ljholliday

[ljholliday]

eli

Eli let out one terse ‘ha!’ at LJ’s assumption that she’d been pissed when she started seeing Dylan and immediately crossed her arms, nodding vaguely and tilting her chin up so she could stare at the sky. “Yeah,” she sighed out after a brief silence, “I guess I kind of was.” An understatement. Eli rolled her eyes playfully at LJ’s reaction to her smoking but once she’d taken her first drag, she was quick to go back for more. “Shut up,” she warned, though her smirk betrayed her as she passed the cigarette back. Eli wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting by ambushing LJ and bringing up Dylan, but hearing LJ say she was crazy about her, even if it was in the past tense, still made Eli’s heart beat so fast she thought it might stop. She let out a quiet ‘hm,’ at LJ’s honest answer and then turned to look at her again, holding her gaze. “I’m glad I saw you out here,” Eli admitted, reaching for the cigarette. She took a long drag as she stared at LJ, only breaking their eye contact to blow the smoke away from her face. “Don’t tell my sister or Zoe this because they’ll kill me,” she started with a laugh, turning to stare again, “but I do miss you.” Quickly realizing, “not like that. I mean…we were friends first, right? I miss that.” She let out a sigh and brought the cigarette to her lips a final time before passing it back, but not without letting her fingers gently graze LJ’s, “I’d like to be your friend again,” she revealed honestly, “Lennon.” 

🧝‍♀️

“i don’t talk to your sister or zoe.” lj assured with a laugh, “secret is safe with me.” she then scratched the back of her neck as she made a request of her own, “as long as you don’t mention it to where it’ll get back to dylan uh, she’d probably get real paranoid and shit.” now having a mutual understanding this conversation should be kept on the dl, lj felt a slight guilt lift. as eli handed her cigarette back, she finally tossed it onto the tennis court and stomped it out. it was easy to banter with eli, talk with her, and pretend like maybe they hadn’t broken each others hearts. “friends” lj laughed a little at the idea of that, but if eli was being optimistic, maybe she could be optimistic too. “alright, i can try friends, but no fuckin’ promises.” she cleared her throat, shaking off any discomfort, “i don’t know if i could be friends with someone who likes the same shitty movies you do, though.” she teased, then extended a hand to note the end of the conversation. a hug still felt a little too intimate. eli’s hand shortly came into contact with hers, and lj gave it a firm shake before issuing a “good seeing you.” 

THE END.

[ljholliday]

eli

“Definitely not a hate crime,” Eli countered, shaking her head with certainty as she looked at LJ from the corner of her eye, “Zoe’s best friend is gay.” The light bantering elicited a breathy chuckle from the brunette as she dropped her gaze down to her hands and smiled. Of course this was easy. Of course. When LJ reached over and offered Eli her cigarette, she dramatically averted it by physically backing away. “Get that thing away from me,” she demanded with a playful grimace, wrapping her hand around LJ’s wrist and gently shoving it away. “Didn’t you see I’m a model now,” Eli flexed as she uncharacteristically tossed her hair over her shoulder, “I have to preserve my youth and shit. That won’t do me any favors.” Eli hadn’t smoked in a couple of months and she wasn’t planning on fucking up her progress just to share a moment with LJ. However, bringing up Dylan had been a choice, and now that LJ was actually answering her question, she needed something to relieve the tension. “That’s cool,” she replied as she cleared her throat and immediately reached for LJ’s wrist again, taking a drag from the cigarette that was dangling between her fingers. “Fuck it,” she said as she blew out the smoke, stealing a glance at LJ before staring at the tennis courts again, “you so had a crush on her when we were together.” Eli sent a smirk in LJ’s direction to show she was kidding, even though deep down she kind of wasn’t, “I’m glad it worked out.”  

.

“you don’t have to act all nice.” lj told eli, “i hate that fake shit, and i bet you were pissed when i started seeing dylan.” it’s not like it was really lj’s place to say, because in truth, she didn’t know. but she did like to think she did know eli, and that wasn’t a completely outrageous guess. “atta girl, richie.” lj teasingly cooed as eli took a drag from her cig. it was a starch contrast to how she had butted heads against the notion eli could be completely nice about her and dylan. maybe it was wrong of lj, but there was a tiny part of her, tucked above her stomach and against her ribs that wished eli still cared, even just a little bit. “and i didn’t have a fuckin’ crush on her...psycho...” lj exhaled, and shook her head. if they were being honest, she might as well say, “i was crazy about you.” 

[ljholliday]

eli

There were few things Eli hated more than having her own words used against her. The second LJ brought up what she’d said in the group chat and decided to make eye contact, Eli scoffed, crossed her arms and legs, and faced forward, glaring at the tennis courts like the nets had dared to cross her. She kept her mouth shut and her line of sight straight ahead as LJ stared at her and continued to answer her questions with a taunting tone like an asshole. It wasn’t until she heard LJ say ‘yes you do’ that she turned her head to look at her again. “Yeah,” she nodded, “I do.” After taking a deep breath and habitually rolling her eyes, Eli shifted her gaze to the cigarette in LJ’s hand and then back to the cut on her nose. “You know this was just pay back for when you threw a dodgeball at my face, right?” she asserted, looking away from LJ to try and hide her growing smirk, “now we’re even.” The next time Eli turned her head to look at LJ, her featured softened. She wasn’t glaring anymore, just…staring. Eli rubbed her lips together and focused on LJ’s cigarette when she brazenly asked, “how’s Dylan?”

.

lj had half the heart to laugh at eli’s comment about a million years ago when she’d decked her with a dodgeball, “yeah right, this is an entirely different situation.” she insisted. “mine was an accident, this was a deliberate....hatecrime? i don’t know.” lj joked, shaking her head. even if there was love lost between the two, talking with eli was still easy. like breathing or blinking. second nature. caving, lj hefted out a sigh and agreed, “now we’re even.” looking at eli’s intense stare brought lj some pretty intense butterflies. swallowing her guilt, she extended the hand with her cigarette, “sure you don’t want a drag, richie?” shaking it in front of her face, she teased in a more light hearted manner, “a lil puff won’t kill you!” the banter ceased when eli asked about dylan though, and a lump formed in her throat, “good uh...yeah she’s really good. sad she couldn’t be here and shit.”

[ljholliday]

eli

Eli kept her eyes fixed on LJ, despite her ex-girlfriend’s refusal to look at her. They hadn’t seen each other in person in nearly two years and there were a lot of differences for Eli to study…like the bridge piercing on her nose and her short hair and the make-up that was doing a poor job of covering up a bruise the size of Zoe’s fist on her cheek. Just to name a few. LJ’s response to her dig wasn’t surprising, but it had Eli rolling her eyes regardless. For a while they just sat there. Eli’s eyes boring into LJ while LJ stared at twitter. When she finally broke the silence with a question, Eli scoffed. “Are you really not even going to look at me?” she asked with a glare. 

Eli hadn’t come over to start a fight, but the alcohol in her system paired with LJ’s attitude was a surefire way to start an argument. “What did I even do to you, LJ?” Eli asked bluntly as she crossed her arms over her chest protectively, “like…calling me out in public group chats? Hitting my best friend?” Eli sat back and stared out at the tennis courts with a dry scoff. “I don’t get you.” 

.

keeping her gaze level with a line on the tennis court, lj nodded and gave eli an “uh huh.” taking a drag of her cigarette, she reminded, “what was it you said to me in the groupchat? hm...fuck...oh yeah...go back to ignoring my existence.” upon using eli’s words against her, lj turned her head and stared at eli. “you’re being kind of unclear.” she explained, smiling wryly as she clicked off her phone, and set it down besides her. looking at eli, this close, under these circumstances weren’t great. she looked fantastic. fuck her. as much as she liked to think she was beyond being wounded by the break up, it turned out burying her pain by jumping into another relationship hadn’t served her too well. electing not to answer eli’s question, lj took another puff of her cigarette, then shook her head, “hey for the record, your bestie hit me first. she seems fine by the looks of it, soo....get over it i guess.” hypocritical words coming from one lj holliday! no surprise there. i don’t get you. again, lj found herself correcting eli, “yes you do.”

[ljholliday]

meadow

“Ouch,” Meadow muttered, half to herself, before looking back at LJ. Somehow, she doubted she was only kinda ‘kidding’, but she wasn’t about to start a fight behind the Breadstix. Not when her break was almost over, and she wouldn’t have time to finish it, at least. “Depends on your taste in ugly… he went for the conventional first name with the wacky middle name, so if memory serves, the baby’s name is…” she scanned her mind for it, before remembering with a smile. “Margaret Killroy. And then the last name.”

.

“margaret killroy?” lj echoed in disbelief, then snickered, “that’s pretty bad. like, both of those name’s fuckin suck on their own, but that....that should be illegal.” she said, nodding in confidence with her comment. that was the breadstix staff for ya, she figured. “what’s your taste in ugly though?” she prodded out of curiosity, “would you name your baby margaret killroy?”

[ljholliday]

samuel

SAT. 2:08 AM 

SAMCHANG: uhhhhhhh like she beat you up? and if she did then I am disappointed.  SAMCHANG: how in the hell, you could easily take zoe!  SAMCHANG: let me hit up my guy for the joint.  SAMCHANG: also cute outfit.

LJHOLLS: ok i wouldn’t say “beat up”  LJHOLLS: but i got hit !!!! and it hurt !! LJHOLLS: life saver LJHOLLS: r u here rn? where can i meet u?

[ljholliday]

lincoln

LINCOLNONLINE: of course, she’s ruthless. LINCOLNONLINE: but yeah we’re like besties so she’s usually slapping me bc i’ve acted the fool yet again. LINCOLNONLINE: well im staying @ my dads’ house for the wedding so feel free to  🏃‍♀️ to westerville and i’ll roll u one 

LJHOLLS: i could kiss u rn LJHOLLS: full offense i hate ur bestie <33 LJHOLLS: anyhow im omw roll quickly gay boy

[ljholliday]

phoenix

HARPEES: did you deserve it tho HARPEES: got one with ur name on it. u name the time & place b

LJHOLLS: kinda lmao i took my roommate to hook up w her ex LJHOLLS: but we’ve never fuckin’ liked each other. ever.  LJHOLLS: last wedding we got in a fight in a bathroom stall. LJHOLLS: but thanks for the joint u r a real 1

[ljholliday]

LINCOLNONLINE: i’m always getting my shit rocked by zoe, u get no sympathy from me! LINCOLNONLINE: but a join may be in ur future regardless

LJHOLLS: yea but does she actually put hands on u LJHOLLS: wait rnt u guys friends and shit LJHOLLS: anyhow what do i gotta do to secure that j

[ljholliday]

SNAP: LJ & OPEN

SAT. 2:05 AM @crhqstarters​​

LJHOLLS: just got my shit rocked by zoe lmfao  LJHOLLS: take pity on this lesbian and donate a joint?

[ljholliday]

lj had never been huge into wearing make up. she thought it was pretty, and entirely admired girls who were incredible at it, but her skills were limited, and it seemed every time she did a full face she broke out worse than a thirteen year old. thanks to the daughter of the bride though, lj had to do her best to cover up some irritation following their tussle last night. it definitely wasn’t her proudest moment, but what was it that the guy who got his ass kicked in dazed and confused said? when people read about hemingway no one ever talks about who won, just that he got in a brawl? yeah, some shit like that. still, spending an entire reception around her ex and city girl barbie wasn’t a favorite past time. in fact, those three and weddings were beginning to build up a track record of not mixing well. 

she wished dylan was around. or like, anyone she got along with.  eventually it got to be too grating, and lj slipped out onto the tennis courts to chain smoke her night away. the country club had been kind enough to provide her the seating of a golf cart while she flicked her ash all over their court and shitty music thumped in the background. it was her own pace though, and weirdly relaxing to be alone and able to breathe again. that was until she heard footsteps approaching and eli’s voice judging her. snapping back quickly, lj replied, “well...fuckin’...go away then if you don’t like it.” pulling out her phone, she refused to look at the brunette and put all of her focus into her twitter feed. annoyed to feel eli’s stare still on her, she asked, “do you need something?” 

THAT TEENAGE FEELING

WHO: @ljholliday​ & eli st. james WHERE: quinn & brock’s wedding @ the lima country club  WHEN: saturday, 4/24, night

The intrusive thoughts about Lennon Holliday had started sometime around when Theo and Zoe had broken up and they had not stopped since. Eli swore up and down that she no longer had feelings for her high school girlfriend because, well, she didn’t. They hadn’t even dated for that long and LJ had been quick to move on. They were over. Ancient history. LJ was a total thing of the past…and yet.

Come Quinn’s wedding, Eli picked LJ out from the massive crowd of people almost instantly. Naturally, the sight of the girl made her blood boil. How dare LJ show up to her best friend’s mom’s wedding? It felt like a personal attack. Especially after the stunt LJ had pulled by specifically calling Eli out as not invited to whatever lame party she had had the night before. As the night progressed, she couldn’t decide what she wanted to do more: throw a drink in her face or…talk to her. Ugh, fuck. This was hell. Eli kept herself busy throughout the night, mingling with people she hadn’t seen in forever and stealing drinks off of tables at every chance she got. Even though she was phased by LJ’s presence, she wasn’t going to let the blonde know that. 

Eli was decently tipsy and sick of the dance floor when she decided she needed some fresh air. Wandering out of the country club, she began her trek towards the tennis courts where she’d spent a lot of time growing up. On her way over, she clocked a familiar figure sitting in a golf cart with a cigarette in hand. Of fucking course. Before Eli’s mind could reason with her impulse, she was marching towards the passenger’s side of the cart and sliding in. She stole a glance at LJ and before focusing on the cig and deadpanning, “you smell like shit ‘cause of that thing.” 

[ljholliday]

meadow

Meadow considered the cig being offered to her, and then the girl handing it over. Then, with a soft nod, she deemed it safe, and held her hand out, ready to accept a puff. “Connor Julius. He’s on paternity leave right now, and I’m not sure if he’ll want to come back… I didn’t know he sold acid, though… is that, like, public information I missed out on, somehow?” 

.

“maybe he just doesn’t fuckin’ like you.” lj shrugged. that was probably a harsher response than she needed to give, but granted lj knew who meadow was via her ex-girlfriend eli st.james. lj believed herself in the right to remain slightly on the defensive with her exes friends. taking the cig back from meadow, she puffed on it, “kidding. kinda. i don’t know what connor’s deal is. but good for him with the baby and shit! did he pick an ugly name?” 

[ljholliday]

zoe

while many things had changed in her life since graduating high school, one thing that hadn’t changed was zoe’s complete and total inability to listen to the directions and opinions of those around her. as far as she was concerned, zoe puckerman only had to report to one person: herself. so while lj holliday thought she was onto something by publicly disinviting her to some lame, high school reminicisent party, she was also clearly stupid. zoe had never gave a flying fuck about lj’s desires, especially not following her breakup with eli. in fact, it was imagining lj’s shock as she burst through the door that had zoe excited and throwing back alcohol before she even left her childhood bedroom. it seemed as if lj was the only one who didn’t want her to show up, because they second they entered the party, zoe was met with smiles, hugs, and a whole lot of shmoozing until she heard the screechy voice coming towards her. “and i thought i made it real fucking clear that i don’t care about what you want,” she snarled, stepping dangerously close to the other blonde. “i can, but i don’t want to. sleeping on some slut’s couch doesn’t mean you get to boss me around.”

.

“like you’ve never fucked! slut shaming in 2043? get over yourself.” lj scoffed, not getting the point she was making. zoe and lj didn’t get along from day one. their personalities were totally incompatible, then later, eli came along and there was tension over that. lj and theo being friends, then eli and zoe being close at least gave them reason to try to resort to backhanded pleasantries. now that both of those were gone though? years worth of dislike were roaming wild, and everything was on the table. “the thing about like, breaking it off with someone is that you’re both allowed to do whatever you want afterwards.” there was some extra bite in her words, as she proceeded to provide some examples, “for example, eli and i broke up, so i started dating dylan.” then a low blow, “you and theo broke up, so he hooked up with sterling.” lj shrugged, sipping her drink, “that’s life! now can you seriously get the fuck out?”

[ljholliday]

cigarette between her fingers, lj took a puff as she continued her walk from the gas station, to where her car was parked at breadstix. caught off guard by a voice, she sort of just rolled with it and nodded, “totally.” she understood the pain of the too-short-breaks at breadstix. she had worked there for her last two years of high school after all. lj was all for taking down the man, but her curiosity got the best of her, “hey does that guy with the split tongue still work in the kitchen?” she asked, “i bought acid off him once, what was his name? connor maybe? i don’t remember but he’s fuckin’ cool.” she gestured with the hand her cigarette was in, “want a puff before you have to go suffer?” 

𝙾𝙿𝙴𝙽 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁

where: behind breadstix

when: night, april 19th

who: open

Hearing the footsteps on the pavement, Meadow sighed, her head tilting back against the outside wall with a sigh. She couldn’t tell who it was, not just by the footsteps, but she could make a guess. “You know, I have 5 more minutes on this break, and not even god herself can make me go back to work before my break is up.” She took a slow breath in of the night air, savoring it for all it was worth. Finally, fortified by the cool air in her lungs, she chanced a look to her new guest. “Labor unions fought for this, you know. Literally… this. Breaks. Kind of crazy, right?”

[ljholliday]

MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT

WHO @zoepuckerman​ and lj holliday. WHEN fri. 4/23 WHERE lima bean party.

the party was a success as far as lj was concerned. and even more successful? bentley lynn as a bouncer. lj and sterling took shifts checking on him and providing him booze and blunts throughout the night in addition to his monetary payment. the party was fun. lj didn’t miss high school, but this felt nice. she’d never admit it, but maybe she did miss some of these people. someone she didn’t miss though...zoe puckerman. so as she saw the blonde marching through the party directly to her, lj wasn’t sure if she should be pissed at zoe herself, or bentley for doing a shitty job as bouncer. meeting zoe halfway through the party, she was quick to engage, “i thought i made it real fuckin’ clear you weren’t invited.” over the music, lj loudly asked, “can you just get out man?”

[ljholliday]

sloane

The date dash was anything but smooth sailing for Sloane. Okay, she could have asked Brad from Sigma Chi, but she knew all it would mean would be a night of Brad talking about his glory days and trying to cop a feel which was exactly what Sloane was attempting to prevent. After going through her contacts, she decided to reach out to Bentley who was really nothing more than a body in Lima to Sloane, but it seemed like he had nothing else to do and he promptly agreed to be her date. Once he was allowed in, it didn’t take long for them to somehow get separated and instead of looking around for her date, Sloane opted to go by that bar and order herself a beer. Beer was certainly disgusting to her, but she wasn’t about to ask for vodka in a rodeo joint. Not noticing the girl beside her, Sloane’s head whipped to the side at the other’s question. “Oh!” She chuckled, looking down at her getup. She had attempted the ‘daisy duke’ route knowing she didn’t have anything terribly glitzy or glamorous to wear, but with her shorts, pink bebe shirt, and pigtails she probably looked more like a toddler than anything else. “I’m a daisy duke,” she clarified, “and I’m assuming you are too?” She pointed a finger at the all telling sign of LJ’s cowboy hat. Something about LJ looked eerily familiar though. There was no way they knew each other, Sloane thought, but as she studied the girl’s face more clearly it dawned on her. Dylan’s Instagram. “Wait,” a pause as a smile started growing on her face. “You’re Dylan’s girlfriend, aren’t you?” Sloane asked. “I’ve literally heard like so much about you! You two are super precious.”

.

lj shamelessly looked at the girl who had just approached with narrowed eyes. she honestly had no idea who this was, what she wanted, or why she thought this was going to be a compatible interaction. lj had only really come to spend time with her girlfriend, so some other girl striking up conversation was kind of a huge inconvenience. when she got to the point and explained that her and dylan were super precious, lj had to bite back a gag. “is this like, some heterosexual guilt thing?” she asked, not fully grasping that this other girl was just trying to be nice. like her mother alway taught her though, lj extended her hand then introduced herself, “lj holliday.” with a firm nod, then handshake, she sipped on the drink sat up on the bar. if this was one of dylan’s friends, maybe she could at least try to be nice. lj would feel like shit if she found out in retrospect this was dylan’s new bffl for the week. “so...” she said dryly, “we kinda had different takes on daisy duke, huh?”

[ljholliday]

dylan

“No, I know,” Dylan said quickly, instantly regretting bringing up LJ’s ex. She hadn’t been accusing her of anything, so now she had to backpedal. “I know you were just defending me and I really, really appreciate that. I just didn’t know why you were so adamant about her not coming in the first place and stuff…” Dylan swallowed hard as she stared up at LJ with pleading eyes, “I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m trying to say.” Dylan’s gaze followed LJ as she got up and headed straight for the kitchen. She was sure she looked just as meek as she felt when she uttered out, “I’m sorry.” As LJ assured her that she was fine, things weren’t weird, she was good, Dylan slowly got up and made her way over to the sink. Leaning back against the counter so she was sort of facing LJ, Dylan ignored everything in her gut telling her that something was off and instead, relented. “No, you’re not acting weird, I think it’s just…” she shrugged and cautiously reached for LJ’s hand, gently running her pointer finger across her girlfriend’s fingers, “I think it’s just me. I’m being paranoid. I’m sorry.” She took a deep breath and forced a smile. “I’m good,” a lie, “promise.” Clearing her throat, she glanced down at the few dishes in the sink and shrugged, “do you need help? Wanna like…I don’t know…watch a movie after or something?” 

.

lj did feel bad. she had a heart after all. dylan’s paranoia caused her shoulders to tense, but through her own discomfort, she could see that she was just worried. “everyone’s about to be back in town, i just don’t fuckin want eli, or zoe, or whoever, showing up to our party and killing the mood.” turning away from the sink, she leaned back against it and continued to explain to dylan, “you know im like....” there was no nice way to put this, huh? “i’m not like you, like, i don’t have a ton of exes and shit--and it’s fine that you do-- i just don’t wanna have to be around mine. not even now. i’d rather just leave it be.” stepping away from the sink, lj could see the uncertainty written all over dylan’s face. taking her girlfriend’s hands, lj locked eyes with her, “don’t apologize, just like, fuckin’ chill. it’s all good. we’re all good.” she vowed, flashing a close lipped smile, then pressing a kiss to dylan’s cheek, “yeah, yeah, let’s do these dishes, then we can talk movies.” bobbing her head around a little, she tired to lift the spirits of the room, “cmon! don’t look so fuckin’ glum! do you not like washing dishes or some shit? shocking.” 

THE END.