beau-sully

[beau-sully]

tammie:

-

There was only one acceptable way to react when hearing Shania say “Let’s go girls…” and that was to abandon what you were doing and head to the dance floor. Tammie didn’t even stick around long enough to see if Spence could slam a tequila, snort the salt and squeeze the lime in his eye. She was so focused on seeing June, Emma and Nora all congregate without her that she didn’t see what she was rushing into, or who. “Shit, sorry. That’s what Shania does to a girl.” she laughed before the smile dropped completely at the sight of Beau. She was already grabbing napkins from the holder but instead of passing them over nicely, she shoved them into his hand. “There’s still time.” Tammie commented, flicking her eyes quickly over him. “It looks like you’ve pissed yourself.”

He’s not expecting pleasantries or even eye contact for longer than a few seconds and Beau sighs as he grabs the napkins that are strewn to him. Levi is having a wonderful night and all Beau’s destiny carries is a date with a pizza.  “You’re gonna glass me when I was just sitting here?” Beau tilts his head, there’s no bite to his words but he supposes trying to challenge Tammie in any way is a bad idea so he focuses on clearing the mess. He tries to not laugh at her observation as he dries away the spill and then shrugs widely at her. “Thanks, Tam. Didn’t even notice.” he responds sarcastically, clearly ready to go home in that very moment. Then he grabs a few drier napkins, offering them politely to her as he gestures downwards with his eyes. “For your boots, ‘cause it looks like you’ve pissed yourself too.”

[beau-sully]

closed starter, neon boots with @tammie--jones​

Clearly going to Boots with his brother is the exact kind of night Beau expects it to be. There’s daggers coming at him from pairs of eyes while Levi is floating between women like a ping pong ball. At least it’s busy and Beau can hide himself at an empty table to tap his foot along to the music, wondering what kind of pizza he wants to demolish all alone while Levi lures in his next victim. He doesn’t take any notice of whoever passes his table until there’s a nudge against it that causes his beer to topple over. Beau jolts out his hand to catch it before it falls, but it doesn’t do much good in stopping the spill. “No worries I got it.” he says, somewhat bitterly until he looks up and sees Tammie. Suddenly, he’s standing and can’t decide if this was on purpose or an accident. “Well, at least you just knocked the bottle and didn’t use it to cut me open. So, thanks.”

[beau-sully]

nora:

•

“Yeah, I know. I sent you some reels but you never responded. I figured they were too funny for you not to respond so you must not have logged on.”  After all, Nora carefully curates all the tik toks and reels she sends to her family. And she does consider Beaut to be like a brother. “Okay so you admit it’s true?” she asks, brow raised as his strides catch up to her. “Like, you and?” she waggles a brow, wondering if that’s enough to imply Tammie but she also doesn’t want to jump the gun if they’re talking about different things. ”Fus––” Nora’s about to repeat the insult when he corrects himself and she sniffs. “At least you learn from your mistakes, Beau,” the younger Jones laughs, not too offended because it’s true. They were a tough bunch to impress. 

“Or the right guy. You’ve lived like a hundred years already…I always think it’s good to learn from your elders.” Another teasing grin as she tries to climb a bit more aggressively, stretching her legs to gain more ground at a faster pace than he was catching up to her with. “But yeah…I guess it’s just like growing up you think you need a million friends or people to like you and you get older and realizing sometimes you don’t even like yourself.” She shrugs, scuffing her boots against some loose pebbles as she continues on. “I used to think I was missing out on a lot of things, like friends and whatever but I guess I dodged a bullet? People kinda stink.” And kids were cruel. And Nora learned to rely more on her family and the people who loved her, than strangers. “I said I wouldn’t post it if it was bad but it wasn’t. At least I looked good in it anyway. And no one says duck pout anymore, Beau.” she laughs loudly and misses her next step, foot slipping on a loose stone and sending her stumbling forward on the steep incline. She nearly face plants before sticking her hands out to brace her fall, yelping slightly as small stones cut into her palms. 

Beau can’t recall any reels, and he’s not dumb enough to say out loud that he doesn’t even know what Nora is talking about so he shrugs at her to stand his ground. “Maybe you’re not that funny?” he suggests instead, the smirk on his face giving him away just a tiny amount. Beau plays dumb again with Nora, sucking in his lips and shaking his head with an outlandish shrug. Ethan, Spence and Nora seem to all be seeing something Tammie can’t see, and now he’s paranoid she can see it and has chosen to ignore it. “No idea what you mean, Nor. You’re speaking in tongues right now.” he laughs to her, watching her hurry a little more ahead so he lets her again. “Me and who? Huh?” Okay, maybe that’s a little transparent so he sighs and waves a hand. “If this is about, you know, then...I’d rather we both stopped saying who what where when.”

He listens but isn’t surprised to hear Nora prefers to flock with her family, there’s more than enough Jones friendship to go around. “Insults aside,” he says knowingly to her. “It was just me and mom and my brother for a lot of years, then our grandma too. So, I had no choice but to make friends. You kinda came into this world with a ready-made clan.” he laughs kindly. “I don’t think it’s weird to not have many friends if you got a big family.” Beau then shrugs. “People do kinda stink, yeah. Some friends are worth it though, but you gotta choose ‘em carefully. Quality over quantity every time.” he assumes he’s giving her the best wisdom he has acquired over the years, even if he’s rambling too much to notice her stumble. He reacts like anybody would do to a Jones hurting themselves, fighting back a chuckle as he closes the distance to then offer her a hand up. “You gotta watch all these loose rocks, Nora.” he chuckles, before fetching some water from his bag. “You good? Here, wash ‘em. I think the duck pout Gods had it in for you then.”

[beau-sully]

spence

“Yeah, what’s that?” Spence frowned, confused about what Beau thought he was trying to do. He watched him go get them a couple beers and listened. Grabbing the beer, he laughed and shook his head while he opened it. “Nah, man. If I beat up every guy that was into Tammie I would be in prison for the rest of my life,” he took a drink from the can trying to picture what that would look like. “Dude, you’re sure gettin’ defensive for not liking her. Whatever you say, it don’t hurt me either way. But, if you do like her and you let her start having Cross babies because you ain’t got the balls to tell her, I will beat your ass out of principle.” He meant that, too. Two psychos shouldn’t breed, nothing good would come from it. “Maybe. We got to get Eli in on it so one person can distract her and two of us can do the swap.” It wasn’t a bad plan if they could get it done. Though she’d probably put them back two days later. At least then they communicate the lesson that needed to be learned. The downfall to all that was all the shit Tammie had to throw back at him. “Don’t know about none of that, as far as I’m concerned he’s dead to me.” It was a shitty thing to say but Ryan fucked over his sister and left his friends behind. His brother too, Beau was right about that. “Yeah, they had it rough enough growing up. No wonder Axe is angry all the damn time.”

“I don’t mean to sound defensive but I was just saying. When you know someone for so long it’s kinda weird to...ruin that.” he shrugs, losing all thread of his point because he’s just twisting himself into lies for the sake of saving face. Beau laughs as Spence has a point, he’s seen the way a lot of people watch Tammie whenever she’s out and having fun. He’s one of them, certainly. “Cross babies!?” the mention pulls him back to the conversation and he sounds more startled than surprised, not intentionally, so he coughs back his words. “I didn’t even realize they had a thing.” he attempts to sound casual, using the can of beer to hide his expression before he can neutralize it. He supposes it makes sense, Hunter does seem to be everywhere a brunette is. “You let me know when you’re ready, give me a call.” Beau chuckles and he’s not sure if it’s funny or dumb to prank Tammie, but it wouldn’t be the first time and she always gets everyone back in one way or another. The harsh words of Ryan make Beau nod naturally, even though he doesn’t want harm to come to anybody there is a sadness there. To just walk away from family and friends and people who cared, seeing people wonder if they should start thinking he died. “Yeah, guess I’d be pretty angry too.” Beau shrugs. “Weird that Ry was always a little quieter than Axe yet he’s the one that’s caused the most problems.”

[beau-sully]

levi​:

•

“This funk,” he gestures at Beau’s slump on the couch. “So what? They own the place,” Levi says, “don’t be a fucking coward.” That’s how you ended up in this position in the first place. Of course, he doesn’t say this either, knowing it won’t help. But if Beau had just told Tammie how he felt years ago, this wouldn’t be an issue now. Idiot. “It’ll be fine and if not you can blame me. I won’t even be mad.” That’s pretty generous if you ask him. But Beau rebuffs his suggestion again and Levi rakes a hand through his hair, exasperated. It was like he wasn’t even listening (which prompts Levi to shove Beau’s arm away from his head to see if there were any earbuds in. No. Just being a stubborn baby. “Look, man,” this would get through to him, Levi’s sure of it, “I don’t need you to be my wingman to get some girl. I want you to be my wingman. There’s a difference. So…what’d’ya say?” He shakes Beau’s shoulder, gesturing to the door like one might a dog about to go on a walk, “let’s go.”

Beau doesn’t consider himself a reluctant man, even if he waited seven years before doing a single thing about his Tammie sized crush he carried. Okay, maybe he’s a little reluctant but this is different. “If the Jones didn’t seem to multiply in twos every time you look away, I wouldn’t even be bothered.” he claims and feels as if it’s a justified fear. “Real nice of you Levi, I get to come join you for a drink, watch you get weird with the ladies and also watch my back so Tammie or Spence don’t punch me in the head or something.” he flounders, before rolling his eyes and gesturing with exhaustion to the door. “Fine whatever, but you’re buying all my drinks and a fucking pizza for me to eat back here while you do whatever the hell you do.” He doesn’t want to think about it. Especially considering for the past two or so weeks he had Tammie coming over and it was Levi eating pizza instead.

[beau-sully]

tammie

-

Tammie only heard him out because she was too angry to speak, preparing the already agitated horse that was picking up on the shared energy. She didn’t even grace Beau with a mature response, instead she turned back to him and flapped her arms back in mocking. “Urgh, I urgh, didn’t mean it. Me just man with small brain.” she lowered her voice, throwing a few grunts in her caveman impression which was still delivered with aggression. “Fuck off, Sully.” she returned to normal, leading the horse out from it’s stable while refusing to look Beau in the eye. His last words got to her, making her turn around again to glare at him. “Oh, I get it. You’re the not-asshole, right? But maybe you’re not the good guy you think you are, Beau.” she countered before hoisting herself up into the saddle. “You’ve known me for how long and you thought fucking lying to me was a good idea? Just fuck off.”

“How did I lie to you?” Beau doesn’t yell back but there’s an urgency in his tone, knowing Tammie is a few seconds away from cantering out with the horse or making the damn thing kick him back into the hay. Neither of which he wants so he steps backwards and then forwards trying to figure out the perfect balance of where to stand. “Can you just...get down from there and we talk about this like normal people? Do you know how many people get on a horse during something like this? One. You.” he raises a finger, passionately trying to prove the point that she’s being irrational. “Both of you would come to me with all your problems, and I...answered!? You think I’m the only one who wanted to see you and Ryan break up? You were bad for each other.”

[beau-sully]

levi:

+ BEAU SULLIVAN HOME

“Okay, hear me out –– The Phoenix? Neon Boots?” Levi lists all the places he thinks his brother would actually go after a week of going straight to work and then home. “C’mon, Neon Boots. It won’t kill you. You need to just say fuck it and get back out there, Beau. No one’s worth this kinda funk,” he gestures at his little brother, as if indicating his entire person was in a funk which it kinda was. And Levi’s tired of not inviting anyone back because he doesn’t wanna be an asshole in Beau’s time of grief but…a week seems like enough time? At least for the initial bite of rejection to wear off, right? Levi wouldn’t know since he’s never been rejected but that’s not helpful to mention. “We don’t even gotta stay the whole night. Just an hour. Maybe two.” Possibly three if there was someone pretty to talk to. @beau-sully​

Beau is in a funk but he won’t say that he is, even if his brother can see it. Hell, everybody can see it. “What funk?” He lets out a sigh and waves an unenthusiastic hand. “I’m not setting one foot in Boots, Levi.” he says back with a small punch of passion, and embarrassment. “You know how many Jones’ there are?” he doesn’t like to think that his brother is willing to put him through humiliation just so he can get his end away, but this is Levi he is talking to. His older brother fancies himself as some playboy and while Beau is no saint, Levi seems to take it to a whole new ball game. “Why don’t you just go on ahead, huh? And I’ll be in my room for when you get back so whatever girl you bring back thinks it’s your place. Again.”

[beau-sully]

tammie​:

-

Tammie couldn’t hear what was being said over the sound of her own yelling, she was running out of obscenities and stumbling over her own words enough to have accidentally cussed Ryan out in several different languages. “We could’ve fucking helped, asshole. That’s the shittiest fucking excuse I’ve heard in my life!” If Beau just moved out of the fucking way, she wouldn’t have to yell. But, she heard enough to make her realize that Beau was never the friend she thought he was and by the time Ryan called her difficult to love, she couldn’t stick around much longer. Her first thought was to grab her rifle, but on second thought that was going to be a bad fucking idea. Tammie instead took her newly wrangled freedom straight to the stables, so she could tack up her horse S’more and clear her head.

Beau’s shadow against the hay made Tammie glance over her shoulder as she threw the saddle onto the horse’s back. Within an instant, she tried to hide any sign of tears. “I taught her how to kick on demand so I’d move if I were you.” she waved her hand before securing the straps. “Or did you come here to tell me to leave Ryan a few times?” she glanced to him. “Oh wait, you already got what you wanted.”

“Tammie, you have to hear me out.” Beau snaps as soon as he turns into the stables, catching his tone and lowering his voice quickly as he raises his hand in apology. His temper is still flared from Ryan, knuckles stinging and now a new found fear of losing something he barely even had. “Tammie, I mean it. I was stuck in the middle of both of you when you were always having problems. I wasn’t trying to...” the frustration makes his words stick together, uneasy to say as he struggles for any chance to explain himself. “Tones, I swear I wasn’t trying to make him do anything.” he sighs, knowing how it all sounds and what it seems like. He’s dug his grave and now he expects the storm Ethan warned him about. “I didn’t even know how I felt until...” That’s a lie that he knows he’s saying, and he stops before it even falls into being something tangible. He’s embarrassed too, feeling forced to utter words they weren’t quite ready to say yet. “So what, I wanted you to be with someone who wasn’t an asshole? That’s a bad thing?” Close enough

[beau-sully]

ryan and tammie

-

She didn’t even care when she was forced backwards, all it did was make her let out a frustrated scream as she tried to lunge back. Stupid fucking Beau in the way, preventing all her anger from being placed where it needed to be. “Stop, Beau. If I didn’t think I could have him, I wouldn’t have fucking touched him.” she scrambled against his blockage to get to Ryan, wanting to swipe like some rabid beast until she heard a statement that made her anger freeze cold. “You did that?” she glared to Beau instead, but her eyes darted between the two of them. “You said what to him?” she muttered, not wanting to believe it as she scowled back at Ryan, still trying to force her way around Beau. “Are you just being a bitch right now, Ry? Of course he didn’t build it with me, I fucking built it. Bitch.” she shouted, trying to lunge again but for some reason country men were built like fucking bulls. She could feel the anger rising all over again, blood boiling hot enough to burn. “I swear to God if you don’t both get the fuck out…DAD!” she smacked Beau against the chest, despite it being a hit that Ryan deserved more. “JETT! I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL HIM, BOTH OF THEM.”

ryan knows his mistake as tammie staggers backwards a few paces and his hands raise when beau pins him to the truck, but it’s hard for him to focus on creating civil conversation when he has both of them yelling at him. he knows it’s not jealousy, he knows he’s here to apologize and explain they would have never worked out anyways but now he’s hurt, more than he thinks was possible. he grabs beau by the arm to try and wrangle free but points at the crazy brunette who’s also trying to get at him. “you should tell her sully, go on.” he rebukes. “it might be new for you tams but it sure isn’t for him.” ryan is almost nose to nose with his best friend, certain it’s the principal of the matter that hurts so much. “he wanted me to end it with you, least four times i can count off the top off my head. guess we know why.” as soon as tammie continues to raise hell and he knows beau is more concerned for her, he pushes the other man away to allow himself some space. “i’m sick of being the fucking bad guy, i fucking left so people didn’t come knocking here for my fuck ups. i owed a bunch of money!” he raises his voice above tammie’s, hoping to silence her. “whatever number you got in your head, double it.” he then says, staring intensely at tammie who looks like she’s this close to ripping his head off. “you convinced yourself i didn’t love you, i did. but you made it so fucking difficult.” he addresses, knowing whatever could be apologized for is long over now. “she’s your fucking problem now, beau. good luck.” he slides back into the driver’s side, grabbing the door by the open window to close it and as if he hasn’t said enough, he looks at beau for one last stab. “learn from my mistake man, figure out how to keep that bitch on a leash.”

Beau has lifted a lot of people and moved a lot of heavy shit but for the life of him he can’t seem to keep Tammie in one place. She’s practically floating out of his grip, a banshee fueled by anger. “Come on, stop.” he tries to speak calmly to her through the struggle, even though he knows Ryan deserves worse than she’d give him. Whoever said hell hath no fury like a woman scorned needs to be asked if they are okay, because Beau is finally learning it first hand. He is sure she doesn’t mean it, but every swipe of Tammie’s hand is making contact with him and the pound of her fist against his chest makes him escape a comically small oof. But he can feel the shift in her anger as Ryan speaks, it doesn’t get worse it gets colder. "Shut the fuck up, Ryan it wasn’t like that.” Beau barks, unaware of the hold he has on Tammie changing over to keep a grip of Ryan instead. This isn’t really his fight, and he’s trying to stop it from even getting to that level no matter how quickly Tammie is flaring. “That’s not a fucking excuse, man. We could’ve helped.” he shouts in return, and Beau isn’t much of a raised voice man. He rarely likes violence but even he can feel a swell of it threatening from nowhere. The more Ryan speaks, the more it appears. It all comes to a head as Ryan retreats to the truck, the open window being too tempting. Beau’s rational for another two seconds until he hears the word bitch being bitten from his friend’s mouth. It’s a knee-jerk reaction, Beau’s fist plummeting just once into Ryan’s face. It’s quick, and probably not hard enough to break a nose but hopefully hard enough to shut him up. Beau’s ashamed of it, glancing over his shoulder to where Tammie once stood. “You’re fucking unbelievable, man. You even know what everyone did? Tammie kept looking for you, but I don’t think you take your head out your ass long enough to even think about anyone else. People thought you died, man.” Beau’s done talking now, pissed off at the sting on his knuckles and more concerned about the AWOL brunette who’s a scarier thought of being unsupervised. He doesn’t stick around to see what other bullshit can come from Ryan, turning to try and discover where the hell Tammie went.

[beau-sully]

ryan & tammie:

-

Tammie liked who she was when she was with Beau. She always had, their banter back and forth was only that and never screaming matches to see who could hurl the most hurtful thing to the other. Everything was always good in the beginning, though but if there was anyone who could pull down her guard it would be Beau. They probably looked like love-sick teenagers, but Tammie didn’t really care. It was the softest she had felt in a long time, she had almost forgotten what that looked like. “Okay, be safe.” she said quickly, pressing a kiss to his cheek before their attention was turned by the sound of an engine. As soon as Tammie could see who it belonged to, the softness melted away faster than it ever had before. “Uhuh.” was all she could say back to Beau, sheepishly loosening her hold of his hand. “Fucker wants to die, obviously.” Tammie muttered, finally pulling away to storm towards the truck. She’d never once even raised a hand to Ryan, but that changed as soon as she saw him appearing. She shoved the door open wider, grabbing hold of his arm to drag him out the rest of the way. “Why the fuck are you here? You have got to me kidding me, two fucking years? Two fucking years? You piece of fucking hillbilly shit. Let me guess, you got the perfect fucking excuse for it too. Cunt.” @ryanxyoung​

it’s better to rip the bandaid off, face the music. all those other sayings that ryan hates. mostly, he’s turning into blue river ranch for the sake of his brother. the last thing he wants is trouble finding axel that’s not even his. it’s the mature thing to do, knowing that nothing about the conversation is going to be easy. he also knows it won’t be a conversation, it’ll be tammie, spence, ethan probably elijah and nora too he has to face. five years and a ring is a long time, two years a ghost feels longer. ryan isn’t prepared for the gut punch of seeing the house built up exactly how tammie and him planned it. he’s not prepared to draw closer to it and see tammie in the arms of someone else. he never expected her to wait, but he never expected to see her move on either. it’s only when he gets a glimpse of who’s arms it is than ryan’s temper flares. even as he’s dragged out of the car and screamed at by tammie, he stumbles over his footing while locking eyes on beau. “shut the fuck up.” he snaps back at the screech of his ex-fiance, shoving her away from him without even thinking. he’s never touched her like it, but the push away is harsher than it needs to be all so he can make a move towards beau. “i fucking knew it, man. the fact i’m not even surprised.” he laughs maliciously, pointing at the house. “you help her finish that up? all those fucking times, man. telling me to be done with her. let me guess you didn’t even fucking wait for it to be a few months after i was gone.”

He’s not sure what hurts more, the return of his best friend or the sensation of Tammie’s fingers slipping out of his. It feels more metaphorical than physical and Beau’s mind doesn’t have much time to catch up to the moment. He knows the sight of Tammie Jones marching towards anything isn’t a good sign and he’s a little too late to stop her before she pulls Ryan out from his seat. “Tammie...” he calls out as he follows. He wants to keep the peace as much as possible until he sees the shove that Ryan delivers. “Hey,” He grabs him by the shirt once close enough, pushing him back against the truck. “You don’t fucking do that.” Beau snaps, glancing over to Tammie to make sure she’s okay. He’s sure she is and a hand raises to stop her flying at the two of them in response. “You’ve been gone, Ry. It’s not what you think, this is new.” Beau doesn’t even think he sounds convincing enough to believe himself, but at the time it was true. Hindsight was a little tricky. “You just fucked all chances of talking this out. You don’t come here and put hands on her. You’re lucky no-one lets her shoot you.”

[beau-sully]

spence:

An incredulous look of something between frustration and confusion crossed Spence’s face. “No, I look at her like she’s the most amazing, beautiful person in the world.” He countered. “Because she is and that’s exactly how you look at my sister.” As if he was some kind of love expert. However he did know what it looked like when a person was hungry and in his opinion that was the same way people looked when they had the hots for someone. “If you say so, like I said I’m just callin’ it like I see it. Wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong about something.” If Beau said he wasn’t into Tammie there was no way Jett could prove otherwise. He would rather his sister be with someone like Beau than Hunter or Ryan though. “It’s not the beatin’ that’s the problem, it’s the whole doing it with a loaded weapon that could accidentally go off and take her or the other person out. Just not smart, she needs to use a bat or something.” His sister was smart, he knew that but it just took one time. Spence frowned, eyes traveling back to the other man. “Ry is a fucking coward or was. If she was a prize to him, he would’ve treated her like one.” He wanted to say he hoped he was dead but that’s not true. That wasn’t something he would wish on an old friend but if he ever did show his face again, he had an ass beating coming to him.

“I know what this is.” Beau waves a finger before he stands up to fetch them both a beer. Mainly to ease the awkwardness that’s washing over him. “This is a famous Jones trap.” He knows them well, mainly from Tammie. “You want me to start calling your sister beautiful so you can beat my ass and tell me to stop looking at her like it.” he says, passing over a beer as he grins. “Which I’m not.” Beau adds, covering his tracks quickly. Sinking back into the couch, he cracks open his beer and shrugs. “Even if I did see her like that, which I don’t, kinda pointless to do anything about it. Seven years of friendship is a long time to throw away if the whole thing goes wrong. Actually, kinda think it’s more than seven.” he sips his beer, giving a side eye to Spence who he hopes isn’t smart enough to read between the lines. Laughing, Beau points with his finger as an idea pops into his head. “Think we could swap out all her guns for baseball bats? See what happens?” He’d be game if Jett is, pranks being a sort of love language of his. No, not love. Just friendly banter. Beau agrees about Ryan, though. Bitter about the loss of a friend and watching him mistreat a woman of his dreams for five years. “Yeah, heart in the right place though even if he wasn’t the best at showing it. I feel bad for Axel, I mean obviously Tammie too but...not knowing where your brother got to has gotta be the worst feeling.”

[beau-sully]

nora:

•

Nora makes a face at Beau. “The announcement goes out over IG stories these days. No one does listservs anymore, Beau. What are you? Like a hundred?” She says it with a grin, though and shrugs, hands trailing over some low-hanging branches as they continue on. “Meaning….you know,” she casts a glance over her shoulder, waggling her brows, “like, you know, right?” She can’t help her grin as she says it, unable to help a slight bit of teasing as she tries to gauge whether or not she’s onto something. “I dunno. I guess it’s not called social anxiety because you’re chill and relaxed all the time around strangers, right?” Nora feels most comfortable and confident when she’s with people who know her. There are those who can jump into any social setting and make friends but Nora has always preferred her small circle. 

“I mean, I guess it’s like…you just know the people who love you will love you anyway. But strangers can be mean and dickheads. Don’t you agree?” And it took more energy to deal with them. She’d rather just exist in silence with someone who won’t think she’s mad or judge her for not wanting to be social but still wanting company, as contradictory as those two things seems. “Hmm,” she says, tucking a random leaf behind her ear as they start on another rocky second, “It would be too much to explain if you suddenly went missing. I already posted our pre-hike pic too.” She’d forced him to take at selfie a the beginning of the trail. “So i guess you’re safe for now.”

“I got Instagram.” Beau says defiantly proud of himself. “Just don’t use it much.” Understatement of the century considering his last post sits confidently at the top of the grid of a coffee cup, washed over with one of the app’s sepia filters. Of course he knows, but Beau’s eyebrows shoot up with a dumbfounded movement of his head. “Right, I know. That’s why I asked, obviously. Because I know.” he says sarcastic and shrugging with a cartoonish carelessness. Beau grins back at her though, laughing slightly as he takes the opportunity to gain on her, not quite overtaking but seeing if he can spook her to up the speed in a silent race. “Sounds like introverted extrovert. Or, just being a Jones. You lot are fussy.” he holds a hand up as soon as he says it. “Careful with your choices.” he bows his head in correction of meaning, expecting daggers for his initial choice. Even though he believes fussy is more accurate.

“I agree, I guess. I stick to the same people I’ve known half my life so maybe you’re asking the wrong guy.” Beau laughs. “Pretty sure I’ve known your brother for longer than I wanna admit.” It was definitely from before high school, he thinks. Although he’s not sure if Spence was around to see the curtain bangs in their full glory. Beau gains on her some more, close enough now to annoyingly flick her shoulder. “You said you weren’t gonna post that.” he frowns. “But hey, being saved by a selfie beats dying because of one. You heard about those dumbasses? Trying to get the perfect duck pout on a cliff edge?”

[beau-sully]

closed starter blue river ranch with @tammie--jones and @ryanxyoung​

Beau knows there’s not many secrets in the Jones family, or at least they don’t strike him as a family with secrets. That’s why he had no shame appearing at Neon Boots with Tammie, or using his days out of work to come and see her at the ranch. In a way not much has changed other than now he can sneak her hand into his, or wind an arm around her. It all feels natural and comfortable, begging the question why the hell he had never acted sooner. “Alright, I better go.” Beau reluctantly pulls away from their glaringly obvious display of affection, and he’s had to hear Spencer’s dumb I told you so’s about a hundred times already. Just as Beau grabs the handle to his truck, other hand still clasping Tammie’s he hears the rolling of wheels entering the ranch and naturally glances to it. At first it resembles one he hasn’t seen for a long time, brows furrowing as he tries to make the plate. It nears slowly, giving Beau just enough time to work it out. His relaxed stance shifts immediately, tugging Tammie closer half in protection and half out of nervousness. He’s just got her, for fucks sake. “Is this really what I’m seeing right now?” he asks, despite staring at the truck ahead until he sees Ryan Young’s face exit the driver’s side. 

[beau-sully]

tammie:

-

The truth was she did notice that he was still holding her, but she didn’t mind. It felt natural, safe even. Natural and safe enough for it to be just a thing they did and no more thoughts went into it. Tammie simply continued to ramble until she heard Beau’s response, making her take a breath for an offended reply to bat his way. “Excu-” She didn’t have a chance to finish the return because each kiss he met her with stunned her, in a good way but still pulling every thought from her head and leaving her mind empty. She pulled back as he did, brows furrowed while she studied his reaction and slowly her expression softened in time with her processing the fleeting moment. Finally, she grinned up at him and laughed softly. “I’m not gonna fuck you on this roof, Sullivan.” she commented swiftly, arching a brow. “If you’re gonna kiss me, do it properly.” Then with the same impulse Beau had showed, her hands cupped his face and she returned the affection. This time with a little more vigor than he had the balls for previously. 

He finds it ironic how seven years have amounted to a string of kisses on a rooftop. It certainly isn’t how Beau ever expected things to go, convincing himself that it was all better left unsaid. Even after the not so subtle words from Ethan made Beau more comfortable with never uttering them. He was expecting a slap or a shove, perhaps hard enough to send him tripping over the edge but instead there’s just Tammie’s typical jokes. “That was the last thing on my mind.” he can say with truthfulness as he laughs. “Bit cold. Wouldn’t be very impressive.” he nods with a serious expression, words falling short when she pulls him back in for more. Strange how the confidence can arrive so quickly, just from the sensation of her hands at his face and her mouth against his. He only breaks the kiss, reluctant because he has far too much on his mind. “Er, I know you’ll find a way to turn this into an insult but let me take you out somewhere that’s not Boots.”

[beau-sully]

tammie:

-

“Still can’t hear ya, you should really speak up.” Tammie taunted him with airy laughter. It only got louder when Beau panicked himself, until she saw the serious look in his eye. Of course, she barely took many things seriously and ended up chuckling again like a school kid being caught skipping classes. “You do that all by yourself, Bowl Sullivan.” she said, letting him help her onto the roof as she flashed him a quick grin. “Aw, c’mon. You’re telling me you run head first into a bunch of flames but Jett and my dad is where you get scared?” Tammie smirked, carefully padding over the roofing to where he was working before she rudely interrupted him. “Ooh, casualties. Big serious word.” she cooed through a pout. “What happened anyways? It expand or something ‘cause that usually means there’s a leak.”

He doesn’t intend to ignore her as she speaks but Beau’s astute to the fact his hand is still wrapped firmly around her wrist and yet Tammie hasn’t seemed to notice. He’s usually quick to respond to the banter, comebacks locked and loaded that can bounce between them both but not now. Has she noticed but not wanted to pull away? Is this another one of those chances that he simply lets pass by or does he actually want to do something about it? “Can you stop talking for five seconds.” Beau doesn’t even know where that mutter comes from as he gently pulls her to him, quickly bowing his head to steal a kiss. Soft and sweet and over far too soon, and then another one and another until he realizes what he’s done and pulls back. Still not letting go, though. Shit. “Shit.” Shit.

[beau-sully]

spence:

“If you think I haven’t been lookin’ at Cricket like that since high school you’re both blind and dumb.” Spence teased, but it was true. He’d been head over heels for Chrissy Reid since day one. There has never been a single other woman that compared to her and he was damn sure there never would be. He nodded slowly, taking another drag while Beau went on and on. “Good to know you see my sister as my sister, man.” The more Beau denied it the more Spence became suspicious, but he already said he wasn’t going to press him on it. It was his choice if he wanted to make the move, Spence was more or less just giving his blessing in some roundabout way. “Have you met Tammie Jones? She is off her damn rocker at least eighty percent of the time.” But he wasn’t going to mention the altercation with Hunter the week before. “That reminds me, I need to take all of them away and hide them until she relearn safety rules. Dumbass is going to end up with a lifetime prison sentence for having a smooth brain.” He takes another drag and puts the cigarette out. “Doesn’t change that she’s going to end up gettin’ knocked up by some remorseless killer with no future.”

“You look at Cricket like she’s somebody’s sister?” Beau tilts his head, being purposely facetious for the sake of hiding his true thoughts. How else is he supposed to look at Tammie? They have been friends for years he can’t suddenly...hate her. “I hear what you’re sayin’ Jett but I promise you, Tams is just Tams. Always been there, always will.” he shrugs as casually as he can. A quick laugh escapes, more affectionate than playful about her personality so eloquently described by her brother. Beau would call her stubborn, head-strong, hard-working, no-shit taking and beautiful and he was fairly certain those would not be Spencer’s choice of describing her. “From what I’ve heard, no one’s been rifle-whipped without deserving it. Which is why my face is still unscathed.” he counters as he laughs still. He’s curious why Spence has come to this conclusion though, not wanting any jealousy to creep up into his response. “I think she likes good guys. Ry was a good guy, just...dropped the prize.” he hears his words and coughs to cover it. “Dropped the ball.”

[beau-sully]

tammie:

-

“Nope, cleared my schedule just to be a pain in your ass.” Tammie replied happily, shrugging her shoulders sweetly as she smiled. Obviously being reminded of her failing their little game made the smile drop completely, and she squinted. “I uh…can’t hear you. You’re mumbling.” she waved her finger by her ear, despite catching everything Beau said perfectly. “Hold that thought, I’m coming up.” she then added, moving to the ladders with a skip and making the climb. Tammie stopped before she made it to the roof, looking down and then back at Beau. “You know in cartoons when the ladder goes back and they kinda…waddle on ‘em like stilts? Think that’s real?” she asked curiously. Adrenaline junkie was one word, but pure fearlessness was another. And stupidity. Her dad didn’t call her variations of monkey nicknames for no reason. “Wanna see?”

“Aw, just so you get to see me? Shouldn’t have.” Beau comments, fighting back a laugh before he watches Tammie’s little show of sarcasm. “Sure you can’t all of a sudden.” he retaliates, following her move to the ladders. He doesn’t think anything of her joining him and gets back to work before he hears her suggestion. He doesn’t mean to, but immediately he turns and makes a grab for her arm before realizing this is another one of Tammie’s joke specialties. “That’s not funny, you made me look like a fucking idiot.” he laughs through a huff of air. “Just get on here.” Beau adds, hoisting her over the top step to the roof. “Your dad would kill me, and Spence.” It’s not an exaggeration, he’s surprised Ryan or Taner ever made it out alive and Ryan was debatable considering nobody has heard from him in two years. “Can I finish this with no casualties, please?”