#Kimberly x canaan

[heirofseaandfire]

kimberly and canaan came out of nowhere to you

I have been playing the long game with them since he was too distracted by her bra to make out with whitney

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[the-paris-of-people]

For those of you that thought Kimberly and Canaan were out of left field...

Oh boy, buckle up, because I am going to explain how Kimberly and Canaan make perfect sense together and the show has been building to them since their first interaction. I'm going to be examining their scenes together, their scenes in other romantic relationships and interactions with friends, and ultimately investigate the events of the finale, which culminated in them developing feelings for each other.

In the first scene where Kimberly and Canaan are introduced, Canaan takes advantage of Kimberly's naivete by telling her he has to work multiple jobs to support his family because his mother is addicted to crack. I personally love this scene because it reveals Kimberly's lack of exposure to POC and touches on her unconscious biases prior to coming to Essex, but it also establishes the fun, banter-y dynamic between Canaan and Kimberly from the get-go. Kimberly later stands up for Canaan and this choice was 100% deliberate on the writer's part for K/C relationship building. Christopher Meyer's background reactions (in a lot of these scenes) suggest he's in awe at the different side of Kimberly that's shown to him through this interaction. Kimberly may have that sweet, kind, girl-next-door vibe but she also has a backbone and is not afraid to stand up for herself. Moreover, Canaan's being in agreement of Kimberly's speech and their shared position at Sips together implies shared values that bind them together, at least in the affluent world of Essex.

A few episodes later, when she and Bela attend the comedy gala, Kimberly understands from Canaan that he and Lila are not being tipped well as caterers. She leaves them a large tip and announces to everyone that they are on financial aid, which elicits pity tips from the attending gala members. Canaan initially doesn't believe this will work, and he's so surprised and grateful to Kimberly for her shrewd assessment of the situation, he gives her a portion of their tips later. Again, Kimberly's resourceful advice surprises and compels Canaan, setting them up for a deeper connection down the road.

For those of you who don't regularly follow my blog, I'm also obsessed with Ben and Devi from Never Have I Ever (another MK show) and love that Ben acts to "save Devi from herself" and often is her voice of reason, pushing her to be a better person. Canaan acts as this voice of reason throughout the remainder of season 1 for Kimberly, reminding to focus on her Econ homework instead of obsessing over Nico because it's likely not worth it (a hard lesson Kimberly learns on her own), imploring her not to cheat because she cannot pull it off. The latter observation suggests that over the time period of working together, Canaan knows her, knows that she cannot cheat, knows that is the least discrete person in the world and she cannot pull it off (again, Canaan is right again) He even calls her cute during this conversation, yes he compares it to when Nemo gets mad at his Dad, but it's clear during this commentary that while he may be passing it off as a joke, he genuinely finds Kimberly attractive on some level.

There's another comment in this scene Canaan makes to Kimberly that sets them both up to be together. Canaan tells Kimberly he sees her with "more of a sweet boy" and describes a nerd. All we know about Canaan at this point in season 1 is that he's funny, sarcastic, DTF (with Whitney at this point), and kind, the "nerd" aspect of his personality hasn't come up - at least for now.

During season 2, Canaan and Kimberly embark upon parallel journeys to date a great person, but not the right person for them. We can argue Leighton goes through a similar journey in another post, but that's for another day. At the end of s1 and beginning of s2, Canaan dates Whitney (who btw I would die for, no Whitney slander in the comments please) and while the two are attracted to each other, have good conversation, and seem to get along, they seem to have different attitudes towards their family and academic goals. Canaan defends Whitney's mom to her for coming to make sure she was okay after the whole Coach Dalton (aka the most heinous man known to society) fiasco and has a much more clear plan about his career/future than Whitney while Whitney is still trying to navigate her nascent relationships with her mother and biochemistry. I want to make it clear that there is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with Whitney trying to figure that out and she's amazing and deserves the best and 100% deserves all the love in the world, but it's clear from the Zoe/phone incident (although CANAAN hello you 100% should have told Whitney and not invited Zoe to the Kissmas party) that Canaan values being with someone who's completely secure with themselves in order to build a strong relationship. It's notable that when Canaan is reassuring Whitney about Zoe he calls her "A dream girl" rather than "MY dream girl" and that may be reading too much into it but I think the article choice was deliberate on the part of the writers. Also before Canaan asks Whitney to be his gf, he compliments Whitney that the study geek vibe on her is cute. Again, interesting considering how he thinks the perfect guy for Kimberly as a nerd because she is one ... and at the same time he is also attracted to them.

On the flip side, we have Kimberly who begins a little romance with Jackson. Jackson seems like a great, nice guy who really likes Kimberly, which is a refreshing break for my girl considering she had been through the ringer and back with Nico, losing her scholarship, and donating her eggs. However, yes she has this great, hot guy who's into her- the issue is, she's not into him and she feels they don't fully understand each other. Jackson initially doesn't participate in the food worker's strike even though it's near and dear to Kimberly's heart, she's incredibly passionate about social causes and is helping organize the movement as well! Once Kimberly explains she wants him to support her, he does, but to Kimberly, she shouldn't have to explain. She feels Jackson immediately should have understood how the strike was important to her- worker's rights are in her core belief system (see: her upbringing and her speech at Sips in the first episode), and she should have a partner who immediately is willing to join which again, why I think it's intentional that this episode highlighted that Canaan helped her with the strike and was her team member while Jackson did not. After a conversation with Lila and Canaan (in which Canaan seems VERY jealous, might I add), she realizes how much it bothers her how little she and Jackson have in common. She doesn't get his EDM/country playlists, his love of wrestling, and while Jackson is willing to learn about the things he cares about and doesn't think that it's a big deal, it still doesn't seem like it's fully resolved.

In the background of these relationships, Kimberly and Canaan are orbiting each other. They update each other about their lives at the coffeehouse, they complain about Lila getting drunk on power, they work together on the strike, Canaan is there to observe Kimberly being supportive and prepping Lila for her manager interview, all until their journeys converge in the final two episodes of the season.

When Kimberly learns that Canaan is getting an award from the econ department, she's so excited for him and encourages him to attend. Canaan, who initially wasn't go to, has all of these dormant feelings for Kimberly that have developed over the past year which come to a head when he realizes how grateful he is to her for being so excited and supportive for him. He nervously invites her to the econ banquet, but because he's calm, collected, Canaan and he knows she's dating Jackson, he passes it off as a back-up invite. At the banquet, Kimberly, who is of aware that Canaan is kind, funny, and handsome, discovers a different side to him and sees that he's also humble, intelligent, hard-working, and cares about his family deeply, which reflect all of Kimberly's own positive qualities and values. On a value level, she realizes they have more in common than Jackson and Kimberly. They've worked together the whole year, there's been a small flame flickering between them, and once they're finally in a more romantic context, it's the match that lights the fire. Once he and Kimberly have that conversation about Canaan's mom's Alzheimer's, which is sure to come up in the future if I know Mindy's shows, she realizes that her hot work friend is much deeper than she knew he was, and she's interested in him and wants to know more, enjoys and wants time with Canaan more than she wants with Jackson. I don't think that Kimberly broke up with Jackson because she realized she had feelings for Canaan. I think she broke up with him because she realized, upon spending time with Canaan, she didn't have feelings for Jackson. Meanwhile, Canaan enjoys Kimberly's fun energy and openness at the banquet- she constantly is talking about how much fun she's having and wants to know more about his life and his mom and even though she's not cool or chill or fun, she's so unapologetically herself and happy about the way she lives her life and conducts herself (even when she almost eats the flowers off Canaan's dessert) and Canaan's into it.

Throughout the entire series, the writers set Canaan and Kimberly to get together. They always got along, were good for each other, balanced each other out, have a great platonic chemistry, and needed to date other people to realize the qualities they valued in each other as future potential partners. I know a lot of people wanted a classic "slow burn" situation and I was a little disappointed they didn't do it with them, but upon reflection, I actually like the route the writers took. They dropped little hints that Kimberly and Canaan would get together, and when they finally saw each other in a new light, away from work and their friends, and got to know each other more deeply, they realized they wanted to explore something more. Honestly, it's super realistic to have that one event that puts your hot friend in a new light and to just go for it and date afterwards instead of dragging it out. Based on the very first episode though, and even the whole first season, it's obvious they were setting up some kind of conflict between Kimberly and Whitney over dual interest in Canaan so while I think the situation is shitty and low-key devastates me, it was ALWAYS bound to happen and didn't just "come out of nowhere." Anyway, I urge you to rewatch the series and watch Canaan and Kimberly's interactions closely, it surprises me that there was so much uproar over them getting together when although not completely explicit, it was built into their arcs in s1 and s2.

[loveourfuture-c]

But like, now I am so excited for the slocg relationships. I think I will have kimberly canaan brain for the rest of the run because with the whitney conflict they have so much potential for a great slow burn ( I love them and I don't want to hear another bad word about them )

Me too!!!! They have so much potential and I am SO excited to watch it play out. They are a perfect friends to lovers storyline and I hope the writers ignore all the stupid fans and keep them together.

[wildm00re]

personally, in *my* opinion, if mindy can listen to the s1 canaan and kimberly shippers then i feel like she should listen to the bi whitney chase truthers, as well idk

[a-member-of-minuteswithmandm]

The Sex Lives of College Girls season 2 recently ended and damn.....what the hell is going on????

Why was Whitney screwing the dickheads from Chemistry class? Why did she and Canaan break up??? What was the point of Jackson? Is Kimberly still in debt? So Tatum is just getting tossed to to side?

There was so much that happened but it also felt like nothing happened which is really disappointing

Also, Kimberly's shenanigans with Canaan are unacceptable to me. Like what the hell bro? How could you do this to your friendm and I like Alicia but I don't see how that's gonna last (also Tatum deserved better)

Weirdly enough, I actually don't have any problems with Bela's actions this season. They made sense to me (even if I didn't support them)

Anyway, the point is......New YouTube video just dropped! Lol we talk about everything we have questions about in season of HBO's hit show!!

Please watch below and let us know what you think, is Mindy doing everything right, or is it time to pivot?

[biboybuckley]

no one talk to me. i’m in mourning. in one episode they destroyed everything i love.

[devisrina]

That finale was just so disheartening.

Bela- I really hated how she treated the girls at the foxy. Evangeline and Jo were one of the few people that still stood by her, she really didn’t deserve them. It made me sad at the end that she was transferring, I thought she was talking to a counsellor. I hope Bela transferring plays a big role into the plot, we need more out of campus scenes.

Kimberly- I don’t really like her and Canaan together. But I’m glad she ended things off with Jackson when she knew she didn’t think it fit. I could see why Canaan and Kimberly work since they’re both into Econ.

Whitney- Poor girl, I felt really bad for her that Kimberly lied to her about Canaan, especially since we knew how heartbroken she was over the breakup. I really wanted Whitney to end up with Canaan though.

But at least Leighton is thriving! Her mom and dad are supportive and I really love that. I’m not much of a fan of her and Alicia though, but she does appeal to me. I love how sweet Leighton was to all her roommates and I love how she applies self improvement and is an all around sweet person.

[jjsmaybank20]

Bitchy is my Type

Leighton Murray x Fem!Reader

Summary: Reader is a motorcycle riding, tattoos, badass type. What happens when there is a new volunteer at the Women's Center who is just her type, but instead of getting along, they become enemies? But what if those hateful feelings turn out to be something more? Or Enemies to friends to lovers.

Warnings: Language

Word Count: 1.5k

Pt. 1  Pt. 2

navigation  the sex lives of college girls masterlist

---

“Hey, Y/N! Just so you know, we have a new volunteer coming in tomorrow. Her name is… Leighton Murray? She’s a freshman. She got drunk and threw a bottle at a statue, and then ran away from campus police. Seems like just your type.” Alicia, your co-head of volunteering, says to you as you walk towards your motorcycle. 

“She seems fun. I’ll be in tomorrow to help get her settled, but I might be a tiny bit late. My shift at Sips cuts in a little.” You call over your shoulder. She shoots you a thumbs up and you mount your bike. This Leighton sounds familiar. Oh shit! This is your coworker Kimberly’s roommate! You drive off, looking forward to putting a name to a face.

{The next day} 

You approach Lila and Kimberly just in time to hear Lila ask, “So is there something going on between you and the hot French tutor?” You add, “Yeah, the one who is your roommate's brother? I mean, I’m a lesbian, but even I think he’s hot.”

Kimberly splutters back. “No. Why? Did he ask about me or something when he ordered his coffee yesterday?” Lila smirks before replying, “Yeah. He-- He asked me if you were seeing anyone.”

You laugh when you see Kimberly completely falling for it. “Stop. Really?!” Lila cackles. “Nah, he didn't. He couldn't care less. But maybe he will, 'cause he's walking in right now.”

Kimberly shoots her a glare, unknowing that Nico is right behind her. “Oh, ha ha! That's so funny. Yeah, I'm sure he's walking in right now.” She turns around and sees him, quickly covering for herself. “Hey!”

Nico grins before asking, “How's it going?” Kimberly turns bright red. “Uh, I'm just working. Nothing much. Definitely not talking about anything specific.”

Lila stares at him for a second before saying, “You have a face to write songs about. Thank you.” You shove her shoulder before looking back at Nico and saying, “Sorry about her. She kind of says whatever comes into her mind.” You hold out your hand for a handshake. “I’m Y/N Y/L/N. Kimberly’s coworker. And you must be the french tutor.”

Nico laughs before grabbing your hand. “Yeah, that's me. I’m Nico Murray. I’ve seen you around campus. You have that dope ass motorcycle that always somehow has a girl on it.” Now it's your turn to laugh. “Yep. What can I say, ladies dig the vibe.” Nico pulls out his phone. “You seem cool. Could I get your number? Theta is always looking for more people to hang out with.”

You nod and pull out your phone. “Yeah man. As long as you're down for some intense game watching and very long nights partying.” He grins and nods. “Always.”

Kimberly grabs his attention after he finishes putting your number in his phone. “So, what brings you in? Did you want a drink? Or a café au lait?” Nico smiles before saying, “Hey, good pronunciation. But no, I just stopped in to see you. I was thinking, for our next tutoring session, we could watch "Golden Girls" in French, the way I learned with my au pair. Maybe tonight?”

Kimberly nods enthusiastically. “Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I think that sounds both educational and entertaining. You're such a good tutor.” Nico gives her a weird look before shaking it off. “Great. I'll see you tonight.” Kimberly sighs, “Okay.” 

You and Lila share a look before you teasingly say, “You're staring.” Lila adds, “At his butt.” 

“Lila! Y/N! God!” Kimberly exclaims before stomping off. You snort and start wiping down a table. You pause for a second before you say, “Hey, Lila? Do you know where Canaan is? I haven’t seen him all day.” 

Lila glances over at you, and then says in a teasing voice, “Oh my god! You two spent a whole day apart? I never thought I would see the best friends separated from each other.” You roll your eyes at her, and she finally says, “He’s probably just chilling at the KJ house. You know how he is sometimes.” 

You nod in agreement, before looking at the time. “Shit! I have to go. Do you think you can finish up these tables for me?” Lila nods, and you quickly take off your apron and run to your bike.

---

When you pull up to the Women's Center, you see that Alicia had parked her car right where you normally park your bike. You storm inside and start talking, not noticing the new person that you are interrupting. 

“Alicia! How many times do I have to say this! That is my damn parking space. You have one literally two spots down.” You heard a ding from the safe space bell. “Sorry, Ginger. I heard it.”

When you finally look around, you see a new person. “ Well you must be Leighton. I’m Y/N. She, her, hers. I hope everyone has introduced themselves to you.”    

The others quickly scramble to introduce themselves. 

“I'm Ginger. She, her, hers.” 

“Lindsay. She, her, hers.”

“Alicia. She, her, hers.” 

“Tova. They, them, theirs.”

Leighton makes a non-committal noise and states, “Oh, right. Sure. Well, I'm she. Obviously.” You restrain yourself from rolling your eyes. She’s one of those people. Sensing the tension, Alicia pipes up. “Cool. I oversee all the volunteers.”

“So do I. I do scheduling and sign off on hours, while Alicia recruits and organizes events so that volunteers can volunteer.” Leighton sighs and says, “Oh, great. Should we talk about scheduling? Um, I was thinking that I would work mornings from 9:30 to 10:15-ish, and then, you know, round that up to an hour, for timesheet purposes.”

You can’t help but roll your eyes this time. “Yeah, that's not how this works. I'll tell you when we need help, and that's when you'll be here. Like tomorrow from 5:00 to 10:00, you'll be helping with our feminist poetry group.”

Leighton sighs and puts on a fake sympathetic voice. “As tempting as that sounds, I'm kind of busy on Fridays.” You snap back. “Shit, I didn't realize that. Maybe we should just shut down the whole place till you're free.”

Leighton lets out an astonished laugh. “Okay, I am from New York, so I can tell that you're being sarcastic.” Ginger waves to get your attention. “Hey, this is, uh, getting a little tense. I'm gonna hit the Safe Space Bell.” You nod, and she dings the bell.

Leighton looks around, confused. “What? Why does she keep hitting that stupid bell?” This time, Alicia answers her question. “It's a bell that we hit when we think it'd be good to have a safe space.” 

Leighton scoffs. “Uh, isn't this already a safe space? Okay. I'm just saying that maybe we've gotten a little bit too sensitive as a society if even a safe space isn't-- Oh, my God!” Ginger hit the bell again. 

Alicia waves Ginger off. “It's all good, Ginger. What we do here, whether it seems stupid to you or not, really does help people. So we're not looking for your feedback at the moment, okay?”

You add, “Oh, and don't say your pronouns are obvious. That makes you suck. Suggesting that you don't have to use your pronouns when other people do makes you sound like a really dumb, cis bitch.” Ginger hits the bell one more time. “I heard it, Ginger! Welcome to the Women's Center, Leighton. See you at poetry night.”

You watch Leighton storm out before walking into the Women's Center office with Alicia in tow. “Jesus Christ! Could she get any more entitled? I mean, she’s hot as fuck, but my god. You know, I met her brother today during my shift at Sips. He’s a really nice guy. The looks definitely run in the family. If she wasn’t so straight, I would totally go for her.”

“Damn, Y/N. You definitely have a type. You like bitchy girls. But I do agree with you on this one, she is hot.” Alicia exclaims. You sigh and sit down at the desk in the office. You need to figure out how to handle Leighton without blowing up on her. This was going to be harder than you thought.

---

Later that evening, you were helping Alicia get set up for poetry night. Once people started to file in, you put out the sign up list to figure out the order in which people would be going. You hear boots clicking on the floor, and then see a shadow come over you. 

Without looking up you say, “Hey, Leighton.” She lets out a surprised noise and asks, “How did you know it was me?” You roll your eyes and finally look up. “Because you are the only person who comes to this Center wearing Louboutin boots.”

She scoffs and says, “Surprised you know what they are. Didn’t take you for a shoe person.” You laugh at that and state, “I’m not, but I have dated many girls who are. Funny thing is, you are exactly my type. Beautiful, bitchy, stylish. One little problem. I don’t date assholes.”

“Another little problem. I’m straight.” She states in a slightly shaky voice, which she internally curses herself for. 

You smirk at her, not missing the tremor in her voice. “That hasn’t stopped me before.”

---

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[montygreen]

LEILA'S 12K FOLLOWERS CELEBRATION: @the-paris-of-people asked Kimberly x Canaan

[allamericansbitch]

Hi everyone! Here’s the newest addition to my Creator Shoutout Series (january 8 - january 15)! For info about the series, I explained it in the first post here, but generally, it’s to show appreciate to editors and their creations that i love from the past week. To track this series or look at previous shoutouts, please check out the tag on my blog *creatorshoutouts. Have a great week everyone!

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[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[the-paris-of-people]

Someone explain to me how Kimberly and Canaan were "rushed" after they banter/flirted at Sips for a year, he told her she was cute and that he saw her with more of a sweet boy, they shared moments at several school functions (the comedy gala where Kimberly taught him about how to gain more tips, the econ banquet where Canaan let her in on his world and Kimberly offered her support), led a rally together, yet Bela and Eric hooked up for like five seconds and everyone was on board. Make it make sense

[loveourfuture-c]

Kimberly x Canaan my beloveds ❤️

[katesharmasheart]

Okay okay okay 7&8

I like the way Kimberly's relationship with Jackson(? I'm really bad with the names of the new guys y'all)has been developing so far. I'm kinda curious if the whole egg donation will come up again, like will Kim spend the rest of college donating? Will this affect her relationship with J. Will her parents find out??

Leighton my beloved, 💗 that's it. Like what else there's to comment I like how lil by lil she is growing Tatum and her are so gooooood and well it's going to be interesting to see Alicia back but I feel there's no competition after 'there's no timeline for coming out'

It was an interesting development the whole fallout between Eric and Bela, yet I'm still mad we don't know much about how Bela's magazine is going. I was scared they were going to do a whole storyline like the one with Devi and Aneesa one side competition bc Priya was labelled as hotter but I glad it didn't go that way. Hope for S3 she shows up

Whitney x Canaan pls come back to me, I don't really feeling it with Andrew(?sorry! Idk what it is but I don't feel it flowing. I loved the scene with her mum 💜

I can't believe it's ending next week😭

[a-member-of-minuteswithmandm]

The Sex Lives of College Girls dropped today woohoo!!

I love for the dramatic lives of these 4 girls. We do a review of season 1 here so take a quick watch 😊