shanehughcs

[shanehughcs]

As his joke landed fell on flat ears, Shane was made painfully aware of the chasm between them now. Samira had once been the person he knew better than anyone in the world, he knew what made her laugh, what made her cry, and what made her roll her eyes at him. Now? Now, it felt like he was looking at a stranger. He had no idea how to bridge the gap between them.

"No." he quickly shook his head. "To be fair, I didn't even really know where they lived up until I reached out to my grandmother." He had shared everything with Samira when they were together. But he'd never really had much of a relationship with his extended family and beyond the wish for there to be one, he hadn't had much to talk about when it came to them.

She was anxious. That much he could tell, despite not having seen or spoken to her in over seven years. And he hated that she clearly hated being in his presence this much. He'd done a lot of inner-work in the last seven years, enough to know that what he'd done - drawing a line in the sand about what he wanted and refusing to compromise - hadn't been fair to Samira. He knew he'd created this dynamic, but he wished he could somehow fix it. Just as he opened his mouth, preparing to try to somehow adjust the trajectory of their interaction, the window of Samira's car rolled down and a small voice called out. Shane's eyes widened in surprise as he realized they weren't alone. "Well, hey there! Did you ever find out what happened to Mr. Ollyphant?" he greeted enthusiastically referring to the book she had been reading, gaze darting back and forth between Samira and the little girl as what she said finally clicked into place.

'Momma.'

Ice cold dread splashed over him as he put two and two together, his smile immediately faltering. "This is your..." he paused, waiting for Samira to fill in the gap, to confirm where his thoughts were headed.

It was honestly surreal to be coming face to face with someone who she had at one time envisioned the rest of her life with. Shane Hughes had been someone she’d imagined growing old with…and the ring that he’d placed on her finger had cemented the fact that he’d felt the same way at the time. Of course clearly it hadn’t lasted and honestly Samira had never thought she’d seen him again. But here he was—in front of her cracking a lame joke like he always did to make her smile. Except it wasn’t having the same effect on her right now, she was just staring at him in surprise, almost wishing this was a mere figment of her imagination. 

But when he explained his reasoning for being here, and essentially telling her how he’d been here for the last seven years, she was stunned. She’d actually moved to the town his family came from and hadn’t even realized it. “I had no idea, did we...did you tell me that before?” she murmured softly, forcing herself to look away from him and glance in the direction of her SUV as if just realizing once more that Maya was in the car. His daughter was in the car that he was standing mere inches away from. Wait—hadn’t Maya mentioned meeting someone who had helped her out at the local library and had light eyes like her own? Samira was feeling the dread in her stomach beginning to grow as she realized they might’ve met already even if she had no confirmation and really—she didn’t need it at this point. 

She just wanted to get out of here. Having this type of conversation at the gas station was really not the place or time for it and she was about to answer his question when the back window rolled down, exposing Maya to Shane right there in front of her eyes. “Momma, did you get me the m&m’s? I want to eat the blue ones first like I always do," she said sticking her hand out for the packet Samira was clutching tightly in her hand. It was as if her worst nightmare was being realizing when Maya glanced up at Shane and smiled her wide toothy smile up at him. “Hiya! Do you remember me? You helped me at the book librarary,” she misspoke in that cute way of hers while Samira just wondered how this interaction could possibly get worse. 

[shanehughcs]

location: lincoln park

status: closed for @maggiekennedy

Shane was enjoying a nice, cold drink at the park as he wound down from what had been a pretty strenuous entrance into wedding season. As a florist, his biggest sales were always made during the summer months as people planned for their weddings. And the beginning of summer, when everyone was scrambling to book a florist always took it out of him. He'd fielded what felt like hundreds of calls and emails, requesting his availability, brainstormed with at least 15 different brides to be, and interviewed at least 10 different prospective seasonal employees. It had been a lot and all he wanted, was to enjoy the beginnings of a summer night with a casual stroll through the park to wind down.

Said nice, relaxing walk was interrupted as he spotted a very drunk, and slightly belligerent, individual making a beeline for a blonde woman sitting on one of the benches, reading her phone. Shane paused to observe for a moment, see if maybe the blonde woman recognized the individual. But when it became clear that she didn't, and she really didn't want to interact with them, Shane rolled his eyes, deciding to step in. "Ah, there you are!" he called as he approached the bench, a friendly smile that he hoped said 'just go with it' on his face. "I've been looking all over for you! When we said we'd meet at the park bench, I guess I should have specified which one." With a chuckle and shake of his head, Shane glanced pointedly at the drunk individual, widening his eyes for a split second, so he hoped the blonde could tell he was trying to offer her an escape, before extending his arm for her to take if she wanted. "Shall we head off for our walk?"

[shanehughcs]

Unable to help staring at her, he watched as the surprise at seeing him registered on her features, wincing a bit internally as it clearly wasn't good surprise. He offered up an apologetic smile in response. "You mean besides filling up my tank?" Of course she did, you idiot. Shane stuffed his hands in his pockets as he rocked back on the heels of his feet, questioning his life choices in that moment. Maybe it would have been better for both parties if he had pretended he hadn't seen her. Well, let's be honest. Maybe she would have appreciated it, but he knew deep down, he wouldn't be able to sleep that night if he hadn't stopped her, if he had let her go when life had so ironically crossed their paths. He'd never be able to forgive himself if he had done that.

Finally, he forged ahead. "My mother's side of the family were from here." he began, pausing for a split second wondering if she really wanted this much of an explanation or not. "And I uh- well, I moved out here after everything..." his voice trailed off as he realized he was bringing up their break up the first time he was seeing her in seven years. Talk about making it awkward. He quickly moved to change the subject. "So this is home now. But what are you doing here?"

If anyone had told Samira Iyer that morning that by the time the afternoon rolled around, she’d end up running into a very literal blast from her past—she’d have either stayed in bed all day, or laughed in their face because of just how unlikely that was. Sure she’d run into Rhys here in Wilmington, but there had always been a slim chance for that to happen given his ties to the city in question that she was already aware of…but with Shane—this was not in her Bingo card to ever happen.

Not to mention, it wasn’t shaping up to be the best day for her at all for a number of reasons. To start with her coffee machine hadn't worked in the morning, which meant she’d had to grab coffee from some place else, then she’d picked up her daughter who had decided that after all this time of adjusting quite well to Wilmington, today was the day she missed her friends from San Francisco and had a meltdown as soon as she’d spotted her mother in the pickup line. And then to top it off, the gas pump was not accepting her credit card and at this point, she was not in the mood to drive to another pump for something so simple so she’d just headed inside the convenience shop to make her payment. Her head was down as she hurried over to her vehicle, needing to make sure that her daughter who was currently sitting inside the car was doing okay. 

By the time she’d gotten her hand on the handle to pull the door open, she’d heard her name from the voice that sometimes still haunted her dreams late at night when her subconscious took over her senses. Shane Hughes. The way her name sounded in his voice was always so different, or maybe back then it had seemed that way because of just how in love with the man she’d been. But now as she turned to see if perhaps she was just hearing things—she came face to face with him and almost stumbled backwards in pure shock. “Shane...what—what are you doing here?” Her eyes darted quickly between the backseat of her vehicle and where he was standing. The fact that father and daughter were currently separated by simply the tinted window was not lost on her as she stared in surprise back at the man who at one point in time been the most important person in her life. 

[shanehughcs]

Shane didn't have any pets, but when old Mrs. Kapoor from a few houses down fell and busted her hip, he'd somehow found himself volunteered to take her german shepherd, Missy to the vet. Thankfully, Missy was an old pro and didn't seem phased at all by someone new taking her. She waited patiently at the vet's door as Shane opened it, only to be greeted by an overly enthusiastic beagle. "Whoa, hey now, big guy." Shane tried to distract the dog, placing himself in between it and Missy, worried for a second that Missy might not appreciate all the attention. But the german shepherd ate it up. She clearly didn't have an issue with strange dogs approaching her at all. Feeling his shoulders relax a bit now that a dog fight was off the table, he finally glanced up at the owner of said dog. "Well, hey there, stranger." he greeted Izzie, a smile easily slipping into place. Glancing down at the dogs, he shook his head with a chuckle. "Seems these two might destined to be best friends. How does it feel to be the matchmaker for once instead of the matched?" he asked, a teasing lilt to his voice as he referred to the fact they had been set up themselves a few years ago.

who: Open to All -- Capping at 4 (0/4) where: Men's Best Friend Vet Clinic

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"Ace, Honor, please sit so that your mom doesn't look like she doesn't know how to handle two small dogs, alright?" she pleaded, reaching into her oversized bag to grab a wallet of some sort; one of the many things about Izabella was that she likely had multiple wallets on her at all times all containing different types of cards. Credit cards, insurance cards, bank cards, business cards, you name it and Izabella was likely to have them on her; but where was certainly always a question. As she returned her attention to the receptionist behind the desk, she heard whining from her oldest dog, Ace, who was the beagle she'd gotten from a local rescue just six months ago and turned her attention to pet him before she realized he was very happily wagging his tail at someone who had just walked in with a dog much bigger than his 'sibling' Honor, the corgi. Laughing she shook her head, taking the card from the receptionist and in the process dropped the leashes of both dogs, unknowingly letting Ace bolt towards the dog that had caught his attention. "I'm so sorry." she apologized, looking back at the other person, letting herself smile as she grabbed the leash again trying to pull Ace's attention back to her. "He's not usually like this; in fact I was beginning to think the guy didn't even like other dogs; he can't seem to stand his sister here most of the time so this is new. He didn't hurt either of you did he?"

[shanehughcs]

location: tric, which just so happens to be across the street from their mutual therapist's office

status: closed for @mahirayc

Was It a good idea to head straight from your therapy session to a bar right afterwards? Probably not. But in the last year or so, he'd gotten to a place where the temptation to go and drink his sorrows away didn't feel like much of a temptation at all and having a nice cold beer to end the day was about the best way to process everything he'd talked about in therapy. His therapist didn't seem to have an issue with it, so he wasn't going to question it too much.

When he walked into Tric, he made a beeline for his regular spot at the bar but stopped short when he spotted someone seated on the stool next to what he deemed 'his' bar stool. As he closed the distance, recognition coursed through him. He'd bumped into her at his therapist's office a few times now, apparently their appointments tended to be the hour slots right after each other. He didn't want to force his company on her, but when he looked at the other stools, they all seemed to be occupied. Letting out a breath, he approached. "Mind if I sit here? I'm a bit of a creature of habit and always sit on this stool. Plus," he paused to look pointedly at the rest of the stools, "seems like this one's the only spot left." he asked, with a shrug of his shoulders.

[shanehughcs]

location: xp gas station

status: closed for @samiraxiyer

As he pulled into XP, Shane couldn't help but do a mental tally of all the things he still needed to do tonight once he got home. There was no such thing as a 'end of your work day' when you were a business owner. Parking in front of one of the pumps, Shane slowly got out of his car and made his way around to the other side, lifting the nozzle out of its holder and putting it into his tank, all the while thinking about the emails he needed to return and the orders he needed to place if they were going to arrive in time for next week. He wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on around him until he heard the sound of the bell chiming as the door the convenience shop opened and someone emerged from it.

Shane couldn't help but do a double take.

Samira Iyer was making her way across the parking lot headed straight towards him. The one woman in Shane's life who he truly didn't know if there would ever be a time when he didn't think of her as the one that got away. She was as beautiful as he remembered and as she approached, Shane glanced around, only belatedly realizing she was clearly headed to her car, which was parked on the other side of the pump he was using, and not to him. She hadn't even noticed him. But there would be no avoiding her seeing him soon, so instead of making it even more awkward than it was bound to be, by trying to pretend he hadn't seen her first, Shane stepped forward, towards her car, a ghost of a smile on his face as he met her gaze. "Hey Samira." he greeted quietly.

[shanehughcs]

━ his father was loud laughter and notebook after notebook of solid writing and was also the smell of vodka and staying up too late for his own good. 'dad, dad, please go to bed,' and his father would laugh and say 'not yet.'

Character name: Shane Hughes

Age: Forty-one

Gender identification & pronouns: Cis-male & he/him

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Residential area: Masonboro

Hometown and length of time in Wilmington: San Francisco and moved to Wilmington 7 years ago

Occupation: Florist and Owner of Branches + Vine

Positive traits: protective, loyal, charming

Negative traits: single-minded, stubborn, relentless

Faceclaim: Jesse Williams

TLDR ; Shane Hughes is the ultimate protector. After losing his mother to his father's abuse, his grandmother to old age, and younger brother to a kidnapping overseas, one might wonder if Shane has experienced far too much trauma for one person. But with therapy and gardening, the florist is finally learning how to navigate the minefield of triggers that life seems to throw at him.

PINTEREST / CONNECTIONS

TW: verbal and physical abuse, parental abuse, parental death, grandparent death, mention of kidnapping, sibling death

From the outside looking in, Dominic and Tracy Hughes looked like the perfect couple with the perfect life. But behind closed doors, Dominic was an incredibly verbally and physically abusive husband. The abuse was so bad, that Tracy isolated herself from her family who had begun to ask questions. When the couple had kids, Tracy hoped that maybe it would calm Dominic down. Instead, the abuse just continued. At first, just verbally, but the pain from being verbally abused by your father wasn’t any less just because it wasn’t physical. 

As the oldest child, Shane did his best to try to protect his little brother, Josiah, from it, but their father was a perfectionist who was impossible to please. Nothing the boys could do was ever good enough for Dominic. Anything they did well at, whether at school or in sports, Dominic hounded on them to practice and get better at, but no matter how much they succeeded, no matter how many awards they won, it was never good enough 

One summer, when Shane was 14, he came home from summer camp and found his father and mother arguing near the top of their staircase. Shane watched as his father shoved his mother and pushed her down the stairs. Tracy broke her neck and died on impact. Dominic ordered Shane not to tell a soul or else he would leave with Shane’s younger brother. Shane felt like he had to protect Josiah and lied to the cops for his father. It is a decision that haunts him to this day. 

Shane was so traumatized by his father and his childhood experience, that he swore he would never, ever be a father. Not if there was a chance he could end up like his own father. He feared for his future children’s lives and for his future spouse’s

Shane grew to become a very determined, very protective, young man. He refused to go out of state for college because he refused to leave Josiah at home alone with their father. So he went to Stanford, living at home throughout his studies, until his younger brother was old enough to go to college as well. During his MBA at Stanford, he met and quickly fell in love with Samira Iyer. He was a TA for several of her classes and the two quickly struck up a close friendship. 

Several years after they had both graduated, they finally fell into a relationship and the years they spent together were truly some of the happiest years of Shane’s life up until that point. They even got engaged, preparing to spend the rest of their lives together, until suddenly two pink strips on a pregnancy test sent Shane’s life into a spiral. 

The positive pregnancy test triggered a lot of unresolved trauma for Shane, and admittedly, he didn’t respond positively, instead immediately going into panic mode. He had assumed that because they never talked about kids, they were on the same page about not wanting them. Evidently, he was wrong. Samira wanted to keep the bably and Shane, in a desperate attempt at maintaining his own sanity, knew he couldn’t be a father. He begged Samira to give the baby up for adoption, but Samira knew she wanted more for their baby and herself, so with the decision to keep the baby, she ended their relationship 

Shane went into a very intense downward spiral. He quit his job, which he been in line for a promotion for, broke his lease, and very quickly left San Francisco. Having put together - through bits and pieces his mother told him - that her family lived in a town called Wilmington, Shane packed up and moved there, only telling his brother, who had become a photojournalist and camera man for a international news agency, where he was going. 

In Wilmington, Shane finally settled himself. He developed a relationship with his maternal grandmother, who loved gardening and taught him everything she knew about plants and flowers. He also finally began to go to therapy, to deal with all of the trauma he clearly still held onto from his childhood. When his grandmother passed away, a year after he moved to Wilmington, she left her family’s fortune to him, and it was just enough for him to open his own floral shop, where he could put the skills he had learned from her to good use. 

Five years ago, Shane got the worst news of his life. Josiah, who he loved more than anyone else in the world, had been kidnapped while working on a story overseas, along with the rest of his crew, and Josiah had been killed. Shane was devastated. He traveled back to San Francisco for Josiah’s funeral and saw his father for the first time in years. The two nearly came to blows when Dominic dared to insinuate that it was somehow Shane’s fault Josiah had been killed. But truth be told, the protector in Shane can’t help but wonder if his father is right. 

He returned to Wilmington, having taken several steps backwards on his healing journey and has been continuing to go to therapy to get to a better place ever since. His love for gardening has turned into a bit of therapy on it’s own and there’s nothing better for him when he feels triggered than to go spend some time in his garden. 

[shanehughcs]

one Jackson set a day for February