ I love you (romantically).

[justincalhoun-blog]

meme for jamie obv

THAT’S WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU!

send a diamond for what Justin thinks about your muses…

I would kill you. ✧ I would physically hurt you. ✧ I would attack you unprovoked. ✧ I would manipulate you. ✧ I dislike you. ✧ You annoy me. ✧ You scare me. ✧ You intimidate me. ✧ I hope I intimidate you. ✧ I pity you. ✧ You disgust me. ✧ I hate you. ✧ I’m indifferent toward you. ✧ I’d like to get to know you better. ✧   I’d like to spend more time with you. ✧ I’d like to be friends with you. ✧  I’m unsure what to think of you. ✧ I’m unsure how I feel about you. ✧ You are my friend. ✧ You are my best friend. ✧ You are my mentor. ✧ I look up to you. ✧ I respect you. ✧ You are my hero. ✧ You inspire me. ✧ You are my enemy. ✧ You make me happy. ✧ I want to protect you. ✧ I would fight by your side. ✧ I consider you an equal. ✧ I think you are beneath me. ✧ I think you are above me. ✧ I would lie for you. ✧ I would lie to you. ✧ I would sleep with you. ✧ I would sleep by your side. ✧ I would hug you. ✧ I would kiss you. ✧ You are family to me. ✧ I would die for you. ✧ I would kill for you. ✧ I would trust you with my life. ✧ I would trust you with my most precious belonging. ✧ I would trust you with a secret. ✧ I would trust you with my biggest / darkest secret. ✧ I love you (platonically). ✧ I love you (romantically).

[justincalhoun-blog]

[justincalhoun-blog]

jamiefwalsh:

He took the beer when it was offered, giving a small nod in acknowledgement. Jamie wasn’t even sure that he wanted a drink, but Justin was just as gracious a host as he had been in college, coffee table complete with a bag of potato chips and six pack of beer. He wrapped his hand around the cold bottle, not even bothering to open it, and leaned back into the couch. 

Justin got right to it, thankfully. The small talk that preceded most of his other conversations had vanished between the two of them long ago. Few people would have sat down and immediately told him that he looked like shit, which was the honest-to-god truth. Twenty years of friendship could do that for you. Jamie leaned his head back onto the couch cushion and closed his eyes, a hand shooting up to massage his temples. 

“Evelynn miscarried,” he said, blinking his eyes open.Getting down to brass tacks was Jamie’s specialty. The words came out flat and quiet, his face an image of marble, placid and cold. The light in the center of the ceiling burned brightly in his vision, and he could hear it buzzing faintly. Still waters run deep. So deep, in fact, that it would seem he didn’t care one lick that it had happened at all. If Justin hadn’t known him so well, maybe he would think that, too. 

He lifted his head again, and it felt like there was a lead weight attached to the base of his skull. Rotating his body to look at his friend, Jamie leaned forward to place the untouched beer back on the coffee table. “She told me yesterday,” he continued, his mouth dry. “It happened last week.” There was more that he wasn’t saying. Jamie would get to it, eventually, forcing the words out with that ruthless efficiency he’d always relied on.

He watches silently as Jamie sinks into his couch. The air in the room is heavy and tense. His bottle is slowly brought to his lips as the game continues in the corner of his eye. The Giants just scored a touchdown but it’s the least of his concerns right now.

They don’t have quiet conversations like these. They’re both very blunt people, not hesitating to say what they need to, when they need to. Right now is very different, and quite frankly it’s freaking Justin out.

As Jamie’s hand shoots up to his temples, the bottle parts from his lips and is held tightly in his hands as he sets it down in his lap. He begins to say something along the lines of “just drop the fucking ball already!” but it doesn’t even get the chance to leave his lips because Jamie throws him one out of left field so hard that he’s so shocked it sails over his head.

Justin’s opinion of Evelynn wasn’t the highest, but he was no cold hearted bastard either. He could only imagine what kind of pain she’d be going through at this exact moment and he leaves himself a mental note to at least try and send or some flowers or whatever the equivalent was when you miscarry.

But then he’s brought back to the moment and his best friend sitting right across from him. Although his tone of voice would of thrown anyone else off, Justin knows he’s torn up. Anyone close to Jamie could tell you he’d love to have kids and could personally attest to the fact that he’d be a great dad.

Justin sits silently watching Jamie even more closely now. As he puts down his unopened beer, his eyes never leave Jamie’s face. It’s a silently way of saying “I’m sorry for your loss.” while he searches for the right words.

He waits for Jamie to finish speaking, all the while shaking his head with every word he says. “Dear god, I know how much...it meant to you...I’m sorry you two have gotta’ deal with that,” he says knuckles turning white as the grip on his bottle tightens.

flashback | 2012

[justincalhoun-blog]

gracie:

Her laughter rings out, a little loud, but she’s not concerned that someone is going to come over and tell them to keep it down. After this long, they were hardly strangers to the staff, and there was no one else to disturb. “I think I’d end up here even in the afterlife.” Haunting a pizza restaurant for all eternity, what a thought.

Pulling a slice towards herself, the smell of grease eased whatever tension had been left over from the day. “Jealousy.” She’d laugh again if she wasn’t already taking a bite. “I didn’t know anything that hadn’t already been covered.” In all the chaos, she’d hardly been able to locate where the gunshots were coming from when they rang out, let alone be able to tell a version of the story that hadn’t already been repeated in every other paper. “I wasn’t as good of a quote as a senator or Bruno Mars so no quotes, just basic fact checking and details. I wasn’t supposed to be there in any official capacity anyways.” Her fingers are red with the tomato sauce, a mess that she’s gotten so used to she hardly notices it. “What about the CCRSB? As thoughtful as your brother?”

He smiles down at his pizza as her laughter rings out. Years ago, they may have been nervous to disturb the peace of the place where they were the only two who actually stayed for longer than 10 minutes. Now the place has practically become theirs, staff wasn’t bothered; in fact they welcomed them to stay for hours and even gave them free refills. “Well you won’t be alone so,” He adds before taking another bite.

He nods along as she talks. Making sure to take in every detail as his slice drips grease onto his paper plate and down his hand. “Hmm, yeah I imagine, it’s been front page of every paper. I think even TMZ got a piece of it.” He quickly takes a bite before shaking is head and starting again. “Right, right— I mean I Wasn’t either, so. At least your night off was interesting right?” As if a stabbing was anything but terrifying, Justin felt the need to spin it as if it was an everyday occurrence. In all fairness, growing up in the Bronx he saw his fair share of stabbings, shootings and deaths.

He puts down his slice with a scoff and begins cleaning of his hands. “Eh, not really. As integral as I may be, there’s a replacement waiting if I ever did croak. Had a couple interns ask though, they get excited over everything.”

[justincalhoun-blog]

graciewclsh:

She’d given up trying to make it on time to Lorenzo’s after realizing that Justin would order and be okay even if she didn’t make it right on time. He always seemed to understand her flurry of unorganized binders and pause to make sure every important email sent. It had taken time to get to that level of comfort, but now she set her bag on the floor with a sigh and pulled a piece of cheese pizza towards her before she answered his question.

“Good thing you’re ending the day with pizza, very healthy.” She tried to joke before answering his concerns. “I’m fine, shaken at first but I’m okay.” The question had been asked so many times now she’d thought that there would finally be an easy answer. But sitting across the table from Justin made her words stutter once again. “What about you? Everything alright?”

“Carb loading with pizza,” He speaks through a mouthful of pizza before wiping his mouth a paper napkin. He could tell by the way she dropped her bag that today has been long for both of them. His tie was loosened way before 2:30 and he couldn’t wait to just sink into his couch at home. But this was technically the last meeting of the day and one he for sure couldn’t miss.

“Good, never saw you leave so I got a little worried not gonna’ lie. Thought I’d be eating here alone for the rest of my life,” He jokes tugging at another slice which brings along with it a trail of molten mozzarella. “Yeah I’m doing fine, got a call from my brother actually, wanted to see if I was the one stabbed,” he shrugs in response.

“What about work?” He asks nodding towards her bag. “I’m sure your friends must have exploded with questions and a little bit of jealousy. How’d the day after go down?”

[justincalhoun-blog]

[ para 002 ↬ justin & @graciewclsh ]

They’d gotten split up pretty fast after the event. Amongst all the commotion he couldn’t find her and between the gunshots and some baby intern getting stabbed it was a pretty crazy night. But once he’d gotten conformation that she was okay he sent her off message making sure they we’re still on for their weekly pizza chat even though he missed their last meeting. He sat at their table right by the window with a half pepperoni, half cheese and a small white pizza.

He’s already on his second slice as she makes her way through the door. “Sorry I started without you, skipped lunch and went to the gym today. How are you handling things?”