#also I swear the camera does put on like 10 pounds but that’s okay

[sternbagel]

I think I clean up nice

[heyheshi]

Mirror Selfies, Fake Hickeys, and Cheetos... And Lots of Make Out Sheesh

3.3k words

written and uploaded: August 27, 2020

🦋 - fluff

🌙 - angst...? Idek now honestly lmao

💎 - smut, well just lots of make out sheesh

Please like and reblog! Also please don't post my writings anywhere!

Have y'all heard "Half The World Away"? This piece could have been a song fic since it's about being best friends but I've already wrote like half of this when I got the idea and this is in your POV so I'll be doing a song fic soon! And it's about HTWA! in Harry's POV on my 2nd month!

Masterlist

_________

You checked out your outfit one last time in front of your full body mirror - smoothing out those little wrinkles and making sure that your chosen clothes emphasizes your body in the most flattering way. My butt's poppin!, you thought to yourself.

The attire of your choice wasn't entirely revealing, wearing a white sailor pants with eight gold buttons in front - four on each sides, a sheer laced white sleeveless bodysuit that plunges just enough to show a bit of your cleavage, and white pumps. You look elegant in your opinion but not elegant enough to not get hit on in a club.

You're not trying to empress anyone but you also don't wanna look like you just got out of bed on your cousin's party. You decided not to wear any makeup - just some eyeliner and lip gloss, your hair parted in the middle in a low tight ponytail. You added a few gold accessories to accent everything.

You're sure that the club's packed and you're gonna get sweaty, you don't want any makeup to ruin your white clothes. Keeping your fingers crossed that you can keep everything clean and intact throughout the night.

Natural and elegant. Keep it natural and elegant, your mums words keeps replaying in your head.

You took your phone out from your purse that's laying on the dresser - opening the camera app and posing for a couple of mirror shots but only having three of your favorite - one doing a very cheeky pose by smiling big at the mirror while winking, your other hand doing the 'gun'; one looking sweet and shy, looking at the mirror with your eyes wide while holding a strand of your hair as if you're a child being handed your favorite sweet treat; and one looking sexy and seductive, putting your pointer finger on your lip as if biting on it as you look straight into the camera through your mirror.

Giggling to yourself after checking out the photos, you opened the messages app next and clicked on your conversation with your best friend Harry.

"Think it passed the "okay" looking?", you typed...

And sent!

You found him attractive but vowed to not cross any lines but you're feeling extra brave tonight so you also sent him the one where you looked really really hot - in your opinion.

Honestly, you'd say you're tall but not tall enough to rock a sailor pants the way Harry does but to your surprise, you looked rather ravishing tonight.

Your best friend of 2 years gifted you these pants as a joke as you always teased him about wearing one so one night he brought you these pants and said, "you better at least look okay in it" but now jokes on him. You thought that those three pictures will do the honors of mocking him.

As you're locking your front door, you hear your phone notification - a new message from "Sugar Baby :<", an inside joke that you used as Harry's contact name.

"Who was I kidding, you look good in anything. Take care and don't forget our plans tomorrow!", the message said, quickly responding with two frog emojis, you locked your phone.

---

The club really is packed but your cousin had this private booth for everyone so it's all good. You partied like a college student with your cousin and her other friends, managing to not ruin your clothes despite of everyone's clumsiness.

You don't remember much besides drinking and dancing and talking and laughing and kissing this guy - Austin. He was one of those guys that looks like they modeled for some clothing magazine - an underwear apparel perhaps.

It didn't get far with Austin, you mostly just danced and made out but you're also not sure since you're too drunk to comprehend anything. The last thing you remember was you saying goodbye to your cousin and Austin getting you a cab then you're back to your house.

You didn't remember if you paid the driver more than the real rate but you didn't care, you're too excited to try this hairstyle you saw on one of your cousin's friend.

Opening your front door and locking it after you got in, you kicked off your heels and got a bottled water on the fridge to bring to your room. Everything looks blurry but the digital clock on your bedside table reads 2:13 AM.

The last thing you remember was removing your almost non-existent makeup after changing your clothes and sitting on your dresser.

---

You woke up on your bed feeling light-headed but at the same time feeling like you have 10 pounds of rock on top of it. You noticed that you're laying on your bed wearing your worn out college shirt, some underwear and a tiny pair of shorts. Your blinds shut all the way and your clock reading 9:48 AM.

Freaking out, you remembered your plans with your best friend today. Scrambling out of your bed to your bathroom, you brushed your teeth and washed your face thanking the heavens for giving you enough time to change out of your clothes last night - which is now on your hamper near your bathroom door - and cleaning your face properly.

You also noticed that your hair is properly styled - your hair's upper half's sectioned into three then braided to meet in the middle, while the half down's curled into waves.

You left the bathroom and went to your dresser to check your phone. You saw that your hair curler is still plugged but turned off - quickly unplugging it - and your other hair styling supplies laid on your dresser.

You head is still pounding as you look through your messages and missed calls. None of them from "Sugar Baby :<". Sighing, you racked your mind as much as you can to remember why your hair is styled this way and why hasn't your best friend called, maybe he got called in the studio last-minute, your mind told you.

Shaking your head, you slowly opened your door to strut down to your kitchen to eat some breakfast and take some Advil to at least ease your headache.

You were about to put some cereal on your bowl when Harry appeared out of nowhere startling you, a few bits of your corn flakes now scattered on your table.

"Mornin' sleepy head", Harry chuckles, greeting you with a teasing smile as if to mock you for mocking him last night when you're the one who's hammered right now. You looked at him with scarred eyes then pulling your eyebrows together as if questioning him.

"You gave me a spare key, remember. Knew you'd be hung over so I didn't woke you up, just let myself in. Was in the washroom when you got down.", he said answering your unvoiced question, "oh I also got you some waffles from your favorite diner, it's in the living room.", you only smiled at him as a sign of gratitude.

You started cleaning up your mess when you heard him speak once again, "wild night huh?", Harry teases you.

You looked up to meet his eyes, "Huh? What're you talking 'bout?", you asked in your morning voice, only having to talk right now for the first time.

"Huh? What are you talking about?", Harry failed miserably on trying to copy your voice, you only laughed at him. "C'mon love, don't be shy now!", he added.

You shake your head at him and looked down, "I really don't know what you're talking about...", you kept your head down as your tried to think of everything that happened last night that might connect to what Harry was saying.

"So you're telling me nobody tried to hit on you with THAT outfit last night?", he joked.

"Uh well someone did but nothing happened, I swear, so please just tell me what is it. My head hurts when I try to think."

Harry took his phone from his pocket and gave it to you, the camera app opened. You can see your tired looking face on the screen, "look at your neck, you got three.", Harry explained.

Trying to find what he's talking about, you moved your hair away from your neck and saw it. Three bruises on your neck, a hickey perhaps? One below your right ear, one just above your left collarbone, and one in the middle of your neck.

"Oh...", was the only thing you said as you further examined the bruises and giving the phone back to Harry. You're sure that Austin didn't leave a mark then you realized something.

At first it looked like a love mark but when you looked closely to it, you'd realize that it's a burn - your hair curler burn. After realizing it, the events after you went home last night came rushing back making you hold your head.

You remember everything from changing your clothes, to removing your make up, to sitting on your dresser and clumsily trying this hair style you saw on the party and managing to burn yourself more than usual as you curl your hair, then going to bed after you gave up by turning off the curler.

Looking back at it, your hair style and burns doesn't look that awful for some drunk fella doing it. And for some reason, you don't want to tell your best friend the truth so you just shrugged it off as you finished cleaning up your mess.

You can feel his eyes burning on your neck as you rounded the table and giving him a hug, "thank you for the food.", you said and went to plop down on your couch in the living room, leaving H astounded and confused.

You started opening the take out boxes that contains your waffles and some other breakfast as Harry opened your T.V. and launched Netflix.

The silence was nice for your head with only a few laughs here and there as you both watched and eat some breakfast but Harry was unusually very quiet, not making any remarks at all.

You decided to ask him later and finished off your food, Harry already done with his a few minutes ago. You stood up the couch and took your trash to the kitchen then taking some pain reliever for your head before going back to the living room.

When you went back to Harry, he was just looking absent-mindedly on the television so you sat really close to him and took his right arm so you can tuck yourself beside him, bringing back his arms but this time around your body.

"What's the matter?", you asked as you looked up at him, the medicine already taking its effect making you less dizzy.

"Just tired love.", he said not looking down at you. You only nodded and never thought much about it and looked back to the show you both were watching while caressing his hands that's laying near your tummy.

A few more minutes on the movie, you called out his name, "Harry, I can tell something's bothering you...", you whispered.

Harry being Harry, whipped his head so fast that your lips accidentally touched in a peck. Sighing, he moved his head away from yours, "later.", was the only thing he said, not giving you any explanation.

You knew that the sigh wasn't because of the accidental kiss. You've shared a kiss or two before when you were both drunk or accidentally kissed like this so it wasn't new but it didn't stop you from running your tongue throughout your lower lips when he wasn't looking.

He was acting really strange. He's always really affectionate and flirty when it comes towards you so - always mocking you or telling you jokes and distracting you most of the time by tickling you as you cuddle with him - so you know that something's bothering him right now.

He looked at you when you started to move away from him, only for you to straddle his lap and hug him, something you usually do when he's feeling down.

Yes, it doesn't look like something best friends would do but you both became really comfortable enough around each other to do this.

The show long forgotten as you tended your Harry, running your hands through his hair as you pecked his hairline repeatedly. Harry had his head on your neck as he holds you tight against his body, his two big hands covering almost all of your back.

You don't know how much time has passed but you didn't mind until you felt Harry's hand going at the back of your neck, finger tips felt like he's tickling your skin but you didn't make a huge deal out of it.

Your legs now feeling a bit numb so you adjusted yourself on his lap, Harry's head snapping back to you, "stop moving, Y/N.", he said sternly and you whispered an apology. You knew how much he hated it when you two cuddled and you can't stop moving.

He just put his head back to your neck again and for a few minutes everything is peaceful until you felt ticklish on the spot where Harry's head's placed but you refrained from moving, not wanting to upset him any further.

The movement was barely there for a few minutes until you can firmly feel his lips kissing and licking your neck, "H-harry, wh-what are you d-doing?", you tried to push him away but he only hold you closer, your moans threatening to spill as he continues his movements.

You then felt him suck and bit on your neck, a movement you knew will give you a mark - Harry's mark, and then you realized that where he's doing it is the spot where you burned yourself.

You cannot stop yourself from finally gripping his hair to push his head more towards your neck, both of you moaning a bit.

"What're we doing?", you panted heavily as Harry moved his head, probably heading towards your other burn below your ear.

His mouth working deliciously on your skin making your stomach churn and making you grind on him in return, moaning in delight.

"I'm just making sure that those marks are now MY marks.", Harry looked up to you with droopy eyes then went back to marking you.

"I- bu-", you couldn't form any coherent word, let alone a sentence so you just let your best friend mark you as much as he wanted.

You know it's wrong and that you vowed not to cross any line but his lips just felt too good on your skin to stop it.

You gripped his hair tightly making Harry moan as he marked you on the thrid spot, the middle of your neck, one of your sweet spots - and you think Harry noticed as your moans and whimpers of his name got louder making him suck harder.

You grounded you hips on his, feeling him get hard. You yanked his hair away from your neck and met his lips in a hot steamy kiss. His hands now on your hips, helping you move your hips against his.

Moans, pants and whimpers was all you can hear around the living room until you pulled away.

"I- Harry what are we thinking?!", your frustration is heard and can be seen on your face, your lips swollen and your neck red and starting to bruise from Harry's earlier assault.

Harry throw his head back on the couch, "fuck! 'M so sorry love! I- I always- fuck! I just, was so jealous of the guy I couldn't contain my possessiveness and you're not even mine!"

You only looked at him surprised, "I-", you didn't finish your sentence as you went back to kiss him again which took Harry by surprise but eagerly kissed you back.

"It was a burn.", you panted against Harry's lips.

He pulled away, looking at you confused, "what?".

"Nothing happened last night, we only made out, it wasn't hickeys, it was hair curler burns...", you explained blushing.

He put his hands on your arms, caressing it lightly, "why didn't you tell me?"

"Dunno", you shrugged, "guess I wanted to know how you'd react, make you jealous maybe...", you looked down ashamed of yourself, feeling so small under his gaze.

Harry only laughed as he run his fingers along his marks, "well it worked. Got really jealous, love.", he said and angled your face to meet his eyes. "Liked you since forever and I was jealous, thought he got to take THAT outfit off of you last night...", Harry murmured, his ears looking red out of embarrassment making you feel a bit better.

"Liked you since forever too... and good thing I went home alone, huh?", you teased Harry, ruffling his hair a bit and putting both of your hands on his shirt clad chest.

"He still got to kiss you..."

"Well then guess you got a lot of making up to do!", with that you kissed him again, hungrily. Until he pulled away.

"Cheetos.", Harry said then went back to kissing you again but you're too confused to continue.

"H, what?"

"Those three pictures last night...", he kissed down your neck as he continued, "Cheetos, salsa-queso for the one where you looked cute and cheesy...", slowly going back up, "the sweetos Cheetos - the cinnamon sugar puff ones - for the one where you looked like a child...", he pulled away at last making you breathe out finally, "and flamin hot Cheetos for the one where you looked really sexy.", Harry smiled cheekily at you as you pondered on what he said.

"You couldn't have thought of something better to compare me to, huh?", you laughed at him but you think it's sweet, really.

Harry played with the tips of your hair and said, "I bet you fifty bucks that you sent that last picture just to seduce me."

"Well Mister Styles you're right!", you laughed, "why? Are you mad?"

"Mad? That outfit made me lose control, really thankfully it led to this."

You pecked his lips once more, "hmmm, you're right... so what now...?"

"Well for starters, you could've called me to take care of you last night...", his sweet words ran through your head until he continued, "and well you owe me...", he did this cute thinking face that you love, "you have to wear it again, this time, with ME beside you, want us to match too!", you giggled at his childishness but let him continue.

"That's just an excuse to take it off of you the next time around!", he overexaggeratedly winked at you, letting you know that he's joking - maybe not but honestly you don't mind!

You sighed then smiled, "that's it?"

"Well you do owe me a date, miss."

You removed yourself away from him and stood up, "is that so? You gotta call me SUGAR MOMMY first!", you teased him.

"Stop! Come back here!", Harry made a grabby hands at you while jutting out his lips.

"Okay, just tell me when and where!", after that words came out of your mouth, Harry quickly went to where you're standing and kissed you for a few seconds before carrying you to your bedroom where you spent the rest of the day kissing and laughing and planning for your first date. Making a mental note to buy those Cheetos to bring along to your date.

Your headache long gone and the both of you not feeling any hunger as long as you got each others lips. For the first time in months, you felt really happy, now you wouldn't be jealous of Harry being with other people, and him to you but the thought of putting your friendship with him at risk scares you to death but with him beside you, you knew that it'll all work out in the end.

_____

[kindness-bliss]

New Beginnings Ch. 6

Timothy Thatcher x OC

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: cursing

“Walter” she grinned softly as she shook his hand, feeling more at ease as he gave her a reassuring nod “a pleasure to see you again”

  “Wait how do you two know each other ?” Tim asked baffled as he furrowed his brow “Met here about 3 months ago” Walter nodded as he made the save for her “I was actually looking at getting a place here for when I came to tapings, my fiance and I met her here when we went to her complex” he lied as he sat down   “Oh nice” Tim grins “well I don’t need to introduce you two then, well glad she at least knows one of my good friends now”   Maya grinned weakly as she sat down with the feeling of anxiety coming up from lying to Tim’s face. She knew she had to tell him soon before it got too late and now felt horrible for involving Walter in her mess.   “Walter” she said softly as Tim left for the restroom “Please don’t think I’m some kind of...you know what I mean. I can explain, I swear”   “Maya, it’s alright” he answered genuinely “What happened in the past truly doesn’t matter, at least not in my eyes but I also know that Tim should know. Especially if things are going to proceed with you two, it’s only fair he knows sooner rather than later”   “I agree, I do but what’s gonna happen when I tell him it’s Marcel, what’s gonna happen when I tell him my ex boyf-fiance is one his closest friends and that I do in fact know a lot about wrestling and that the only reason we never met was because for some odd reason he never showed up to our get togethers ? Huh ? Care to help me dig an even deeper hole ? I mean now you lied to him too, this is so wrong” she sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose   Walter sighed as he patted her shoulder with his hand “Hey, don’t get upset okay ? It’s the past and truthfully he shouldn’t be upset when you tell him. It doesn’t have to be today or even this month but soon”   Maya nodded as she let out a sigh “you’re right, you’re right”     “Have you seen him, Marcel ?” he asked timidly “Yeah” she whispered as she looked down “earlier today actually at the gym, came up to me and told me the past was the past and to forget about it, his usual stance on things”   “It’s best to let him be, he was the one who ended things with you not the other way around. Marcel’s my good friend and I love him like a brother but the way he ended things with you was wrong and I won’t defend his actions. And honestly, I would prefer he doesn’t come around you and I’ll be sure to make it known to him” he nodded   

Maya sighed as she sat up and looked up at him, feeling assured by his demeanor. When she had first met him she was pretty scared, it wasn’t everyday she met a 6’4, 290 pound man who looked like he could crush her with one finger. Her fears were quickly put aside once she started speaking to him more and got to know him and his fiance pretty well. To her Walter represented a form of comfort and an older brother figure she could trust.

  “I appreciate that greatly” she said softly “I just, I don’t want him or any of that anymore truly. I know I’ve only known Tim for a short amount of time but I really enjoy his company, and I don’t want to hurt him.”  

 Walter chuckled as he leaned back in his seat “I can guarantee you, he feels the same about you. He brought you to eat somewhere that actually looks enjoyable and he’s eating out of his usual diet. Not to mention, he’s wearing a white t-shirt, he only wears a white t-shirt when he’s trying to impress someone”

  She blushed as she looked around “You really think he likes me ? You don’t think he’s just being nice ?”

“I think he likes you a lot, believe me when I say he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t” he answered   

Maya grinned as she looked down on her lap “well I sure hope he does because I really like him and I wanna keep seeing him. So put in a good word for me”

“I will be sure to do so” Walter grinned “plus any woman who gets Tim to get out of his routine is a woman worth keeping. You keep doing what you’re doing and just….keep making him enjoy life” he says softly as he got up “Tell Tim I had to go, you have my number call me if anything happens or if you just want to talk. I’m here for you Maya, my fiance misses you greatly and will always remember how kind you were to her”

She smiled softly at him as she nodded “Believe me when I say I needed you two way more than you two needed me at that time and it’s something I’ll never ever forget. My offer still stands, the second you two are ready to say I do I’ll make sure she gets a dress from any designer she pleases”

 He gave a genuine grin as he shook her hand and kissed her forehead lightly “deal, see you soon”   

Maya sat up as she saw Tim come back and sipped her water “Walter had to leave, he said something about seeing you soon though” “

Yeah he’s here for a bit before he heads back to Germany, kind of how it goes” Tim nodded “He comes for about 2 weeks then leaves and comes back again another month. He doesn’t wanna leave his fiance and move here full time like I did”   

“And how hard was that ? I mean I know you told me you lived here in the states but you also said Germany was a big part of your life as well” she asked softly   

He sighed not wanting to get too deep into things so soon and put his card down as his walls built up again “I uh I just remembered I have to go down the performance center for a promo class. I’ll see you around though, maybe next week again”   

Maya looked at him confused “It’s 8 pm ? You have a class at 8 pm ?”   

“Yup” Tim nodded emphasizing the p “I do, when wrestling calls I answer. Sorry if you can’t understand that, it’s not like modeling that’s all just fun and games but wrestling takes a little more than looking pretty in front a camera Maya”   

“Okay” she whispered quietly as she felt the sting of his harsh words and got up “yeah, I get it. See you around Tim , this was really nice and I enjoyed spending the day with you. Have an enjoyable class and rest of your night” 

  Tim nodded as he left hastily, not wanting her to know the life he lived and wondered what her true intentions were. For over 10 years he had lived alone and had a consistent routine every single day, the only time he didn’t live alone was when he had roommates down in Germany. This girl had captured his soul in every way yet he couldn’t let her in just yet, he noticed the looks she and Walter exchanged and felt nothing but anger and disappointment as he left the restaurant.

Three months, three whole months had passed since Maya had heard from Tim, she had called and texted him and got nothing back. She did her daily gym routine and never saw him there, she went to their old spots and once again nothing. She had gotten the memo but still felt so betrayed he would just ignore her and never bothered to tell her what she did wrong.

  “He’s a bastard Maya that’s what he is” Walter shook his head “He’s been acting like normal all this time, never mentioned that he just stopped seeing you that night. I promise you I’m going to have a serious talk with him, he can’t be acting this way” he said sternly as he looked her in her eyes “You don’t deserve this, you don’t. I have no idea who he thinks he is but believe me he’s going to hear it from me”  

 “Walter” she rubbed her face “No, you’re not going to do anything, anything at all. You understand. Clearly I did something wrong and him being the ass...introvert” she corrected herself “being the introvert he is, he just didn’t tell me why.”  

 “Maya, this is a 38 year old man. You cannot defend his actions, why are you ? He stood you up and treated you like trash” he said upset   

“I really liked him” she whispered, her voice meek “And I stupidly thought he really liked me but he didn’t, he was harsh and belittled my job and it hurts because I know he did it on purpose. He said it to insult me and it worked”  

 “That’s it !” Walter hit the table with his hand “I’m gonna kick his ass next time I see him, he’s so wrong in this”

“Yeah are you ? I’d like to see that Walter”

Maya turned as she heard Tim’s deep voice approach their table from the back of the cafe, clearly agitated as he stood directly in front of them  

 “I knew you two were too close for comfort, I saw you two being close and touching and laughing just before I left the bathroom hallway. Guess I was right” Tim gave a scoff as he nodded “You clearly have a thing for athletes, hell that’s why you came up to me at the bar right ? For a night full of pleasure ?”   

Her face dropped as she felt a pit in her stomach and her eyes began to well up “I-I h-how could you say that ?” she whispered  

 “Because it’s the truth” Tim snapped “you’re THAT kind of girl Maya, I wanted to believe you weren’t but you are. It became clear after how you acted towards me only after seeing each other for days, who acts that way around a guy they barely know ?”

Maya got up and grabbed her purse quickly as she felt tears fall down and hit her shirt , gasping when she she saw Walter shove Tim against a wall “N-no please let him go, problems are already here and I don’t anyone getting in trouble, please Walter please” she pleaded desperately as she tried her best to get him to let Tim go as he was clearly struggling against his larger frame   

“Yeah, listen to your other girlfriend” Tim nodded as he looked him in the eyes, earning a punch as he fell against the wall and held his now bleeding nose   

“Maya is my friend !” Walter raised his voice as he shook the pain from his hand off “and you wanna know the truth ? I actually met her in Germany over 3 years ago. She was in a photoshoot at a park and my fiance approached her to compliment her dress and pictures and Maya was kind enough to help style her for our engagement photos afterwards, within minutes of meeting her and with a language barrier she met up with her at our house that day. We’ve been friends since, she’s been nothing but kind and gracious towards her and me since then. She went as far as to send her dresses and clothes from her photoshoots for work and events to help her with her confidence. She got me and her an interview at her apartment complex when there was a waitlist. So yes, I am very close to her, as a friend. I consider her a younger sister and the fact that you just insulted her worth and career doesn’t sit well with me at all. And consider yourself lucky I only gave you punch across the face because next time I won’t be so gracious TIm” Walter spat as he left   

“No..” Tim whispered as he quickly wiped his nose and stumbled up and out of the cafe as he looked around for her outside   

“Fucking hell !” He exclaimed kicked a fire hydrant on the street and rubbed his forehead   

Never had he fucked up so badly before, the insults he spit out so easily towards her made him want to throw up. 

 “You should’ve simply asked” he told himself as he walked towards her apartment building over 15 miles away “you should’ve asked why her and Walter were so close and she would’ve told you, you fucking imbecile” Tim repeated in his head as tried to even think of the words to apologize to her 

 “That kind of girl” Maya sniffled as she tried her best to keep composure as she got her necessities for the week, there was no way she was leaving her apartment in a few days after that mess.   

She looked down at her purse as she felt her phone vibrate and light up with Walter’s number and sighed as she picked up “Walter why ? I told you to let it go and you punched him. What if this gets back to your job ? You can both get fired and it’ll be because of me !” she cried as she sat down in an aisle  

 “Maya, no” he said “That won’t happen, and if it does then I got fired for a very good reason. The things he said were disgusting, to insinuate you’re…..you’re what he said is horrible”   

She wiped her eyes as she hiccuped and nodded “He said it with such venom in his voice, he hates me. He thinks the worst of me and I never even got to tell him the full truth. Imagine if I did ? God maybe I am what he said, maybe I am some kind of whore”  

 “Enough” Walter said with a soft yet stern tone “Don’t say those things, get yourself home and just relax okay ? None of what he said is true and don’t ever think otherwise. You call me if he comes around you again”   

Maya nodded as she stood back up “Thank you Walter, it means a lot it does. Have a good rest of your day if you can” she hung up and looked at her mascara tear stained face on her phone screen as she tried her best to wipe what she could off her cheeks and grabbed things to put in her cart crashing into a display as she bent down to pick up the vitamin bottles on the floor feeling a hand touch hers  

 “Here I’ll help you” Marcel grins as he picks some up “happens to me all the-...Maya ? W-why are your eyes so red ?” he asked gently “are you alright ?”   

Of course, of course it was Marcel of all people she runs into after crying her eyes out in the snack aisle of a CVS. This day just possible couldn’t get any worse than it already was.   

“Just a crap day is all” she muttered as she got up

“I’m sorry you’re having a bad day, is there anything I can do to help you ? I know our encounter that time wasn’t the best but I’ll do whatever you need me to do” he said genuinely “Oh….this is serious, you have sour patch kids AND peanut M&M’s in your cart” Marcel chuckled trying his best to lighten the mood, giving a warm smile as he heard her laugh  

 “Yeah...I guess you could say that” Maya gave a soft laugh “I um I gotta go, I’ll see you around though. Have a good day”   

“Wait…” he held her cart with his hand “Dinner, if you want. Dinner you and me tomorrow ?” he gulped nervously   

“Okay” she nodded “but I don’t wanna go out anywhere, you can come by my apartment” she takes out her phone as she watched him put in his information “and don’t think there’s gonna be any funny business alright ? Or I’ll drag you by your big ass dumbo ears right out”   

“Absolutely no funny business” Marcel nodded quickly “I’ll see you then Maya….bear” he grinned softly using the old pet name he had for her as he left

She laughed genuinely for the first time in what seemed like forever as she noticed he put in his name on her phone as “große Ohren”, big ears.   

“Of course he’d do that” she chuckled as she paid and drove back to her apartment and went up to her gate seeing her security guard rush to her and take her inside though the back door   

“Gabriel, what’s that about ? Is something going on ?” Maya asked concerned

“Ms. Dawson, there's an irate man outside who won’t take no for an answer and keeps asking for you, can you please confirm for us if you know him from our video footage ?” he asked 

 Tim, it had to be Tim, of course Tim would show up at her and act angry after everything he said to her. Her concerns were confirmed when she saw the footage and shook her head both mortified and angry. Angry he had the balls to show up to her apartment after everything he did and mortified seeing his face and shirt still bloody and his left side of his face bruised and swollen. Walter had sure as hell landed him with a good one.  

 “Tim, get the fuck out” she called sternly through the apartment buzzer at the entrance

“Maya, Maya please please let me talk to you” he stood up quickly as he pressed and spoke back “I-I was so so so wrong and you have no idea how embarrassed I am, I don’t even have words. Please let me explain myself” Tim pleaded desperately “I-I just want to apologize”

“You meant what you said, don’t pull back on it. Own your words Timothy, and by the way eat shit” she said angrily as she hung up and went back to her apartment   

She angrily put her things away as she heard little pebbles hit her window and looked out seeing him sit in a tree “What the fuck are you doing, you’re in a tree ! Get the hell down !”

“You won’t answer my calls or texts” he said back as he panted clearly exhausted

  “Oh I didn’t ? Welcome to my world for the last 3 months asswipe” she snapped back as she opened her window   

“I’m an idiot, a complete fucking idiot Maya. You didn’t deserve an ounce of what I did, I can’t even explain how sorry I am. I said things that were extremely unacceptable and so out of my character, I am so embarrassed and full of regret. The second I felt confused by yours and Walters' interaction I should’ve immediately just asked you, hell I could’ve just asked him and instead I acted so immature and I insulted you. I insulted you and I did it on purpose” he admits “I was hurt and I wanted you to feel hurt like I was”   

“I know you did” Maya whispered as she looked down  “and then you really let me have it at the cafe….you meant what you said Timothy”   

“I said it clouded by anger, I let anger takeover me” he said softly “I don’t deserve you forgiving me I don’t but I just want you to know that I’m aware I fucked up big time and I probably won’t ever forgive myself for it because during the time we spent together I felt….good. I felt like maybe there was a reason we met that night. And I just need you to know that”   

Maya nodded knowing his words were genuine but still feeling immense hurt, and she also knew if she told Walter she’d hear it from him. She took a second to look at him and noticed how sincere his deep brown eyes were, when he was sad he had those big puppy dog eyes and he wasn’t even aware of it yet there she was melting into them. Next thing she noticed was how bruised his face was, he definitely needed some ice and his face cleaned.

“Why are you such a pushover” she said to herself lowly as she walked towards the window   

“You’re 6’3 and you’ve got lanky long legs, my window step is maybe 2 feet away from where you’re at, come in” Maya said simply as she crossed her arms “if you don’t fall and hurt yourself that it, would be quite a fall to have since I’m on the 8th floor”  

 Tim nodded as he carefully focused and crossed over into her window, letting out a sigh of relief as she sat on a stool by her kitchen “I fucking hate heights, I hate them more than anything” he panted as she patted his chest

“Yeah well I hate it being insinuated I’m a whore and sleep with wrestlers and being insulted and demeaned before 11 am but I mean here I am you know” Maya nodded as she stood in front of him and gently dabbed away the dry blood from his face as she put her hand on his shoulder for balance “Walter got you real good, love that for me”

Tim swallowed hard as he nodded “Yeah he did, I deserved it though for….that whole scene I created. You can punch me if you want to ? Or hit me with your Louis Vuitton, it looks pretty sturdy”  

Maya did her best to stifle the laugh that so badly wanted to come out and looked in the freezer for an ice pack and put it over his nose “keep this on and off for 20 minutes”  

“Got it thank you, but...um can I have water ?” he asked timidly “I walked all the way from the cafe to here, was about an hour and a half”  

“It’s 20 miles from there to here” Maya turned around, looking him in the eye. “Did-did you walk 20 miles to get here Tim ?”  

“Yeah I did” he nodded “I was across the street at the gym when I spotted you and Walter, I walked over and after all that happened my mind kind of went blank and I forgot I had a car and I really needed to talk to you so I walked, I remembered where you lived. I got here like 4 hours ago and just waited” Maya sighed as she went and got him a glass of water for him and observed as she watched him try his hardest to not chug in one gulp “I’m pissed at you, but I can see you’re exhausted. Would you like to stay for dinner ?” she asked as she looked at him “I promise I’m not gonna poison you” Tim let out a small chuckle “and even if you did I deserve it, but I accept. I’ll help” he stood up  “Get to chopping” she shoved carrots against his chest  “My chance” he said to himself “my chance to redeem myself”

[ambrosiaiswriting]

the trials and tribulations of passing on a sunflower

by ambrosia

In any other situation, Sol would be thrilled to carry around a long-stemmed sunflower with her backpack and iced coffee. She would have taken extra time to pull her dark curls under a silk yellow bandana and put on her favorite white sundress to complete the whole look. Sol revels in the idea of drifting between the biology department and the Union, leaving nothing but intrigued gazes and yellow petals in her wake. 

Instead, the sunflower simply serves as a reminder of her mission for the day ahead, filling her with anxiety. She has a plan, she’ll be fine.

It had started out as a simple task. Lila, her roommate, had brought home a large bouquet of golden sunflowers from the flower shop she worked on the weekends. Sol thought she was going to distribute them into various vases throughout their apartment, but instead, Lila had left a few at every door in their floor of the apartment building. Each bunch was tied with twine and a note that read: A Random Act of Kindness. Pay it forward to someone new to spread the sunshine.

That’s all it was, a random act of kindness. Lila had said it as if it were the simplest thing in the world. Just pass on the sunflower to someone who is yet to receive one. 

Yet despite its simplicity, the act has been the only thing on her mind from the moment she had decided who to give it to. She has a plan and it was going to work out. It has to.

Now, she sits in her Molecular Biology lecture twenty minutes before class starts, her knee frantically bouncing underneath the table. The annoying flower in question glares at her from the seat beside her, sticking out of her backpack. 

The only other person in the lecture hall is a boy sitting at the end of the front row as he always does, hunched so far into his book that she thinks it will swallow him whole. Some part of her wishes he had questioned her sunflower, just so she could tell him her foolproof plan, but he hadn’t even glanced up when she had walked in. Maybe it’s for the better; she doesn’t want to jinx her plan.

Just as Sol plugs in her headphones, her phone begins to vibrate with an incoming FaceTime call. Sol looks up to see if the boy notices, but he just turns a page, undisturbed. Sol slides low in her seat. “I have class, what do you want?” she says to the caller.

Maya’s smile flashes across the screen for just a moment before she slips away from view. She’s in her room, and Sol can hear the creak of her dresser as she digs through it. Just in frame is her desk with a single sunflower on top. “What, do I need a reason to call my best friend?”

Sol stares down the sunflower as she speaks. “When you know I’m in class? Yeah. I’m busy, Maya, call someone else.”

“Wait!” Maya appears back in front of the phone. “I promise it’s just a second.” She holds two pairs of silver earrings for Sol to see. “Which one goes better with my blue dress?”

Sol drags a hand across her face, but it's mostly to hide her growing smile. Despite how Maya loves to bother her in every waking moment, there is a smidge of pride that she came to Sol for fashion advice. “Did you seriously call me for this? Where are you going? Why aren’t you in class? It’s 10 am. Also, do the star ones, I don’t like either of those.”

“Eh, it’s fine. I can afford to skip one day.” Maya reaches for the star drop earrings that Sol adores. “These?”

“Maya! You can’t just skip class because you can. Do you have a presentation or something?”

There’s a gleam in her eye when Maya winks. “Or something.”

“I swear if you’re going on a date, I will force you to make dinner tonight.” Sol glares at her best friend through the screen, but she’s smiling. By now, students have started trickling in, starting a low murmur of conversation. Sol spots a stranger near the front of the hall carrying a sunflower of their own and she finds herself grinning wider. Lila would be thrilled it's already spreading. Another classmate points silently to the seat currently occupied by Sol’s backpack and she moves it to her lap to give them space. The sunflower tickles her nose.

Maya’s smile grows when she spots it, and she raises an eyebrow. “You’ve been carrying your sunflower around all day? Won’t it need water?”

“It’s only 10 am. Besides, I don’t have time to go back to the apartment, I have class all day!”

Her roommate leans on her elbows to put her face right up near the camera. Her green eyes glimmer with amusement at Sol’s annoyance. “I have class too, remember? But unlike you, I intend on following through with my plans.”

Sol’s jaw almost drops but she slips into a smirk. “Yeah, okay, we’ll see who’s laughing when you miss something important in class today.”

“Oh, don’t worry! I’ll ask my new friend, he always takes good notes. Did I tell you about him? He—”

“I’m hanging up, Maya.” Sol tucks her phone away, and pulls out her laptop. If biology wasn’t going to be the end of her, Maya and her sunflowers would.

--

Sol goes to the library with the sole intention of printing out her lab report. However, just as she turns into the building, she spots the bathrooms and decides to make a detour. It’s only been a few hours since she took the sunflower out of its vase this morning, but late summer heat seems to have taken its toll on the plant. The large flower droops slightly, the thick petals folding in over themselves. 

Carefully, Sol takes a strip of paper towel and lets the water run over it. She squeezes it to let out the excess water, but accidentally lets out too much. Sol clicks her tongue, dissatisfied, and throws it out. Again, she takes another strip, but only pats it instead of squeezing. It seems to do the trick because the damp towel still feels cool on her skin. 

Sol is about to tuck the bottom of the sunflower into the towel when someone clears their throat behind her. “Can you hurry it up? I need to wash my hands.”

Startled, Sol quickly steps to the side, clutching the towel and flower to her chest. “Sorry.” Her heart jumps to her throat and Sol can feel the heat blooming from her neck. She feels her hands betray her, unable to finish wrapping up the sunflower. All she can do is stand, gaze burning into the floor, desperately hoping for the stranger to forget her. The stranger yanks down the paper towel dispenser, each motion pounding into Sol’s forehead as she trained her eyes away.

The stranger raises her eyebrows, eyeing the flower, before letting the door slam shut behind her.

Only when she is certain the bathroom is empty, Sol feels the embarrassment leak out of her limbs into a more manageable frustration. Watching herself in the mirror, she inhales slowly, holds it, then lets it go. The overwhelming wave of panic settles as quickly as it had come.  It’s times like this where she wishes for Maya’s natural charisma. Maybe then she wouldn’t find herself losing all coherence every time something unexpected happened. She doesn’t realize she has been rubbing a golden petal between her fingers until it plucks off the center.

After wrapping the damp towel around the base of the flower, Sol steadies herself and heads out of the bathroom in search of the printers. She has more pressing matters to worry about, after all. She remembers her call with Maya, and curiosity prickles her skin. Why was she getting so dressed up? Sol knows this sunflower act of kindness is just as important to Maya as it is to her, so why was she wasting time elsewhere? Of course, there’s the possibility that Maya has given up on the challenge altogether, but even as the thought enters her mind she brushes it away. The day Maya backs out of a challenge, especially one that she initiated, is the day Sol can learn to breathe instead of panic. 

Just as she has located the printers, mind still racing about Maya, a notification pulls her out of her thoughts.

lila (!! <3): turn around

She does, and the sight of Lila draws the tension from her shoulders at once. Sol’s smile is bright and immediate as she says, “I didn’t know you were close, I would have come found you.”

“I had to drop something off in South Campus so I was just cutting through the library. I see you still have our friend here.” Their friend, the sunflower, says nothing.

Sol slides her card into the printer and watches as it roars to life. “Don’t worry, I’ll pass it along before I come home tonight. It’s going to be perfect.”

“You and your constant need to be the best.” Lila rolls her eyes, but fondly. It twists something in Sol’s sternum.

Sol places a hand on her chest, letting her jaw fall open. “You wound me.”

“It’s supposed to be a simple act of kindness, Sol. You get a sunflower and pass it on to someone who hasn’t had one yet. Spreading positivity, not competition.”

The printer slowly begins to work, the fourteen pages stacking on top of each other in utmost precision. “Maya started it! I had full intentions of passing it on, but she had to make it a thing.” She’s only giving the half-truth and they both know it.

Lila raises her eyebrows. “If you say so.”

“I am truly, truly hurt that you came all the way to the library just to attack me. I’m just standing here, printing out this lab report, and I am being attacked.” She stretches out every word for the greatest effect, and it’s worth it to see Lila’s nose scrunch in amusement.

“You’re being so dramatic, you’re literally proving my point.”

Sol bumps Lila’s shoulder. “I’m serious! Diana will accept my sunflower and the deed will be done. Like I said, it was my idea first!”

When Lila had given Sol the sunflower the night before, after getting overwhelmingly flustered, she had mentioned how she was going to pass the sunflower on to Diana, the TA graduate student in her music theory class. Maya, who was also in the class, had fixed her with a challenging stare and said, “Not if I do it first.” The rest was completely out of her control. So, if anything, this is all Maya’s fault.

“Why do you have to give it to Diana specifically anyways?”

Sol takes her complete lab report and places it in her folder. “Are you kidding me? Lila, do you even know me? Diana is the dream. She was a child star on Broadway, I know all the lyrics in every Broadway show ever. She was a bio major in undergrad, I’m a bio major. She’s now getting her Masters in music theory, I enjoy music theory. I could literally go on forever.” Sol looks at Lila to make sure she understands the sheer gravity of this situation. “I want to be her. This sunflower is the perfect conversation starter!”

“Or you could just go to her office hours like a normal person?” Lila says it as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“That’s the whole problem! Why would she care about any normal person? If I do this, she’ll remember me! She’ll mentor me and talk about me to all her famous friends, it’ll be perfect.”

Lila nods slowly, and Sol thinks she might actually understand. “And why does Maya want this just as badly?”

Sol zips up her backpack with a flourish. “Because Maya makes everything a challenge and she likes to annoy me in every possible way.”

“She’s your best friend, that’s her job.” Lila takes the sunflower from where it’s sitting beside the printer and hands it to her.

“Unfortunately.” A tingle crawls up her spine as their fingers brush. “It’s fine! It was my idea, so I will get there first. Just make sure we have ice cream at home, Maya will need it when she mourns her failures tonight!”

Lila steps back from her, pointing in the opposite direction of Sol’s next class. She shakes her head, amused. “I gotta go. You’re a crazy person, you know that? Both of you are crazy.”

A laugh draws itself from her throat. “You still love us though.”

Instead of chirping back like Sol expects her to, Lila just looks at her, eyes warm. “I do.”

--

Despite her careful planning, Sol only gets to the music room just in time for her music theory class. After leaving Lila at the library, she’d finished lunch and endured an achingly long chemistry lab, only  now making it to class with five minutes to spare. Sol squeezes between the rows to her usual seat in the front. Diana and Maya are nowhere to be found.

Setting her backpack at her feet, Sol draws in a slow breath. One, two, three. Out again. It’s just a flower, a simple act of kindness. Her getting there before Maya is simply a plus and a warning to never challenge her again. She can already see Lila’s exasperated sigh at them, but it only serves to make her smile.

Carefully, Sol takes the long-stemmed sunflower from her bag and lays it across her lap. She holds it with just the tips of her fingers, afraid she'll snap it if she handles it wrong. 

For once, sitting in the front corner pays off. Her bag fits neatly beside her and she can turn in her seat to get a perfect view of the door. The hall fills with muted late afternoon conversations, most people too dazed to sit up straight. The September heat swells both inside and outside, making every move require all her effort. Sol lazily wonders if Maya really went on a date in the middle of the day. Then, at least she knows dinner is covered. Honestly, after lab, all Sol wants to do is bundle up in bed with her laptop and some ice cream. Now that the moment is finally here, she feels the weight of the day pile onto her chest. Her limbs feel syrupy and she lets her head fall back on the wall, eyes flitting closed.

Diana enters with a flourish, as she always does. Her portable speaker plays the first movement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons as she makes her way to the front of the hall, her bag in one hand and a swath of speckled tissue paper in the other. The conversations fall out as she walks, her blonde hair swishing down her back. Despite being only a few years older than most of them, she carries more authority than half the professors at this school. Oh my god, Sol wants to be her.

At once, the lethargy seeps out of her bones and she sits up in her seat. She cradles the sunflower in her lap. This is it. This is it.

Setting her things down beside the podium, Diana faces the class, her smile wide. “Good—”

The portable speaker suddenly switches from the chirping of violins to the swell of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s All I Ask of You. Sol’s heart drops to her feet. There is one person who listens to Phantom of the Opera as if it is the very source of her life.

Maya throws open the double doors of the lecture hall, her teeth flashing blindingly white. Her old high school prom dress billows around her legs like water. It’s a sheer blue tulle, layered and flowing, and it drags behind her as she struts down the aisle towards Diana. Her hair is in a ponytail high on her head, allowing the fluorescent lights to glint off her star drop earrings.

In her entrance, Sol almost didn’t see a guy trailing behind her, a single sunflower in his hand. Maya meets Sol’s eyes from across the hall and winks. Sol digs her nails into her palms to keep from screaming. 

“Diana!” Maya’s voice echoes, startling both Sol and their TA. “I have something for you.”

Diana chuckles awkwardly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Maya?”

Maya finally meets her at the front of the hall, beaming. “Diana.” She takes the sunflower from the guy, holding out in front of her. “I wanted to—”

In one swift motion, Sol whips out her water bottle and inhales as she takes a sip. The water lodges itself in the wrong tube and in a moment she’s overwhelmed with a coughing fit.

The entire lecture hall turns to her, suddenly drawn from Maya’s spectacle. Sol tries to clear her throat but it only makes things worse and she falls out of her seat. She swallows and there’s a beat of silence. “I’m fine!” The last syllable chokes out of her and sends her into another round. 

Diana and Maya both come up beside her, mirroring worry. It’s Diana who speaks first, crouching beside her. “Sol, are you okay? Do you need to step outside?”

She feels her face heat up profusely, painfully aware of the sheer number of people watching her. Worth it. Her breathing finally evens out and it pulls a small laugh from her. “Yeah, sorry. It went down the wrong pipe.”

Diana flashes her an apologetic smile, helping her up. “Be careful, I really don’t wanna call an ambulance on anyone.”

“Actually,” Sol stands, sunflower in hand and heart pounding with anticipation. “I wanted to give you something.”

Maya’s jaw drops from behind Diana. It’s Sol’s turn to wink. Adrenaline courses through her veins.

“Diana!” Maya steps between them, her hands out in front of her. “I asked first, remember? We’ll finish what I’m doing and then ask Sol.”

“Well, considering I almost died, I think we can make an exception for me, right?” She thinks she hears the beginnings of someone chanting fight, fight, fight, and it only serves to rile her up.

“You’re not dying anymore!”

“Maya—”

“Ladies!” The hall falls silent once again. She looks from them to their respective sunflowers, and a half-pitying half-amused grin pulls at her lips. “I’m flattered but,” She steps back towards the podium and pulls out a single sunflower from the folds of tissue paper she had brought with her. “I was already given one.”

Maya and Sol look back at each other, gaping. A beat of silence. Maya starts laughing first, full of life, and it’s contagious. Sol doesn’t really know what’s funnier, the foolish ends they were willing to go to in order to pass on a flower or that Diana already has one, but it has her laughing so hard she clutches her stomach. Maya hugs her once she’s calmed down, sighing. “I think we’re both a little crazy, right?”

Sol flicks her star drop earrings, grinning wide. “Just a little.”

--

After class, and after a generous apology to Diana, Sol finds herself outside the music building clutching her sunflower. The petals droop slightly with the setting sun and she feels like she should ask for the flower’s forgiveness too.

She bounces on her toes as she waits for Maya to come out, watching the last few stragglers on this side of campus trudge towards the dorms or the buses. She still feels a little silly, but there’s a layer of calm surrounding her now. The news must have already spread because when Sol pulls out her phone, there’s a message at the top. 

lila (!! <3): so much for a random act of kindness. i expect a retelling just as dramatic when you two get home tonight! i can’t believe i’m living with two crazy people.

Lila’s going to have a field day with this when they go home. Sol can’t wait to see her reaction in person. It curls her mouth into a smile.

The only person left is a boy she vaguely recognizes, sitting on the front steps of the music hall. He sits in the last rays of sunlight, bent over his book and chewing his lip, deep in thought.

Sol considers asking where she might know him from. She’ll know it the moment he tells her, it’s on the tip of her tongue, but it feels weirdly violating to ask. Instead, she places her sunflower beside him on the step.

He doesn’t notice at first, still wrapped up in his own world, but when he does, he looks around as if it were meant for someone else. Silently, he points to himself.

“Yeah. Pass it on, okay?”

His smile is surprisingly brilliant for someone of no words.

Her heart swells.

--

a/n: if you read this far, thank you! this is what i wrote for my creative writing final and it’s just a bit of fun. we love dramatic college students.

[1dliveshere]

The Last Summer Ch.3

As the RV continued rolling down the highway the only audible sounds were the faint sound of the portable humidifier, the static of the radio, and the whispering coming from Niall and Harry.

“I’m really grateful we were able to take this trip. It would have really sucked to not do anything special for our last summer together.”

“I totally agree mate.... So Harry have you decided what you want to go to college for?” Niall turned towards his best friend of 15 years.

“Yeah I have. I’ve decided instead of going to college I’m going to open my own photography studio. My uncle already has a space available that he said I could rent for cheap.”

“I think you’d be great at that! How’d your parents react?”

“Not well. They keep bringing up the fact that I can’t do that with my life if I want to support my family. Kayla keeps encouraging me to do it even with the circumstances.”

“So do you think Kayla will be your family one day?”

“I don’t think Niall, I know.” Harry blushed “What about Alyssa? Is she the one?”

“Definitely” Niall answered now blushing as well.

As the boys continued talking about life Kayla stumbled out of the back of the RV.

“Babe what’s wrong?” Harry looked in the rear view mirror.

“My throat is killing me.”

“It’s probably from you screeching at Louis earlier” laughed Niall.

“Shut up Niall. He deserved it. He ruined my pants” Kayla plopped on the couch.

“I think there might be some tea up in the cupboard over there” Harry pointed towards the mini fridge. “That would help your throat”

“Thanks babe. I think I’ll make some..... wait I just realized something. What are you doing still driving at almost 3 am? Don’t you think we should pull over so you can sleep?”

“No I’m doing okay. I want to get to Jackson, Wyoming by 8 am so we can go hiking.”

“Do you guys mind keeping quiet? It’s kinda hard to sleep when you won’t shut up?” Zayn lifted his head off the couch.

“Sorry Zayn... I honestly forgot you were even in here.” Kayla laughed. “I’ll shut up now.”

“It’s alright I’m already up anyway”

“I’m awake too” Gigi stated. “I’m starving for some reason.”

“That’s probably because we didn’t eat supper” Liam pipped up.

“OMG. You’re right!” Maya hollered.

“I’m starving.” Niall whined from the front seat.

“Babe you would have never said that if Liam wouldn’t have mentioned it.” Alyssa laughed entering the room.

“Why are you up?”

“How am I not? Y’all need to learn how to whisper.”

“I second that” Louis said sounding aggravated.

Within 5 minutes everyone was awake at 3 am, on a highway in Wyoming, starving to death.

“OH MY GOSH!! IS THAT A WAFFLE HOUSE I SEE?!” Alyssa suddenly screamed making everyone jump.

“IT IS!!! HARRY YOU NEED TO PULL THIS RV OVER RIGHT NOW. THEY ARE OPEN 24 HOURS AND I AM STARVING” Niall topped Alyssa’s scream.

“Niall I’m not even in the correct lane and it’s literally 1000 feet from us.”

Niall quickly grabbed the wheel and jerked it the the right sending the RV into a spin.

“NIALL LET GO OF THE MOTHER FREAKING WHEEL. YOU’RE GOING TO KILL IS”

“AHHHHHHHH”

Somehow the RV landed straight in the middle of a parking spot in from of The Waffle House. While everyone else was still freaked out by everything that had just happened, Niall and Alyssa cheered at the fact that they were going to The Waffle House.

“I swear Niall if you ever pull that shiii-schnitzel with me again I’ll kill you” Harry stated sounded pissed.

“You’re lucky you caught yourself Harold. You almost had to put a $1 in the swear jar.” Louis mocked.

As the friend group pilled out of the bus Harry grabbed his camera and snapped a picture of the building.

“Send me that. I want to post it.” Alyssa looked at Harry.

“As long as I get credit.”

“Sure thing, Harold.”

“You know I don’t like it when you call me that.”

“Oh get over yourself.... HAROLD.”

As the group entered the building they found a table big enough for everyone to sit at. They waited for someone to take their order but no one ever did. After sitting there for 15 minutes they were starting to get annoyed.

“I’m so hungry I could eat this napkin.” Eleanor whined.

“I’ve got you babe.” Louis quickly jumped up and ran towards the counter.

“Louis do not do anything stu- and he jumped over the counter.”

Louis ran over to the waffle maker and dumped the batter in it. Or what he thought was batter. It turned out to be bacon grease.

As the waffle maker burst into flames the cook came running out of the back with a fire extinguisher and put the fire out.

“GET OUT OF HERE. YOU ARE BANNED FROM THIS WAFFLE HOUSE.”

Everyone quickly took off running. Once outside Alyssa turned towards Louis. “I can’t believe you right now. That’s my favorite place to eat and now I’m going to die of starvation.”

“Hey guys, there’s a gas station over there. Let’s just go buy some food there.” Liam pointed across the street.

So the group set off to the gas station. As they entered the building it had your typical gas station smell; it wasn’t good. They all split up and grabbed whatever they could find.

Back at the RV they all settled down in the living area. Harry was back to driving but Niall wasn’t riding up front with him. Niall decided he needed sleep.

While at the gas station, Kayla and Alyssa decided to get a 2 pound bag of their favorite candy, Twizzlers, to share.

After everyone wasn’t starving anymore they went their separate ways to go back to bed.

THE NEXT MORNING

“Guys we made it to Jackson, Wyoming! Get your lazy butts up and ready. We are going hiking.”

“Harry it’s too early to yell.... shhhhh” Liam held his finger up to his lips.

Soon everyone was up and getting ready. Harry had pulled into a parking lot. So he was able to get ready also. All the guys had on basketball shorts and T-shirt’s on while all the girls had either workout leggings or bike shorts with some random shirt.

After they were all ready for their hike, they locked up the RV and headed towards the start of the trail.

“Can’t we do a level 2 trail instead of a level 7 one? My stomach hurts and I don’t wanna die.” Alyssa whined.

“You’ll be fine babe. It won’t be that bad” Niall reassured.

He was wrong. Very wrong.

2 hours later

“It’s so hot”

“I’m gonna passout”

Literally everyone was dying. Puffing for air, sweat running down their backs, their vision dancing with black dots.

“Alyssa are you okay back there? You’re walking super slow.” Yelled Maya.

“I’m f-f-aarrrrhhhh” Alyssa puked.

“Oh my gosh!!!!” Screamed Kayla “it’s bright red. Like blood red. That’s not normal last time I checked.”

Niall started sprinting down the mountain.

“Babe, something’s wrong. We should go to the hospital.” Niall scooped Alyssa up and took off sprinting for the RV; everyone quickly followed.

Harry drove 45 mph in a 30 mph all the way to the hospital. Once they got there Alyssa was taken straight into a emergency room.

“Does your stomach hurt still? Any tenderness?” The Doctor pushed around on Alyssa’s stomach.

“I was a little nauseous until I threw up, but now I feel totally fine.”

“Okay, we’re going to run a few tests to see what’s going on.”

The rest of the group were sitting in the waiting room.

“I’m so bored. There’s nothing to do here” Louis whined like a two year old child.

“Louis it’s a hospital. Last time I checked it’s not supposed to be fun.” Zayn stated.

Louis was about ready to sass back when Niall came through the door.

“They are going to run some tests to see what’s going on. So far everything they’ve done has come back normal. So I’m not really for sure what could be causing it.” Niall worried.

“What about the Twizzlers she ate last night? That’s all her and Kayla had since yesterday at lunch time. Maybe that mixed with the heat made her sick.”

“Louis for once in your life you’re a genius.” Niall turned and walked back to the emergency department to inform the Doctor about the Twizzlers.

“I thought about that while we were still hiking.”

“Louis why the freak didn’t you say something then?” Zayn hit his hand to his face.

“I don’t know. I just didn’t think it was my place.”

Everyone rolled their eyes.

“Of course you didn’t”

After 15 minutes had passed, Alyssa and Niall walked through the door. “The doctor said it was just from the Twizzlers and that I’ll be fine.”

“Well I’m happy that’s all it was, but tonight we are eating more than Twizzlers for supper.” Kayla laughed.

As the large group of friends exited the hospital, Harry looked up to see some dude trying to break into the RV.

“Oh sh—“ Harry took off running.

“Well looks like he owes a $1 to the swear jar now”

“You girls stay here; we don’t want you to get hurt.” The boys took off running chasing after their friend.

After about 10 minutes the guys finally pulled up in the RV. Kayla hopped in the passenger seat while the girls climed in the back.

“So what happened?” Questioned Kayla.

“Oh nothing. They guy just took off running.” Harry’s voice went up an octave indicating he was lying.

“Harry, you’re lying.”

“Am not”

“Okay then, turn and look me in the eyes and tell me that.”

“ I can’t, I’m driving.”

“Harry look at me.”

Harry still wouldn’t look at his girlfriend.

“HAROLD”

Harry finally turned towards Kayla with a big cheesy grin on his face. That grin wasn’t the only thing on his face. His left eye was swollen up almost double the normal size, and it had a huge dark circle around it.

“HAROLD EDWARD STYLES. WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU?”

“Oh I’ll tell you. Harold here walked up to the dude and asked him what he was doing and told him to get away from the RV. The guy told him he wasn’t going to so Harry punched the dude and the dude then punched Harry back. He was trying to show off.” Louis said sounding quite proud of himself.

“Harry” Kayla sighed, “ you can’t just go up to some dude and mouth off like that.”

Kayla got up and walked to the freezer and got a bag of peas. “Here put this on your eye. It will help the swelling to go down.”

“Thanks love.”

As the RV continued driving towards Nebraska, everyone was just sitting around on their phones, exhausted.

“Oh my gosh I’m going to freaking kill my parents.” Alyssa three her phone down on the couch.

“Why? What are they doing?” Maya asked.

“Literally they’ve called me 5 times today and texted countless times. It’s starting to get su— great there they are again.”

Louis without even thinking picks up Alyssa’s phone, opens the window and chucks it.

“LOUIS WHAT THE FREAK?!”

Everyone was shocked that he actually just did that.

“Thanks. Now I don’t have a phone for the rest of the trip.”

“It’s fine. Harry can pull over at the closet Verizon and I’ll buy you one.” Louis held up his wallet.

Alyssa turned and walked away towards the front of the bus. “Kayla, can I sit up front for awhile? I need a break from Louis.”

“Yeah that’s fine.” Kayla got up and went to sit next to Louis.

“Good job idiot.” Kayla smacked the back of Louis’ head.

***

After 5 hours passed and they only had stopped to pee once, everyone was getting highly agitated.

“I’m going to find somewhere to park so we can walk around for a little bit. My legs hurt from driving and I just really need a break from the RV.”

“That’s fine Harry. I think me, you, and the boys should go on a walk or something.” Niall hollowed from the kitchen.

“I think us girls are just going to stay on the bus and watch a movie. We are all tired.” Alyssa told the boys.

Harry quickly turned into the first random lot that he saw. It happened to be in the middle of nowhere.

“Harry we are literally in the middle of no where. Don’t you think you should wait until we get somewhere more public?” Questioned Kayla.

“No you’ll be fine. Just keep the door locked.”

The boys all piled out of the RV and headed out on their walk to stretch their legs.

“Yes! Finally we are alone on the bus.” Eleanor screamed. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the boys but sometimes I just want girl time.”

“I totally agree. What movie do you guys want to watch?”

As they were in the middle of throwing ideas around, Gigi exited the bathroom crying.

“Omg. Gigi what’s wrong??”

[larsbjorge-blog]

This Is Me, Tagged

Okay, get comfy – I got tagged twice, by talented Flickrites Mysi Anne and Sina respectively, so I’ve decided to do two sets of sixteen. The first set is mostly photography-related, and the second set is more personal. I tend to fill these things out thoroughly, so there’s a lot to read here, but since the internet gives most people the attention span of a flea on meth, I put some extra cleavage on display for those who feel the text is tl;dr. I hope you enjoy one or the other, or both. —–

1. My favourite photographer in recent years is Nuri Bilge Ceylan. It was his work that made me believe it was possible to photograph Turkey in the way that I wanted to. I was sick to death of tourist-bait pictures of whirling dervishes, hookah bars, and belly dancers, because Turkey isn’t about any of those things.

2. If you asked me to name ten other photographers whose work turns me on, most of the names would be people whose work I discovered on Flickr. You don’t have to be famous to rock me.

3. I chuckle at equipment snobs and their strutting and posturing about what snazzy gear you "must" have and what techniques you "must" use, because for all their official know-how, 95% of the time their oh-so-technically-perfect shots leave me bored. Although I like buying new equipment as much as the next person, it’s certainly not required to take good pictures. There’s a person in my Flickr contacts who takes the most amazing photos with his mobile phone, and another who rocks my world with his Lomo. Some people never get it through their heads that it’s not about the camera. In the industry we call this "having more money than sense."

4. I also laugh at people who think that digital post-processing isn’t part of photography, or is "cheating." What, you think film photographers of the past didn’t post-process? Please, do your homework – half an hour of research on the web will wipe out that little fantasy. The great majority of tools in Photoshop are just computer adaptations of manual darkroom techniques that have been widely used for many decades by just about every photographer of note. I’m not saying it’s necessary to process the hell out of every photo you take, but refusing to use all the tools available to you because of some weird misinformed pride seems silly to me.

5. I have this strange skill for remembering exactly where I was standing when I took any given photo, even if I took it 20 years ago in a place I only visited for a day. This has made geotagging a lot easier.

6. If post-processing fell off the face of the earth tomorrow, I’d probably lose my interest in digital photography pretty quickly. If I’m out shooting and it’s going really well, my chief thought is always, I can’t wait to get home and play around with these.

7. On the other hand, I almost never post-process film shots, because most of my film cameras are ones that are known for their specific effects (Soviet cameras and so forth), and I don’t feel the need to mess with that. I will fix cracks and damage in old prints, unless the damage makes the photo more awesome, which it often does.

8. Go ahead, gasp in horror if you want… I don’t really like B&W photography, except in cases of faux-vintage or actual old photographs. That’s not to say that I can’t appreciate the beauty of B&W photos or the talent that goes into making them, and a few of my favourite photographers do shoot primarily in B&W, but when people post a B&W and a colour version of the same photo, I always like the colour one better. I hear people say how they think B&W tells a more dramatic story, but I just don’t see that at all.

9. I don’t keep multiple versions of the same photo. I find it unnecessary, and potentially confusing, as I only ever process a photo one time, and then I’m done with it forever. I trash both my raw files and my PSDs when I’m certain have the final version of the photo. I have never, ever felt the desire to rehash old, stale raw files that have already been done. I always take a fresh supply of new shots if I want something to work on.

10. I have a huge offline library of both digital and film photos from years past. This year I’m going to work on getting them all up on Flickr.

11. My eyes are black, and although I think they look nice in real life, in photos they tend to look like lumps of coal shoved in my eye sockets. So I almost always level them up in post. I also enjoy playing around with the colour of them – I don’t think making eyes green or blue in a photo is any different than people wearing coloured contacts for fun certain days of the week. This is one of the few photos where my eyes are completely natural, because I thought the lumps of coal thing worked well in that particular shot.

12. Some photographers get arrested for the photography itself… I’m more likely to get arrested for associated breaking and entering. If I see a place that I want to get to to take photos, I get like a pit bull about it, and regardless of locks or restricted access, it’s very unlikely that you’ll convince me not to break in there. I’ll just politely agree with you that it’s a bad idea, and then I’ll wait until you fall asleep and I’ll sneak out. I’ll be back before you wake up, with a memory card full of awesome. Or, you’ll get woken by a phone call and have to come bail me out. Whichever.

13. I don’t wear makeup except on very special occasions, so if you see makeup on me in a photo, you can be 100% sure it was post-processed. I can’t stand having all that chemical gunk on my face, but I do think it looks nice, especially in pictures.

14. I love it when my female friends e-mail me a snapshot of themselves and ask me to "please fix it up." I don’t think photos of women (or any other subject) always have to be about concrete reality – a little fantasy is nice sometimes. The women I associate with are smart enough not to compare themselves to an edited photo, or even to want to look like that in real life. We can teach young girls those same values without having to resort to censorship. It’s good for kids to see and learn the difference between fact and fiction, and to appreciate the merits of both. If we start banning things, they won’t get the opportunity to learn to distinguish.

15. If you gave me a $1,000 gift certificate from my local camera shop, I’d buy an old-skool original Lensbaby, a Sigma 10-20mm, and the new Nikkor fiddy (the 1.4 – G, not D).

16. If you sent me on a slow trip around the world and told me I could only take one camera and one lens, I’d be perfectly happy with my D40 and the 18-200mm VR. I don’t need anything fancier than that for traveling, and I sure as hell don’t need anything heavier or larger.

—-

1. Photography is something I enjoy doing, but I’m not a particularly visual person. Music is who I am. I made my debut as a professional pianist at the age of 9, and as a professional singer at the age of 14. My major in university was music composition, and the second time I went to uni I did a degree in recording arts with a specialty in critical aural analysis.

2. I’m left-handed, but I don’t write in that weird, contorted, hand-twisted-backwards way that most left-handers do. I write like a normal person, just with my left hand instead of my right.

3. You wouldn’t know it from my public presence on the internet, but my language habits in everyday life would make a sailor blush. You know how Debra in Dexter talks? Yeah, pretty much like that. I always laugh at that antiquated line about how people who swear a lot do so to cover up for a poor vocabulary. That’s a crock – believe me, I know plenty of words, and I know how to use them correctly. Many of them begin with C or F, so what?

4. I’m going to be 36 this month, and I think I’m better-looking and more attractive now than I have ever been.

5. Five years ago at this time I weighed 265 pounds. Don’t ask me for the magic secret, because you already know there isn’t one. If there were, everyone would have done it by now, and there would never be any fat people in the world.

6. I’ve traveled to four continents, and lived on three of them.

7. I’m compulsively goal-oriented, and one of my goals for 2009 is to buy a new outfit every month, as I haven’t had any new clothes at all in almost five years. The ensemble you see in the photo is my outfit for January.

8. A few years ago I tore my ulnar collateral ligament, and was told that without surgery I would never regain the use of my thumb. I decided to trust my gut feeling instead of the doctor, and didn’t have the surgery. My hand is fine now, and aside from some minor twinges in humid weather, I can’t tell the difference between the hand that was injured and the one that wasn’t.

9. I have the kind of hair that makes people want to punch me. I get it cut once a year (I’m almost due for my yearly salon visit), I wash it twice a week, and I don’t even own any styling products or tools. The last time I used a brush or comb was sometime during the Reagan administration. I don’t even comb it after I wash it. It just doesn’t tangle, and it looks however it looks straight out of bed. Some days it’s mostly straight, and other days it’s quite wavy. I never do anything to it in Photoshop aside from the occasional colour change for fun. What you see in the above photo is 100% natural.

10. I don’t think I’d ever have elective cosmetic surgery, but if you held a gun to my head and forced me to have something done, I’d get my lips plumped. It’s kind of a strange thing to say, because every time I plump them up in Photoshop, I think it looks stupid and I undo it. But when I look in the mirror, I think I wouldn’t mind if they were just a little more… robust.

11. I find cooking soul-destroyingly boring, not to mention a gigantic hassle. I avoid it whenever possible.

12. I’m a winter girl all the way. I absolutely do not see the appeal of summer, unless you have a fetish for sweat or stinky people. Or unless you live in a place where the summers are reasonable, like England. I did love summer in England – it’s one of the things I really miss about living there.

13. I’ve lived a stone’s throw from the beach for almost five years, and I’ve been down there maybe twice. I’m more into swimming pools – sticky salt hair and a crack full of sand just isn’t my idea of a good time, sorry. I do like going to the beach to take pictures, though.

14. I have a raging sweet tooth that cannot be tamed. When I come to your country, the first thing I want to see is the array of desserts your people have to offer me. So far, Italy has been the most spectacular in this respect, though it should be mentioned that I have not yet visited India, where I understand they start by making normal desserts for mortals and then soak them in syrup. Win.

15. I’m not into politics whatsoever, but it’s nice that the Obama administration is the first government that hasn’t implied I’m a filthy un-American traitor for choosing to live somewhere else. In fact, Obama’s web site has a whole section devoted to Americans abroad, and I was shocked to discover that they weren’t just talking about soldiers or people who were sent away to work for American companies. They mean everyone abroad, including me.

16. That said, if I were forced to go "back where I came from," I’d more likely go back to Europe than the United States. I don’t feel that preference shows any indication of a diminished love for the US. I’m just enjoying living on this half of the planet, that’s all. I don’t have any hate for the other half.

2009.187

Posted by Melissa Maples on 2009-02-03 15:24:39

Tagged: , antalya , turkey , türkiye , asia , 安塔利亚 , 土耳其 , 亚洲 , nikon , d40 , ニコン , 尼康 , nikkor , af-s , 18-200mm , f/3.5-5.6g , 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6g , vr , 1:1 , square , me , melissa , maples , self-portrait , woman , brunette , brown , window , long hair , brown hair , cleavage

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