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steveusesfaberge · 5 years

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Better Parent (pt. ii)

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Henderson!Reader

Summary: The kids have their loving mother and...uhh...other mother...take them to the Wheelers’ house; an advice filled car ride later - and some quality time with his favorite girl.... and it ends with a shifty scheme crafted by only the best intentions, and two teens not doing the babysitting they were assigned to do...wonderful. Sounds just like another day for Harrington!

Type/Style: Imagine, female pronouns

Warning(s): Fluff~, momma Steve, heed all warnings… Oh, and a bit of cursing! >.<

Word Count: +4,100

a/n: The is part two to Better Parent and with that being said, I hope you all enjoy!

Part 1 - Part 2 (you are here) - Part 3

Please send requests! I’m excited to write for you all! <3

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“Hey--”

“Move over, your ass is in my lap!”

“Hello?”

“What?! You're practically in my seat!”

“Is anyone even listening to--”

“Stop it guys - don’t push!”

“Hey! Dickheads! Would you all quit it? Goddamn, why didn’t one of you go with Y/N like she suggested?” Steve growled while trying not to crash the car. The boys had all decided they’d tumble into his car...leaving a party of three merrily skipping to the other teenager’s car...it wasn’t like there was anything wrong with it! - Y/N’s car was actually quite nice; she took care of it and even had a better radio than Steve...

“Because then we’d be alone with all that estrogen...not happening, Harrington,” Lucas spoke up while giving Mike a hard shove to his side. Will was groaning in annoyance as his friends jostled him to be pressed harshly to the car door. While Dustin happily was messing with the stereo (when he’d called shotgun - and Steve allowed it, Y/N had claimed it was ‘favoritism amongst their six babies who she, as the better parent, loved equally. Thus, no one would be sitting passenger in her car. Steve figured that’s why none of the boys wanted to go, being squeezed between El and Max might not be ideal...though Harrington knew better. Y/N liked playing her own music, and with a grubby hand like Dustin’s all over the radio - her rule had been set long before she became a mom).

“Mhm, sure,” Steve grumbled while rubbing his temple, already regretting agreeing to this. It wasn’t like it was a long ride back to Mike’s house - but goddamn did these knuckleheads make it feel like it... “Tell me that again when you’re not off sucking faces with Max,” the older boy was praised with ohs and ahs as he snapped the remark at Sinclair.

“At least I have a girlfriend,” Lucas defended, earning his own audience of noise.

“A-hahhhh, and what the hell is that supposed to mean, asshole?” Steve jabbed while resting his elbow on the rim of his window, it had been rolled down because all the movement in the car had it feel like a damn sauna. Dustin was still messing with his radio, flipping channels and making the music louder when Steve had specifically told him to turn it down. He slapped the said boy’s hand away and scolded him briefly,” Hands off, Henderson - how many times do I have to say it? It’s distracting me - do you want to die?” He exhaled slowly, trying not to pull the car over and kick each out to the side of the road. Either having to walk the rest of the way or ask Y/N.

“I mean - I have the balls to even kiss a girl - or are you and girly Henderson dating without us knowing?” Lucas drilled, earning a head nod from Mike, and an eye-roll from Will who just wanted to get to the house (he was more interested in DnD than how poorly Steve’s love life was going).

Steve abruptly stopped the car. He heard Y/N slamming on the breaks, a honk of her horn and the muffled sound of her cursing him off for such a dangerous stunt. He ignored it though, deciding to deal with the consequences later. Luckily, there wasn’t anyone behind Y/N to backend her (he wasn’t dumb enough to do such a thing with precious cargo...).

“What? You know how many girls I’ve kissed? How many I’ve made out with? Huh? Do you forget who I am?” He wiped his chin and shook his head with a defensive blush finding his face. He took a breath in and exhaled with a more composed manner. He tried to ignore the way the boys in the back held their laughter in, and definitely, decided to ignore the way Dustin watched them all in confusion (dumbass didn’t even see the way Steve looked at his sister).

“Me and Y/N...are not a thing. We’re not together, we’re not a couple, we’re not an item,” he drawled while shaking his head. After a few moments of silence, the boys clearly conflicted on to continue laughing or feel bad for the way Steve’s tone dropped off at the end of his sentence.

He started down the road again, both hands gripping the wheel tightly; his eyes never leaving the windshield. His ears painted pink.

“You...you guys know this,” he mumbled while shaking his head once more, flipping Y/N off in his rearview mirror.

“I know but--,” Mike was cut off with a soft sigh from Harrington.

“I-I can’t. Okay? Is that what you wanna hear from me? That...that I know I’m not good enough for her? That...I’m scared if I told her, she’d swallow me whole and I’d never be able to look her in the eyes?” The desperate drag of his tone was obvious (maybe Y/N was right; he’d stooped to King Steve level of desperation...not for other girls...but...to just get a chance with her...anything...anything...he’d do anything).

The rest of the ride was filled with the boys in the back, coming up with love advice for Steve. Ask her out, just do it - be confident! Write her a letter. Tell her she looks nice. Ask her if she wants a boyfriend. Tell her she’s hot. Oh, what about showing her-- they’d reached the Wheeler estate and as they began unbuckling and getting ready to leave the car (thank the Lord, he wasn’t sure how much more he could take), and Dustin - who had been silent the majority of the ride finally spoke.

“What. The. Actual. Fuck.” He sputtered while his eyebrows furrowed in utter shock and confusion.

Steve rolled his eyes, and pushed his door open, calling over his shoulder,” I like your sister, dude. We’ve established this like....thirty-six times. Catch up, dipshit.” All embarrassment he had earlier had washed away, being replaced with a bubbling feeling of nerves and doubt. The boys were trying to be nice, do their best...but...they were all awkward preteens...their advice was as good as Steve consulting a Magic 8-Ball.

Inside the house, before trucking to Mike’s basement - Dustin dragged Steve to the kitchen, his mind still trying to figure out what had been revealed (or more so, finally brought up as Steve’s feelings for Y/N had always been the weird, pink-polka-dotted elephant in the room).

“What’re you doing? - They’ll start without you--,” Steve was hushed as Dustin slapped his hand to his mouth.

“My sister?” Dustin whisper-shouted. Steve rolled his eyes for the nth time and tugged Henderson’s grip from his face.

“Yeah, dingus - we’ve been over this--,”

“But my sister...Steve...why?” Dustin wasn’t sure how he felt about it clearly, and it only made Steve more nervous. That feeling that sunk into his bones, not a good one. Of course, if he were going to date Y/N...he’d need his best friend’s (and favorite child’s) permission.

“Whaddya want me to say! She’s like...the only girl I hang out with that’s my age, besides Robin, that I don’t mind,” Steve paused,” Might I remind you - Robin’s not into dudes.” It was almost sad how his social life had crumbled along with his desire to capture anyone else’s attention but Y/N’s (and of course, he’d tried to push those feelings aside for the sake of your friendship...but...it never worked).

Dustin was quiet; longer than Steve would’ve liked, as sitting in the soft silence was nervewracking. The curly-haired sibling stood, arms crossed, eyes clouded with thought as he rubbed his chin. Steve tapped his foot, leaning on the kitchen countertop as he waited, pinching the bridge of his nose. God, this kid’s such a headache...

“Dusty - Will told me, to tell you, that if you don’t go down now, you’ll be left out,” Y/N was just turning the corner when she spotted the pair in the kitchen, seeming as if they were in quite the predicament.

“Is this a private moment...or?” she spoke slowly, a tease to her words.

“N-No! I was...just...telling Steve that...um...,” his attention now on the older boy who had a hand ruffling through his hair for any imperfections (though who was he kidding? Harrington had the best head of hair in Hawkins).

“I was telling him if he doesn’t do it...I’ll...be disappointed...guy stuff,” Dustin gave Harrington a sincere half-grin and there was obviously a conversation to be held later (but Y/N’s appearance lead Dustin to keep his mouth shut for now).

“Really?” Steve asked, his brows raised as he took the boy’s words in.

“Yeah...yeah...just...don’t do something weird in front of me,” Dustin lowered his voice as he spoke the last bit.

“Alright, enough bro-talk, Dusty - get going and leave the adults to talk.” Y/N rolled her eyes; ruffling his hair as he passed by.

It was just the two of them, and Steve was trying not to do something stupid. Walking forward, he felt his body involuntarily tense up as she moved to stand a few feet from him - though a few feet was more than enough to render his mind as blank as all hell. His body completely useless now...

Don’t do something stupid. Don’t do something stupid. Don’t do something stupid. Don’t do something stupid. Don’t do something stupid....

“Did you want to do something while they messed around? Like catch a movie or--,” Y/N was interrupted by the blubbering fool before her.

“Your letter - uh, looks nice -- I mean, it looks hot! No - wait...that...that didn’t come out right.” Steve’s outburst granted an unsure look from her. Please just kill me now...did...did I say that? Well...all logic had found its way out the nearest fucking window...

“What?” Was all Y/N said while waiting for Steve with furrowed brows.

He covered his eyes, his free hand waving around for a dazed second as he tried to get the proper words out. Breathe...be natural...be confident....don’t fuck it up like that again, Harrington.

“I meant to say - you look nice,” he paused,” And to answer your question, why don’t we just go down and um...finally settle the score?” That...was...better.

Y/N shrugged, nodding as she reached for his hand. At that moment, Steve’s heart flatlined and he was sure he was now staring at an angel as she dragged him across the house, to the basement. “Sounds good - be prepared because momma ain’t leavin’ without her babies’ approval,” Steve could only nod to the back of her head as she spoke such fighting words.

If you asked Steve Harrington at the beginning of high school - what he thought about spending his free-time with six underaged dweebs who all were too smart-assy for their own good, and got themselves in trouble with hell (literally)...he’d have laughed and told you, you were as delusional as Byers.

If you asked the Steve Harrington the same question now - he’d look around at the six underaged dweebs shouting and arguing around a table laid out with character sheets, figurines, and dice... He’d laugh at their quick remarks and their tendency to use foul language, and he’d smile. Steve would’ve congratulated Byers’ brother for being the best Dungeon Master, the world had to offer.

If you told him, roughly five years after high school - he’d be seated on a busted sofa, in his ex’s basement, coke loosely held in one hand, the other pushing a pretty girl’s head away from him in a teasing manner...he’d...well..he’d not believe you. Because you’d describe the girl as someone so...amazing, so incomparable, that he’d think you’d made her up. You’d say that she was so breathtaking, that if you were in the same space as her for too long - you’d die from a lack of oxygen. That she had the most stunning y/c/e eyes he’d ever have the perquisite of seeing, and they’d have him chasing her for ages...having him choke on his own spit when she looked at him. Not to mention, the heartstopping laugh she’d have...the kind of laugh that had any guy (not just dorky Harrington) fall harder than he thought possible. Finding himself in an endless fall that put even Alice’s rabbit hole tumble to shame. She’d have a melody that had him trip over his words and stumble to find his footing. Yeah...Steve would not have believed you.

And yet, here he was...watching six dweebs play Dungeons and Dragons; with a girl he was madly in love with - more perfect than words could offer, sitting on a busted sofa, in his ex’s basement, no more than a foot between them...

“I’m tellin’ you, Steves - I’m the better parent, because the girls love me, and the boys worship me,” Y/N explained while pulling an L up to her forehead. Steve scoffed and waved her off.

“Actually - I don’t worship you, I worship Steve for giving me his hair secre--,”

Steve began snapping with his left hand, shaking his head and glaring. “Hey, hey, hey! Shithead - you swore on your life, you’d never say jackshit about that!” Dustin threw his hands out in silent defense.

“Sorry, I was just standing up for y--,” Steve shook his head once more, blowing him off with a puff of his cheeks. “Remember what I said? One peep - and your ass, yeah the one you’re sitting on now, is grass, Henderson. Grass.”

The gang began laughing at Steve’s overprotective outburst of his “best feature”. The brunette only tsked, mumbling obscenities.

“That wasn’t very better parent material, Steve,” Max snickered while El whispered something in her ear.

“Aye! No whispering under my watch - if you have a secret, you can say it aloud in front of the family,” he stressed with fake authority.

“But you just told Dustin--,” “Eleven - I don’t need a smartass.” Steve pursed his lips.

The kids eventually settled back down, getting sucked into their fantasy world once more without a second glance to the pair on the sofa. Y/N was clamping a hand to her mouth, trying not to let the amusement slip from her lips. She loved seeing Steve with the kids - he was so....dorky and sweet in his own way...saying so, she could almost admit she loved h--

“What’re you laughing at, Ms. Not-the-best-parent-because-you-suck-and-don’t-have-great-ass-hair?” Steve hissed in a low tone. His eyes watching the way Y/N’s flickered with happiness and one emotion he couldn’t quite place.

“You’re wrong for two reasons, Harrington,” she mused.

“Enlighten me,” he replied, leaning to have only a few inches between the two of you. It had been on a fleeting moment of confidence, leaving Y/N with a bright red glow - and Steve with a dumb grin. He wasn’t sure if he was proud of it, or extremely embarrassed...he settled to let her finish instead.

“Well, one: you’re not the better parent. I am,” Y/N pinched his cheek, to which he tried to back out of, but she only squeezed harder, leaving Steve to let out a grievance of annoyance as she tugged him back to listen.

“And two: your hair isn’t that great. I mean--” Steve gasped in a dramatic hurt. Falling from her grip and bending over her lap like a speared body. “Stop! Right there, don’t finish that sentence...you’ll ruin everything I’ve worked for.” he pleaded. His tongue sticking out his mouth as if he’d ‘died’.

Y/N giggled watching his childish act and rolling her eyes, a good-natured smile on her lips. She brushed a hand through his hair and spoke in an exaggerated tone,” I’m so sorry, Steves, please forgive--,” in the time of her talking, Steve had lifted a hand and silenced her with the odd hand-motion that looked like a duck, then grabbed her wrist and removed her hand from his scalp.

“You don’t get the privilege to touch my great ass hair, even if I’m dead.” He mumbled, stifled by her lap. Even though in actuality, he loved the feeling and knew if she didn’t stop he’d fall asleep.

“Oh, get over yourself,” Y/N proclaimed while attempting to shove the limp body of Steve Harrington from her own. “Nuhu,” he murmured.

Watching the two teenagers fall all over one another, the six children held back their gags.

“It’s so sad,” Max mumbled.

“Yeah, so sad I can’t focus on this raid,” Lucas agreed while knocking his head against the table.

“It’s like watching two blind...like very blind bats try, and make love.” Mike spewed.

“Thanks for the visual,” Will snorted.

“I think it’s sweet.” Everyone looked to El as she shrugged with a sheepish look.

“What? Steve...he likes her. Why is that bad?” She grabbed Mike’s hand. “I like Mike. Mike likes me - why is Steve and Y/N any different?”

The idea hit them like a ton of bricks...or, maybe it was the obnoxious laughter of their favorite Henderson (to Dustin’s protest) being tickled by Harrington, that snapped them into realization.

Steve was basically, on top of her. His hands running down her sides as she squirmed, refusing to apologize for saying she was better than him, and that his hair wasn’t anything special... While it was cringe-worthy on every level (according to a sulking brother), it was...sweet.

Y/N had a smile on her lips that they’d never really seen before - save for when Harrington entered the room. It was like he said the funniest thing without really having to say anything at all...like Steve brought out the best in her without having to lift a finger. Stomach in knots when he called her name...it was that kind of smile that Steve was able to bring out.

As for Harrington himself? His smile remained even after she left. Having spent a whole day with her - the party would catch him grinning to himself like a madman while helping them put away their game set-up. They’d catch him repeating things he’d said that happened to make Y/N smile the way he loved... It was the kind of look that you couldn’t replicate, even if you tried...only if you knew the feeling - could you do so.

Realizing this, Dustin yelled and groaned silently in his head (half disgust and half reluctant understanding). Steve, you owe me big time for this...

“Fine,” he whispered, catching everyone’s gaze but the two still messing bout on the sofa. “What’s the plan?”

“You’re s-such a l-loserrrr!” Y/N slurred while trying to struggle free of the handsome boy before her. Steve knew she had a soft spot for being so sensitive - he’d figured it out one time when she almost knocked him out on accident...(it ended with a lot of apologizing on your part, while also laughing as he held a bag of frozen peas to his face to avoid any swelling...)

“Admit it, and I’ll stop,” Steve tried to sound as serious as possible, failing utterly as Y/N’s y/c/h was splayed out like a crooked halo. Truly an angel...if anything, he wasn’t sure what he’d done in his (not so great) lifetime to earn the graces of such a human as you...good God...

Catching his gaze, Y/N shook her head (her halo only following her as any good angels’ would). “I-I...haha...will...n-never...a-admit...a-a lie!”

Steve only clicked his tongue. Sighing with a shake of his head. “I guess you’ll suffer until the end of time then, huh?”

After a few more minutes of torture (which Steve called, making sure Y/N had gotten her daily dose of laughter - as it was the best medicine and he didn’t need her falling ill any time soon, because...well...he didn’t have any apples on deck), he stopped, finally allowing her a breath of stability. He scooted down so he could cross his arms over her stomach, half his face buried there as he watched her collect herself.

It was moments like these that Steve truly cherished the most...he wondered if Y/N had the same mindset.

Because he’d honestly, never felt so good with anyone - not even with Nancy, who admittedly, was someone he’d actually held some feelings for (of course, the emotions Y/N threw at him had always overshadowed them, but Wheeler breaking his heart didn’t hurt any less). Steve had never wanted to give someone the world - mainly because it was impossible - but he knew that if Y/N simply suggested that such an action would, make her even smile for a few seconds...he’d figure out a way to do it within the next twenty-four hours.

You know, you’re like really pretty. Do you know what you do to me, Y/N? Is what Steve so hopelessly wanted to say, but he didn’t, instead, settling for a much simpler version.

“You wouldn’t be able to pull off this hair like I do...which is why...if you really wanted me to, I’d teach you my ways,” it came out as a harsh whisper of sorts - his jaw not having much movement as it was pressed to the crook of his elbow, both arms still rested on Y/N’s abdomen.

She laughed, and it sent a vibration through his body as he was rested atop her - only resulting in a chuckle of his own. The same wave taking ahold of Y/N, as Harrington’s chest rose and fell with each quick, shortened breath.

It was like they were in their own little world...too bad Dustin throwing a pillow at Steve’s head had to ruin it.

“So, we’ve come to a conclusion...,” Dustin explained, watching Harrington awkwardly try and sit up off his sister - Steve’s face burning up. Though, Y/N was in no better condition...her hands found her neck and her cheeks were a lovely shade of sunset.

“Oh, yeah?” Steve hummed while glancing at a nearby digital clock. “It better not be something crazy - ‘cause it’s almost ten o’clock and I think some of you need to get home.” Y/N nodded in agreement, leaning over and using her hand as a terrible shield,” Nice one...trying to act all momma bear like...I think they’ll definitely say you’re the better parent now.” “Har, har. Your sarcasm wasn’t necessary, Henderson,” Steve noted while flicking her forehead.

“We all need to go upstairs,” El suddenly directed. A hand raising to point, as if proving her sentence true.

Steve froze, unsure of where this was exactly going...but seeing as El usually had only good things to say...and a good intention...he nodded, words slow as he spoke,” Okay...okay...we’ll go upstairs then.”

They all marched up, like eight odd ants in a line - and when Mike suggested they watch a movie before Steve and Y/N drove them all home; it was quickly unanimous (which was a hard deal, as both teenagers knew getting six hardheaded children to agree on something was worse than trying to get Billy Hargrove to turn down a pretty face and a tight dress).

“Uh, ‘kay then...I guess we’re watching...a movie now,” Steve mumbled, trying to figure out the sudden change in pace. He was sure they hadn’t even finished their round, or match...or whatever they called it (he had only tried to play DnD once and...well...that’s a story for another time).

“I’ll see if there are any blankets, Mike, would you mind seeing if there’s any popcor--,” “Oh....you’re not watching the movie...did you think you’d be watching it with us?” Was Wheeler’s response.

Six shit-eating grins and twelve hands shoving a Scoops Ahoy employee and a caring older sister out the front door later...and Steve found himself standing on the porch of Mike Wheeler’s house - the kids he and Y/N were supposed to be watching having locked them out, without their wallets or keys...or even a hint at what they were doing outside in the, now cool summer night...

“Great going Steve,” was all she said while staring at the closed door.

He whipped around on her and glared while crossing his arms.

“Wha-- me?! I don’t remember you helping with, I dunno...six dipshits shoving us out the damn house!”

“I didn’t think I needed to...Mr. Better Than Me...I was clearly wrong.” Y/N smirked.

Steve couldn’t even be fake mad for long. It ended with the pair laughing and shaking their heads, clutching their stomachs and asking for the kids to let them back in. Without an answer...Steve questioned what this was all about; remembering the boys giving him (crappy) advice on how to ask Y/N out. I mean...this is one way to force a guy between a rock and a hard place...

“Screw it, screw them, screw babysitting - screw this,” Harrington lamented. “No cars, but we got legs...wanna just go for a walk until our meddling kids decide to let their old folk back in?” He was going out on a limb, but...he couldn’t help it. Her presence was just so damn addicting...he wanted as much as he could get without having to pay the price of embarrassment just yet.

“Sure, Steve, sure.” with a gentle smile and a giggle...that was all the hype he needed to take her hand and pull her from the stoop.

“Well, m’lady - then let me lead the way.”

---

Hm...I can’t help but want more to this....partttttt 3 anyone? >.<

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington #steve harrington x henderson reader #steve harrington imagine #stranger things imagine #dustin henderson x sibling reader #mike wheeler #lucas sinclair #max mayfield #eleven hopper #steve harrington fluff

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ndragoon · 4 years

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It still sucks having doctors that won't cooperate, with little to no options to go elsewhere.

When you have welfare insurance, you are stuck in this narrow aisle of doctors you can go to and going out of network means you have to pay out of pocket.

My GI reluctantly diagnosed me with "maybe IBS", not even an actual diagnosis. This was simply because with Crohn's, one of the "signature criteria" is "massive weight loss", and I've basically been the same weight since before I left high school 11 or so years ago. I can literally feel the inflammation in my backend through the softer tissues, but clearly that doesn't matter. He'd rather keep an eye out for my "fatty liver" despite no test showing I even have signs of it simply because I'm overweight.

I went to an eye doctor and she told me that I have severe astigmatism and could never wear glasses. It was something that would keep getting worse even though I don't have this other condition, while describing that I'm dealing with exactly that condition. She told me that I am forced to wear these contacts that will need to be replaced and adjusted often for the first 6 weeks or so, and would cost me $425 out of pocket WITH my insurance. I now need to wait another 6 months to even get a second opinion.

The endo just did a call checkup last time, and did it earlier than we were supposed to. He wanted to see how my hormone levels are, and they were apparently still so low that he didn't believe that I was even using the gel. And despite using 3 packets of the 1% offbrand gel daily, my testicles are still shrinking to the point that only the tubes between them and the ones that go inside are the only things I can feel in there. My drive went from taking care of things twice a day to maybe one time every week or two. It's still so numb that I ejaculate without orgasming, and anal stimulation does nothing, even with a vibrato made for men.

I have to find another psychiatrist because my last one was bad for my health. Told me all of my problems were because I was fat and lazy, because I let other peoples opinions of me matter too much, because I "want to go on disability" instead of proving my self worth though getting a really well paying job, and because I refuse to follow any kind of routine. He refused to even test me for ADHD because I didn't have a job, and refused to treat me because I was clearly just going to pop pills all day out of boredom since that's what all unemployed people do, apparently. He refused to test me for autism because "you are just trying to explain away your trauma" after asking me why I think that and giving me enough time to almost finish one reason before interrupting.

My neuro is good, as long as I actually get my main doc. Her aide was very unpleasant. Talked about how I'm tired despite the B12 supplements and the CPAP I have to deal with every night. How I can't remember anything to the point that I doubt I ever knew anything at all, how just thinking feels like drudging through wet concrete and fatigue makes it feel like it's hardening, and he just told me that these are symptoms of being obese. I need to stop eating so much junk and actually get outside to exercise more often. It wasn't until I kept pushing that he even bothered with an MRI (which turned up nothing, anyway). And through the request of my doc I need to see a specialist for my lupus to get it treated, and if I still feel like it, she gave me a referral for a neuropsych analysis for autism and ADHD (which I hope insurance covers, since I keep hearing that it's not, and it's ridiculously expensive on top of that).

So for now, I get to deal with multiple bathroom trips a day, having to dance around foods I want to eat because I can't eat them anymore, and then nearly cry myself to sleep because just laying there on a comfortable bed is enough to hurt all of my joints, only to wake up the next morning and roll the dice while I figure out what's going to work today and what I have to work around.

Not to mention my family, who is convinced that it's just because I'm so overweight. They tell me almost weekly that I just need to lose weight and I'll feel a lot better. So much so, that they expect me to eat nothing but one can of cream soup a day with no noodles or any additives like crackers.

And I'm sorry for anyone who actually reads these. They are long and whiny, and I really should just deal with it all and pretend I'm a happy, functional adult.

#Personal #TMI

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lestwinsfanfics · 7 years

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Just Friends, Chapter 53

Aaliyah

“Aight so boom, now this nigga getting dragged by the back of his collar, like a fuckin rag doll,” Jamal described, his voice carrying over the room with a lack of control. He could barely get his words out without bursting into laughter. I couldn’t help but smile in response to his energy.

Jamal lived to entertain, and part of that was the telling and retelling of ridiculous stories. Whether it left you on the edge of your seat with suspense or doubled over with tears from laughter, he was undoubtedly captivating no matter the scenario. He was a man of the people, always finding himself amongst others and as of right now, he had our core group tuned in to his every word.

Leslie’s head was thrown back against the couch that she sat on, with her legs propped up and still in casts. A blanket covered her legs, she always ran a little colder than everyone else. With a quick glance, nothing would have appeared to be wrong with her, unless you noticed the stiff thickness underneath the red knit fabric, or a peek of the black casts that went up to mid thigh. Her body leaned against the backend, a big pillow supporting her, and a cranberry and vodka sat to her right on the stand.

Once you got Leslie’s laughter started, she was a goner, and her thick cackle would never end. I couldn’t help but laugh more at her reaction. The wide smile she sported and her hair being in two braids to the back made her look like a child. Leslie looked much more youthful than she liked to portray, and it was especially noticeable in moments like these. She wiped tears away and held her stomach, attempting to regain her composure. A little piece of me couldn’t help but wonder if her healing ribs tainted her smiles with pain, but her laughter continued, only slightly easing my fears. I knew the pain that came with overexertion, which was tough when so much of her existence boomed with her voice, her words, her movements. She hated for us to baby her, but with her ribs still healing, her body still processing… she would live with it.

We tried to be easy about everything, and this party was a sense of normalcy we hadn’t had in a really long time.

Above the fireplace, there was a picture in a frame of Leslie and myself seated on the bottom, and Byron and Lathan standing back to back above us. You couldn’t tell, but we were in front of her house. The four of us, posed to perfection, decked out in very 90’s gear, vintage now but fitting for the times. She had the same two braids in that picture. Only now, her lips were painted in a dark blue, and her eyes lined sharply and dramatically.

If you hadn’t known better, the scar on Leslie’s forehead that extended to her scalp could have been from anything, and not the car accident that maimed her frame and broke her legs. She was healing, slowly but surely, and as hard as it was to watch, her insistence upon being positive and busting her ass to rehab her body back to health made it easier on not just her. The months seemed to speed by for me with work and tending to her during my free time. Her recovery was happening right before my eyes.

Her casts would be off in just a few more months, to be replaced with soft ones that she could strap on and off. The wrapping around her core would still remain as well. She assured us all that they didn’t bother her as much, but I doubted it. It took all of the convincing in the world for her mom to leave New York and go back to Chicago, but Byron’s promises to care for her and my assurance to step in whenever I could soothed both of her parents enough to return home, with the knowledge that they’d be only a call away to make sure everything was going okay.

Byron and Thalia sat across from me, sharing one oversized loveseat. Thalia’s frame leaned against our brother’s as she sat on his lap casually. They looked so perfect together. Her large puff took her hair away from her face, giving us more access to her beauty as she sat beside her husband. They both were completely on the edge of their seats at Jamal’s story as well, Byron recalling his previous days as a bouncer with similar stories, which was how this whole conversation began.

I believe they were just excited to be around adults. While Essie had a sleepover tonight with a group of friends, the two of them would indulge, carefully of course, but nonetheless they deserved the break.

Having Leslie move in with them wasn’t even something they had to consider. In their minds, they’d be the best at taking care of her, not wanting their parents to have to shoulder the responsibility. Byron was a natural protector and would do anything for family. I respected that, and as the man who had taken his place as my own surrogate older brother, I cherished the attribute in him.

Tyler sat on one side of me on the other long couch. Her energy appeared uninterested and solely zoned into her iphone, but her appropriately timed laugher was the tell of her abilities to multitask. There was never a moment where her fingers weren’t speedily moving across her screen. Noelle was probably the only one of us truly half interested, as per usual. Her focus was more in tune to the music, as she hopped from couch to the speakers, changing songs here and there based on the mood, as well as filling up empty cups. She couldn’t help but play dj and help host with Leslie stuck in one spot.

The usual suspects were all in attendance, plus a couple others that she knew from therapy or we knew from school, and the quickly thrown together kickback ended up just what we all needed to unwind. I had had my fill of drinks and the smirk on my face and haze in my eyes told that.

A vibrating against my thigh caught my attention, only to realize that it was Jamal’s phone and not my own.

He glanced at the screen and recognized the caller instantly, a kiss of his teeth and a curt “Yeah?”

I couldn’t quite make out the voice on the other end and honestly I didn’t care to, as I checked my phone only to notice the white and red battery icon flashing on the otherwise blank screen. “Anyone have a charger? I left mine.”

“Mine should be in the kitchen, Liyah, go ahead and unplug my phone.” Thalia said motioning her head to the left. I knew this home like the back of my own hand, so further direction was unnecessary as I rose to give my phone some life.

Upon my return, Jamal was on his feet, dapping up Byron briefly and gave Thalia a light kiss on the cheek. “Imma see yall later on this week.”

“I’m heading out, niggas fucking up at work and I gotta go see whats up.” Jamal noted my confused face and I nodded in response.

“That sucks.”

He didn’t have to be gone for another hour and a half at least. I was enjoying his company. I always did.

He tapped Tyler to hug her and kissed Leslie on the forehead, bidding everyone else a farewell as he walked my way.

“Imma walk him out.” I said casually. I ignored the smile on Leslie’s face with intention as Jamal draped his arm around my shoulder and we exited the noisy living room, the closing of the door silencing majority of the sound coming from behind it.

I glanced down at my feet, the bred’s made them look especially long. Jamal’s 11’s were all black and I wanted a pair.

“You didn’t have to walk out with me.”

“Its no big deal.” I shrugged. “I do wish I had brought a jacket though.” My arms were covered by a thin nude turtleneck and the ripped jeans on my legs allowed the chilly air conditioned hallway to cover my skin in goosebumps.

Jamal’s heavy arm draped across my shoulders once more as he tugged me in toward his body for a hug, forcing me to walk backward while pressed against his chest. He was warm, and that, in combination with the spicy fragrance he wore made me feel fuzzy.

Whatchu thinkin bout?“ Jamal asked quietly, the baritone grit of his voice pulling me out from my head back into the empty hallway as we walked toward the exit. Our squeaky sneakers resounded with an echo. I smiled to myself, our steps were mostly in sync while he glanced over at me expectantly and yet… with a comforting lack of pressure and an ease that made me feel good.

Jamal was easy.

I liked it.

He had a way of pulling me out of my head and into our surroundings that didn’t make my heart race or fill me with anticipation. Our conversations were often long, full of jokes and moments of intensity that could easily be broken by a subject change or a random distraction.

Like now. I could tell him how good it felt to be around him, how easy it was to have him in my world. How I’d noticed a change in him since the time we’d spent apart and although I wouldn’t take full credit, the timing seemingly alluded to me being a cause of his shift.

I could answer his question with depth, tell him that I enjoyed his company. His presence. His friendship. I could tell him that he was regaining my trust that he wouldn’t ever disrespect me the way he had.

"I like your shoes, I might buy a pair.” I replied to him instead. I wanted to keep the ease on the table. Alcohol would rule my tongue if I kept at it and I really just wasn’t in the mood. My smile was loopy, followed by a shrug as I looked forward through a glass window toward the illuminated sign signaling the staircase we needed to take to the back entrance.

“I might buy a pair” he mimicked in a voice meant to be similar to mine but failing miserably. “You want something.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nahhhh yo. You think you slick.” He held the heavy metal door open for me walk as we bound down the sets of stairs. “Jamal, I like your shooooooes”

“You get on my damn nerves.” I rolled my eyes brazenly. He mocked me with a taken-aback look. “I don’t even sound like that.”

“I don’t even sound like that.” I rolled my eyes, considering sprinting down the stairs but knowing my clumsiness and alcohol could fail me even though I wasn’t as intoxicated as I soon would be. Jamal paused, the grey background of the stairwell looking good against his outfit.

“You trying to butter me up because you want something.” I stopped mid stair, bursting out into laughter as I walked past him.

“Boy, please.” I replied flippantly.

“What you want big daddy to do for you baby girl?” He replied teasingly while snatching me into him just as i touched the final stair at the bottom of the stairwell.

“Quit.”

“Nah tell me.” Long arms wrapped against me. I could smell the remnants of his cologne and I loved it. It was hard to hide my smile, as the curve of my lips remained rebellious. A kiss of my teeth and an eye roll was all I could give him as he pulled my body back against his. This forced me to walk much more carefully, with his weight possibly leading me to fall. Trusting him as my guide was no simple task, and very slow steps made us take our time, complete with shit talking and unnecessary stumbles while we worked our way to the doorway. .

Jamal was fun. And funny. And sweet.

Everything that I had missed from him before was back.

I couldn’t deny that I enjoyed it.

“Did I tell you you looked pretty?” He asked as we slowly continued the walk down the extensive hallway toward the door.

“You always do.” I shrugged softly.

“Lil cocky ass.” He teased more.

“Stoooop.”

“I meant yesterday. I saw the picture you put on instagram. You looked good as fuck.”

My face warmed again having to hear him compliment me, and feeling his voice resonate against his chest didn’t help matters.

After I started getting a lot of followers on my account due to the twins and other clients, I created a second one for private pictures. Some of my friends, Jamal included, followed both. Unfortunately the public one still needed to be maintained for work, it helped with business promo and whatnot. I hated it, the comments could get ridiculous, especially if someone tagged the twins and I on something, so I had to monitor closely. But it was part of the job and I was determined to not let the bullshit ruin my time.

On my personal account there were more candid, fun photos, things I felt freely about sharing with friends. I had no worries there. Nothing I had to monitor because no one save my actual friends had access. The name was so obscure that by searching you couldn’t even tell it was me.

Underneath one of the three photo’s I’d posted from last night’s work party, Jamal commented “my my my.” I laughed at the Johnny gill reference. Jamal must have slipped and mixed accounts, as he rarely made his presence known on this one. I wouldn’t complain.

There were a couple likes on his comment that made me roll my eyes. Fan accounts, I could never be sure if they were being messy or supportive so I chose to stay silent.

The likes on the group picture where you could see Laurent with his arm draped across my shoulders near the middle of the frame did numbers. It was expected. I’d seen a zoom in on one of the more chill fan accounts of he and I with everyone else blocked out. The ‘where’s larry?!’ ‘her and larry dont have pics?’ comments were plentiful. If they only knew.

“I had to comment. Didn’t even realize which page you posted from.” Jamal knew he had maybe toed the line. Hence the comment.

“No biggie. And thank you.”

Behind me a door opened, allowing sounds and smells, as well as a hint of warm air from outside to enter into the hall and let me know we made it to our destination. “Aight mama, you gotta let me go sometime.”

I wiggled out of his grasp, making him and I both laugh when I stumbled at the motion. “Text me when you get to work, okay?”

“Ima hit you. Call me when you get home.”

I nodded, holding the door open with my body. “I’m serious, Aaliyah. Don’t hit me on no ‘I fell asleep’ shit either.”

He knew my moves too well. “I got you.”

“Take a Uber home too, I don’t want ya drunk ass on the train tonight either.” He chided, half joking but half serious. Always looking out for me. “We still on for soco tomorrow?”

“I will, and Yes. Now go, you won’t blame me for being late tonight.”

With that I closed the door. My legs felt like lead from the trek I had to make up the stairs when an elevator stopped working in my office building the day before last. I decided to take the lazy way out and make my way toward the front of the building to the main elevators.

I patted my pockets for my phone, only just realizing I left it to charge in the kitchen after its untimely death before Jamal left, but I’d be back amongst my people soon so that wouldn’t matter.

I sighed, so impatient for my journey back down various hallways and spaces. I kicked my feet, trotting along like a goofball until my entrance was finally visible. The double doors in the creamy greige colored hallways allowed me to see the familiar frames of the long lanky men I’d grown to love, and hate, and miss. Laurent’s twists were underneath a cap, and Larry’s piled atop his head. His neck was uncovered, making him look even leaner.

The timing was incredible.

I laughed to myself, watching them both scan the rows of numbers and last names, as Lau tried to pick out Byron’s faded one. Larry had his phone to his ear, looking just as confused as Lau.

Larry…

So much bullshit was between us. I would have loved nothing more to feel the pure excitement that I did to see Laurent… but alas.

I almost remained still, but something pushed me forward, past the elevators I needed to get on to get upstairs, through the doors ahead of it, and right into their space.

“Yooooooooo!” I burst through and exclaimed in my best (worst) attempt at a New York accent. “Y'all the niggas that dance with Beyoncé!”

I startled them, and while Larry put his phone down quickly, Lau chose to play along. “Hello baby, you know us?”

His voice was less silky than Larry’s but the flirtation was just the same. I almost broke character to laugh. “Yo, deadass I love y'all. You gotta be Larry, right? My friend said Larry was the cuter one.”

“No she tell you wrong” Lau replied, slinking toward me and wrapping me up in a hug. Larry kissed his teeth behind, and I briefly looked his way with a laugh, in an attempt to normalize the situation. “Yes I’m the better twin but it’s Laurent.”

There would be no bad blood at Leslie’s, not on my behalf. She was well aware of the goings on, but when she asked me if I cared that they were invited, I knew not to deny them. She wouldn’t have asked if she didn’t want them here. Nor would she if she didn’t care about my opinion.

“How long have y'all been out here?” I abandoned my character even though my laugh remained.

“Not long.” Laurent rocked me side to side in a hug still. “We call you, you not answer.”

“Yeah my phone died.” I shrugged, entering the code to unlock the main door and take us to the elevator area.

“Larry think you ignoring us.” Lau said calmly, walking on the elevator before Larry did. This allowed me to see the glance Larry gave him in addition to hearing him mumble “fuck up, bro.”

“Nope.” I briefly glanced Larry’s way, only to quickly lock eyes with him. We weren’t doing this intensity shit either. I turned away before it could get deep. “My phone is still charging upstairs.”

Brief, easy conversation amongst us was almost unnecessary with how quickly the ride went. Once the sounds of the party filled the room hallway, the energy was much more relaxed between us. Still I felt something strong but forced myself to bury it and carry on. The scent of a heavy coconut scented candle filled my nose and I smiled, knowing Byron’s protests against them.

Laurent swiftly made his way toward the living room, loudly saying hello to everyone as I focused on grabbing another cup and checking my phone as a distraction. I leaned against the counter, noting that my battery was only at 10 percent. Movement in my peripheral caused me to glance upward, only to startle myself and almost drop my phone.

“Shit.”

“I scare you?” Larry snickered as he stood across from me, leaned up against the black refrigerator with his hands in his pockets.

He looked good.

His jeans were tight but worn in, looking like they were catered to his body. Most clothing looked like that for the twins. While his black sweatshirt was likely warm, not including the layers he for sure had underneath, I knew that his body was conditioned to comfort with them all. He didn’t look bulky or off for the weather. He just looked like… himself.

It was so familiar that it pained me a little bit. Having Larry this close this often within the past 48 hours had really done numbers on my stress levels.

“You look good, you know that?” He said with his airy voice just above a whisper. I turned my body and focused on pouring myself a whiskey topped with ginger ale. I couldn’t hear his always light steps, but I knew that he would be behind me sooner rather than lately. All of my focus went to steadying my breathing and my shaking hands. “Last night too.”

Memories flooded my brain at how obnoxious the events had been. I felt my eyebrows furrow uncontrollably, but I maintained my otherwise blank face, bringing the cup to my mouth.

Nothing had changed, and as good as it was to see him, and as much as I longed for the way things used to be, I knew deep down that I was nothing but a fleeting thought for Larry, if even that. His shit, casually bringing up the night before as if it was nothing to him, told me everything I needed to know.

Entertaining the possibility that he had been thinking of me, that he cared, would only bring me more and more unnecessary feelings and I wasn’t up for it. Not yesterday and not tonight.

I quickly grabbed a sprite and poured some into another cup, topping it off with vodka and turning to the side, handing it to Larry, who had made his way over and now leaned against the counter beside me. His attempts to make eye contact didn’t go unnoticed, but I knew I had to maintain my cool. “Here. Go enjoy the party.”

“Aaliyah.”

“Larry, stop.”

His shoulders dropped. “Look, I not going to make you talk. I say for you last night and I say again. I just come here for tell you that you look good. And I miss you. And I happy to see you. And I-”

I sighed, taking a gulp of my drink before interrupting his moment. “You said you weren’t going to make us have this conversation.”

“I’m not.”

“Then let’s just have a good time.” I said coldly, wrapping my arms around myself. Larry’s eyes pained at my involuntary reaction.

“Okay.”

“Okay great.” I nodded, giving him my back and unlocking my phone. I opened my email’s newest messages, determined to focus on something, but Larry’s strong yet lean arms wrapped around me, dismissing any chance of maintaining my cool.

I felt him bend his torso down to plant his chin on my head, and I felt his breath as he surely inhaled my energy and the essence of the moment between us. My heart betrayed me, beating quicker and quicker and my hand reached down involuntarily and gripped his forearm.

Not to move him. It was just a touch, a gentle grasp. The only movement I would give him to let him know that I was okay with our proximity.

The only move I would allow myself to make, when a host of other things, ranging from a slap to a kiss, floated around my brain.

His nose replaced his skin, lightly touching the top of my head.

Once his arms left from wrapped around me I took a deep breath and exhaled. It was then I noticed someone standing in the doorway.

“Am I interrupting?” Noelle’s voice said as calmly as it would have normally. There was a glimmer of laughter behind her faded eyes, but her cup remained near her mouth.

“No.” I replied too quickly. “He was making a drink, and-”

“How you been Noelle?” Larry interrupted my unnecessary ramblings and walked over to her cautiously. While Noelle and Tyler were two peas in a pod like Leslie and I, Tyler’s outrage at Larry’s existence did not carry over to hers. Noelle took more of the 'if you like it, I love it’ stance, keeping her from really diving too far into anger at Larry, and moreso basing her energy on me and how I felt about the situation.

“Good, twin. Really good.” He hugged her and she reciprocated, which made a snicker almost release from my lips. She had said lots of salacious things about him initially to make me feel better.

That’s what friends were for.

“Good. You look good girl!” Larry replied, to which she gave a thank you as they crossed paths and Larry exited the kitchen, not without one final look back at me.

I was a statue. A marble statue. Frozen.

“Earth to Aaliyah.” Noelle said with a laugh, swinging the fridge open to add some lemonade to her cup.

I rolled my eyes, taking my drink to the head before preparing another one.

“So… we’re going to just act like that wasn’t a thing?”

“It wasn’t.”

“Okay…” She paused, taking a sip. “We’re definitely going to ACT like that wasn’t a thing. Great.”

“Noelle…”

“You don’t have to explain.” She shrugged, tightening the lid on the bottle of vodka. “It was cute.”

Fuck this was going to be a long night.

—-

The sun warming my face woke me up instantly. What was often my favorite part of rising in the morning now bothered me immensely, making my body warmer than I wanted it to be. I felt like I was confined in a strait jacket, and waking up without my normal freedom was disorienting along with the annoyance of being overheated. I stretched my arms out, freeing myself from this confusing mass of fabric, only to note that I had cocooned myself in a blanket like I often did at night anyway. My old grey blanket covered my body, and I could feel its softness against my bare legs, and I shook my head, at least grateful that I had removed my jeans before piling into my bed.

I couldn’t help but snicker at my foolishness. Thank God my hangover wasn’t rearing its ugly head. I wiped at my eyes, shaking my head at the black streaks that had been left on my hands from doing so. I had had a lot to drink, and now all I needed to get some sanity this morning was some water.

With heavy steps I walked into the kitchen in my shirt and underwear, stretching out and being careful not to disorient myself with any remnants of alcohol still in my system. With my eyes still closed, I grabbed the first bottle of water I touched in the fridge and took it to the head, the icy cold temperature immediately waking me up and making my body feel more balanced.

I came up for air once the sight of my kicked off shoes caught my eye. Upon further observance of my surroundings… I noticed my keys thrown on the counter… and my pants near the doorway to my room….a black sweatshirt hanging up on the door.

An unfamiliar clothing item to this place.. But extremely familiar to me.

A nervousness made my stomach sink.

Instantly the night before filled my thoughts.

–

“Larryyyy, relax. I’m fine.” I said as I focused on walking up the stairs as carefully as I could. I rolled my eyes at Larry’s hand touching my hip unnecessarily. I wasn’t wasted, nowhere near as bad as he thought I was, so his attempts to steady me we’re really useless. My keys slipped from my fingers just as quickly as I took them out of my purse.

“FINALLY!” I exasperatedly yelled as I stepped beyond the barrier to my living room, knowing that not only was I finally home but I was home alone.

Alone, save for Larry.

This wasn’t weird. I blamed the alcohol. Instead of me being annoyed by his shit, and by shit i mean his long stares and his intense, heavy energy that only I seemed to feel. I would never admit it but I gulped down my drinks faster because I didn’t know what else to do. Ignoring him wasn’t working. Engaging normally wasn’t either.

At least, not until I had successfully gotten a buzz. Then things became funny.

I spent a lot of the night laughing. I laughed at people, with people, Laurent’s jokes were hilarious, and Larry’s awkwardness tickled me deep down in my soul. It was all just funny and even now I stifled another giggle as I kicked my shoes off and listened to them clunk against the wall.

“You so loud.” Larry said, his bunny teeth poking out of his smile. I rolled my eyes, fuck my neighbors after keeping me up the other night.

“I dont give a fuck. The niggas above me sounded like they were moving furniture at 6 am last week on a saturday.” I padded quickly in the direction of my room, desperate to take these clothes off and get comfortable in this bed. My pants were gone before I crossed the entryway into the space. “FUCKING SATURDAY, LARRY.”

Roughly, I attempted to snatch off Larry’s sweatshirt. Along the ride home I was freezing cold, Spring had notoriously chilly air in the evenings and the thin ass shirt I wore wasn’t cutting it. I struggled more and more, until somehow I lost my balance.

“What you doing in here?” Larry’s muffled voice clued me into his presence. Before I knew it, hands on my torso reached in, grabbing the sweatshirt from my body, over my head, and past the tips of my fingers. Thank God for his height.

I fell backward into my bed with a laugh, the slight dizziness I felt was more than humorous to me. To my left, on the nightstand was a bottle of water and I grabbed it, knocking over something unimportant in the process. I chugged a quick couple of gulps, not before looking up at Larry, as he stood over me, a confused smile playing on his lips.

“You crazy.” he mumbled.

I tossed the bottle toward him and rolled over with laughter. This was just fucking rich. Here I was, drunk in my room on the other side of the country.. With Larry. He was nowhere near my level of intoxication, so I knew that as cool as he was playing it, this was all just as confusing to him. Instead of dwelling, my laughter spilled from me more and more.

Looking up, our eyes met as his smile grew on his face, leading to a tiny chuckle. My dizziness was only fueling the comedy of the moment, and before I knew it, my body was in Larry’s arms and I was close to the floor.

The laughter stopped.

His arms were wrapped around my upper body as my legs awkwardly dangled. The grip he had on my body included me being pulled into his chest, and our faces were so close that I could see the tiny eyelashes that he sported.

“Lets get you back into bed.” He whispered. I nodded.

“I’m fine-” I attempted to pull myself from his grasp but he wouldn’t let me. Slowly, he placed me back on the bed, sitting me upright, before crouching in front of me and placing his hands on my thighs. I tossed my head back, frustrated because I really wasn’t that drunk. I didn’t need to be handled with kid gloves.

That, and the fact that his hands against my thighs brought back memories I couldn’t help but lust after. He looked damn good. His twists had fallen into his face, since i’d stolen his hairband. I wanted to tuck them away.

I just wanted to look at him. Purely. With nothing blocking my vision.

“You should lay down.” He bit at his cheek and I poked him in the spot.

This brought back his grin.

There were my giggles again.

“What’s so funny? You laughing all night at everything.” Larry sat on the edge of my bed, and I laid back, yawning as I sunk into my pillows.

“You.” I paused again, avoiding his eyes. “Us. All of it.”

—-

“Larry?” I called out into the apartment. My voice echoed and I glanced around. My phone was dead as a doorknob, with the charger sitting on the night stand… beside various silvered rings.

His rings.

Larry would never leave without his rings.

—

Larry

“Larry you fucking kidding me? Why you not here?!” Laurent’s voice held not a bit of sleep in it, and considering it was damn near 8 am, I answered the phone expecting a tired questioning.

I was wrong. Wrong as shit.

I sighed as I balanced the bag in my hand with my phone, all while stuffing my wallet in my pocket and listening to my twin brother’s exasperated ranting on the other end.

“Relax, Lau, relax.”

“No! You so stupid, you take Aaliyah home and you go jump into bed with that crazy bitch. If we miss us flight I gonna kill you. No… I gonna leave you and kill you when the tour over because I not get fire because of you or her.”

“Chill out okay.” I knew who he was referring to without using her name. After I came home yesterday morning I got chewed out for putting up with her shit. Laurent wasn’t one to let things go, and periodically throughout the day he’d jab here or there, around company and alone.

The only time he let up was at the party. That was out of respect for Aaliyah.

“You need to come back so we can go.”

“Look just do me a favor okay.” I said through a yawn. The smell of coffee around me weirdly helped my energy level rise significantly. “Grab my shit, it’s packed. Take it with you. I be there. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? You fucking kidding me right? Larry”

Simultaneously I heard my name being called by the barista.

I heard ‘Larry’ called in the background by the barista.

“Yeah.” I said offhandedly, stepping forward with a smile as I accepted the coffee and smiled brightly at the girl behind the counter. She was a fan and I signed her phone case when she took my order. She was all of 16 or 17. She reminded me of my sister at that age. Sweet smile, big eyes, and frizzy curly hair pulled back into a ponytail.

“Yeah you kidding me? What the fuck you on man I’m not-”

“Lau, calm down. I see you there.”

“Larry you better-” I pushed the button to end the call and slipped my phone back in my front pocket, freeing a hand for me to carry the drinks more efficiently.

I felt no need to explain the situation to Laurent. None at all. He saw us leave together and was too excited. I never responded to his messages inquiring about the night. With Karina calling me multiple times yesterday and me finally answering her right when Aaliyah walked through the door and found us, he was justified in his confusion.

But I wasn’t on that. I couldn’t be.

That shit didn’t matter. It never really had.

Now that I had seen Aaliyah, things had changed. She was the reason I was in this Starbucks right now.

Not 48 hours ago did I find myself trudging through new york with a cloudy headache and an upset stomach, the after effects of a hangover draped over my shoulders dragging me down. I watched Aaliyah throw back drink after drink, avoiding my eyes at first, then becoming more open, more social with jokes and commentary. She was still keeping me at an arm’s length but it was less tense because her conscious mind had gone out of the window last night.

I held no complaints.

Things were easy when we weren’t fighting. They felt like before.

I missed it more than even I knew.

This lead me to offering to ride home with her and make sure she was alright. In that same token, it created my need to wake up and grab her various items to line her stomach and ease any other hangover symptoms she might be feeling today. It was the least I could do.

She was known to enjoy herself, but I couldn’t help but assume her extra chugs were due to me.

After the work party the other night, after Karina throwing up on my pants, and all over the toilet… after apologies and tears and more apologies and dead weight passing out, I had had enough. I drank myself into oblivion. It was ironic. My response to her sloppiness was to get sloppy myself.

I fell asleep hanging off of her sofa. A headache forced me up before I needed to be, and I stumbled around the room, grabbing my shit and a cab to get back to the hotel and shower off the night’s events. I did all of this without waking her at all.

Her many phone calls throughout the day told of anger, sadness, embarrassment, and a range of other feelings from both of us.

I played everything back as best I could while the buildings floated past my face in the backseat. The strong cologne the cab driver wore threatened my gag reflex and I regretted it all.

Laurent was no help. From forcing me to wait and struggle with my room key, to blasting music and taunting my frustration… It was rough. More than rough.

I was determined to make sure Aaliyah woke up in the easiest way possible. Besides, her waking up to me would be shocking enough. I wanted to make this easy.

I wanted to talk.

We needed to, desperately, and although I didn’t really have time with my flight being in a few hours, I would do whatever it took to create a space for her comfort.

For us.

I’d fucked up. We both had misplayed this in different ways and it needed to be fixed.

I unlocked the door to her apartment as quietly and as carefully as I could. There was silence, and in the light of the day, I took a moment to look at where I was.

This was way different than our diggs in LA. Significantly smaller, for one, which was expected. There she wasn’t paying nearly as much as she had been, and I was sure this apartment was costly. Luckily, the room on the other side likely belonged to someone else.

The scented candles all around, feminine color schemes, and delicate decor put me in the mindset that her roommate was a woman. That settled me.

Quickly I worked, taking the treats from the bag and looking for a plate to put them on for her. Two plates clinked together much louder than I planned and I swore under my breath. I then dropped some spoons and forks into the sink.

Clumsiness took over me out of nowhere.

“You need something?” Her voice was quiet. Tentative.

“Shit, sorry. Did I wake you up?” I replied, swallowing in an effort to get rid of some of my nerves.

“No, no.” She shook her head. “I woke up and took a shower and shit.”

I hadn’t noticed she was no longer in the nude turtleneck and her underwear. No wonder I felt a rush of warmth. Her face lacked the makeup she wore the night before, and although the flutter of her elongated lashes made my stomach weak, there was something about now.

I hated the stereotype of women looking good without makeup, because truly they looked good both ways. Aaliyah was the best example of this. I could stare at her face endlessly. She looked so pure. So innocent.

Fuck. This was going to be tough.

“I wake you when I leave?”

“No Larry.” she sighed, leaning against her countertop. “You left your rings though.

She handed me my jewelry and I worked quietly as she watched, placing them in my pocket save for the one Laurent and I both have.

For a moment after, Aaliyah and I were both silent, avoiding eye contact and feeling all the tenseness that had been missing.

“Well… Welcome to my apartment I guess.” She shrugged. We both lightly chuckled, her awkward joke easing us some. “What’s all this?”

“I go to grab you coffee and some like… little food shit.” I shrugged, walking toward her with the drink in hand, it’s sweat coating my palm. “This for you.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“No is okay.” I bit at my cheek, watching her look at the drink before enveloping the tip of the straw on her lips. She forced her eyes away, but I couldn’t help but stare, especially at the plushness. Her tongue danced out, licking away a drop of the creamy colored liquid and she gave me those eyes again.

“Caramel Syrup?” I nodded. “You remembered that?”

“Is hard to forget, you drink that shit a lot, Liyah.” She shook her head knowingly, stifling another giggle. Luckily she had given me so many last night, I didn’t feel like I needed to force more from her. “They not have almond milk there, something about the delivery guy shit, I don’t know. I get coconut instead. I hope you like.”

“I started drinking coconut milk with my coffee a couple weeks ago.”

“No shit.” I smiled, as did she.

“Yeah.” She took another swig, this one much longer than the first. “It’s perfect. Thank you Larry. Let me venmo you-”

“You kidding me?” I scoffed, slightly offended. “I get for you. Stop it.”

She paused, nodding and then leaning back and staring off into space.

“You know…” I started, assuming this was maybe something she had considered in her first thoughts. “Nothing happen last night with us.”

She nodded again.

Nods, smiles, and a couple laughs. It was all I was getting but I wouldn’t complain. Fuck, I felt like such a pussy.

“I know.”

“Good.”

Aaliyah stepped over toward me, and grabbed a piece of the lemon loaf, chewing it slowly. I bit into a cookie, even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of desserts this cookie was damn good.

“Aaliyah… “ Her shoulders rose and fell with a sigh. She knew as well as I did that we were at the point.

“Larry, I-”

“Just give me the first words okay, I be quick.”

One nod bid me permission to proceed. “Aaliyah… I know I say we no need to talk yesterday and the day before and I mean it, because I know we gonna have time and make time for this.” I took a sip of my frappucino and placed it back on the counter.

“But now that I spend so much time for you I don’t know if I can wait much more. I need to clear this shit with us before we bury it and it rise back up again. Then we maybe lose out on us chance for make shit better.”

“You’re right.” Her agreement was quick.

“I’m sorry. Sorry for the other night and for so much shit… but we have so much to get out and I not gonna let us run from it anymore. Even if it hurt.”

She sipped a water, offering me one in the process. “Larry, there’s so much I have to say. I… don’t even know where to begin right now.”

Part of her wanted to run. I didn’t blame her. She always would want that, I think. The fact that she pushed it aside for me made me feel special.

“I give you two options.”

“For…?” She questioned, confused.

“It can’t be right now, you say right. I have flight in two hours.” Time hadn’t been on our side as of yet. Today would be no different. “Either we talk when I get back, or me and you stay here and hash this out now.”

“You do have a flight. ” She reiterated. Deep down, I knew she would never make me choose career over her. The respect for work that we both had was something I always loved. “You won’t miss that for me.”

“Then I call uber and I leave… but not until you promise.”

I took the bottle of water from her hands and placed it next to her coffee. Her hands were damp, just like mine, as I clasped them within my own. “You have to promise me we keep us open for talking to each other.”

Her eyes showed her confusion.

“I don’t want to ever go this long without speak again. We have to promise to talk and when I get back I take you out, and we gonna sit and talk together, just me and you and lay the shit in front of us.”

Aaliyah’s breathing was heavy, and her bottom lip was embedded between her teeth as she thought, before an ‘okay’ left her lips in a whisper.

“Promise me.”

“I promise.” said only a hair higher than the whispered initial response. I’d take it.

“Then I call an uber.” I smiled. She followed my lead. My fingers tapped, unlocking my phone and opening the app, as a knock sounded off behind her door.

The best possible scenario had come to fruition. Aaliyah was willing to work things through and give us both a chance to figure shit out. I couldn’t have been happier.

“How’d you get in?” Aaliyah’s voice carried.

“Someone was coming out so I just walked in. I tried to call you.” A much deeper voice replied. My chest poked out and the hairs on my neck rose. I could feel my lips curl at the familiarity.

“My phone died.” Aaliyah walked back near me and following behind her was fucking Jamal.

“Yeah, you’re lucky you texted me last night.” he replied.

“I did?”

“Hell yeah, ya drunk ass. ‘Im home NIGGA!’, all caps. Disrespectful as shit.”

They both laughed with such an ease that it turned my stomach. Aaliyah turned to me and I tried my best to relax my irritation.

“Larry, Jamal, you two remember each other right?”

I eyed him up and down and instead of his negative response, or even him sizing me the way I did him, he put his hand out for a shake. “Wassup man.”

I seethed, but Aaliyah’s trained eyes didn’t leave mine. “What up.”

“Aye man those kicks fly as shit man.” Jamal said casually, nodding in respect. “I’ll give yall a minute.”

Just as calm, cool and collected as he was when he entered, he was even more so when he waltzed into the living room and found himself a seat at the computer facing the wall. He was so comfortable. I couldn’t stand it.

I knew shit was too good to be true. Aaliyah wasn’t talking to me probably because of him, and here I was wasting my time.

The buzzing of my phone took me from my thoughts as I looked down at the notification that Xander the uber driver was downstairs. Right beneath it, three missed texts from Karina.

My karma. I had some nerve being that pissed at Jamal as if I wasn’t doing the same if not worse with her.

“My uber here.”

“Let me walk you out.” She replied quickly, following me to the door. Jamal bid me farewell as he continued whatever he was doing. I replied the same way, as cordially as I could manage.

SIlently we made our way down the flight of stairs, until the navy blue doorways led me to the outside. “Text me when you get to your gate.”

I took that as a peace offering, wrapping her in a tight hug and kissing her forehead. She wrapped around me as well. We would both work on this. I was determined.

“I will. I’ll talk to you, okay?’

She nodded, smiling with a gentle wave. “Bye Bourgeouis.”

#lt fanfics #les twins fanfic #les twins fanfiction #submission

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evenstevensranked · 7 years

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#32: Season 1, Episode 7 - “Foodzilla”

Louis convinces Ren to let him do a live news segment on the school lunch lady for the Wombat Report. Unfortunately, his inability to be serious turns the story into a fiasco -- ultimately causing the lunch lady to quit her job.

The episode opens with Louis and Ren walking home from school. He’s nagging her and asking “please?!” over and over. This is obviously setting us up to wonder what the heck he’s asking for. Side note: I love how even though I know they filmed the interior shots of the house on a set, I STILL like to think they used the real house from time to time, lol. This is another one of those instances. They’re walking out and about in the real world, up until they reach their front door. You can’t tell if they’re still outside or if they’ve captured great artificial “natural” light. Gahhh. You can also hear legitimate sounding wind and cars driving by, which is either great sound editing or... ya know, they were actually at the house. In which case.. IT TOTALLY IS THE SAME INSIDE!

Yeah, this is definitely (probably) my wishful thinking talking tbh. The more I stare at these images the more it looks like a set with bright lights... But still.

Anyway, nerd analyzation aside... Turns out Louis desperately wants to host a segment on the premiere installment of the Wombat Report, which Ren is in charge of. He says that he could make her a comic masterpiece, which is where Ren immediately shuts any prospect down. Naturally, she absolutely will not allow it because she thinks Louis is incapable of taking anything seriously. I don’t blame her. If only she could lighten up, though.. Louis probably could’ve delivered something great, hilarious and take it seriously. I would’ve loved to see that, tbh.

Literally a million scenes/lines from this episode were used in Disney Channel promos for the show. Including “You think I need to shave my pits?” “I rest my case.” which happens around this point of the episode.

Louis heads out to the backyard, where Eileen is attempting to do Tai-Chi. The only problem is that she can’t find the right music to help her relax. Louis confides in her about the Wombat Report situation, and she tells him if he really wants to do it, the only option is to take it seriously and present Ren with a professional idea. She invites Louis to try exercising with her “Do this with me! It’s called: Golden Chicken Stands on One Leg.” Louis gives up right away and says:

So freaking good. Louis Stevens is all of us.

Eileen eventually looks though Ren’s CD collection for better relaxation tunes and chooses Limp Bizkit. Oh my god. “The Limp Biscuits. That sounds relaxing” she says. bahaha I can’t.

The next day at school, Louis tries to figure out a good idea for a story and goes to Twitty and Tawny for help at lunch. Twitty suggests that he do a behind the scenes look at his band, The Alan Twitty Project! Ahhhh! This is the first ever hint at the band arc! :D He also says that his lead singer has mono. The number one sickness mentioned on teen shows that literally no one I’ve ever known in real life has contracted. We get another one of those lines used in promos here: Louis: “You think I’m just some goofball who can’t be serious?” Twitty and Tawny: “...........yeah.”

Right about now is when Louis gets the bright idea to do his story on the school lunch lady.. played by Wendy Worthington who’s been in a zillion things you’ve probably seen. Including “Tower of Terror” -- the single most horrifying movie to ever air on Disney Channel. (Well, except for “Don’t Look Under The Bed.”) There’s a decapitated corpse and doll in the film. Just sayin.

She’s honestly really good at playing a creepy lady, I guess. Also, the little girl is Morgan from Boy Meets World... which instead of a direct parallel, you could consider a 6 degrees of separation deal between this show and BMW. I mean, that’s kinda reaching... but.

Just for the laughs, here’s me on the ride at Disney World. I was... well, terrified of it, but oddly obsessed at the same time. Also, that is my uncle laughing at me to my right.

Louis presents Ren with a rough draft of his report “The Lunch Lady: Life Behind The Hairnet” which seems extremely promising. Ren thinks so too, and allows him to do the segment. We sort of get mirror talk that night... but not really. It’s just Louis practicing various ways to act on air -- another bit used in promos.

Okay, we’ve finally reached the debut of The Wombat Report! For some reason Ren can’t correctly pronounce “Wombat Report” and says “Wombat Waport” I never understood this until I asked my mother for confirmation today. Louis refers to her as “Bawa” (a.k.a Barbara Walters) at one point, so I always assumed this was a reference to her or something... turns out my assumption was correct. I apologize for being an uncultured swine.

They start off with a “Coming up...” intro that features a character named DaNica Henderson (played by Alexis Lopez from The Luck Of the Irish, whose sister is Bianca Lopez a.k.a Mandy “Always Gets Her Man” Sanchez! Holy crap!) To quote Season 3 Louis:

DaNica says “Ever wonder what happens to the fines you pay on overdue library books? I have a shocking report.” And the camera zooms out to reveal a fancy sports car in the librarian’s parking spot:

Like, wth?! lol. Imagine if the librarian saved up enough piddly overdue fines to buy a freaking lambo or something?! omg. What’s funnier is that I’m picturing the stereotypical, old lady librarian driving around in that car.

They segue to a sports report by the underused Artie Ryan. Yesssss. He’s interviewing Twitty about a recent basketball game. This scene cuts to Louis, who’s on next, telling Tom (who of course is the AV guy/cameraman) that he’s just gonna wing the interview with the lunch lady. Not good. When it cuts back to Artie’s segment, we get another one of those backends to a random sentence from Twitty: “...Let’s just say it’s the last time I played without a cup.” Oh my god. Chill, Disney. Twitty takes this on-air opportunity to say that his band is looking for a bassist. Artie leans in like “Hey! I play bass!” lol. This is so great because Artie goes on to join The Alan Twitty Project/Twitty-Stevens Connection! Again, very cool to see the band arc starting to form. Gotta love solid continuity.

It’s time for Louis’ report and, well... this is just one of those absolutely iconic scenes ya gotta embed:

youtube

“It’s FOODZILLA! Tokyo is dooooomed!” (At least, I think that’s what he’s saying.)

..........as you can see, Louis started off his live-streamed interview sort of okay? And then it all just went down in flames pretty quickly. Only Louis Stevens could take an interview from a simple question, to a full out food war between the news crew and the Lunch Lady. It’s actually pretty hilarious, but you just cannot help but cringe at the fact Louis f’d up… again -- Much like his meltdown in Wild Child. But, I’m ranking this disaster higher because I find it less horrible than tarnishing the name of his own family and jeopardizing Eileen’s campaign on television. It’s a lil less cringy than that, which makes it funnier. I love how he shouts “MAN DOWN! I’ll try to get’cha out! I’ll try to get’cha!” as if they’re literally at war, which is too much lol.. and also predicted Shia’s future...? (Again, I’m reaching, but STILL.) That ending shot scene of Ren fuming with anger was also used for promos. Actually, you can just check out this promo video I posted recently to see every moment I’ve mentioned so far and then some.

To Ren’s surprise, everyone (including Principal Wexler for whatever reason) loved Louis’ segment and thought it was hilarious. DaNica refers to it as “phat” which definitely dates the show, lol. Just like that, Ren switches gears and tells Louis to prepare another segment. Wow. Unfortunately, at lunch that day.. all the kids start taunting the lunch lady by screaming “FOODZILLA!” at her. This one kid was the first one to shout it, and I always thought he was Khleo Thomas (Zero from Holes) lol:

The lunch lady is obviously mortified and runs away into the kitchen. :( Louis and Ren feel incredibly remorseful. When they get home from school, they tell Eileen everything and she forces them to go to the lunch lady’s house and apologize. (This is also the “You are a horrible little person” bit. As seen in that darn promo I linked.)

They go to her house later that night, and she reluctantly invites them in. We learn that her name is Elsa Schotz, and she “shows them who she really is” by yodeling for them. I don’t know how that’s supposed to reveal her true colors, but ok. We find out that she came over on a boat from Europe to become a professional yodeler, but sadly no one cares about yodeling in America — which is most definitely extremely factual. Have you ever heard a Top 40 yodeling hit? Honestly, why would ANYONE travel to America of all countries to pursue a yodeling career? She was already in Europe! That seems like something you’d go to Germany or Switzerland for??? I feel like this is a career endeavor you’d research where it’s most lucrative before moving to another country? Anyway, once she found out that yodeling work literally does not exist in the US, she started cooking at the school for money. But, now she’s depressed because she’s being made fun of.

This information somehow leads to Louis and Ren giving her a makeover??? I never realized it before, but that almost makes no sense? The kids at school weren’t making fun of her for the way she looks, but rather, because of her crazy outburst. I’d be so insulted and confused if I were Elsa. Is the makeover just a way to... somehow distract from the Foodzilla thing? Idk. She forgives them in the end though and her new-look gives her a confidence boost.

Where’d they get that outfit? Did she just happen to have something snazzy like that in the back of her closet? or did they seriously glamify her uniform?

They were pumped for the kids at school to see the “new and improved” Elsa Schotz, but she doesn’t show up the next day. Turns out she struck up a relationship with the school janitor and they eloped to Las Vegas to get married. Still a better love story than Twilight.

And that’s pretty much it! The short return after the last commercial break is Louis yodeling for Eileen while she does her Tai-Chi.

This episode remains super memorable. Probably because how many freaking scenes they used on commercials! It also aired a lot as well. Like, wow. But other than the actual Foodzilla scene, the rest of the episode is just a little bland and slightly random at times haha. It’s still good though. It’s nice to see Louis and Ren work together to help Elsa in the end.

Thoughts?

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#rank #even stevens #louis stevens #shia labeouf #disney channel #old disney #nostalgia #old school disney #ren stevens #christy carlson romano #wendy worthington #foodzilla #season 1 #band arc #the twitty stevens connection #the alan twitty project #artie ryan

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tatooedlaura-blog · 7 years

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Comfortable

I think this might fall under @leiascully‘s Rest challenge ... yeah ... I’m gonna slap it under that category and call it a day :)

Also, it’s a post-ep for ‘Millennium’ ...

Enjoy 8^)

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Mulder hadn’t seen her this weary in a long time … months since she had shadows that dark under her eyes, skin as pale as winter sunshine, lips faded to a hint of the rose they should be. Walking towards him, he stood immediately, taking in her exhaustion with a blinking glance, “hey there.”

She didn’t really answer, more like nodded her head with the illusion of giving a shit that she was upright and mobile. Dropping her bag on the floor by the coat rack and her shoes beside it, she brandished a file folder, tossed it to his lap, missed, didn’t care, ignored the sheaf of paper fanned across the hardwood and crawled, wobbled, swayed, landed face first across his couch.

He didn’t argue, taking in her rapidly encompassing coma state as a sign to keep his mouth shut of any and all sarcastic comments regarding the commandeering of his furniture for her hedonistic napping session. Not caring to move much himself, given his wrapped shoulder and still pulling scabs on his neck, he eventually picked up the folder, glancing through the final report on zombies or reanimated human-like entities before tossing it back to the floor.

He really didn’t give a rat’s fuzzy butt about the case, preferring not to remember it as his apartment fell to the early winter darkness. He wasn’t a fan of fire; he wasn’t a fan of cold; he wasn’t a fan of conspiring assholes and now he knew he definitely wasn’t a fan of reani- … zombies … whatever the hell they were. He mostly just wanted to forget them and enjoy some TV and a nap.

But Scully was in his TV watching spot, face squished into the cushion where he usually sat, the compressed foam perfectly indented to his rear after countless years and which was now cradling his soon-to-be drooling partner, her arm hanging to the floor, hand bent at the wrist, fingerprints pressed to woven striped rug.

And she was fairly cute doing it.

Settling back in the office chair he currently occupied and would occupy for the foreseeable future, he shifted his good arm up, resting his head against his hand, deciding that since he didn’t have a decent angle for the TV now, he’d just watch her.

Turned out to be the best entertainment of the night.

“Mul … ler?”

That startled him a little. She’d been snoring not half a second earlier and he never expected her to say anything.

“Yeah?”

“Muller?”

“Yes, Scully?”

Still not answering, she broke into a grin, her face shifting enough so he could just make out her mouth in full, “Muller.”

By now, his chuckle had emerged, head tilting further to the side to see her better, “Scully.”

Pulling her arm up, she languidly twisted onto her side, back against the back, knees sliding over each other until she settled again, left arm draped over belly, breasts pushed together in tantalizing, nearly spilling out cleavage.

He could see her knees as well.

Shit.

He had a thing for her knees. He’d been watching them peak out from underneath skirts for what felt like decades now and he had been fantasizing about his hand on one of them for just as long. Oddly, he had pictured her on her knees doing … things … to him for nearly as long but those fantasies were nowhere near as frequent as the ones where he simply sat beside her, warm palm cupped over her rounded knee, the beautiful 90-degree joint that carried her beside him everywhere and anywhere without fault and without fail.

He was utterly beguiled and bewildered at the sight of her knees. He’d shake his head to bring himself back to a sense of manly reality but, really, why.

Granted, the cleavage did fight for his attention, don’t get him wrong but tonight, he took his voyeuristic time, enjoying his blue-glowing Scully in all her napping glory, knees out for the world to see.

He chuckled again at the realizing that he was so far under her spell, it was shocking he could still function at all in society.

Then again, his society for the time being, consisted of Scully and zombies.

He gave himself five more minutes before forcing himself to stand, go to the kitchen, silently find some dinner, forget his partner on the couch in order to take a deep breath, sort his head back to the here and now.

“Muller?”

Like a snapping rubber band, he was back at her side before he knew his feet were moving, “Scully?”

This time, though, her eyes were open, staring up at him, confused and squinty, “am I hungry?”

“I … I don’t know.” Giving her a soft smile, “I was just making myself some food. You got here about an hour ago so you probably are hungry. It’s after 7.”

Time stamp sinking in, “hey, we’re missing ‘Wheel of Fortune’.”

God, he really should just propose now and get it over with, “want to find the channel and I’ll heat up whatever the hell isn’t nasty in my fridge?”

Hand already digging in the cushions for the remote, “deal.”

Sooner than later, they were buried deep in the couch, Mulder’s feet on the coffee table, Scully’s tucked underneath her, knee touching his thigh and blanket haphazardly thrown over them, empty plates near his toes. As they waited for the final ‘Jeopardy’ clue, Mulder debated whether it was time.

Scully chose action over debate.

Reaching towards him, she quietly gripped his pinkie finger and slowly dragged his hand from his leg to hers, stopping once her knee rounded out his palm.

In answer, he slid a little further down in the cushions, elbow resting on her upper thigh and fingers curved more securely around the sacred bones.

Mulder left it there through the last question, through two episodes of something he didn’t have the capacity to pay attention to because Scully was real and beside him, only one layer of blanket between skin on skin. Then, around nine, he gathered boldness from points unknown and deftly moved from above blanket to below, back to knee, heat on heat, watching her out the corner of his eye and relaxing when he saw the smallest of smiles curve her lip.

He was golden tonight.

And he sure as hell wasn’t going to push it.

Soon, cliched date night situations aside, her head landed on his shoulder, the credit music of ‘West Wing’ filling the room as she quietly asked, “would you mind if I stayed here tonight?”

“Of course not. Tired?”

“Yeah … but …” he could hear the hesitation beating the space between them, “mostly I … I’m comfortable and don’t want to go home right now.”

Squeezing her leg, he moved to stand, “let me go find you something to sleep in.”

She let him stand, missing him instantly and watched him trek away, sling band across his back, gait stilting slightly because a jostling walk sent pains through his unhealed bones. Following seconds later, she stood in his bedroom doorway, blanket over her shoulders, “anything is fine.”

Turning, “why’d you get up? You said you were comfortable on the couch?”

“No, I said I was comfortable.” Stepping closer, her eyes twinkled and sparked, “I’m comfortable with you and with your hand on me and being in this apartment and I don’t want to go home. There’s a difference between that and not wanting to get up from the couch to follow you.”

After keeping his grin to mere epic proportions, he gathered a t-shirt and some sweatpants, handing them to her after he moved to stand in front, “here you go and does that mean you’re not ready to go to sleep yet? Should we go see what else we can find to watch?”

Nodding, “go start looking while I change.” Quick like bunny, she came back into the living room and Mulder lost his powers of speech. Looking from her bare knees and the bottom of the shirt he gave her, which fell an inch above the aforementioned knees, to her face, she laughed as she settled back beside him, blanket once again over them, his hand moving under the blanket and back to its spot with little hesitation, “I’ll put the pants on before I go to sleep.”

&&&&&&&&&&

The next morning, with the blinds closed and the sunlight non-existent behind layers of gray cloud, she didn’t wake up until after eight and that was only because an especially exuberant burble from the fish tank invading her senses. Ignoring the clock, she puttered around the place while she made tea and found a box of semi-expired PopTarts, settling on the couch once again to have her breakfast before she decided to give any kind of thought to work. Mulder ventured forth halfway through her second cup, hair askew and shirt twisted under his immobilizer. Attempting and failing to straighten himself out, he dropped beside her, “when did you wake up and do you know you’re late for work?”

Doing her best not to spew forth a torrent of crumbs when she answered him, “woke up 20 minutes ago and not too sure I care about work today. How are you?”

Taking the bite of PopTart she offered him, he chewed thoughtfully, “better because you’re here.”

“I meant your shoulder but thank you.”

“You make everything better, shoulder included.”

Moving the blanket to cover his legs as well, mirroring the night before, she watched him put his hand back under the blanket, his eyebrows raising when he ran into skin instead of flannel, “still no pants, young lady?”

“Nope.”

“You should play hooky with me and not wear any pants at all.”

Pretending to debate, she tucked the blanket in closer under her legs and wiggled against him, “you should find me some cartoons. Flintstones if possible … or Scooby-Doo.”

With a non-chalant and non-presumptuous kiss to the top of her head, “I love you and your cartoony, pantsless ways.”

“I love you and your expired PopTart owning ways.”

Finding the Flintstones on some backend cable channel, “today is going to be a good day.”

Already planning a nap, probably in Mulder’s bed and probably not alone, “a very good day.”

#semi-expired poptarts #msr #xf fanfic #xfiles fanfic #post-ep Millennium #I have absolutely no idea if i spelled millennium correctly

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distant-rose-archive-blog · 7 years

Note

52 documents, 5 excel and 30 aesthetics on Little Pirates? Are you kidding? I WANT IT ALL! For real though, that much work into it, how much did/how far did you plot? I'm just curious because I really do love your universe.

Anon, legit Harrison, Wes and Beth are fully realized adults with heartaches, hardships and even their own children in my head. I think I’ve plotted as far as Beth being roughly 50 years old. On top of that, I also had to develop a supporting cast and shit, so there’s development on at least 30 other characters outside of my Jonses children. But if you want a taste of some of the plot work/headcanons I have regarding Harrison, Wes and Beth, I’ve left you roughly twenty plot points/facts I have planned out for them below the cut. So, spoilers, I guess?

Harrison Jones

gentle giant trope as fuck - legit had the body of a linebacker and the soul of a baby deer

looks like he could kill you, but is legit a cinnamon roll

anxious perfectionist puppy complete with slight OCD (has a constant need for organization and will pick up after you without your asking)

serious self-esteem issues/constantly doubts self - compares himself to parents and grandparents too much

a very firm believer in good form/bit of a black and white view on morality - made fun of by morally questionable younger siblings because of this

very much an old soul in a young body

gives so much and expects nothing in return - would give a stranger the shirt off his back

loves food more than he loves you/eats Killian and Emma out of house and home because he is a big boy and LET’S NOT FORGET THE BACON FOLKS! BACON IS HIS ONE TRUE LOVE

hates, legit hates, being compared to his dad/told that he is just like his dad - is deliberately clean shaven and keeps his hair on the long side so people don’t confuse them and people still call him Killian (Is privately like “excuse you I’m like a good five inches taller and at least fifty pounders heavier than my dad” but would never say it aloud because that’s hella rude and he’s a polite mofo)

beanies and bomber jackets forever with this babe

spends a ridiculous amount of time at Granny’s Diner playing darts and fixing things that are broken because he likes being helpful/useful

has a photographic memory and remembers a crazy amount of shit (most likely to catch you in a lie)

will bail you out of jail if necessary but expect a lecture on how you need to clean up your act

Closest to his “cousin” Neal but gets along with most people

Incredibly nice and sweet, but does a psycho mode where if you threaten his family or put a knife to his neck he has no issues snapping your neck/going Freddie Krueger on your ass sometimes blacks out during these violent episodes because he doesn’t like he doesn’t like hurting people and it’s hard thing to put on his conscious

accomplished musician - plays guitar, bass and piano

literally has no clue how handsome/beautiful he is and cannot take compliments/gets super uncomfortable/blushes constantly

Hates coffee but drinks it anyway because he’s a caffeine addict

Has horrible hand-eye coordination as a kid because he was constantly growing and because of that is terrible with swordplay. He got better in his late teens but never picked it up again. Prefers long-range weapons such as bows and throwing darts

legit has the same password for fucking everything - it’s either 1227 (his birthday) or seaweed1227 (Seaweed is his dog’s name)

is legit the world’s most doting and loyal boyfriend/is dating Aladdin and Jasmine’s daughter and worships the ground she walks upon. (He then becomes the world’s most doting husband and father of three adorable babies.)

takes over for Emma as sheriff alongside Neal

Wes Jones

sarcastic asshole magician who is jaded as fuck trope

looks like he could kill you and would probably kill you

has absolutely no filter and doesn’t care if he hurts your feelings

gives zero fucks about authority and goes out of his way to make sure any person of authority knows about it

snarkiest and sassiest mofo alive and enjoys letting you know

most accepting of non-conventional things because he literally doesn’t care and will just go with the flow/won’t even blink at something considered “weird”, he’s more like “yeah, whatever (might or might not have some unconventional relationships of his own regarding Gideon and Bobbi)

is secretly a competitive asshole and will cheat to win/do not play cards with this child

legit hates tomatoes and ketcup more than life itself. Nothing angers Wes more than when his order gets screwed up and he ends up with either. He will actually refuse to eat it.

most likely to hotwire your car or steal your wallet because he’s bored and he can/he would give it back to you at the end of the day however

most introverted out of the siblings/sometimes cannot deal with people/will put up his hoodie and put in his earphones, which is essentially his way of telling you to leave him the fuck alone.

The best with magic out of his siblings since he’s good at compartmentalizing/is constantly practcing and studying magic with Gideon and Bobbi (What I can Baby Robyn in this universe)/ Is basically Power of Three with Gideon and Bobbi

Literally puts no effort into dating/sex life - it’s mainly other people coming to him and he’s like “yeah sure”/possibly aromantic

Doesn’t really crave human contact/interaction but he likes it for the most part. Could live on without it however.

Emotionally unaware at times/a complete idiot when it comes to how other people feel

Though emotionally stunted at times, don’t fuck with his mother, sister, “cousin” Ruthie, Bobbi or Gideon because boy will straight up break your hand to prove a point/A ridiculous dirty ass fighter/will not play by the rules

Has a massive sweet-tooth/constantly has hard candies like mints and caramels on his person

Hoodies are his uniform

Has long ass blonde hair (think Thor or Sunshine from Remember the Titans) and often keeps it in a man bun - Emma HATES it

His iTunes library is bigger than yours/loves music and plays the drums

He doesn’t make a habit of apologizing but if he’s sorry he’s more likely to make a quiet gesture than verbally apologize

Ends up running a music store/backend magic store with Gideon and Bobbi

Beth Jones

daddy’s girl tomboy femme fatale trope aka miss I will fuck you up and you will not only thank me but beg for more

looks like a cinnamon roll but is actually a SINnamon roll…who could kill you

absolutely Daddy’s Little Girl/super ridiculously close to her dad to the point that they’re very good at predicting what the other is going to do/going to react

her most prized possession is her “hook” necklace that her dad gave her on her sixteenth birthday (it’s legit just a fish hook bent to look like Killian’s hook on a chain) and she never takes it off

is left-handed so she had a hard time learning things from people growing up (ex. Harrison tried to teach her how to play guitar and it ended miserably)

loves animals more than she loves people, and will go nuts over cute dogs and cats. Beth has a habit of going up to strange dogs and making kissy noises at them while scratching their ears and never saying a word to the owner

Beth thinks she should be the one to inherit the Jolly and is prepared to fight her brothers for it.

will attack you with your biggest insecurity/weakness if she feels uncomfortable and doesn’t want to deal with something/would rather have a fight than an emotionally meaningful conversation especially on painful topics

scarily manipulative at times and lies super easily/can think of a convincing lie on the spot when necessary - she disturbs her family with this “gift”

really hates disappointing her parents so if she plans on doing something or something happens that she thinks they won’t like, she will do her best to hide it from them

loyal to friends and family to a fault/will go the distance and die for them a thousand times over

loves wearing dark lipstick, it’s her signature make up move

impulsive and legit has negative amounts of self control

Closest to her “cousin” Ruthie - hated each other when they were kids, but get a better understanding of each other when they get older. Ruthie listens to her relationship drama

drop dead gorgeous and she knows it/will use her looks to her advantage if necessary

very casual with sex but fears actual intimacy. She has a really bad relationship when she was 15/16 and it ended horribly after she had pregnancy scare (only Henry knows this about this however)

has an amazing sense of direction/navigation - very good at mental mapping

the best at swordplay out of her siblings and legit spends two hours a day going over her forms and practicing. She also collects swords and makes sure to practice at least two weeks with any from her collection so she’s comfortable with them. Her favorite sword however is a german rapier.

feels out of place in Storybrooke, makes an ill-thought out wish, ends up in the Enchanted Forrest and legit has a pirate adventure to get back home only to decide that she really likes pirating and it becomes her calling she may or may not have a cache of magic beans at her disposal thanks to a certain pirate she befriends on her journey

dates Ariel’s son at one point, it ends in heartbreak (not either of their fault’s though) and makes Beth afraid of the concept of True Love. (he might have or might have not died trying to save her)

may or may not wear a red great coat as part of her pirate uniform

legit becomes frenemies/rivals with Jim Hawkins/she may or may not have a thing or him she totally does

#anon #rose speaks #little pirates #beth jones #wes jones #harrison jones #spoilers I guess?#asks #answered #little pirates meta #ever after #ever after meta

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top1course · 5 years

Text

HOW TO CREATE AN AMAZON FBA LISTING WITH FULLY OPTIMIZED TITLE, BULLET POINTS AND BACKEND KEYWORDS!

youtube

What is a guys today I’m going to go over how to make a fully optimized listing from the start all the way, and every piece of and I’m going to do it all live so you guys can see it really while it’s happening so today, patron go to one of my clients that I consult for one of their products right here which is a cheese slate board, with a set of Cutlery right and so if you don’t know how to actually set up even this part right here we can go to the, really quickly used to add products, right, and then if it’s a new product right which most or all private label is right you’re not going to actually list against anyone say since in this car, play right here you go to create a new product listing right, after this one we just type cheese board, Serveware platters cheese plates right switches cheese plates, seems like the most relevant, once you get to hear you simply put in your title, put in your right condition new with your price here and you want your price be really high guys remember cuz of the pro, price Band review like I talk about in my listing optimization module to make the price super high right and then under vital info, you just do any type of title, right if you want to control your canonical URL you use a specific keywords before the first – right, but I talked about that my listing optimization module as well, i’m going to just simply put your UPC here, how you can buy I buy a UPC is from Nationwide barcodes Amazon suggest you it from gs1 but just wants much more expensive, and I don’t think that it I’m Amazon’s going to do any retroactive type of, Clean up as far as you can see that eventually they’ll mandate you that you use gs1 or use barcode from Amazon so for now you, is the cheap ones right you just copy and paste the number for UPC right here and you’re good to go right so I’m not going to do, do it again because I don’t want to create another listing but, we are just going to use this listing right here, right and so if we want to edit it we just obviously going to edit, okay so it is basically at this point completely empty there’s nothing in here besides a very base, title and manufacturer right, and so what we’re going to do is create, the offer first right so we always like to do gift wrap available can be gift message right because it just makes it a little bit easier, Gift products are returned last right and if you’ll ever want to give your price as a present or whatever.

Someone you want to make it available right I like to pick them Max order quantity for right cuz this isn’t going to be, potentially well I mean I guess be like a restaurant thing so let’s do let’s do 10 right, once you have more data you can kind of play with this but I like to always Cinemax work while you just because it prevents people from spying on your listing with the, 9 method and it prevents you know if you ever running promotions and use kind of forget about things you don’t want somebody buying, and all of your inventory flag 90% off right so let’s make the sale price, are the side of your price a bit higher and let’s make the sale price for a 97, Go ahead and start these sale, today, and have it end in two years right, so images we already have set up, description right so we’re going to add appears as the bullets, the product description you can use HTML here right like if you want to bowl like you’re tighter, title, all right, this is where you can kind of, do a little bit more as far as keyword stuffing right for the part description has the lowest weight as far as, you know what yours are index and things like that Amazon definitely focuses most senior title Stuck on You, we’re back in keywords and tied for second is your key product features or what a lot of people call your bullet points right so let’s create, i’m the way I like to do it it’s kind of using Merchant words right so cheeseboard seems to be the highest searched, Bright but we’re actually selling a cheese board with cutlery set, so cheese cutting board, say cheese, just go on Amazon and go to cheese board and Cutlery right so let’s take like the top, to obviously the leaders right here, all right, talk to you, take a look right cuz we’re not going to let the wheel guys we just wants to know how many, especially different features that we have based on our competitors right, i’m obviously writing our own as far as sizing and everything like that but it helps to have, something to look at right, let’s take a look at, just two of the top people, alright what they’re actually writing these are obviously both well done as well, and let’s use them to base, our keywords, so now he’s coming to look at, and that makes things easier right so they’re having the bamboo, Mars is actually a slate, right so, you want to have capital letter C right premium, police late, she’s bored with, cutlery set, then you want to say something like, beautifully crafted, cheeseboard includes, set of Premium, quality, cutlery, makes a perfect gift item for, a wedding, party, or to Simply share, time, with your loved ones, best friends, write something simple like that, right now you want to highlight highlight, stainless steel, cutlery set, will not, right as you want something like ideas of things to actually include, a good way of doing that is just a go into kind of the leader, right, take a look at the one star reviews, do not Vibe Adam workmanship, the word split on the anterior part cracked immediately after first use, i’m too advanced for a refund took it out of the box you the second time in the board had a huge cracking it, Bright stains damages.

Cracking up right so it seems like a lot of people are worried about it cracking, so let’s use our second bullet to say something like, cheese, 4, right so you want to address kind of some of the things that people are worried about as far as no one, onStar reviews, we stand behind, quality of our, cutlery set, due to no fault of your own, lori playset 100%, write to me like that, i’m so solid gorgeous mosso, ric1 include the size, top quality Oakwood, ain’t you want to include 5he right, so, and I like to include you know kind of like I’m putting the person in, the setting of where they’ll use it, sieve, compliment after compliment, from your party, guests, surrounding, beautiful, cheeseboard, reset, not rest, and, will continue to, amazed, rustic you be right, And so you know I’m doing this life for you guys so obviously I probably spend a tiny bit more time, process is when I’m writing these right, money back guarantee we kind of already discussed that necessity for every home, sturdy and stainless right, it’s a perfect, old, right and then you just want to add in your specs, it’s the perfect size for any, kitchen, party table, catherine, once, easy to clean and wash, right so, pretty good it’s using a lot of the keywords it’s addressing a lot of concerns that he will have as far as, self, subban what we do, is simply copy and paste, these into, our key product features, and another cool little thing that I like to do that I think it’s probably technically against, service but no, a lot of people do it including me, is just add check marks the beginning of your part description, Just because it, how to draw simple eyes to it, it looks good in my opinion, right and it’s not a huge risk as far as, get in trouble with Amazon, but obviously everything you know violating the terms of service is kind of use at your own risk, and it’s cost versus reward right so I think it was pretty good, yeso in the park description you know you can write more about things like that include some of the same key words with the part description really, a huge deal I’m so we’re not going to focus heavily on that, but let’s take a look at some viewers are very important updates, to a nine you can really only index you know about 500 to 700 characters as far as keywords right, so you want to kind of pack as many, relevant keywords as you can, Into your, keyword section but you have to be careful about real estate right because you don’t have a ton, room anymore, her cheese platter, if that, cutlery, travel to space, is Borat nice, anything good here, cheese board set, right to know we have a ton of words, so we can open up the first one in Excel right, i want to take, are all of the, top words, turn here, right on the point here is to kind of create a master list that we’re going to derive are keywords from, based on the highest volume, based on sales, and then once we have this master-list, progressed we going to remove all the duplicate words and then add in, the most popular, so now we have a master list right in this is super quick as you guys can see right and this is definitely by far the best way to do, Do this.

So I’m going to do is work going to filter these, and sort by highest volume, right, we don’t need a million different words but what’s choose somewhere to cut this off, so anything, above 500 searches per month or any use right, so tell him to, tracemyip, what is my IP does, is it takes out all duplicate words but it maintains the original order so how a 9mm Amazon, algorithm actually creates longtail set of keywords using your automated you know when you’re on your., automated campaigns on PPC and you see that you’re getting Impressions on these long tail keywords right, but you haven’t actually created these on stuff yours in your back end what Amazon’s doing is using permutations, to use the order of the single non duplicate words to create long tail phrase of Rights, if you have four words it’ll put you know the first and second word as a as a combination the first and third word the first and fourth word, The first second third and fourth right the first second and third and those become the permutation for Amazon’s testing, the more individual word that you have that can make up these combination the better right, right for your long tail keywords what you’re writing for organically and things like that, so what we did was we clicked original order and now we have this group of words right, that are unique, and we can kind of plug into our back-end keywords and cheese platter with Y cutting, board marble slate set cover Swiss wine Wisconsin cheese right the Malvern bust a big wire slicer, write three a lot of these words are in a words that are complementary really related but aren’t as a, Fairly directly related ripen a lot of people like cheese and crackers a lot of people you know cheese has unfinished, silver right slate, right that’s another good one that we kind of forgot to see what that looks like on Merchant words, slate, arby’s in, quickly, spring go back to a master list, ativan, then all we have to do is every sort this, but it’s Sunday, i still go down to, 500SL, andrina’s recently rerun archery slappy, where’s my order, take these and now our skewer set includes things about slates right because the little bit more, specific to us, i’m since our plate isn’t actually would but it isn’t it is a good thing to include these wooden, alright because sometimes you will be searching for what but then they’ll realize that they actually prefer how the Slate look, what’s Ryan so you get those buyers they aren’t quite you know exactly related but, You know you convert them with the appeal of your listing of self, so once we have these words we’re going to do is, come into the keyword section, and we’re going to add them, now a reasonable amount of time, i think you get a thousand characters per line, and the point of we’re adding more than the five to seven hundred right, the back end, is because after about a week or so, you’ll be able to realize you know which of these are actually indexing, and which of them or not, then once you can tell which ones are indexing right and by indexing I mean Amazon’s actually real, is relevant to your listing and when people type in those keyworth it’s going to show your products right in the more sales you get the higher, you rang, organic index charts and then the more organic sales are going to get because people are seeing you on the 1st, 2nd 3rd page whatever on Amazon searches right and so.

Once you have all of these keywords set right, go ahead and click save, and so you know just in that short amount of time right we got our keywords done we got our our bullets, done right so let’s take a look at our title, cuz it was just kind of a, a temporary title, do you want to manipulate the canonical URL and how you do that is through the hyphenation, of your title, right so again there’s no reason to, reinvent the wheel here, let’s see what people are doing, right so, cheese board set, wu-Tang, stainless steel, cutlery, so you can do that right cuz they’re probably the most important words their what you want the Amazon URL to reflect and he, As far as Google and other search engines, france cell, is for stainless steel, is soapstone chalk, and then we want to look and see kind of what the highest volume keywords are right from our master, include this, so you only have to clean to the mall so we have cheese board here, we have slate cheese she’s working cheese platter, right, perfect cheese, flattered, right I mean she’s bored here swiss cheese board, why are cheese boards like that, if we want to include, 3, wine and cheese board, wisconsin, and see you get 200 characters for your title, so I like to use leather couches the easiest way to do it, 1284 rights we have a few more characters here, serving right, wyatt shears, serving board, so 8 more characters, anchor that she’s all the same place cleaner, wes Marvel, swiss, 199, so that’s perfect, Let’s go ahead and replace our temporary title with that right, now we have the – so we can include Amar 529 words that appear in our canonical URL, and, you know and now that’s a very quick, explanation of, you know what to do, gift wrapping through did Max order quantity images are set you know description is done check marks right we made all of our key, keywords and then the last thing we do is in about a week right after being live will be able to see what Amazon is act, ashley Index right using r on Keyword Index tool, right, so basically what we do is we simply coming here, and we would, take me to ski words, we plug them in right all five different roads we take are a sin, we plug it into the AC on, right then all we do is check he wears and then it would tell us you know your your indexing for 30% 50% of 60, Percent of your keywords right and then all you do is use highlight the index keywords right, and then you download that that’s CSV to Excel file you replace, all of these cures only with Ickey Woods your indexing and then you try a new you know set of, now you’d only have index key words here and it breaks down super easily for you in the keyword in the, text Checker right and then once you do that, you can basically use your search term report from your PPC ad in any words that you’re definitely converting on right, i enter your keywords as well, these are in the Platinum keywords I just realize right so yeah you have to be careful here, wright’s cuz you don’t get platinum keywords as a, i’m normal seller Visa Platinum keywords are more for a seller’s like Nike and things like that, Right so we’ll go ahead and get rid of these Platinum keywords and Adam the Search terms were they should be.

At the beginning, right I’m so once you have once you have only index DeRozan are you can add terms that you are nowhere converting from your, pPC search term report right and then you can just go back into, set merchantwords an ad like actual phrases with repeats into your remaining lines right with the, highest volume to again right and then just do the same thing, only include the ones that are index and continue to add more you know different stuff, see if you can catch any further indexing right through keyword phrases and things like that and just you know once a week once a month, continue to iterate continue to remove things that are not indexing and add new experiments right and so, As far as this target audience, is concerned, i fill it out I haven’t seen a huge, play here sometimes you will, sometimes you will index for these things is obviously not something for kids as it is asthma, how much for adults right, so when it is for adults I usually use adult seniors man unisex adult and when it right the subject matter, cheese board, surveying, flattered, wine free Wisconsin Swiss more places that you can index, your keywords, so it’s not a huge deal but I mean it’s pretty easy, figure out, cheese board slate, cutlery, headed use, parties, gatherings, restaurants, right, so now we have a fully put together listing and we did it and you know 30 minutes to an hour, and it’s going to be a very well put together listing write IT addresses people’s concerns as far as customers it includes, A ton of cures that related to our product that we can tell whether or not their indexing and update and iterate based on a keyword, indexed results right and we can continue to tweak our title and bullets based off of rppc search, report right which shows has the truest data as far as what customers are actually typing what they’re actually clicking you know what, converting as far as the titles and things like that right and so we can come back and we can continue to iterate this and we’re going, going to have a hugely successful listing find a little trick that I like to do as far as saving time, you know immediately knowing what’s indexed right and another tool that I like to use besides just Merchant words and, google Keyword Planner sometimes just to like verify actual volume right because the volume on all of these different Amazon, Pacific search engines are actually actually just estimates right so I use Google Keyword Planner to verify fall, volume but I’ve already done that for this listing although I do recommend everyone verifies the search volume to make sure you let you know you’re above, that one k 210k monthly searches right you want to be either there or above it voice be worth it, most of the time I’m the one more tool right that I like to use is keyword inspector so for the top, listing competitor wise for the departure launching go ahead and go ahead and grab, radiation from the URL right here right Athens usually start with b or 0 on and they always look like this, i mean it’s usually after the detailed page in the URL so grab it go into keyword inspector right and keyword inspector is it, Another pay tool Merchants word is $9 a month using the discount specifically for our group you can find in the common question.

Document there is no discount for this one unfortunately but it is a unique service right, so it’s $20 a month I think for a hundred credits and what does does guy’s is you put on, mason into the line here and, it shows you reverse a certain keyword search rights of keywords are ranked best to lease conversion for 5 proprietary algorithm, a monthly search volume and shows ranked unique for its unique words rank calling the spelling right so gives you a ton of data, i’ve already run this specific acen so let’s take a look at what it gives us, so if we don’t to CSV, take a look, it gives us this document right here, Document has a ton of good stuff right so you can use these keyword phrases and what does it do, looks at the Ace in and then it finds you keyword phrases associated with that a sin right so it uses the indexing, use the PBC data and things like that right gives you an estimated search volume, it says what a secured position rank they have right so anything number one, have you rode in on charcuterie set it would be first furiden bambusi by Belmont this, mason would come up first and it was on organic search results right so there’s a lot of valuable data here, another cool part is the individual unique words right so if you take a look at the TPC module right, you can run these as your Loki bids and then you can find out exact customer searches to further iterate your PPC, Tkam pants right info here and so I went ahead and added these to my master list, i regenerated my tracemyip, master list of keywords right so I put those into my Search terms here, and then another final cool little trick that you guys can do is instead of waiting for, that week to see which key was your indexing for you can use keyword indexer with your mouth, master list right so I copy and pasted all of the keywords that I just put into my keyword set from Chris my feet, right into the key word in Dexter, right and then a cool thing you can do it instead of using your own a sin you can go ahead and use the number one or, organic ranked result of your nearest competitor into the key word in Dexter right, sophie Pace that in here, cool thing we can do is we can run the Keyword Index Checker right as I’ve already done that since it takes a second, So I can run it on there a sin right using our Master list of keywords and now it, it tells me exactly which of our master key words they are indexing for and so if, if you highlight just the indexed words download the CSV, then you can see, right after I’m removing the duplicates you can actually see, which keywords, they are indexing for which is very cool because it means you don’t have to wait, to figure anything out rice has no duplicates here so they’re obviously ranking for a cheese platter boards, set cutting knives right and so what we can do what we’ve done here guys is we’ve basically solved what, what we are going to index for without having to wait for that extra week right until we have a different Prada, Right so since our product is actually a slate board rather than a wooden board and we’d still want to include RC.

Slate keywords right but this gives us a very good idea as to which I’m keywords, we’re actually going to be raining for and so, nothing cool little trick right if you don’t want to wait if you have a park is extremely similar to a different product you kind of, skip the internet process and you can immediately add keywords that you know, for sure you’re going to rank for right and you want to be ranking for because Amazon’s deemed of these keywords, as relevant for the product that they are organically ranking as the number one position right, that’s a cool little trick you guys can use play around with I’m throwing those into your Search terms trying you know short tail phrase, Places with the highest volume from merchantwords from keyword inspector and you know just continually to continually iterate and, you’re going to find the best organic keywords right eventually you’re going to be indexing for all of them and when that happens you’re going to be, ranking for a number of different long tail search results right and your product is going to see higher, organic ranks which means more eyes twitch in the end means more sales.

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mrdanielblack · 6 years

Text

I’m no good at anything else

Is going back to the basics the answer to succeeding? Maybe it is having a crack with a different frame of mind.

Topic – What have you done differently?

Mentor – Daniel Gonzalez

“I love this and music”

Clients should be able to ‘feel’ it

Be super process-driven

Property Management Matters with Kasey McDonald – Today Kasey gives us a property management financial health check – areas business owners should be monitoring regularly to ensure the department remains profitable

Transcript:

Kevin: Well here it is Tuesday and I’ve just learned something. You would be aware that we prerecord these segments of course. That’s how we can send them out to you and we do a number of them at a time.

Kevin: Daniel Gonzalez who is my guest has just told me that he’s actually with his mom because she’s turned 70 last night as we record. Daniel, that’s just amazing mate. I want to wish your mum a very happy birthday from us.

Daniel: Thank you, Kevin.

Kevin: And I also want to thank her for allowing us to cut into your time with her cause you’ve got to go back to Perth. Good on you. Hey mate thank you.

Kevin: Can I just follow on from our conversation yesterday which was where we were talking about the gap that you notice, the things that you thought you could bring to the industry that would help you achieve your goal, but also maybe shape some change in the industry. What have you done differently?

Daniel: Okay. We hear that question all the time and it’s hard to answer for ourselves. It’s always easier when clients speak about what have we actually done differently for them and how they felt and things. It’s a lot easier. But going … I think from our side. When I got into this industry, Kevin I’m no good at anything else. It was either music or this and I loved both careers and I just had to be really good at this as I always was really afraid that I didn’t have a trade. I tried everything else. Believe me. I’ve tried all sorts of things and I just sucked at everything so for me, it had to work. And because it was something that I got into so passionately I really had spent a lot of time trying to research as much as I possibly could and to analyse as much as I could.

Kevin: Yeah. How much do you put down to … and I understand why you found it very difficult to answer that question because great people who do things really well I find it comes natural. And they really can’t tell me what it is that makes them stand out. This natural ability to communicate, this natural ability to feel good about people. People, they can read it can’t they? It’s like antenna. They know when you’re genuine. They know when you’re full of bull.

Daniel: Absolutely. I actually call … you know I’m not sure we can say on radio, but for us it’s the GAF factor and that’s all we’re about.

Kevin: The what factor?

Daniel: The GAF factor.

Kevin: What’s that?

Daniel: Giving a fuck, Kevin.

Kevin: Fair enough. That’s okay. Is that what you … you really genuinely … putting it another way

Daniel: I don’t have to. The clients can feel it, like you said before. I don’t need to be saying to them we’re caring and we’re going to do this. It’s just … we’re doing it and they can feel that. So it’s week in, week out. Day in, day out. They know that we’re working on their project and they can feel it. They know we’re really there and what a difference it makes when we’re having a conversation with regard to where the feedback level is and how the weekend went and what changes we propose making. All of a sudden it’s just, okay, cool, let’s do it. There’s no argument or no pressure … that’s cool because they can feel the level of care that we actually have. They can feel it and they can see it. They don’t need to be hearing it.

Kevin: I mentioned yesterday the video. And I strongly suggest you go and have a look at the web site. Daniel’s web site which is realtylane.com.au. Have a look at the video because one thing that I noticed about the people who are in the video, they say, ah well we saw all of things things around about Daniel. We saw his signs everywhere. We saw the results he was getting. But the moment he walked in the room, we knew straight away we could work with him. See and this is … you can get into the door, but unless you’re genuine, you’re just not always gonna get the deal.

Daniel: Absolutely. Absolutely. And it is a combination of everything, too. I don’t want your listeners and agents out there to think yeah it’s just … you know make clients feel like you’re gonna really do something. Yes, we are super process-driven. Yes, we’re detailed. Yes, we’ve got it all. Every bit of the process is outlined in detail and explained. But it’s also the belief in our ability to achieve the outcome that they need and they can really feel that. So there’s a lot of things that are tied into being able to be chosen, but then once you’re chosen what do you do with it? That’s the biggest thing. So many times you end up being chosen at the table but if you’re not delivering that outcome, but also if you’re not caring for the client all the way through, it really derails the process at the end and someone else will come in and end up selling that property.

Kevin: Well said, mate. You there talked about the tools that you use. The backend, you do the same as everyone else. It’s the difference at the front end. And that’s what I want to talk to you about tomorrow. The tools that you use. Are you a back to basics person? Let’s talk about your vision and so on. We’ll talk about the real tools behind your success.

Kevin: Good on you, mate. Reminding you once again my guest is Daniel Gonzalez, who took out the award in western Australia recently at the awards for REIWA. The highest value of property sold in the entire state for the year. He’s our guest this week and I’ll talk to him again tomorrow. Thanks, Daniel. Talk to you then.

Daniel: Thanks, Kevin.

from Real Estate Uncut https://ift.tt/2CFz1Gz

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Ellen Pompeo Talks $20 Million 'Grey's Anatomy' Salary: 'Women Should Be Able To Celebrate Too' (Exclusive)

Ellen Pompeo is opening up about her decision to reveal her $20 million salary for Grey’s Anatomy.

“That was a tricky situation because you don’t normally want to talk about money and talk about your salaries,” the 48-year-old actress told ET on Tuesday at the New York City launch of Young Living Essentials Oils’ Seedlings baby care line. “It’s admired and celebrated when a male athlete does it and I think that’s precisely the reason why I decided to do it.”

In January, Pompeo revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that she would be earning more than $20 million a year -- $575,000 per episode, along with a seven-figure signing bonus and two full backend equity points on the series, estimated to bring in another $6 million to $7 million. This massive deal made Pompeo the highest-paid actress in dramatic television.

“I caught a little flack in certain areas for doing it,” Pompeo revealed. “That’s OK, I can take a couple knocks. I’ll get back up.”

While anyone in the public eye has their fair share of haters, the love that Pompeo received for being so outspoken meant so much more to her. “The thing that’s been more meaningful is the women who have found it empowering and helpful,” Pompeo said. “I can’t tell you the amount of women who have approached me and just want to hug me and thank me for the audacity to be bold and maybe even a little crass, but authentic and explain my journey and my shortcomings, as well as my successes – has made it all worthwhile."

Pompeo treats her gig on ABC’s hit medical drama -- which is currently in its 14th season and has just been picked up for a 15th -- like an athlete would before a sports season. “You have to train for it, you have to prepare for it, you have to work out, eat right and get your rest and hydrate," she explained. "To work the hours we have to work it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Perhaps that is why the actress and mother of three followed in famous athletes’ footsteps when it came to addressing her salary. “If Kobe Bryant, and I know he doesn’t play anymore, but if these athletes can make these paychecks and it can be celebrated, women should be able to celebrate too.”

As for what awaits in the remaining 3 episodes of Grey’sAnatomy’s 14th season, Pompeo revealed it will be “classic Grey’s finale time,” adding, “It’s going to be devastating, and then we’re going to pull you out of devastating and make you smile.”

In the meantime, Pompeo is on hiatus from filming the medical drama and promoting the Young Living Essential Oils’ Seedlings baby care line. “I am a big lover of essential oils, I use them all the time. I use them all over my house, I use them on my kids, I really believe in the power of aromatherapy."

Grey's Anatomy airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.