colindickens

[colindickens]

joelle-granger

Joelle made it back to the table and had a smile on her face. She had decided while in the bathroom that she shouldn’t be embarrassed that she was attracted to Colin. She was pregnant with his kid, wasn’t that obvious? The reason Joelle was so embarrassed was because she knew the attraction wasn’t the same that it was the night she met Colin. It ran deeper. Much deeper.

When she approached the table and heard Annie’s exclaim she put her hands out as if to make an entrance. She flipped her hair in a confident fashion and said, “Don’t worry, I’m back. The fun can continue.” She said with a smile on her lips, her attitude had clearly changed.

Before Joelle could answer about truth or dare, Colin exclaimed about dancing just as a great song started to play. Mr. Brightside was playing through the now crowded bar and Joelle smiled, pulled Colin by the arm, and made her way to the dance floor. Annie and Evan were shortly behind and the 4 of them danced together like they had been friends for years. Joelle could tell that the three others were becoming more and more lose and intoxicated and she was happy for her friends. It would make the night that much more entertaining.

As Colin excused himself to the bathroom, Joelle noticed Annie and Evan dancing more as a pair now than a trio. “I’m gonna request a song!” Joelle shouted over the music to the pair. She made her way to the small computer that people could put song requests into and started to browse through the song choices. It was in the corner of the bar which wasn’t as crowded and was a little darker than the rest of the place.

Suddenly she felt a presence next to her and his body was within inches of her side. “I see you regained your balance.” The man said. Joelle looked up to see the man who had hit on her earlier but now he reeked of hard liquor and his eyelids were droopy indicating he was drunk. “Yeah..” Joelle said with a forced smile as she turned her attention back to the screen. “You know if you don’t want to worry about balance you and just lean on me…” His voice was low and menacing as he snaked an arm around her waist to pull her petite body to him. “Don’t touch me.” Joelle stated firmly and put her hands on his chest to push him away. “Come on baby, I know you’re not with anyone here… I’ve been watching… mostly from the back…” He said with a smirk as his other hand squeezed her ass. Joelle’s breath caught in her throat and even though she was pushing the man back he wouldn’t move. “Let go of me…” She said more desperate this time because the guy’s grip only got tight and his body was pressed against hers.

Colin walked back out, subconsciously scanning the crowd with his eyes in search of Joelle, he frowned when he didn’t see her next to Evan and Annie. He didn’t think much of the worry that grew inside immediately, after all, she was the mother of his child, and was there with them, therefore they were all responsible for each other to a certain degree. It wasn’t surprising that he wanted to make sure she was okay, he told himself. He moved through the crowd, looking around, hoping to see a familiar swirl of red hair.

The moment he saw what was happening, he was blinded with rage. Seeing the guy holding Joelle, the girl clearly scared, was enough for Dickens to take off running in their direction. All the annoyed yells as he pushed people aside urgently were ignored. As soon as he got close enough, he pulled the guy away from Joelle, yanking him by the back of the shirt and throwing him against the wall. “What she means is fuck off,” Colin said as he took a step towards the guy and punched him in the solar plexus. The stranger bent in half, he tried to regain his posture and take a swing in response.

When the fight broke out, Evan and Annie rushed to Joelle’s side. Evan knew his friend too well to get involved, and he told the girls as much, “Stay back,” he warned them.

While Colin was drunk as well, the second the anger kicked in, he sobered up, his mind clear and set on the goal of making sure this bastard understood that he had no fucking right to touch Joelle. Colin avoided the attempted punch, took a hold of the front of the guy’s shirt and hit him against the wall once more. “Are you not hearing me?!” he yelled when the stranger tried to mumble some lame excuse. Dickens punched his face, that seemed to do the job of taming the guy enough. Not letting go of his shirt, Colin stepped closer and looked him in the eyes with all the confidence he had, and all the hate this person already caused in him. “Now, and I wanna make that very clear,” he said through his teeth, “If you ever touch her again, if you do as much as lay a finger on her or even look at her – I will make sure you will regret it for the rest of your life. Are we clear?”

He knew he was going too far, yet it seemed justified for the situation.

“Dude, fuck you- it didn’t seem like she was your girl!” the guy protested. Colin sighed in annoyance and hit him against the wall once more. “It doesn’t fucking matter!” he yelled, “She’s her own girl, it doesn’t give you a right to touch her. Now, are we clear?”

“What’s going on here?” the bar’s manager emerged from the onlooking crowd and rolled his eyes when he saw Colin, “Dickens, what the f-“

“It’s good.” Colin said and let go of the guy’s shirt, taking a step back, “It’s all good.”

He walked over to his friends and cast a worried look at Joelle. As soon as his eyes met hers, it was as if the fury storm in his ocean eyes calmed in an instant. When he looked at her, all traces of the anger that was there just a few seconds ago was now replaced by a caring look. “You okay? Do you want to go home?”

|| time after time ||

[colindickens]

“I will vanish in the morning light; I was only an invention of darkness.”

— The Lady of the House of Love - Angela Carter (via allinye)

[colindickens]

[colindickens]

[colindickens]

[colindickens]

“i fell in love with her a little bit”

[colindickens]

“She was his sunset, his reminder at the end of horrible days that there was still beauty in the world no matter how ugly everything else seemed.”

— Maxwell Diawuoh, Once A Day (158/366)

[colindickens]

joelle-granger

Joelle couldn’t help but laugh as the guys started clapping after they finished their kiss. She brought her finger up to wipe the bottom of her lower lip to clean any lipstick that may have smudged. Her cheeks were bright pink and she honestly couldn’t believe she did that. Joelle looked at Annie who was just laughing and shaking her head, fully knowing why Joelle decided to do that, before the red head’s eyes landed on Colin as he complimented her.

Joelle was laughing along with the group as Evan stood up and professed his love of Love Island to the bar. People around them just knitted their eyebrows together and ignored the intrusion and continued with their night. Annie and Joelle had leaned together from laughing so hard.

The next round came back to her and she was surprised considering Evan could have used that opportunity to dare Annie to do something which seemed like the most likely situation. She tilted her head and heard Colin’s words. It was true, she didn’t need another dare that would live in both men’s brains forever, so she opted for truth. But it wasn’t until she heard the question that she wished she had picked dare.

Joelle was facing and looking right at Evan and as he spoke the question her face fell and eyes widened ever so slightly for a moment. They then narrowed and she gulped. Evan knew exactly why she kissed Annie and he wanted to exploit it. Her expression was hard on Evan and Evan just smirked mischievously. “Ummm Elle we’re waiting…” He said, putting his hand behind his ear as if wanting to hear her answer even more.

Her heart was racing and she finally pulled her hard gaze from Evan to glance at  Annie who was also somewhat smirking at her. Joelle took a deep breath in and held it. She looked back to Evan with an unamused look and said, “Colin.” She finally let out the breath. “There, are you happy?” She asked him with a nervous chuckle.

Now she really wished she had the alcohol blanket on so she didn’t feel so embarrassed. “I’m gonna run to the bathroom.” She said quickly and got up from the table. As she left, her eyes landed on Colin for the first time since the admission and said, “There’s a reason I’m pregnant with your baby.” With a more carefree smile than before. Obviously she was attracted to him otherwise she wouldn’t have slept with him originally but he didn’t realize how much she was attracted to him.

Joelle made her way to the bathroom and once she came out she accidentally tripped and almost fell but a man caught her with his arm around her waist. “Careful there, baby…” Joelle looked at him and he immediately looked her up and down. “Need to catch your balance? I have something you could hold onto.” He told her with a smirk and a wink as his hand lingered on the small of her back. “I think I’ll manage.” She told him in a lower voice before shrugging his arm off from around her and headed back to the table.

In the moments between Evan asking the question and Joelle’s response, Colin suddenly felt extremely left out. It was like everyone else at the table were in on a joke he had no idea about. He didn’t like the feeling. Usually, he didn’t care about fitting in and being a part of something. He always liked to think of himself as the lone wolf. Yet somehow he enjoying being a part of this group of people. Up until they began exchanging weird glances and, from what it looked like, communicating via thoughts. “What’s going on?” he inquired slowly, settling his eyes on Joelle, who was avoiding looking at him. When she replied, Colin raised his eyebrows, a smile involuntarily appearing on his face. He instinctively ran a hand through his hair in a confident i-know-I’m-hot gesture. What he wouldn’t admit, though, is that he was actually surprised. The way he never was when he found out that someone found him attractive. He shouldn’t have been, a clear indication of Joelle’s attraction was growing inside of her, he should have felt the way he usually would – unsurprised but pleased, full of pride and full of himself, but instead an unfamiliar tickling sensation ran inside his chest. Evan and Annie both seemed pleased, as If they knew something the other two didn’t.

“I-“ Colin began to respond, but didn’t have the chance to finish as Joelle rushed off. It was only right before she left that he noticed the look on her face. He would have expected her to be smiling, maybe slightly embarrassed, but something in her face – something in her deep chocolate eyes, the set of her graceful jaw and the bright pursed lips – made him feel uneasy.

He began to stand up, thinking of following her, but Evan but his hand on Colin’s shoulder. “Oh, come on, let the girl pee in peace,” Evan said with a grin that made it obvious just how aware he was of how that sounded. They continued playing the game, having more and more fun with it with each drink. Annie answered a question about her worst hookup, Evan told the story of the first time he got arrested, and Colin had to drink a shot of straight vodka. “Here she is!” Annie said, seeing Elle walking back to their table, “We were just saying that it’s your turn. Truth or dare?”Colin looked at Joelle, looking for signs of discomfort or sadness, he was relieved to see that she seemed okay. “I think it’s time for us to shut the fuck up, get up and dance!” he announced before Joelle had the chance to answer. The group seemed to like the idea well enough, now that more people were coming in, the music got louder and three out of four people in their company were just intoxicated enough to do some dancing. They all danced together as a group, not splitting in pairs. After a few minutes, Colin excused himself to go to the bathroom.

|| time after time ||

[colindickens]

joelle-granger

Joelle knew that she should pull her eyes away from Colin, but she felt like there was a magnet that was holding her there. She didn’t care what Evan or Annie thought, her brown orbs weren’t leaving his blue hues. As Colin asked the question, she felt her heart skip a beat. She should have known Colin would pull some shit like that. Still without drawing her eyes away from Colin, she took a sip from her drink almost seductively before breaking their long heated eye contact.

Her chocolate eyes glanced around the room. There was plenty of attractive men and as she surveyed the area many of their gazes caught her glance. It was moments like that that she wished she had an alcohol blanket on. Because if she did, her cheeks wouldn’t have turned pink and she would have probably been into it. However, before Colin even asked the question, she knew the answer. It was Colin. No one else was more attractive to her in the bar but she couldn’t bring herself to admit it.

Joelle’s glanced to Annie and she knew that the brunette knew what she was thinking. She was so glad that she had someone in her corner that knew what she was thinking with a look. Taking a breath, she knew what she had to do. Without trying, she glanced at Colin for just a second before moving towards Annie. Joelle put her hand on the back of Annie’s head and pulled her towards her, planting her lips against hers. After a moment of their lips together she pulled away and licked her lips. “Done.” She said in a confident voice before turning to look at Colin.

Since it was her turn she asked Annie in order to calm herself down. After Annie’s round it was her turn to pick so she turned to Evan. “Evan, truth or dare?”

While Joelle took her time, looking around the room to decide who was the most attractive person that she would pick, Colin found himself looking around as well, wondering what it would be like when one day she found someone to date or settle down with. In these past few weeks, they both began to accept the fact that the two of them were stuck in this together. The two of them, strangers turned into a parenting team, would have to prepare for a baby and then try their best to raise it well. Up until this moment it never occurred to him that it wouldn’t be just them. They would have romantic partners and while Colin knew that he wouldn’t ever get hitched, Joelle seemed like a more committed type. Would her boyfriends spend time with their kid? If she got married, would the kid have to call her husband ‘dad’? The idea of Joelle, her potential husband and their kid together sent a weird twinge of jealousy through him. He laid his eyes back on Joelle right as she was eyeing Annie.

Evan frowned as he watched the scene, surprised by his friend’s behavior. The Colin he was used would have already picked up a girl to shamelessly flirt with, no company of friends has ever stopped him from that. But the soon-to-be-parents kept stealing glances at each other, in a way that definitely wasn’t just friendly. Evan smirked, not saying anything about it, but wondered if Annie saw it too. And if Annie or Colin also noticed that Elle didn’t really go for who she considered the most attractive.

Both guys didn’t understand the silent exchange between the two girls, and went wide eyed at the sudden show. Their jaws dropped as they watched. When the girls finished the kiss, both of them slowly clapped.

“Colin, have I ever mentioned how much I love you?” Evan said, clearly approving of the dare Colin came up with.

“Nice, Granger,” Colin said and then turned to look at Evan, who picked dare and then had to stand up and yell out what his guilty pleasure was. The bar crowd didn’t bat an eye at the guy yelling out I fucking love ‘Love Island’. Dickens, unsurprised and unphased, made his way to the bar to get them another round.

He got back just in time to hear Evan asking Joelle Truth or dare? and chuckled as he sat down, “I’d pick truth if I were you, little mermaid, otherwise he’ll just want to see you and Annie makeout again”.

“Oh, sure, as if it wasn’t you pretty much drooling over the view along with me,” Evan rolled his eyes, and looked at Joelle as he waited for her answer. He was hoping that she would pick the truth, and the luck seemed to be on his side today, “Joelle, who do you really think is the most attractive person in this bar? The truth.”

A confused frown appeared on Colin’s face, he glanced between Evan and Elle, realizing that he’s clearly missed something.

|| time after time ||

[colindickens]

joelle-granger

Joelle pursed her lips at Colin as he tried to convince her to sing karaoke. She tilted her head and gave him a no-way face but then when he offered to sing a duet with her she smirked a little. “Fine… I’ll do it but on two conditions. One, you sing with me.” She told him. “And two, I get to pick the song.” Joelle told him, taking the upper hand and taking control for once.

The game of truth or dare continued and Colin came back with another round of drinks for the group, non-alcoholic for Joelle of course. She was just finishing her first mocktail when Colin put the other one in front of her. “Woah woah, I better slow down, this is gonna knock me on my ass.” She said with sarcasm.

It was after a sip from her new drink Colin leaned towards her and closed the distance slightly between them. Joelle’s eyes were on Colin and it was as if the world around them faded away. It was just them. A small, alluring smile came on her lips and after her eyes lingered on Colin for a moment too long, she spoke.

“Dare.” Joelle said in a low intoxicating voice and all the while her eyes didn’t leave Colin. She wasn’t going to pick what everyone around her would expect. They expected the spoiled rich girl to take the easy route and pick truth. But Joelle was out for a night of fun so dare it was.

“Carpe diem, Elle,” Colin said in response to her joke about slowing down on the drinks, “Go nuts, treat yourself,” he added, trying to stay serious. Really, he hoped she didn’t feel left out because of her inability to drink – he was having a good time, and so, he could clearly see, were Evan and Annie, and it would be a shame if Joelle ended up feeling like the odd one out. And he had to admit that having a designated driver was great, as that eliminated the need for multiple taxi rides.

His lips stretched further, his smile widening, when Joelle replied. Somehow Colin had a feeling she would say that, even if truth seemed like a more obvious choice, he knew Joelle wouldn’t go for the obvious. As of recently, he noticed, she was doing a lot of things that were the opposite of what was expected of her. For some reason he felt a jolt of pride in that moment.

For a moment Colin thought over the possible options, and as an idea bloomed in his head his smile got visibly more mischievous, “I dare you to kiss whoever you consider most attractive in this bar,” he said slowly, savoring each word.

Evan coughed dramatically, and Colin knew immediately that he had to clarify an important detail. Throughout their many years of friendship, the two had a way of communicating without words, and the elaborate sound was meant to bring Colin down from his evil mastermind high.

“With their respective verbal consent,” Dickens added, “If they don’t want to – go for the second hottest,” after saying that, a playful smile made its way back onto his face as he added, "but seeing as we all see you, I'd bet money on the first person you'll ask saying yes."

|| time after time ||

[colindickens]

joelle-granger

Joelle smiled and shook her head as Annie and Evan walked into the bar ahead of them. If someone had told her where she would be just a few months ago, she would have laughed in their face. With complete strangers, pregnant, headed into a bar. It was all surreal. Joelle felt Colin wrap his arm around her in a side hug and she laughed softly and leaned against his side. “Karaoke?” She asked raising her eyebrows. “That’s not fair, you get the alcohol blanket before you get up there and I don’t…” Joelle shook her finger to indicate she’d have to do it completely sober.

Joelle ordered a fruity mocktail that if she didn’t know any better, she wouldn’t know there was no alcohol in it. As the group cheered their glasses, Joelle took a sip and said, “For the record, I am the cheapest date here tonight.” The red head pretended to take a bow for the fact her drinks were cheaper than everyone else’s and Annie booed her and threw a balled up napkin at her face. Joelle let out a laugh and threw it back before Evan posted his question.

She knitted her eyebrows together but after Colin’s explanation she figured it could be fun and would get them to open up quicker. The question though sent a feeling through Joelle she hadn’t felt before. She instinctively clenched her jaw and her eyes shot to Colin to see his response. Would his eyes move to the blonde sitting at the corner of the bar? Or the darker haired girl who was leaning against the pool table in the back. When she realized she was staring her eyelids fluttered and she looked down quickly. Was she jealous?

Joelle took a breath at his response and moved her drink to her lips to hopefully cover any emotion that might be on her face. “I believe that makes it your turn now, Colin.” She told him, covering up her moment of jealously with an encouragement of the game.

“Oh, come on, just pretend you’re off your face after the mocktails, I won’t tattle on you,” Dickens laughed, making his best puppy face. The initial uncertainty he felt when they first decided they were in there together faded when he slowly started to realize that really, they just had to become friends. If they did that, everything else would come easily enough.

Or so he hoped.

“I’ll even duet with you” he added.

Colin rolled his eyes in pretend annoyance, “We got it, Elle, you want another drink,” he scoffed, “Are you hearing this woman? Rich girls and their demands,” Dickens joked, then winking at Joelle with a smile to make sure she knew he was only kidding. Despite everything, it felt like they were all old friends, nothing but a bunch of twenty-something with no care in the world. And for tonight, that could be true enough.

“You’re right,” he nodded, and looked over at Annie, “Truth or dare?”.

The next couple of minutes the game went on, loosening them up along with the alcohol. Colin got the next round of drinks, he himself still sober even after one and a half drinks. During his teenage rebellion, his experience with alcohol got more than extensive. He was way too young, and lacked the experience to be more careful, however, those years did leave him with a good alcohol resistance. It wasn’t such a good thing when he wanted to drown his sorrows in alcohol, but it worked in his favor now, when he was genuinely enjoying the evening.

When it was his turn to ask again, Colin leaned in closer to Joelle.

“Truth or dare?” he asked, his tone more dramatic than he indented.

“Easy there, it’s just a game!” Evan laughed.

Without turning his head or letting his gaze fall off Joelle, Colin reached for a napkin, crumpled it up and threw in the general direction of his best friend.

|| time after time ||

[colindickens]

[colindickens]

i wanna be the one who makes your bad days better

[colindickens]

I figure life’s a gift and I don’t intend on wasting it. — Titanic (1997)

[colindickens]

[colindickens]

“Never beg for anything. Earn it. Demand it. Seek it. Never beg for it.”

— Geraldine Page, quoted in Follies of God: Tennessee Williams and the Women of the Fog (via lilys)

[colindickens]