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sunnysidefangirl · 3 years

Text

Awaiting (Jungkook x reader)

Pairing: Jungkook x reader

Warning: talks of anxiety, not 100% edited sorry, will probably go back to edit more later

Summary: reader goes to a concert and is transferred on stage when they see their soulmate.

A/N: This idea was inspired by @alpacaparkaseok ! Their soulmate stories are really good and since I have never seen that certain trope be done before I thought I should credit where I got the idea from! Go read their fics, they are seriously amazing! Anyways please don't plagiarize, I spent a lot of time on it so don't be rude! Copyright ©! Also imagine Covid is not a thing! Please like, comment, and repost if you liked it! I hope you enjoy! 💜

*****

You have to admit, you didn't believe it when your friend told you they had front row tickets to a BTS concert. Concert tickets are hard to get, let alone front row seats.

"Thank you!" Your friend said with a smug smile. She happily took the $30 dollars from your bet. You saying they were fake and her insisting they were real.

"Yeah, whatever." You rolled your eyes as the line moved closer to the entrance. The line was long but you and your friend were lucky enough to get soundcheck.

"I'm going to be Jungkook's soulmate, I can feel it." You heard a confident voice say. You wanted to roll your eyes at the adult that bragged her idea to the armys around.

When it comes to the artist you were going to see the only thing fans know is Jin has already found his soulmate but nobody knows their name, let alone what they look like. Other than that people assume the other members just haven't met theirs yet.

It was odd to hear those genuine thoughts. They travel the world and have yet to meet their soulmates from a concert.

Sure, it was a nice thought especially since Jungkook was your bias, but realistically he's probably not your soulmate.

You've imagined more than once what it would be like to meet your soulmate. You secretly hoped it would be somewhere in nature. A park, or on a hike, or over looking a lake. It just seemed like it would be a great experience, to meet the one made for you in beautiful scenery.

However you were probably a little a head of yourself, more than likely you would meet them through work or walking down the street or something minimal like how most people do.

In the blink of an eye, you were in the stadium. You and your friend got settled in your ideal spots close to the stage. Then the two of you fell into an easy conversation.

"So when you go to visit your soon to be mother in law you won't look like a totally idiot for not dressing like the cookie monster-"

"Uh uh oh uh uh ooohh."

Your conversation interrupted by the opening of the first dance number of the night.

"Oh my gosh, it's them! If I faint will you catch me?!" Your best friend asked, dramatically clutching her chest. She stood on her toes to get a better look, as if the front row just wasn't enough.

"No promises!" You shouted with a wide smile at the stadium got louder.

•••••••••••••

The concert was going great! You were having so much fun dancing and singing your heart out with the random people you had met beside you. That song ended and another one began.

When you looked up Jungkook was making his way down the stage with Jimin just behind him. His microphone was raised as he sang the bridge of the song. He turned to your side and looked at the audience. When your eyes locked everything seemed to zoom in on him alone. You got tunnel vision and he was your only focus, just as you were his. He couldn't pull his eyes away from you if he tried.

A sensation of gravity shutting off came next. You felt weightless and could no longer feel the floor below your feet. Then you felt as if you were being pulled, more like yanked, to your new destination. You choose to close your eyes as the motion got to be too much.

Jungkook didn't understand what was going on but he got the feeling that the world around him was spinning. The last thing he wanted to do was alarm the fans but he couldn't help but close his eyes as he stumbled over his own feet.

"Jungkook?" Jimin questioned placing a hand on his left shoulder. Did he suddenly get sick or something?

The feeling went away as quickly as it came, leaving a dull feeling of confusion. He opened his eyes just in time to catch something falling forward, that something was you.

Suddenly the face you had seen over your computer and phone screen, the face you had seen in magazines and commercials for as long as you have been a fan was less than a few inches in front of you. His dark brown eyes were big with shock and wonder and the sides of his face were slightly dampened due to the energetic choreography he had just done. The sea of army bombs created a mini galaxy in his eyes.

At first you thought, wow he looks so handsome.

Then you wondered wait, how did I get onstage?

Your mind seemed to catch up with you. You took notice that you were in fact on stage and in front of Jeon Jungkook. Could it be a possibility that it was the night before the concert and you were dreaming? This couldn't be real.

You felt your heart leap and an unintended gasp left you. Jungkook's mouth dropped a little bit and his own eyes widen in realization. The tall man helped you so that you were standing straight and took a small step back. However, he couldn't quite let go of you instead he kept his hands wrapped around yours.

The melody continued on without the maknae's voice. This caught the attention of many fans and the other members. They were all confused when the didn't hear Jungkook's voice. Luckily his part wasn't long and Jin quickly began to sing his own part.

You tensed within his hold and a feeling of happiness and dread filled you. Taking a look around the stage, you first saw V tap J-Hope and point in your direction. Namjoon was currently rapping his verse but that didn't stop his eyes from widening as well. Jimin who was behind Jungkook grinned at you. Suga had took notice of the situation as well with Jin neither of them knowing how they could fix this. That left every member either looking at you or doing their best to pretend nothing out of the ordinary was going on.

It didn't seem to be working because the audience started to get louder. You question for a moment if it was always this loud for the members onstage. It was hard to understand anything with all the noise but you caught a little bit.

"Look that's Jungkook's soulmate!" A voice closest to the stage squealed.

It was real. It was all real!

You were horrified. This moment, one of the most intimate moments between two soulmates has been seen by hundreds. It's probably been recorded by now. For all you know it would be on Twitter by tomorrow. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. You dreaded the thought of this private moment on social media for days to come.

Namjoon was quickly making his way over to you with a security guard as well.

Everything was moving so rapidly you just wanted to get out of this situation. You wanted to disappear. You began to realize you were breathing quicker than normal.

"Hey." A voice said so soft, you almost didn't catch it over the screams in the stadium. You look back to Jungkook only to meet the softest gaze you have ever come across. He looked so gentle towards you.

"It's okay."

He rubbed his thumbs over your skin attempting to calm you down and a shy bunny smile spread across his face.

"What's your name?" He asked with an excited glint in his eyes. Before you had the chance to respond a hand wrapped around your bicep.

"Come with me miss." The security guard said in urgency. Namjoon appears just a few seconds later and stands next to Jungkook. Just as you were being pulled away a strong grip stopped you.

"Wha-Wait." Jungkook mutters tightening his hold causing you to look back at him. He just met you, how could he be excepted to just let go of you?

"Jungkook, you can see her later but we need to get her off stage." Namjoon says in a stern voice towards the youngest.

Jungkook noticed the fearful look in your eyes and it made his heart ache. As much as he wanted to go with you so he could make sure you were okay he knew that your safety comes first. He then released your hand and in the blink of an eye you were ushered away from his sight.

The security guard took your arm and adviced you to keep your head down. You only looked ahead of your shoes not making eye contact with anything except the glossy stage floor.

When you got backstage everything passed by in a blur. People came up to you from all areas. They got you a bottle of water and lead you to a separate dressing room. You held on to the water bottle tightly, allowing it to serve as your anchor in all of this chaos.

"Wait here." The nice lady said with a small smile before closing the door. You took a careful breath in before gently letting it out. The room was bigger than you expected maybe that was because you were the only person in it. There were couches around making a U shape. Against the wall was a table of food and drinks, and as tempting as they looked you wouldn't dare grab one. The room was brighter and colder than it looked in behind the scenes videos.

Now alone in the quiet room you felt like you could breath a little bit.

You racked your brain with what to do now.

Jeon Jungkook was your soulmate.

Where do you go from here?

What about your best friend? She's freaking out no doubt.

Would it feel weird seeing as you were a fan?

You would just have to get to know him all over again. Learn his likes, his dislikes, and start as simple as possible. As you dig farther in your own thoughts you started to feel anxious.

Would he want to be with a random fan?

You honestly thought you were pretty, but what would others think? You know you shouldn't care but if he doesn't like the thought of you two together that would be another type of pain.

•••••••••••••

Intermission had finally started after another 4 songs. Jungkook practically flew pass the staff backstage once he found out which room you were in.

He rushed to the room that he was directed in but stopped short of running into the door. He stood stiff like a brick wall and took a deep breath. His soulmate was on the other side.

His soulmate.

He only saw you for a bit but his heart quickened at the thought of you.

He had wondered of this moment for a long time. Occasionally when the stress of life got to be too much he found himself dreaming of spoiling his soulmate and treating them like royalty. He would stay up wondering what their date nights would look like and what their love language was.

The other members knew how much of a hopeless romantic Jungkook was. They would often tease him whenever his head was in the clouds, they never took it too far though because they all secretly thought it was really sweet.

Jungkook thought about how he used to ask Jin about the meeting of soulmates and how it felt. He stopped asking after a while because of Jin's vague answers.

"I don't know, it just feels like...your being born."

"It's a warm feeling."

"You feel free...I guess."

"Jungkook-ah you'll know when you meet them!"

He had given up asking his hyung about how it felt to meet your soulmate. He tried to ignore any questions or thoughts of it but that was before he saw Jin cooking with his soulmate.

The look in his eyes while having his special person by his side warmed his heart. Jin's eyes gleamed with a distant euphoric look in them, it's a look Jungkook can't forget.

He wanted to feel that too.

You looked up at the sound of the door opening. Jungkook shuffles towards you in a daze. His eyes wet and red. You sprung to your feet suddenly feeling bashful and a little ridiculous under his intense eyes.

If you would have known you were going to meet your soulmate you would have dressed up a little more.

....maybe you wouldn't have worn your cooky headband.

He wordlessly took your hand once more. You allowed yourself to enjoy the unique feeling. His hand was very soft and a little warm probably because he was just dancing his heart out onstage. Your hands mold together and you swear electricity rushed through your veins. The room was silent as the two of you were deemed speechless. What do you say to the person you were waiting for all this time?

"Are you okay?"

When you look up, you see him blink down at you.

You grin at him and sheepishly nod. Jungkook let's out a small sigh of relief before smiling back at you. He lowers his head looking down at your connected hands. The ghost of the previous smile still on his face.

He looked so beautiful in this moment. You let your mind wander as you take in his features. Were you everything he dreamed of? Where do you go from here? Would you stay here? Would you go back home? Maybe you were getting ahead of yourself. Would you even start your relationship now?

You jumped out of your intermonolouge when you felt something wet on your hand. Looking down at your intertwined hands you saw a small tear.

"Ah," He mutters using his other hand to wipe his face. The embarrassment he was feeling showed through his pink tinted cheeks.

You were stunned. You never imagined that your soulmate would be choked up at this, at you. However it made your grin wider and your heart swell with adoration. You took a small step closer but not by much. You raised your hands to his cheeks allowing his tears to be caught by your thumbs. Jungkook noticed you were hesitant in your actions. He was just glad to have you so close after all this waiting. Jungkook leaned into your touch as a sweet gesture.

You were never told what it would be like to meet your soulmate. Sure, you heard classmates and co-workers talking about their own experiences, however the most common description was that it was a wordless feeling. One that couldn't possibly be capture in a few words.

Now you understood.

Looking into his big galaxy eyes, you felt breathless. It felt like, you could search every planet in the universe and you still wouldn't find anyone like him. Your heart felt like it was craving his but also wanted to shy away from the bizarre feeling. How could you put a word to such an intense emotion.

Jungkook's eyes suddenly catch something above you and his smile widens. "I like your headband."

You let out a small laugh at his comment feeling your cheeks warm. "Day 1, and you're already teasing me."

Jungkook squeezes your hand and holds it with his other, making it so your hand was in between both of his. He held your hand so cautiously, like it was a precious jewel.

He then looks to something else behind you. You turn around and see his six older brothers looking at him with fondness.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt but we need you back on stage." Jin says. He hated to interrupt this moment. It reminded him so much of when he had found his soulmate. He just wanted to spend all of his time with them and to pull Jungkook away when he just met his just made him feel bad.

"Oh right..." Jungkook said a little hesitant. He look back at you, his eyes showing a range of emotions. "You will wait here won't you?"

"Of course." You respond without hesitation.

Jungkook gave you another bright grin before he followed his hyungs out of the door.

You found out later through social media, that while Jungkook was onstage he began to cry.

"I-uh..." Jungkook paused looking out to the sea of fans, that despite everything he wanted to share this moment with them.

"I just found my soulmate."

I hope you enjoyed! Please comment and reblog if you did!

💜💜💜

#bangtan #bts fluff #bts jungkook #bts soulmate au #soulmate au #bts fanfic #bts fantasy au #soulmate fic #jeon jungkook #jungkook fluff #bts oneshot #jungkook imagine #jungkook oneshot #jungkook headcanons #bts army

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blxetsi · 3 years

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Hi! Can I please request modern au hcs for Armin?

tysm for requesting !!

modern armin arlert dating headcanons

lowercase intended !

college!armin arlert x gn!reader

- okay so

- i think in a college setting you and armin hit it off really well

- i think you guys wouldve just accidentally kept bumping into each other, whether it be around campus, at some coffee shop, in the library

- it gets so frequent you dont even know if its a coincidence at this point, yet you cant help but hope that you seem him whenever you go out

- after ALWAYS bumping into each other and apologizing before making small talk, armin makes the first move

- mf just says "are you following me ?" to which you reply "are YOU following me ?"

- that night ends in you two exchanging numbers 🤩

- you find out that hes a humanities major, and wants to be a psychologist some day

- you also find out he has a paid internship at a research facility near the university you attend

- hes super sweet but also super humble, so he tries not to keep the subject on himself for very long, just wanting to know more about you

- as you two get closer he gets more touchy (not in a weird way)

- he starts greeting you with hugs now, and likes to have a light grip on your wrist when hes leading you through crowded hallways of the school

- he introduced you to his bestfriends and roommates, mikasa and eren, and they were really accepting !! (they already could tell armin liked you even if he didnt know himself)

- you start developing feelings for him about two months after you exchanged numbers, and you honestly felt really weird

- because this beautiful boy whos so sweet and kind and intelligent is like,, wayyyy out of your league

- armin thinks the exact same thing

- he thinks youre so cool and fun to be around, you always have the best stories to tell and are so welcoming,, its HARD not to fall for someone like you !!

- finally he gets up the courage to ask if you can come to his apartment

- and there he confesses 😳💥‼️

- you sit there shocked for a couple seconds too long because now hes freaking out like "im so sorry i didnt wanna seem creepy i just wanted to tell you how i felt you can leave or i can walk you home- wait you probably wouldnt want that but-"

- you just kind of grab his shoulders and start shaking him. before you tell him you like him too.

- the apples of his cheeks turn pink before he smiles and gives you such a tight hug !!

- hes immediately planning a date with you for when youre both free

- takes you to the local aquarium 🤩 and kisses you in front of the moon jellies (u know those big tanks with the jellyfish that are like glow in the dark ?? and the whole hallway is pitch black except for the lights from the tank ?? yeah ❤️ he kissed you THERE and it was beautiful)

- has chapped lips 😐 sorry i dont make the rules

- has a habit of picking them when hes working or lost in thought

- doesnt mean you stop kissing him tho

- is the kind of guy that will genuinely get worried if you send an "sos" type message. gets out of his own class just to speedwalk (he isnt gonna break the rules and run in the halls 🙄) and come to your class just to see if youre okay

- looks at you like 😐 when you explain you just need him to get you an iced coffee from that shitty coffee place in the cafeteria

- does it anyway even though hes annoyed 😌✨

- will grumble about paying him back for the five dollars he just spent on you while you kiss him over and over again in thanks

- doesnt let you pay him back though smh 🙄

- loves to give back hugs

- will do it while youre working, or while youre doing the dishes

- if youre shorter than him he'll rest his head on your and just smell your hair

- if youre taller than him hes shoving his face inbetween your shoulder blades

- is such a lightweight drunk its not even funny

- none of his friends are tbh 🙄

- the first time you saw him drunk was when eren dragged you guys out to a party their friend was hosting (literally interrupted your cuddle time in armins bed to THROW OFF THE BLANKETS and say "you guys are coming with me 😁👍" and when you two said no he TURNED ON THE LIGHTS and ruined the vibe 😐 fucking asshole)

- anyways you two had to change back into your clothes at 9pm just to go to a shitty party that was gonna get busted by the cops anyways 😔💔

- you couldnt find him through the sea of people, and u got really worried until armin called you

- it was not armin on the other line 😁👍

- he said his name was reiner ?? and he said he was with armin bc he puked while playing beer pong

- the guy tells you where they are and you go to find them. theyre sitting on this couch in a backroom and theres only like,, five people in total there ??

- armin is SOBBING while reiner is trying to get him to drink water

- "reiner you dont get it,,, theyre so beautiful. i cant compete. i dont even think theyd wanna be with me. and you have to see them talk about their major. theyre so smart you dont understand." "okay buddy lets just finish this water okay ?"

- armin is leaning his shoulder on this GIANT of a man just going on about how much he loves you and how amazing he finds you. until you tap his shoulder. and then he realizes youve been listening this entire time. and then he starts crying because he doesnt want you to find him weird. and then you have to explain to him that you two are dating. where he doesnt believe you still.

- eren ends up giving you the keys to his car and saying "ill just call you when i need a ride back" and reiner CARRIES armin to the car 😭😭😭

- hes a real gentleman 😁👍

- that morning armin remembers EVERYTHING and is MORTIFIED

- calls reiner immediately like "did people see me puke ? oh god am i gonna be talked about ?"

- has very vivid dreams and remembers all of them ?? will literally tell you about a dream he had when he was five and WILL NOT forget a detail. its weird

- his family actually doesnt seem like they like you 😳 not because they dont theyre just very,, quiet people...... except for his grandfather

- doesnt even care who you are to armin, will pull you down on the couch with him to tell you about all his research and findings as an archeologist (before he retired)

- if youre ever feeling sad about anything, whether that be stress, family problems, or body image issues, armins taking you to his place 😁👍

- he'll cuddle you and whisper how much he loves you while you two are watching something on his laptop

- has acne scars on his shoulders. dont make fun of him for it pls

- loves getting back scratches though, the tingles make him feel really calm

- if you have like,, makeup brushes and stuff he likes it when you brush his face with them, no product or anything but the tingles he gets from it 🤤

- over time his parents warm up to you quiet a bit, and when his mom shows you baby photos and from him as a kid youre SHOCKED.

- he had this little bob cut from when he was ten to his teens 🥺🥺🥺🥺

- when you two are walking back home or wherever you cant help but go on about how cute he was and how healthy and pretty his hair looked (not that its not healthy or pretty now) and he just giggles before pulling you into his side and kissing your cheek while saying "okay baby, ill grow it out just for you then"

- also loves the petnames baby, angel, and love

- will gladly let you steal his sweaters. has a really nice knit one that his grandma made him before she died. that ones off limits.

- doesnt like to fight, but when he feels like hes in the right he wont hesitate to yell back when youre yelling at him

- just dont yell at him pls, it makes him sad

- it takes him a while (and by a while i mean like 30 minutes at most) before his texting you asking if you guys can talk about it

- its really easy for you two to make up, and immediately hes hugging you and just asking if you wanna do something with him

- also, cuts his own hair ?? and would cut yours if you asked. mikasa vouches for him "yeah he trims my hair all the time. why ?"

- every year on your anniversary hes taking you to the aquarium. and he always kisses you as softly as he did the very first time, in the dark hallway of the moon jellyfish tank ✨

a/n

THATS ITTT !!! thanks again for requesting !! i hope you all enjoyed. remember asks are open !! u dont have to request headcanons either !!! go crazy friends !!

#attack on titan headcanons #attack on titan x reader #attack on titan fanfiction #attack on titan #armin arlert #armin attack on titan #armin arlet x reader #armin arlert x reader #armin arlet #eren mikasa armin #eren yeager #mikasa ackerman

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missmentelle · 3 years

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Hi MM/Bee! I'm a recent college graduate. I always worked hard in school and I matured a lot at college, but I'm realizing how low my self-esteem is. I'm obsessing over the things I haven't done/accomplished, scholarships I never applied for, my body image, my high school days, "not being as successful as my high school class", an old crush who I never talked to (who is already super successful), and some days I feel like I messed up my life beyond repair. How do I work on self-love? Thank you!

For starters, I think it’s important for you to know that you aren’t the only person feeling this way. I get similar questions all the time, often from people who aren’t even out of their 20s yet. It isn’t even remotely true that you need to achieve wild success by age 25 or you’ve wasted your life, but I can understand why so many people feel that way.

Our culture is dangerously obsessed with productivity, youth and achievement, to the point that it is actively making all of our lives miserable. It’s not hard to understand where people get this idea that they’re failing in life if they aren’t a 20-something well-travelled millionaire - that is the message our culture throws in our faces all the time - and it’s so unbelievably untrue. We compile “top 30 under 30″ lists, celebrate incredibly young performers and entertainers, and hold up extremely high-achieving lifestyles as something that every one of us needs to be striving for, but we don’t - there is no timeline for “success”, there is no one true definition of success, and people will take wildly different paths in life to arrive at the same set of goals. What you think of as your failure is not actually your failure - it’s a cultural failure that so many of us fall victim to.

I think it’s also important to remember that you haven’t messed up your life beyond repair: you’ve barely started your life yet. Your college years are supposed to be a time of growing and maturing, and that maturation doesn’t end the moment you cross the stage - you’re going to continue to learn and change and grow throughout your lifespan. And growth means you are always going to mess some stuff up - that’s how we grow. All of us have to make mistakes in this life, and all of us have to prioritize rest sometimes; there are always going to be tests we don’t do so great on, social situations we flub, scholarships we don’t apply for, crushes we don’t confess to, deadlines we miss, relationships we let fall apart and goals we don’t achieve. Nobody speedruns life with 100% completion. And that’s okay. Those missteps and mistakes are what teach us to do better next time, or they give us the time to rest and gather energy for the next goal we want to work toward.

Of course, learning to accept yourself and let go of cultural conditioning is easier said than done. For many of us, it’s a lifelong journey, if not the overarching theme of our lives. I wish there was a simple way to achieve it. I do, however, have some tips that can help you get there:

Unplug from productivity and self-improvement culture. Going online and seeing “Shakespeare wrote King Lear in quarantine, here’s how to maximize your quarantine time” and “here’s how I became a millionaire by age 22″ is not actually that motivating - in all likelihood, it’ll just make you feel bad about yourself. The internet is an absolute firehose of content about how you can do more, achieve more, squeeze more out of your day, and it’s completely overwhelming; honestly, most of us feel better when we stop pointing that firehose straight at our own face. It’s easier to believe that you are enough when you stop consuming content that tells you that you aren’t. Self-improvement culture looks positive on the surface, but we aren’t actually making ourselves better people by obsessing over our work and productivity - we’re just making ourselves miserable.

Ask yourself “who benefits from making me feel bad about myself?” It’s not a coincidence that we’ve built a culture obsessed with youth and productivity - that culture is making a lot of people very, very rich. Whenever you can be convinced that you aren’t thin enough, not pretty enough, not good enough, you can be convinced to run out and buy things that might fix the problem. That’s how we ended up with a $10 billion dollar self-improvement industry and a $532 billion dollar beauty industry. Content people are harder to sell to. Of course, knowing that people are profiting off your insecurities doesn’t magically make the insecurities go away - but it’s important to start thinking critically and asking yourself “where do my insecurities come from? Is there really something wrong with me, or is someone profiting from making people like me feel this way?”

Do things that make you happy, just for the sake of doing them. Paint a picture. Plant a garden. Learn to play the mandolin. Read cheesy romance novels. Find some things that you enjoy doing just for you - things that you don’t need to maximize, monetize or optimize. You don’t even need to be good at them. If you enjoy doing it, have at it. So many of us are encouraged to suck the joy out of our hobbies by turning them into a “side hustle” or another regimented form of self-improvement. Find some activities that just make your life better and do them, just for the sake of doing them.

Examine the role of social media in your life. Most of us don’t post a complete, unedited view of our lives on social media - we just post the highlights and keep the tough stuff - the rejections, the times we got ghosted, the bad hair days - to ourselves. And even if you know that cognitively, it still sucks to log onto social media when you’re having a “blah” week and find yourself bombarded with other people’s engagement announcements, med school acceptances, wedding pictures and photos of the new homes people just bought. Social media forces you to compare your “average” to everyone else’s “best”, all the time. And the numbers don’t help - social media lets you do an exact comparison of how many followers and likes you have compared to someone else, and seeing someone get more positive feedback than you can sting. Working on self-love means taking a hard look at the impact social media is having on your self-esteem. How much of your time do you spend on social media? How do you feel after you use social media? Are you following accounts that make you feel better about yourself, or worse? Do you ever feel bad about the number of likes or followers you have? Do you feel like your time on social media is wasted? Do you follow accounts that make you feel better about yourself, or worse? Stepping away from social media for your mental health is an important move for some people - you can still be happy for your friends and loved ones while acknowledging that it’s not good for you to have their achievements broadcast to you 24/7.

Surround yourself with good, supportive people. If you find that your circle of friends tends to diminish each other’s achievements, be overly critical of each other or go out of their way to one-up each other, that’s probably not a circle of friends that’s going to be good for you in the long run. Find people who are genuinely happy for you, and make you feel supported and loved for who you are. If that means you need to branch out of your current social circles, that’s okay - you can find great friends in surprising places, and it’s worth the initial awkwardness of getting to know a new person.

Challenge your definition of “success”. Success does not have to look like a high-paying job and a giant house and expensive cars and 2.5 honour roll children. It certainly can look that way, if you feel that those are meaningful goals for you, but it doesn’t have to look that way. A doctor is not necessarily “more successful” than a poet, and a lawyer is not necessarily “more successful” than a stay-at-home parent. The only person who gets to define what a “successful” life looks like is you. It takes time to unlearn the social conditioning that “money and prestige = success”, but it can be done. Success looks different for all of us.

Set goals that are personally meaningful to you. It’s important for all of us to think critically about what we want, and it’s even more important to think critically about why we want it. Do we want that degree program or that accomplishment or that job because it aligns with our interests? To impress others? To prove someone wrong? Or because we feel like we’re supposed to want it? Try to focus your energy on the goals that you want, that are personally meaningful to you. If that’s law school, great. If that’s selling homemade jam at the farmer’s market, that is equally great.

Remember that success does not have a deadline. I know this is very hard to believe in your early twenties, but your dreams do not shrivel up and blow away the day you turn 30. Life doesn’t end when your 20s are over. You haven’t missed your shot, and you don’t have to figure everything out right now. Growth and achievement are lifelong journeys - people find their dream jobs, accomplish their goals, finish degrees and meet the love of their life in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond. The best book I read this year was “Where the Crawdads Sing” a novel that spent 32 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It also happened to be the author’s first novel, and it came out when she was sixty-nine years old. Your dreams do not have an expiration date.

Capture the joy and positivity in your life. I think one of the most important ways to feel better about your life is to spend more time focusing on all the good things in your life, rather than focusing on all the ways you could be better. Rather than fixating on whether you could have applied for more scholarships or turned that B+ into an A-, spend more time reflecting on the happy memories you have of your time in college. Again, this isn’t something that will happen overnight - it’s a learned skill that you need to consciously work on. Interrupt yourself when you are starting to fixate on things you could have done better, and make yourself list out three things you enjoyed about college. Connect with old college friends you haven’t heard from in a while. Try to take more notice of good things in your life as they happen to you - take more pictures, keep a journal, make collages, start a scrapbook, keep a box of momentos. You don’t need to have a perfect life to be happy; it’s okay to work on being happy with the life you have.

Best of luck to you! MM

#Anonymous #AnsweredByMM #askmissmentelle

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greenandhazy · 4 years

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I’m watching Donald Glover’s last episode of Community, and honestly the relationship between Troy and Abed is one of the best-written ever. ESPECIALLY compared to other 30-minute comedy shows. it’s just... so genuine and touching in unexpected moments, and I’m really hard-pressed to think of other TV duos whose relationship is shown and discussed so deeply.

I haven’t rewatched any of this show since the fourth season aired, and of course I had remembered what a great episode the pillow fort/civil war themed one was, but I had forgotten the context of it happening just after Abed had spent thousands of dollars on celebrity impersonators and the conversation he had with Troy afterwards--Troy defending him to other people the entire episode, only to be disappointed and hurt when Abed doesn’t see his mistake, and then the “I know you don’t like people telling you what to do and I don’t want to be one of those people, but sometimes you just have to listen to me.” Like. Ouch! And Abed accepting that but still obviously being hurt by it--double ouch!

That’s way beyond the typical “accept me for who I am” or “you have to be more considerate” dichotomy you usually see in those kinds of dynamics, you know? It’s much more of a dynamic, fluid negotiation, the kind of conversation you would expect to see irl between an autistic person and their partner trying to balance their emotional needs and their resources.

and then the “body switching” episode! For a character who is often referred to as bad with emotion, Abed’s 1) understanding of and 2) translation of Troy’s emotional state is deep. like, yeah, obviously the body swap thing is gimmicky, it’s a gimmicky show, but if you take it at face value, that means Abed knows enough about Troy’s general emotional state, and the general state of his relationship so that when he’s told “I think we switched bodies,” he intuitively knows it means “I think my lack of enthusiasm in my romantic relationship means that I’m not ready for it and want to break up but I’m terrified of the consequences and don’t know how to say it myself.” and then he just goes out and handles it! and Troy trusts him enough to let him handle it!

I guess those are the two standout scenes for me on this rewatch... and then just, in general, Danny Pudi’s acting in this last episode was so so good. I’m so emo about these two, gah.

#community #trobed

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onthepyre · 3 years

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rest your bones next to me (part 3)

SORRY ITS BEEN FOREVER I DIDNT FORGET I PROMISE

1.4k, swearing, prinxiety, playing into stereotypes for sympathy,

The floor was cold when Virgil woke up. The fall chill had seeped through the walls of the apartment overnight, and he realized with slight alarm that he was alone. Roman was no longer snoring next to him and the bed inches away was empty. He wondered, mind thick with sleep, what time it was, and what his parents were doing. It was a sore spot in his mind, but he poked at it anyways like it was a bad cavity — just to make sure it still hurt.

His back cracked when he stood. Virgil glanced around the room looking for a clock, but he could only judge by the sun through the window. It was probably past eight, at the least. He ventured into the kitchen, only to find it empty except for Roman, who sat at the table with a glass of water and the same book Janus had been reading last night.

“What time is it?” he asked, blinking away the last remains of grogginess.

“Uh, 10:30-ish, I think. Patton left for work about two hours ago.”

“Don’t you have something to do? Why didn’t you wake me up?” Virgil sat down across from Roman, forcing him to put down the book.

“You deserve some sleep after everything. First night’s always the worst one.” Roman smiled gently, a knowing warmth in his eyes.

“So it does get better?” Virgil asked, voice soft. He traced the lines and chips of the table with his nail.

“It still hurts, but you kind of get used to it. You find ways to deal.” Virgil nodded. He spent a moment taking in the walls of the apartment, the old furniture, and chilly air. The idea of calling it home for a while didn’t hurt too much, if he had Roman there to fall asleep on the floor with him and say annoyingly reflective things. Roman broke the silence, finally. “Do you usually eat breakfast? Because none of us do, but I don’t want to suddenly cut your diet in half or anything, so I can make you coffee or some toast if you want.”

“No, that’s okay. Even if I did, it would be too late to eat, anyway.” Virgil stood and leaned against the chair. “Didn’t Patton say you were taking me shopping?”

Roman rose and began walking towards the door, and Virgil followed behind him. “Well, ‘shopping’ is a liberal word. Have you ever stolen anything before?”

Virgil shot him a concerned look as he opened the front door. “No? I mean, when I was a kid, but never intentionally.”

“Awesome! There’s a first time for everything—” Roman turned to wink at him “—and I’m glad to be here for yours.”

“Shut up,” Virgil mumbled, feeling his face grow slightly hot. He fumbled for a way out. “Does Patton know about this?”

Roman grimaced. “Eh, sort of. He knows we do it, but he hates it, so he just doesn’t ask. It saves money, though, so he can’t really complain. I usually just tell him I’ve got enough cash with me.”

“What about Janus?” Virgil knew his attempts were futile, so he kept his gaze focused on the ground.

“He’s proud of us. Logan and I have gotten pretty good at it, actually, and Janus thinks it’s great.”

Virgil nodded, lips pursed. “Alright, then. What are we stealing?”

“Scrap fabric, basically. Something to patch your jacket with. Pat’s got a sewing kit at home, so we can fix it up pretty easy.” They stopped at a crosswalk, and Roman seized his opportunity. “You’re not from this part of the city, right?”

“No, my parents live North of here. We’ve been to Manhattan a few times, but we usually stayed out of the city. It was always too loud for my mom.”

“Okay,” Roman began, “So, the Goodwill we’re going to is about three blocks from here. The laundromat is four blocks in the opposite direction, and then one more is the dollar store where we buy groceries, and there’s a park I play guitar at a few streets behind the apartment. And then the theater Remus and I work at is a little past that.”

Virgil nodded. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to remember all that.”

“That’s alright,” Roman said with a chuckle. “You’ll pick it up. Plus, you’ve got me to guide you.” He threw an arm lazily around Virgil’s shoulders in a sort-of hug, but didn’t drop it until Virgil moved away. They made the rest of the trip in relative silence until Roman stopped them on the street corner just before the store.

“Alright, here’s the plan,” he hissed. “We’re on a date, you find whatever you want, we pretend to make out in the fitting rooms, you tie it around your waist or something, and then we just… leave. It’s like acting. Are you ready?”

“Where the hell did you come up with this plan?”

“Sounds good, let’s go.”

Roman grabbed Virgil’s hand, swinging it a little as they walked. Roman’s grip was firm, probably to make sure he didn’t try to get out, but Virgil couldn’t bring himself to be bothered. It was kind of nice, really.

Roman started giggling before they were even inside the store. “This is going to be so fun!” he exclaimed, voice an octave higher than normal.

“Yeah,” Virgil agreed, trying to mask his confusion. “I’m so excited.”

Roman dragged him to the t-shirts, where he dropped Virgil’s hand to sort through the racks. “You’re gonna look so cute after I give you a makeover, babe. What about this?” He held up a neon pink crop-top with a moustache on it. “Very 2012.”

“Uh… I think I’ll pass.” He busied himself with the array of bright colors in front of him.

“Wait! What about an oversized shirt? That would be so fab!” Roman reached for his hand again, then leaned in close to whisper. “Plus, it’s more fabric to work with.”

“Yeah, that sounds alright.” Virgil let himself be pulled along, again letting go of Roman’s hand to look through the rows of clothing.

They searched quietly for a moment before Virgil removed something from the rack. “What about this?”

He held a flannel, purple plaid and practically brand new. It was good quality, thick enough to be worn in winter.

“Oh, that’s perfect!” Roman said, undertones of his natural voice audible beneath the falsetto. “You’ll look so good.” He grinned, wide, and to Virgil it seemed genuine. “Come on,” he murmured.

They walked to the fitting rooms, Roman snickering and Virgil doing his best to play along. Roman tugged them into the last stall, where he sat down on the only chair. It was a tight fit, even with Virgil pressed against the wall.

“The hell is up with that voice?” Virgil asked, hushed.

“Gay voice. You get more sympathy if you just go with their expectations. Give me that flannel.” Roman was back to speaking normally now, if more softly, and Virgil found a sort of peace in his gravelly whisper. He handed the garment over. Roman pulled a switchblade from his pocket and cut the tag.

“Okay, so I know not to make you mad,” Virgil said under his breath.

“It’s not for people, it’s a tool.”

“You’re a tool.”

“Just take this,” Roman hissed, holding out the flannel. Virgil shed his jacket to put it on underneath. Roman stood, leaving only inches between them. He reached up and ran his hands through his hair a few times, then did the same to Virgil’s.

“Hold your breath,” Roman said. “It makes your face red.”

Virgil obliged, and Roman copied him, silently competing to see who could go the longest without taking a breath; Roman won by a few seconds.

“Are we good now?” Virgil asked. “Yeah.” Roman nodded. “Try to look giddy. In love. Whatever.” He gripped Virgil’s hand again and threw open the door, laughing breathlessly. Virgil pressed against his side as they walked, trying to make as much contact as he could. He smiled in his best attempt at shyness when they passed the cashier, and pressed the side of his head into Roman’s shoulder.

“Did you boys find everything?” The woman at the register beamed in a way that could only be fake.

“Yep, thanks so much!” Roman’s sickly sweet falsetto was back, and he threw up a hand in a wave. Virgil expected alarms to go off when they walked out the sliding doors, but none did. He looked up at Roman once they had left the vicinity of the store.

“Holy shit,” he said, “I can’t believe that worked.”

“It always does,” Roman said, almost wistfully. “What do you think?”

Virgil paused for a moment. “That was pretty fun.”

#prinxiety #roman sanders #virgil sanders #fluff #theft #fake relationship #fake dating #june's writing

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thequeenb · 4 years

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Destiny (part 1)

A request from @lightning-fury

Pairings: KamilahxMC

"What is meant to be always finds a way"

Kamilah was never used on having a relationship neither she was willing to. But Amy came in her life and she was drawn to that woman.

The cold and cynical woman she always was softened under Amy's gaze even she never admitted it. Everything was perfect the first few months, Kamilah cleared her schedule for Amy and spent time with her even texting her something she wasn't familiar with. But all that changed on one specific night.

Amy walked inside Kamilah's office furiously knowing when you play with fire you get burned

"Are you serious??" Amy yelled crossing her arms as Kamilah was surprised she saw her Infront of her, in her office, while she work. No one disturb her when she works. "Who let you in?" Amy laughed sarcastically not believe what was happening "Do i need permission??" Kamilah didn't bother to listen to a mewling mortal, especially while filling in documents that until "I ASKED A QUESTION" Amy now sounded really serious "am i a toy to you? A slut you fuck and then leave???" "Amy if you could j-" but Amy made the decision she wish she never made "look Kamilah you use me and-" but she stopped when she found herself pinned against the wall, Kamilah was Infront of her, eyes red and her sharp fangs out. "Listen to me mortal" she started holding Amy's hands tight "Ouch you hurt me Kamilah!!" But she didn't listen, it was like another person was inside her. "No one. Disturb me. When i work." Kamilah said angrily still holding Amy "Who even are you?? You hurt me Kamilah!!" But she didn't listen to her she wasn't planning to. "You think you matter?" Kamilah's angry voice echoed in Amy's mind. Maybe it was a nightmare, please let it be a nightmare. Kamilah pushed Amy hard, making her land on the floor. "Are you crazy??!!" Amy tried to stand up but Kamilah's strength was unbeatable, she was at her mercy. "Why do you think you are so special? You were just a person to pass my time with when i was free" Kamilah said laughing sarcastically "you really thought i would fall in love with a mortal like you". Amy stood there, tears falling from her eyes, how could she not see it before? Those words cut deeper than a knife in Amy's heart she stared at Kamilah in disbelief. "I will go.." it was all she could say with her shaky voice but before she had a chance to go Amy felt two sharp fangs cut deep into her neck this cant be happening can it? She cares Amy she will stop..she will stop..she.. will..

But Kamilah took it to far this time, drinking Amy's blood like her life depended on it. Amy fell unconscious as she caught her, blood dripping down her chin "That will teach you a lesson" she smirked as she carried her to her car. What happened to Kamilah? The one who used to not care about her safety as long as Amy was safe?

Amy tried to open her eyes even if she couldn't. She heard voices and conversations, she felt needles in her hands but she believed it was just a dream, until she opened her eyes. "Great you are awake Miss Parker" a nurse said reading her clipboard "You fainted last night, Miss Sayeed informed us about the incident, you had a deep mark in your neck that we tried our best to recover but rather than that your health is fine you should be able to leave tomorrow, if you need anything dont hesitate to call me" and like that she left Amy alone. What the hell happened? but then flashbacks came back

"Kamilah stop!!!" Amy moaned in pain not believing what is happening, is that really Kamilah? Is this just another nightmare" "Please..it hurts" she tried to push Kamilah away even if she failed, until everything started to spin around her as she closed her eyes.

"No.." she said as tears run down her cheeks. The woman she trusted with her life failed her. Did she pretended all these months? Was she always this cruel and she was so blind in love to notice? Her head was hurting so she decided to rest, in hope her tears will stop that way.

"Thank you very much" Amy said to her nurse as she was exiting the hospital. The sun went down so she wrapped her hands around herself trying her best not to cry. How could she do this? Until now she never found a logical explanation to what caused that behaviour.

Amy walked by Priya's club one drink never hurt anybody.

As she entered the loud music made all her thoughts disappear so she walked to the bar "One dry martini" she ordered as the barman gave her a smile "here you go Miss". Amy drank it in one shot feeling the alcohol burn her throat. Before she could get up she felt a cold hand on her shoulder "Well well" Priya said smiling widely, Amy wasn't in the mood to speak as she waved at her "Follow me, to much loud music here" she said pulling the girl to her large office

Amy sat in one of the huge leather chairs as Priya did the same "Now then to what i owe this pleasure?" The fashion designer said holding Amy's leg "i needed a drink" Amy said coldly, even Priya sensed that something was wrong "Hmm..What happened hm? You dont seem well" is that a genuine concern by Priya Lacroix? Was she really ready to talk about it? But she needed to get it out of her chest so she explained to the vampire what happened watching Priya's eyes turn red "That two faced bitch!!" she said shocked "i knew grandma wasn't as she showed she was" Amy started sobbing running her hands to her hair "Shhh dont cry" Priya said pulling her into her hug, Amy felt safe, like someone really cared about her well being, she enjoyed the warmth "You know you cant sit crying like someone weak would..my forte is revenge" Priya said smiling widely "and you can make her pay". Amy took those words very seriously.

2 months had passed and Amy was weak and vulnerable sitting on her couch all day. She never told anyone what happened but then she touched her wound tears forming in her eyes. "Ouch..". Kamilah never healed her, she left her at her own luck. How could she be so heartless? Amy swears she saw vulnerability in Kamilah's eyes, but then again maybe she was wrong. Amy stood up feeling dizzy as she approached a mirror. She looked at the bite, it was hurting to much. Was that her punishment? Her thoughts were to much to handle as she fell to the floor crying. You can make her pay..you can make her pay.. "I will make her pay" she finally said wiping her tears.

"Are you sure you will be ok?" Lily said as she watched Amy pack her things "absolutely Lil, its a one time opportunity" Amy decided to build her own future, she found someone who was interested in her ideas and wanted to proceed further into giving her a chance. "Dont forget to call me" Lily said wiping her tears "Oh come here" Amy said hugging her best friend goodbye as she walked to her taxi.

Los Angeles, 10pm 3 months later

Amy succeeded to be the best at what she did, many doors opened for her when her ideas were fascinating and helped the company rise to the top. "And our outcome has increased to 30 million dollars a month" Amy said proudly looking over at her boos who nodded in disbelief.

When the meeting ended her boss called her in his office. Amy has been waiting for this month's now. "Hello Amy take a sit" the old man said crossing his hands. "You are remarkable, you sacrifice everything in a little amount of time for this company" Amy smiled "I am determinated at what i do sir" "Please call me Harry" he said smiling. "So the reason i called you here is because i am actually retiring" Amy tried to hide her excitement "And i couldn't think of a better person to rule this empire, you made me proud" Harry said extending hands with Amy "I wont disappoint you i promise"

Everything she ever wanted was right in her hands, she had power glory but what she missed the most was revenge, revenge on the one who broke her as a person and made her feel weak. She stroked her wound reminding herself how cruel Kamilah was its time for you to pay.

Since she decided to make a new beginning she never looked back, she didn't pick up phone calls and didn't rest..what she desired was revenge. Amy was sitting on her couch with a glass of wine trying to think of a way to ruin Kamilah's life. What does she care about the most? Hmm..oh i know..her stupid clan she thought smiling widely. "You will regret Kamilah Sayeed".

New York city, 11pm

"Karen bring me more documents please" Kamilah said sitting back on her chair. She haven't tried to find Amy nor she was planning to, she knew she was to good for her and she decided to push her away the cruel way. Months passed by and no one heard of her. Adrian told Kamilah she would try seek happiness and no turning back. "Here you go Miss Sayeed" Karen said handing her the documents and then leaving her alone with her thoughts. Today was her and her brother's birthday, she smiled to herself thinking back to their good memories.

Even if 2000 + years had passed she could never forget him.

"Come on it will be fun" Lysimachus said as he grabbed Kamilah's hand "You will get us in trouble" she said rolling her eyes but she loved when she had the chance to spend time with her brother.

But her thoughts were interrupted by the open TV she had in her office, she was about to close it when a familiar name popped in the screen.

"Former millionaire Amy Parker made her way to the top in a small amount of time working for Mister Harry's Financial Company, yesterday the Empire was handed to the brilliant young woman only 23 years old".

That was enough to see as Kamilah closed the TV. She was surprised to see how Amy who once was a weak woman was now actually building her own empire. But she couldn't care less so she continued her job without ever thinking about it. Big mistake.

Meanwhile,

Amy was attending her party to celebrate her achievement in a beautiful red short Armani dress and sparkly diamonds all around her neck,ears and fingers. Months ago she wouldn't care less for expensive tastes and clothes, but her life changed, she changed. She walked with grace around the large living room of her mansion clicking her glass. Everyone stopped whatever they did as silence fell into the room. "I would like to thank you all for coming tonight to celebrate my success" she said smiling "i want to thank Mister Harry for believing in me" her eyes fell on him who nodded greatfully "and i wish you all a lovely night, enjoy our goods" and like that the room filled with cheers and people chatting about a variety of things.

"Miss Parker they are here" her personal guard said. "Lead them to my office" Amy said grabbing another glass of wine.

As she walked in her large office she was greeted by two women, desperate ones.

"Well well, is there is something i can give you? Wine? My blood?" she said laughing for a brief second and then crossed her legs, her expression serious and scary. "They attacked us again, they are unstoppable, stupid Council" one of the women said as Amy was deep in thought "they dont have mercy for clanless do they?" she drank her wine thinking of possible ways to help.

When she came in Los Angeles the first person she spoke to was a Clanless vamprire that soon became her very good friend. She helped as much as she could given the opportunity and she didn't hesitate to tell them about the Council and their secrets.

"With all due respect but weren't you close to the council members? Especially the strongest one Kamilah Sayeed?" the other woman asked as Amy's expression changed to an unreadable one "Yes. Yes i was" she said like she had poison in her mouth and needed to spit it out "i am sorry i didn't want to-" but Amy held up a hand "Dont, you just gave me a brilliant idea" she said smiling widely.

Tag list: @@galaxyside-0 @scarlet-letter-a0114 @la-guera-69 @amorettemcsky @ilovetaylor13m @idkbutkamilah

#choices kamilah #kamilah sayeed #bb kamilah #kamilah is my queen #kamilah x mc #bloodbound #play choices #choices #pb choices #choices you play #pixelberry #pb #choices fanfiction

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moneysourceyt · 4 years

Text

My Personal Experience With John Crestani’s Super Affiliate System

How It All Started

It all started on one weekend when I was scrolling on my Twitter timeline. My attention was drawn to this one retweet from one of my friends on Twitter. He had retweeted a tweet by John Crestani. I don’t remember much about what exactly the tweet was all about but it was something in the line of “financial freedom” and “making passive income.” I guess I was a little too excited to pay attention to the details.

So, I clicked on the link provided and found myself on what looked like a well-crafted landing page. On this page, John shared lots of information regarding a system that he had discovered and one that he believed could empower beginner and intermediate affiliate marketers.

I wasn’t new to affiliate marketing at that time. The first time I heard of it was back in 2014 when I was doing some online research on how to make money online. After sifting through dozens of scams, I finally managed to sign up for the Amazon Associate program.

Once my account was approved, I simply went to my back-end, picked a few banner codes and pasted them on my blog. At that time, I didn’t know much about targeting the right audience and the need for being niche specific.

So, as fate would have it, my affiliate marketing dream hit a snag. My account was closed within 90 days and that’s because despite delivering some clicks, no one was buying through my affiliate links. To cut the long story short, I completely gave up on the idea of making money online by getting random strangers to make purchases through some goddamn links.

I chose to stick to my day job which to be honest I didn’t like that much. But as any other person looking to pay the bills would do, I had to keep going to the office, deal with numerous client calls and sit in a dimly lit cubicle all day.

So, when I came across John Crestani’s tweet and eventually the landing page, my dream of being independent once again came back to life.

Who Is John Crestani

The reason John grabbed my attention is that he had a story that was almost similar to mine. He was once stuck in a boring day job but unfortunately, for him, he got fired without a clear exit strategy. I can only imagine if I was the one in such a situation. How would I pay my rent? How would I convince my daughter that there was no food in the house or money to keep the AC working?

But John somehow managed to go through it all, effectively building a $500k business from scratch. Having seen it all, John seeks to help you and me learn the tricks and techniques it took him years to master.

I really liked how genuine he sounded but, to be honest, I was still a bit skeptical. That’s because John kept talking about his current affluent life. I even peeped into his Instagram and Facebook pages and realized that he frequently posts photos of himself standing next to Lamborghini’s. Why do you need a Lambo to sell a $47 course?

I am not a fun of marketing tactics that involve showing off what one owns or drives. If anything, it’s always possible to rent a Lambo and fool people on social media that it’s all yours.

In my opinion, if John could spare us all the stuff about his personal life, he can be a bit more convincing and authoritative. Otherwise, one might mistake him for a scammer despite the fact that he’s selling a really good course.

How It Works

So, I started out by signing up for the Internet Jetset program. It’s a subscription-based service which goes for $47. This program comprises some awesome lessons for beginners. In particular, it walks you through some awesome ways to generate valuable traffic without spending a dime.

These are strategies that other marketers hardly talk about. And even if they talk about them, they hardly bother to get into the details as John does.

The lessons are presented in video format. John narrates everything using screen recordings. This makes his courses pretty easy to follow. In fact, you can do everything he says as he narrates to you and that’s because it’s possible to pause the videos and resume when necessary.

What I didn’t like, however, is that it’s not possible to “fast-forward” the videos. So, if you’re already familiar with whatever John is talking about at any given moment, you’d have no alternative than to still listen to it. This can be quite annoying and time wasting.

Also, I don’t know if it’s just me or that John talks really slowly. Some of the lessons could have been 30 minutes but he talks rather slowly and a good number of them go up to 45 minutes in length. The upside is that you get some highly detailed and in-depth training no matter your level of skills.

Also, the Internet Jetset courses are divided into tiny, little portions. Ideally, you should take 1 module per week meaning you’d need several weeks to finish the entire program. Fortunately, you don’t have to finish it for you to start making real cash. You can start using your skills to get the systems up and running. For instance, you can use the skills learned within the Google Free Traffic Module to tap into the power of SEO.

The Upsells

The Jetset is pretty affordable at $47 per month, so what’s the catch? Well, the catch is that you’ll constantly receive emails from John enticing you to buy one of the premium packages on offer. For instance, if you’re already enrolled in the Internet JetSet program, you’ll constantly be enticed to go for the Super Affiliate program which goes for close to $1,000.

There’s also the JetsetLIVE webinars package that goes for $97. You’ll also find the JetSet Xtreme Members course which goes for $187.

I accidentally subscribed to the JetSet Xtreme Members course when I clicked on the link out of curiosity. And instead of being taken to a check out page, I got a message reading “Thank you for purchasing the Jetset Xtreme Members” course.

My Thoughts on the JetSet Xtreme Members Course

This is a platform full of pre-recorded videos of other affiliate marketers who have used this system to successfully make money. The course also provides you with links to third-party tools that you can use to make purchases. At first, I thought these were free tools but upon clicking on them I realized they belonged to other companies and you had to pay up to use them.

So, in my opinion, while the JetSet Xtreme is full of value especially if you’re looking to learn from the experiences of other affiliate marketers, it doesn’t really provide you with free tools. Just a bunch of affiliate links to other services.

I did not find this part of the program to be worth the $187 they charge for it. And for that reason, I claimed my money back. Fortunately, John kept his word and I got back all the money I had accidentally spent on this upsell.

I really liked the fact that the company is made up of honest people. It’s rare to come across companies that are willing to refund money nowadays – so two thumbs up to the Super Affiliate System team.

My Thoughts on the $997 Super Affiliate System (SAS)

While the Internet Jetset program focuses on the free sources of traffic, the SAS shows you exactly what you need to do to leverage on paid traffic methods. In my opinion, the $997 you pay for this course is worth it but only if you’re willing to sit down and learn the tricks. It won’t work like magic.

You see, everyone can place an advert on Facebook, Instagram or even Google Adwords. But if you ask around, you’ll realize that most of those ads don’t convert. It doesn’t matter how much you invest in the course unless you really understand the psychology of the buyer, you’d end up making shots in the dark.

The good thing with paid traffic is that it works almost instantly. That’s unlike the free traffic methods which take months or even years to materialize. So, if you don’t have the time to build dozens of backlinks and implement other SEO tasks for your site to rank (which normally takes years), this strategy enables you to start making money immediately.

And the best part is that besides exposing you to the language of paid affiliate marketing, the SAS course also provides you with 3 core skills. These include:

Copywriting

Data analysis

Research

In general, the SAS is an 8-week course which comprises 50 hours’ worth of content. It also contains lots of additional resources that can help complement your unique strategy.

Week One – The System Setup

This section of the training mainly comprises stuff to do with creating a website, setting up a presell page and rolling out Facebook ads.

Week Two – Understanding the System

Introduces you to the core skills of online business. It also aims to help you unlock a super affiliate mindset so you can profit from different situations.

Week Three – Marketing Skills

How do you get people to click on your ads and convert? As we all know, it takes an expert to hack this. Luckily, those skills are provided within this section of the training.

Week Four – Facebook & Google Ads

Facebook and Google have more than 2 billion active users per month. So, if you were to get a piece of this pie, chances are that you’d make some pretty huge bucks as well. And that’s what John Crestani does in week 4 of his training.

Week Five – Native & YouTube Ads

Ever thought of leveraging the power of native ads? Basically, native ads are ones that are included within a media format. For instance, you can include such ads on your webpage content and so forth. Besides that, you’ll also get to learn how to do YouTube Ads and so forth.

Week Six – Scaling and Outsourcing

Once you have the skills needed to make the first dollars, you’ll need to find ways to grow and expand your trade. Using the tidbits shared in the 6-th week of this training, you’ll be able to outsource and automate quite a number of tasks so you can focus on growing your business.

Week Seven – More Ad Campaigns

Most people usually limit themselves to Google and Facebook. But did you know that there’s a lot of unused potential on platforms like LinkedIn and Bing? In this module, you’ll be able to learn about all that plus a lot more.

Week Eight – Implementing the System

If you’re wondering which ad network to join and which niche to embrace, this is the module you’ll need to take. It’s a highly advanced section of the training that helps you decide the direction you want your online business to follow.

My Results

After going through this program, I’d like to admit that I learned quite a lot. Most importantly, I was able to re-apply for the Amazon Associates program and got accepted. I have been making quite some bucks over the last few years. One of my sites rakes in $1500 while the other one brings about $2000 per month.

My goal is to scale these two sites up – I know there’s potential to make $10,000 per site (per month) with more content and a stronger SEO presence. But that might take time. For now, I appreciate the fact that the investment I made in the Super Affiliate System is now paying back.

The Pros & Cons

Pros

Easy to use

Contains tons of useful advice

Relevant information provided

Well thought out curriculum

John is a good trainer and he takes time to explain different points

They offer a genuine money back guarantee

Pre-built templates for ads

Cons

Customer support only available via email

Quite a few optional upsells included

Frequent emails were sent to market their upsells

Final Thoughts

The Super Affiliate System by John Crestani is not without its flaws. But that doesn’t mean that it’s bad. In fact, as long as you’re willing to learn and implement its contents, you can truly benefit from it. I personally would recommend it to any person looking to make genuine cash in the vast online markets.

You can check it out here.

#money #makingmoneyonline #make money online #make money fast #making money online

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baker-ginny · 4 years

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Enslaved Real Estate - Why I Can't Stop and Why You Should Start off

The All-Money-Down Technique So how does the all-money-down practice work by purchasing a home with cash? First of all, i can repeat that I really didn't have any cash, and yet I had a significant amount of equity from Terry's home plus several homes that I owned put together to give me a substantial hard cash down payment. Banks and mortgage companies alike will accept dollars from a home-equity line of credit as cash to purchase a home. Not less than they did in 1997 under the financial guidelines of your day. What you must remember about mortgages and providing credit is that the guidelines change constantly, so this technique I actually used in 1997 may or may not be able to be used someday. Whether it is or isn't able to be used again doesn't genuinely matter to me as I believe that there will always be a way to order real estate with limited money down sooner or later. There will always be a technique to acquire real estate but exactly how that will be done at some point I'm not completely sure. I began purchasing property in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia with the prices in the $30, 000 to $40, 000 per home price range. We'd purchase a home with three bedrooms and one bathroom about the second floor with a kitchen, dining room, and living room within the first floor and a basement. What we call a line home in Philadelphia would consist of a porch outside front and a backyard the width of the home. Most short period homes in Philadelphia are less than twenty-two feet big. For those of you who are not from Philadelphia and can't impression what a Philadelphia row home looks like, I suggest you watch your movie Rocky. Twenty-two homes on each side of the block will really test your ability to be a next door neighbor. Things that will usually cause an argument with your Philadelphia neighbors sometimes stem from parking, noise your children make, where you will leave your trash cans, parties, and the appearance of your townhouse. In 1998 my girlfriend and I moved throughout together and to the suburbs of Philadelphia called Warminster. After living on a street in Tacony, much like Rocky did, I really looked forward to having space between great home and my next-door neighbor. I told Terry not to even think about talking with the people who lived to your neighbors to us. I told her if one of them comes in excess of with a fruitcake I am going to take it and punt it as a football right into their backyard. I believe I was affected by Philadelphia row home syndrome. My new neighbors through Warminster turned out to be wonderful people, but it took me 20 months before I was willing to learn that. This means you just bought your row home for $35, 000 in Mayfair, and after $2000 in closing costs and also $5000 in repair costs, you find yourself a good tenant who would like to rent the home. After renting the home with a positive cash of $200 a month, you now have an outstanding debt involving $42, 000 on your home equity line of credit that will should be paid off. When purchasing the home, I did not get a property loan as I just purchased a home for cash as it will be said in the business. All monies I spent on this house hold were spent from the home-equity line of credit. The move now is to pay off your home-equity line of credit so you can go do it again. We have now go to a bank with your fixed-up property and tell a mortgage department that you want to do a cash-out refinancing of this real estate investment. It helps to explain that the neighborhood you purchase your property on should have a wider range of pricing as the neighborhood associated with Mayfair did in the mid-90s. The pricing of real estate in Mayfair is quite unusual as you would see a $3000 difference in home values from one block to the next. I thought this was important when doing a cash-out refinancing because it's rather easy for the bank to see that I just bought my place for $35, 000 regardless of the fact that I did many maintenance tasks. I could justify the fact that I've spent more money on my best home to fix it up, and by putting an important tenant in, it was now a profitable piece of realty from an investment standpoint. If I was lucky including I was many times over doing this system of purchasing properties in Mayfair and the appraiser would use homes the block or two away and come back with an value determination of $45, 000. Back then there were programs allowing the investor to purchase a home for 10 percent down or placed in as equity doing a 90 percent cash through refinance giving me back roughly $40, 500. Employing this technique allowed me to get back most of the money Document put down on the property. I basically paid just $1, 500 down for this new home. Why did all the mortgage companies and the appraisers keep giving me the actual numbers I wanted? I assume because they wanted the business. I would primarily tell the bank I need this to come in at $45, 000 or I am just keeping it financed while is. They always seemed to give me what I want within reason. This whole process took three to four many months during which time I may have saved a few thousand cash. Between the money I saved from my job plus my investments and cash out refinancing, I had replenished most or all of my funds from my home-equity line of credit that was now almost back to zero to begin doing this again. And that is exactly what I intended to do. I employed this system to purchase four to six homes a year utilizing the same money purchasing home after home after home over and over again. In reality, any technique is a no-money down or little money downward technique. At the time maybe I had $60, 000 in attainable funds to use to buy homes off of my HELOC, i really would buy a home and then replenish the money. It was an awesome technique that was legal, and I could see my want being a real estate investor full-time coming to an eventual real truth even though I wasn't there yet. During the years as a result of 1995 to 2002, the real estate market in Philadelphia made gradual increases of maybe 6 percent because each year went on. I began to track my net worthwhile that was 100 percent equity, meaning I had no other forms from investments to look at when calculating my net worth. By and large, the first five years of my real estate career will not go well because of the bad decisions I made selecting buildings and the decline in the market. Furthermore, my lack of understanding and experience in repairs made it a rough. The actual five years of my real estate career that I just simply finished explaining didn't make much money either. That i supported myself primarily through my career as a salesperson, but I could definitely see the writing on the wall who down the road real estate was going to be my full-time gig. Real estate Professionals of America I own an office building that includes a real estate company as a tenant called Realty Professionals about America. The company has a terrific plan where a new professional receives 75 percent of the commission and the broker becomes only 25 percent. If you don't know it, this is a pretty good put up, especially for a new real estate agent. The company also offers a 5 per-cent sponsorship fee to the agent who sponsors them regarding every deal they do. If you bring an individual who's going to be a realtor in to the company that you have sponsored, the broker will probably you a 5 percent sponsorship out of the broker's end so the new realtor you sponsored can still earn seventy-five percent commissions. In addition to the above, Realty Professionals of U . s offers to increase the realtor's commission by 5 percentage point after achieving cumulative commission benchmarks, up to a maximum connected with 90 percent. Once a commission benchmark is come to, an agent's commission rate is only decreased if fees in the following year do not reach a lower baseline amount of money. I currently keep 85 percent of all my deals' commissions; plus I receive sponsorship checks of 5 percent from the commissions that the agents I sponsored receive. If you'd like to learn more about being sponsored into Realty Professionals for America's wonderful plan, please call me directly within 267-988-2000. Getting My Real Estate License One of the things that I did in the summer of 2005 after leaving my full-time job was to make plans to get my real estate permit. Getting my real estate license was something I always was going to do but never seemed to have the time to do it. I'm certain you've heard that excuse a thousand times. People normally say that they're going to do something soon as they find the moments to do it, but they never seem to find the time, do individuals? I try not to let myself make excuses for things. So I've made up my mind before I ever in your life left my full-time job that one of the first matters I would do was to get my real estate license. I just enrolled in a school called the American Real Estate Initiate for a two-week full-time program to obtain my license selling real estate in the state of Pennsylvania. Two terrific individuals with a world of experience taught the class, as well as I enjoyed the time I spent there. Immediately after handing in the course at the American Real Estate Institute, I booked the next available day offered by the state to take the state exam. My teachers' advice to take the exam immediately after the particular class turned out to be an excellent suggestion. I passed the assessment with flying colors and have used my license often times since to buy real estate and reduce the expenses. If you are likely to be a full-time real estate investor or a commercial real estate real estate investor, then you almost have to get a license. While I know a few people who don't believe this, I'm convinced it's the only technique. I worked on one deal at $3 million from where the commission to the buyer's real estate agent was $75, 000. By your time my broker took a share, I stormed with $63, 000 commission on that deal only. With the average cost per year of being a realtor running with regards to $1200 per year, this one deal alone would've paid for the real estate license for fifty-three years. Not to mention all the other fringe benefits like having access to the multiple listing service offered too many realty in this country. While there are other ways to get access to typically the multiple listing services or another program similar to the software, a real estate license is a great way to go. Some of the negatives My spouse and i hear over and over again about having your real estate license is the news that you have to disclose that you are realtor when buying a home for anybody who is representing yourself. Maybe I'm missing something, but When i don't see this as a negative at all. If you're proficient in the art of negotiation, it's just another hurdle you will have to deal with. I suppose you could end up in a lawsuit where a court in law could assume because you are realtor you should know each one of these things. I don't spend my life worrying about the zillion ways I can be sued any more than I concern yourself with getting hit by a car every time I cross the road. The Addict From his first investment property through 20 years ago to his relentless search for the next a lot every day, Falcone is a nonstop real estate investment machine! Get Passionate Sometimes addiction is a very good thing. In this book Phil Falcone, the ultimate real estate addict, will show you how to achieve remarkable success as a real estate investor: Delve into the details regarding actual deals he negotiated and learn why his / her methods were so effective Discover why his or her residential to commercial real estate strategy will create greatest wealth Learn how he used apparent liabilities (OCD, insomnia, and workaholic behavior) to help him achieve the goals Explore why he can't stop purchasing real estate, and how you can start controlling your own financial destiny through real estate

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toomuchtimenerd · 4 years

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Reviews for 3 New Adult Novels

So I got a little bored and decided to take a short break from YA fantasy. I spent a good amount of time browsing the Kindle Unlimited catalog (I very recently found out that even if you don’t pay for Kindle Unlimited these books are still much cheaper than others. It’s like $3-4 for a book compared to the usual 9.99. Incredible). During my search, I came across the New Adult genre (seriously - why is Kindle Unlimited FILLED with NA books?) and because I’ve been needing to obsess over some steamy romance lately I picked up two of the most angsty NA books I could find plus one that simply had stellar reviews on Goodreads. And then I proceeded to finish all three books within about a week. To top it off, two of these books are like 700-page novels. It’s amazing how much one can accomplish when you have literally nothing better to do with your life, isn’t it? Yes, I am poking fun at myself. But it’s all temporary. I’m going to actually try my best to keep these three reviews as spoiler-free as possible, for once.

I’m going to start with Devious Lies by Parker Huntington, as that is the first NA book I finished reading this week. So this 700 page behemoth of a book features your standard enemies-to-lovers with a little bit of suspense/mystery added in for flavor. Oh, and sprinkled with some SERIOUS angst and brooding on top. It also features an age-gap romance, and is slow-burn. Devious Lies is basically about rich girl Emery Winthrop who, at 18 years old, is forced to forgo her rich girl life when her father goes under investigation for embezzlement and subsequently goes in hiding. When the embezzlement is leaked, this basically screws over everyone who’s employed by Emery’s father and everyone who invested stocks in his company. This includes a HUGE amount of people in the southern town Emery grew up in. This also includes the Prescott brothers, Reed and Nash. Reed is the boy that Emery had the biggest crush on her entire life, but Nash is ultimately the main love interest and POV that we see aside from Emery’s.

After the whole embezzlement thing which is a huge factor leading to Nash’s father’s death, Nash is pretty much hellbent on seeking revenge on the Winthrops. By the time the story really gets going, Nash is in his 30s and has essentially built a multi-billion dollar enterprise and of course is one hell of an angsty playboy. Emery is around 22 years old, fresh out of college (paid for by herself) and gets hooked up with a job working for Nash. Nash finds out, and makes it his life goal to make Emery’s life as difficult as possible while trying to find out where her dad is hiding. The entire story is about the progression of their relationship and the secrets surrounding the embezzlement.

So this is probably one of the better angsty love stories I’ve ever read. And that’s saying a lot because I’ve never liked angst all that much (tried it with The Cruel Prince and although I really didn’t like it I actually have been considering giving that trilogy another chance). Angst is usually so... unbelievably NOT well written at all b/c I feel like angsty characters are just angsty without a good enough backstory to defend it. This tends to be more so prominent in contemporary romance novels, or maybe that’s just because I’m a lot pickier when it comes to contemporary romance. But for Devious Lies, I think Huntington does a pretty good job at charging the main characters with believable and understandable angst. Nash grew up almost in poverty and his dad literally worked himself to death while watching trust-fund baby Emery grow up like a southern princess. The embezzlement destroyed Nash’s dad, so I can see why he blames the entirety of the Winthrop family for the hardships he faced growing up. Not to mention, Nash’s life story is the embodiment of a rags-to-riches story so of course he’s going to look down on Emery who supposedly gets millions of dollars per month just from her trust fund.

Devious Lies is told from two alternating POVS, Emery & Nash, and I think the scene I anticipated the most was when Nash found out that Emery isn’t getting a single penny out of her trust fund and that Emery is actually living in poverty and working to survive, not out of boredom. We know that Emery’s life is incredibly tough from the very beginning, considering her family name is tainted and she owes student loans on top of helping fund someone else’s college tuition. Nash doesn’t find out about this until maybe past the halfway point of the book, and for me that was probably my favorite part of the entire book - the realization of how much of a complete ass he’s been to her and how she really is the last person who deserved to be targeted by his thirst for vengeance. This is also when their relationship hits a major turning point and finally dips out of the ‘enemies’ part of enemies-to-lovers.

I think my biggest issue with Devious Lies is how unnecessarily long it is. I think it could absolutely be cut down to around 400 pages, since there were a lot of chapters (especially in the very beginning) that could’ve been very easily abridged or completely left out. The first several chapters covers major events from before Emery goes to college and Nash strikes rich, and from what I can tell these chapters are there to lay out character foundations. But Huntington really could have made these SO MUCH shorter and gotten to the actual story way quicker without sacrificing any character building. Just my two cents, although it seems like most reviewers on Goodreads agree with me over this regard. So despite some unnecessary chapters or parts that could have been left out, I think I’d still give this book a solid 4/5 simply because the author managed to write contemporary romantic angst without making me want to die of second-hand embarrassment. Not to mention, the big plot twists near the end of the story were quite well written and totally worth sticking around for in my opinion.

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Second book is The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata. Apparently Zapata is like a god at writing sports romance, and this book was rated #1 on some kind of Goodreads list plus it was like 4 bucks or something so of course I had to check it out. This large book is around 600+ pages, but out of the three books that I’m reviewing in this post today this is DEFINITELY my favorite one of the three. I haven’t read a sports romance since I was 15 and obsessed with the Escape to New Zealand series, so I honestly didn’t know what to expect from this outside of mega muscle dudes and steamy sex scenes with said mega muscle dudes. But this book managed to exceed whatever I was expecting AND to my surprise only had one actual full-blown sex scene. Which was very tactfully placed and made for a beautiful end to a truly slow-burn romance. And by truly, I mean seriously truly slow-burn. My god, I don’t think I’ve ever read a slow-burn as freaking slow as this one. But wow it was so worth the snail pacing of their relationship. Speaking of the relationship, I need to talk about our two main characters.

We’ve got Vanessa who is super in debt and has been working as a famous football player’s (Aiden) assistant in every way possible for two years by the start of the story. She finally has enough in her savings to quit and focus on her graphic design freelance career, so she leaves and over a month later her boss is at her door asking her to marry him so he could get his US citizenship. The rest of the story is about the progression of their relationship after they get married and move in with each other. Unfortunately this book was written solely in Vanessa’s POV, and I say unfortunately because I would’ve really loved to have some Aiden POV chapters too. He’s not exactly a hardcore brooder, but he’s also not super open about himself either so at times it was REALLY hard to gauge what was going on in his brain. Despite this fact, it became really obvious that he was falling for Vanessa because he started doing more and more stuff for her as their relationship progressed. There were so two scenes in particular where all he did was just show up and be endearingly supportive and I was ready to bawl my eyes out over how uplifting it all was.

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me is just one hell of an uplifting and puts-a-smile-on-your-face type of romance. It’s incredibly slow, and at some parts you may be like “oh my god jUST KISS ALREADY!” but when it all inevitably falls in place by the end you will realize just how worth it the ride was. Zapata does an amazing job of portraying a really healthy loving relationship where both members are just so supportive of each other and genuinely want the best for each other. They are actually relationship goals!! I was actually kind of SAD when I finished this book because despite the happy ending I just needed more wholesomeness. And even more unfortunately, there is no sequel and there is no add-on telling the story from Aiden’s POV. So for anyone who’s looking for a healthy dose of wholesomeness, wants something to tug at their heartstrings, and doesn’t mind just a little bit of sex, this book is 5/5 perfection.

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Last book will be one that I just finished reading about an hour ago, The Kiss Thief by L.J. Shen. Now this one I kind of had to debate on for a little bit before I ultimately decided to read it. I found it on Goodreads around the same time I found The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, but after reading its synopsis the first time I got a little bit turned off by it. Not sure why, and I’m not sure what changed my mind but I ended up giving it a try earlier this afternoon and well well well what do you know I ended up reading it all in almost one sitting. The Kiss Thief, like the previous two books I reviewed in this post, is also a New Adult book (with more graphic scenes than Deviant Lies actually) featuring an enemies-to-lovers relationship between a 19-year-old daughter of a mobster and a 30-year-old US senator. Yep, that’s an 11-year age gap right there. Probably one of the most drastic age gaps I’ve seen in a book, but hey I guess some people are into those. The Chicago mobster’s daughter is named Francesca, and her dad gives her away to Wolfe Keaton for marriage due to reasons that become apparent much later on in the book. This book not only depicts the progression of Francesca and Wolfe’s relationship, but also of Francesca’s growth from a sheltered child into a woman.

Francesca pretty much grew up as a princess, went to an elite boarding school in Europe for most of her life, and was super sheltered. To top it all off, she belonged to an incredibly old-fashioned “traditional” family where women were not expected to go to college but instead stayed at home and pumped out heirs while their husbands told them what to do. Francesca basically grew up her whole life thinking this was her destiny, along with marrying her childhood crush Angelo. But she gets thrown into Wolfe’s arms pretty quickly and early on in the book, and all hell breaks loose as these two absolutely chaotic crackheads go head-to-head with each other. Wolfe is seeking vengeance (why are all the angsty romance novels always centered around seeking revenge?) over something Francesca’s father did, while Francesca just wants to go home and be with Angelo. But things start to change when Francesca realizes Wolfe is actually willing to offer her certain freedoms that her father would never allow. Some of these freedoms include learning how to drive and going to college.

While Wolfe is ultimately the hero to our heroine, he’s such an asshat for maybe the first 50% of the book. He’s broken (just like every single male love interest in every single book ever) for reasons that occurred in his past, he’s hell bent on revenge, and he’s vowed to never take a wife or fall in love. Obviously this all changes once he is engaged to Francesca, whose own stubbornness, willpower, and innocence takes him on one hell of a roller coaster of emotions. These two, and their relationship, are incredibly explosive but good god half the time they are SO toxic for each other. Their relationship is like the epitome of that one couple you know where they keep breaking up and getting back together again, or they keep getting into fights due to miscommunication, or they keep cheating on each other because the other did it first. When their relationship is good it’s pretty dang good, but when it goes south everything just turns into a living nightmare. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this book to people who are easily triggered by toxic relationships (and I mean truly emotionally toxic relationships), but outside of that it’s definitely not a bad read at all. The progression of Francesca and Wolfe’s relationship is actually relatively unique because it’s anything but linear. There are so many ups and so many downs, which makes the peaking points even more heart-wrenching in my opinion. Especially towards the end, the scene between Wolfe and Francesca’s father. Oh god, my heart couldn’t take it anymore. After this book I’m going to need to find a nice YA fantasy book that tones down the romance. And the steaminess, because The Kiss Thief definitely had PLENTY of those. I think of the three books I reviewed in this post, The Kiss Thief is the most graphic (although tbh I think its sex scenes are the most well written of the three). I’m thinking this book gets a 4/5 from me because while it’s good, I didn’t think there was anything about it that made it really special for me. It simply told an entertaining story, it had a unique progression of enemies-to-lovers, and the character progression of the heroine was fairly believable.

In conclusion I recommend Devious Lies and The Kiss Thief for those looking for an angsty romance, and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me for those looking for wholesome slow-burn that will leave your heart feeling kinda fuzzy.

#book reviews #new adult #devious lies #parker huntington #the wall of winnipeg and me #mariana zapata #the kiss thief #lj shen #contemporary romance #romance #slow burn romance #enemies-to-lovers

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badwolf-in-the-impala · 5 years

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~When Love & Hate Collide -- Ch.1~

Moodboard made by myself @badwolf-in-the-impala. I do not own or take credit for any photos used.

Edit to add: So I’m a ditz and forgot to change the ‘82 to ‘81, after doing the research and realizing that Crüe was touring in Canada in ‘82...and I had wanted this to start this off before they got actively into touring and became a huge deal...So keeping it in ’81 when they were just getting popular and shit...So yeah, thanks for coming to my TED talk on why I’m an idiot lol enjoy!

A/N: So this is by no means going to be perfect, I’m sure...I’ve already re-written it twice, cause I’m a nitpick **insert nervous laughter here** But this is based off the movie ((The Dirt)) version of the band. Iwan!Mick needs more love/appreciation! Anywho, I hope you guys like it.

Pairings: Iwan Rheon!Mick Mars x OC ((Faceclaim - Alison Mosshart))

Rating: Mature/18+

Chapter Warnings: Language, smoking, mentions of drug use, implied abuse...

Word Count: 5,267

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Summer - 1981

Roxanna Hale traveled South, down I-5 to West Hollywood, CA, from Seattle WA. The old 1969 -- Black with White racing stripes -- Chevelle SS that she drove, rumbled along loudly, headlights illuminating the dark stretch of blacktop as Dawn slowly began to break and light the sky. The muscle car blowing around another line of cars with ease, the windows down and rock music blaring from the speakers as she fought to keep herself awake, lighting what felt like her hundredth cigarette.

She exhaled a cloud of smoke from the long drag she took, letting it trail from her red lips slowly as her thumb flicked against the filter, ashing it out the open window. The nicotine did little to quell the anger that still surged through every fiber of her body, as she sped towards her destination.

The last thing she had expected to happen when she woke up yesterday morning, was to walk in on her ex screwing some other chicks brains out...The fact that chick had turned out to be her best friend, and fellow band mate, only added insult to injury. Leading Roxxy to pack all of her shit -- music material and demo included -- before taking off for good; the incident occurring at a less than convenient time.

They had been scheduled, for today as a matter of fact, to audition for a spot as ‘Opening Act’ for another, more well known, band that was getting ready to kick off a tour. Nothing huge, but it was a long awaited opportunity that Roxxy had been waiting on for a very long time. She had headed over to the apartment where her -- now -- ex finance lived to start packing up their gear in preparation for the 18 hr drive to California, they had ahead of them when she walked in on the situation in question.

“C’mon, Baby!” Her ex begged as she continued shoving what she could fit into her backpack. “It- It was just an accident. I swear!” He added, still clinging to the sheet wrapped around his waist as he took a step back; Roxxy rounding on him.

“So what? You just like slipped and accidentally landed with your dick in her vagina?! Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” She nearly screamed, getting in his face. Roxxy’s anger only worsening as she watched him stutter over his words, trying to come up with some bullshit way to justify what he had done, but it was far too late for that as Roxxy cut him off before he could even finish. “I’m not a fucking moron, Kyle!

“Please, Baby, don’t do this! Not now, not with the audition tomorrow!”

“Yeah? Well maybe you should’ve thought that over better before you stuck your cock in my best fucking friend, the lead goddamn singer of MY band!” Roxxy seethed as she slung the backpack over her shoulder and picked up her guitar case as she turned for the door; stopping abruptly as Kyle grabbed her roughly by the upper arm and tried to drag her back. “Let go of me!” She rounded on him as she yanked her arm free, more than a little caught off guard by the sting of his hand as it connected with the right side of her face.

“You don’t get to fuckin’ talk too me like that, bitch--” Kyle had started but was cut off by the cold laugh that fell from Roxxy’s lips as she sneered up at him, wiping at the small trickle of blood from her lower lip with the back of her hand.

“Why, because you think you’re somebody fucking important now? Newsflash, you better think again, Baby.” Roxxy replied, making sure to emphasise the sarcasm in her voice as she called him ‘Baby’. “Because I built this, all of it!” She gestured around his living room at all the band equipment and gear laying around. “You, and this fucking shithole of a band, are nothing without me. So, you know, have fun playing dive bars and garage gigs for the rest of your life. ‘Cause I’m out!”

Her blood boiled as the memory of the argument replayed over and over in her mind. She had spent the last three and half years busting her ass for that band; HER band -- working two jobs and pinching pennies just to be able to play shitty dive bars and even shittier backyard parties, on the weekends.

Roxxy had been through hell and back, bending herself over backwards nearly her whole entire miserable, fucking life to try and achieve her dreams; and just when they were about to finally get their break...The whole fucking world comes crashing down on her. Just like it always does.

Now here she was, right back at square one with no money, no band, and the fucking audition of a lifetime that was now hanging in the balance...And as if her life couldn’t get any worse, what ever higher power that had been shitting on her life, apparently decided that now was the perfect moment for her car to blow a head gasket; still some 20-30 miles outside of her destination.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Roxxy whined as she hit her hazard lights and coasted the car off onto the shoulder of the road before cutting the engine and popping the hood as she bailed out to take a look. Waving her hand in front of her face with a cough as she lifted the hood and a cloud of white smoke from the overheated engine rolled up into her face, causing her to she take a step back.

“Son of a bitch!” She slammed the hood shut, too dark still to see much of anything, but already knowing the engine was fucked as she rested her hands against the car, attempting several deep breaths so she didn’t lose her shit, completely; not that it helped. Roxxy picking up the nearest rock and chucking it into oncoming traffic as she screamed out angrily, fisting both hands into her dark hair before tossing them up entirely.

“Seriously! What the fuck have I done in my life to deserve this fucking shit?!” Roxxy yelled up at the sky. “Because I sure as shit don’t fucking remember!” She added, standing there for a few seconds longer, as if she would actually receive some kind of answer. But only the sounds of passing traffic surrounded her. Leaving her to heavily sigh as she grabbed her bag and guitar case from the backseat before locking up her beloved car, and began walking.

Praying that this day didn’t get any worse...Someone clearly taking that as a challenge as the next 8 hrs of walking only brought more hell down on her life. From being pelted by rocks kicked up by passing cars, too nearly being run over by an 18-wheeler that had veered off the road at one point -- causing her to bail off into the bar ditch in order to avoid being turned into roadkill; the gravel biting into her skin, scraping up her arms and hands.

But the icing on the cake had been the sudden surprise of a thunderstorm that now had her drenched. Leaving her exhausted and more than a little irritable as she finally made it to the Bar she and her band has been signed up to audition at...Four hours earlier. Roxxy made her way into the nearest restroom as she pushed her way inside and through the groups of people that crowded the place -- for what appeared to be some kind of open mic deal. Doing her best once making into the bathroom to clean herself up before finding an empty booth in a dark corner to hide herself in for a while; after putting in a phone call to towing service.

“Can I get’cha something, Sweetheart?” A pretty blonde woman -- that Roxxy assumed to be a bartender -- asked as she made her rounds on the floor; breaking Roxxy’s attention away from the man up on stage she had been watching, as she dug around in the back pocket of her jeans for her wallet, a frown tugging down the corners her mouth as she opened it to reveal her last five dollars.

“Um...Just a coffee, please?” Roxxy forced a soft smile as she pulled a couple dollars out and tried to hand them over, but the woman simply shook her head and held up her hand with a polite smile as she gave Roxxy a wink and said, “Keep it, Doll. Coffee’s on the house.” Roxxy heaved a sigh as the woman disappeared, returning only a few minutes later with a hot cup of coffee and a clean, dry, bar towel.

“Thank you.” Roxxy gave a genuine smile this time around as she accepted the towel and brought it up to her dark hair, the woman giving her a polite nod before turning to head back to her post behind the bar; Stopping when Roxxy spoke up again, catching her attention. “Hey, what does one need to do to go up on stage?”

“Nothin’ special.” The woman shrugged, glancing over to notice the guitar case that sat propped up against the booth. “Open mic. First come, first serve. Just give that man up there by the stage your name and he’ll put you in the line up.” She smiled before returning behind the bar, leaving Roxxy to contemplate if she was up for it or not. But at this point, what more did she have to lose? Aside from her dignity, maybe.

The first thing that caught Mick’s attention was the sound of the guitar and the heavy riff that fell effortlessly from it as her fingers changed over the strings with ease. The smoky, alluring sound of her voice filling the bar speakers as the words from Pat Benatar’s, ‘Heartbreaker’, fell from her lips, capturing the attention of the small audience that had gathered -- as well as his own band, who had been enjoying drinks. The room falling silent for a brief moment before people got into the rhythm of the song and actually started enjoying themselves; unlike with most of the prior participants whose performances had gone ignored. Save for a few of the die hard local fans that cheered them on.

They had seen their fair share of dive bar performers before, but never someone as confident as the dark haired woman up on stage now, who was venturing into territory few women had dared to dive into, yet, in this industry. Her rough, road worn appearance only adding to the edge she already had over most of tonight's participants; which drew the crowd further in as their curiosity peaked. It being easy enough to tell that she wasn’t a local by her ballsy taste in music.

“Hooooly shit!” Tommy was the first to speak up -- over the music -- among their group as he glanced excitedly between his friends and fellow bandmates, and the woman up on stage. “Are you dudes seeing this?!”

Mick simply rolled his eyes behind the pair of dark aviators he worse, shaking his head at the obviously stupid question...wondering for a moment why he ever agreed to put up with these dumb asses he called friends. The rest of the guys smirking and giving their drummer shit before ordering another round of drinks and returning to their conversation. But not Mick; no. He never took his eyes off the woman up on stage.

There were a few things he found intriguing about her and not all of it had to do with her looks; not that he was complaining. She was very easy on the eyes, as far as he could tell from his seat at the end of the bar. Her dark, layered, mess of feathered hair hung down in her face as she sung. Hiding behind it the striking features of her face. Full lips, high cheekbones, sharp jawline...it was like staring at God’s greatest creation. She was clad in a pair of ripped slim fit denims, a cropped muscle tank, that showed plenty of midriff, and a pair of combat boots. Rings and leather cuffs adorned her fingers and wrists.

What truly caught his attention though, was the guitar she played, or rather, the fact that she played it left handed...and upside down. But with her level of skill and confidence, you would never have been able to tell the difference, unless you knew exactly what you were looking at; as Mick did, obviously having played for enough years himself to know. She was good, to good in fact. Which left him to ponder how a woman with that kind of natural talent was still playing the bar/nightclub scene.

“Bitch has some pipes.” Vince mused with an impressed smirk as he passed Mick a shot, forcing him out of his thoughts as he finally tore his gaze away from the stage, give a curt nod to Vince in reply before he said, “She’s got some experience, that’s for sure.” before knocking back the contents of his shot glass. “She plays with a confidence not many possess...especially chicks.” Mick added.

“Yeah, dude, she may even be better than you are.” Tommy joked drunkenly, flinching as Nikki’s hand connected with the back of his head, and Mick rolled his eyes again in return.

“Maybe in your fuckin’ dreams...fuckin’ drummer.” Mick scoffed with a mildly irritated sneer. “She’s good, but not that good.” Mick added with half a lie. Because she really did have talent and with the right person to teach her, she could definitely go places.

“Don’t listening to him, Mick.” Nikki chuckled. “We’re jus’ givin’ you shit.” He added, earning a mumbled, “Whatever...fuckin’ teenagers.” From Mick as he turned his attention back to the woman on stage. Watching with great intent as she closed out the song with the it’s Solo; playing right over the top of other guitarist. The bar erupted into applause once she finished, giving a brief, yet humble bow, before unplugging the Fender Starcaster she played, that she carefully placed it back into its case before jumping off the stage and retreating back to the far corner booth she had been hiding in earlier. Mick and his group watching her for a bit out of curiosity and talking among themselves about her performance.

“Dude’s, we should like totally invite her the party later!” Tommy stated before taking another shot, the rest of the guys giving a mutual nod of agreement; even Mick. Though his aviator covered blue eyes never left the mysterious woman who sat alone, just across the bar.

An hour or so had passed since Roxxy returned to hiding in her booth; going through two more cups of coffee, intending on staying until they closed and had to kick her out. Not looking forward to having to potentially spend a night outside, especially if the weather didn’t straighten up before then. A small jolt of anxiety surging through her as the bartender approached her booth, again; fearful that was about to become a possibility.

Roxxy was just about to speak up -- shit, she’d beg if she had too -- in order to stay as long as possible, when the woman set a whiskey in front of her on the table. Earning a very confused look from Roxxy as she looked up.

“From the gentleman, at the end of the bar.” The blonde yelled over the music, vaguely gesturing to a group of men who had their backs turned, up at the bar. “He said you looked like you could use something a little stronger than the coffee.” Roxxy’s lips curved down in a slight frown as she looked down at herself, giving a sigh.

“Well, um...tell him I said thanks.” Roxxy cleared her throat awkwardly, giving the bartender a soft smile before the woman walked away. Roxxy watching as she went back behind the bar and leaned over to the man at the very end, relaying what she assumed to be her thanks...Roxxy’s stomach nearly falling out of her ass as she recognized him, immediately, as he turned around to face her while holding up his own glass with a nod of ‘cheers’. Roxxy nearly knocking over her own drink as she blindly grabbed for it in order to return the gesture. Almost certain she looked like a deer in the headlights as he gave a smirk before returning to his drink.

“Mick Mars, of thee fucking Mötley Crüe, just bought me a drink.” Roxxy muttered to herself, still half shocked. “And I look like a mother fucking trashcan....could this day get any worse?!” She whined as she placed her forehead against the table, banging it softly against the wood a few times before sitting up and knocking back the entire contents of the rocks glass in front of her. Relishing in the burn that the amber liquid left in its wake, as it traveled down her throat. Wincing softly at the sensation before turning her attention to digging around in the pocket of her leather coat for her smokes, pulling out the last one and lighting it.

“I don’t fucking mean that seriously, either.” She threatened with a pointed finger, speaking to whatever unknown deity happened to be listening as she glanced up at the ceiling and exhaled the puff of smoke from the drag she just took. “I’ve had enough of your shit for one day!” A rush of embarrassment snapping her back to reality as the sound of someone clearing their throat caught her attention, turning to find the bartender back; bottle of Jack in hand as she smiled, jerking her chin over her shoulder at the bar. Roxxy giving a nod of understanding as she pushed the rocks glass over to be filled.

“Rough day?” The woman asked with a soft laugh as she filled the glass.

“You have no idea.” Roxxy groaned as she rubbed her temples with her fingers. “Thanks. Again.” She lifted her glass and gestured towards the bar before taking a sip.

“You know...you could always go tell him yourself.” The woman implied with a grin, giving a laugh as Roxxy starred up at her with a dumbfounded expression. Opening and closing her mouth several times before giving up entirely. This woman couldn’t possibly be serious, suggesting that she -- a complete and total nobody-- go up and talk to a band member of Mötley fucking Crüe; more importantly, the guitarist she had spent the last year idolizing.

“Just a suggestion.” The woman shrugged with a polite smile before leaving again.

Roxxy sat there for a while, weighing her options and sipping on her drink as she considered actually going up to the bar. I mean at this point, what was the worst that could really happen...she had already had a shit day, and besides, she was out of smokes and desperately craving another one, the nicotine somewhat staving off the withdrawals from lack of cocaine use. Having left her entire stash behind at her ex’s.

With a sigh, Roxxy scooted herself out of the booth and grabbed her jacket; draping it over her shoulder as she grabbed her guitar case, and bag before picking up the whiskey glass, knocking back the rest of the Jack Daniels it held before maneuvering her way through the crowd and up to the bar. Propping her stuff in the corner and placing her jacket on the last, empty bar stool, as she took a seat and set her glass on the bar. Mick glancing at her out of the corner of his eye with a raised brow, flagging down the bartender as Roxxy cleared her throat awkwardly.

“You really don’t have too–” Roxxy started, immediately cutting herself off with a mortified look, afraid she was going to offend him as Mick turned to look at her; raising his sunglasses. “I mean, t-thank you– I’m flattered, b-but, really, you don’t–”

“It’s cool.” Mick held up a hand, putting a cease to her ramblings with a half grin. “Wouldn’t be doin’ it if I didn’t want to.” He added as he pushed the now full glass towards her with a middle finger.

“Of course– I mean, I didn’t mean– You know what, I’m gonna shut up.” Roxxy rambled as she took a sip of her whiskey and tossed the empty carton of cigarettes onto the bar top as she fished out her wallet, opening it as she yanked out her last five dollars and tossed it beside the empty carton as she muttered, more so too herself, “I’m usually much more a bitch.” Mick nearly snorting his own drink out his nose as her overheard the comment.

“At least you’re honest.” He replied, motioning for bartender to leave her money and add it to whatever tab he had running. “Besides, looks like you’ve had a shit day.”

“That’s an understatement and a half.” Roxxy snorted with a laugh as she packed her fresh carton of Marlboro’s before opening it and pulling one out and lighting it; taking a drag as she offered the pack to Mick, who accepted and held it to the flame of the zippo lighter in her hand. Nodding his thanks as she snapped it shut and shoved it back into the pocket of her jeans. “I’m Roxanna, by the way.” She added while exhaling a trail of smoke as she offered him her hand. Mick chuckling softly as he glanced down at her hand before he shook it; catching sight of the ‘Mötley Crüe’ logo that was plastered to the front of her cropped tank top.

“Mick. But I’m going to assume you already know that?” He replied. Fighting to stave off the grin that tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched her cheeks tint red with a blush as she nodded, flashing him a coy smile.

“Guilty.” Roxxy replied with a soft chuckle before taking another drag from her cigarette. She exhaled slowly as she pushed a hand through her mess of dark hair, shoving it back and away from her face as she stared up at him with Emerald eyes from beneath her dark lashes. Mick looked as though he were about to say something else, when suddenly, Vince appeared between the two of them and wrapped an arm around Roxxy’s shoulders. A cocky grin plastered to his face as he leaned in close.

“Tell me somethin’?” He started in a confident tone as Mick rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose as he inhaled deeply while muttering, “Jesus...here we fuckin’ go.”

“Did it hurt?” Vince continued, his smirk growing wider as Roxxy looked up at him with feigned interest; cocking her head to one side as she batted her eyes and smiled. Having heard this line one too many times for her liking.

“When I fell from heaven?” She finished for him, momentarily catching Vince off guard, but he was quick to recover, his tongue darting out over his lower lip as his grin widened into that signature sexy smile of his. Mick heaving an audible sigh of annoyance as he finished off his Vodka and ordered another.

“Exactly, Baby--” But before Vince could finish whatever he was about to add as a recovery to the botched pickup line, Roxxy cut him off.

“No...but I did scrape the shit out of my knees during my climbing out of hell.” She finished with a mildly suggestive smirk as she removed his arm from around her shoulders and finished off her cigarette before stamping the last bit out in the ashtray that sat between her and Mick. Vince standing there, slack jawed and bewildered by her response as a soft scoff left his lips. Making it obvious that he wasn’t used to being rejected in such a manner and the fact that Nikki and Tommy were now howling hysterically from a table behind them, didn’t help matters much.

“Did that really just--?”

“Happen?” Mick said, cutting Vince off; his own expression almost as surprised as the lead singers. “Yeah. It happened.” He added, Vince giving a curt nod before skulking back to the table he and the other two band mates had taken up residence at. Leaving Mick to stare at Roxxy with a look of astonishment on his face.

“Holy shit…” Roxxy said with a nervous laugh. “Did I really just offend, Vince Neil?!”

“Yes, and it was fucking fabulous.” Mick smirked as he held up his glass, Roxxy taking the hint and picking up her own as she clinked it against his and took a sip before turning around to the table behind them.

“Is you’re ego gonna alright?” Roxxy asked honestly, though it came out a little more sarcastic than she intended which earned another round of laughter. “No, I mean like really?!” She added.

“Dude!” Tommy howled with laughter, nearly doubling over as he tried to catch his breath. “She’s like the chick version of Mick!” He added, Roxxy fixing him with a glare as she pointed her finger and said, “Watching yourself, drummer boy.” The comment eliciting more laughter, this time including Vince as he turned to look between herself and Mick; who were both glaring at the group in front of them.

“That’s fucking disturbing.” Vince laughed.

“What’s your name, Sweetheart?” Nikki chuckled as he took a sip of his beer, trying to change the subject before Mick started knocking their heads together for his own satisfaction.

“Roxanna.” She replied. “Most everyone calls me Roxxy, though.”

“Oh dear Jesus, not another one.” Nikki gave a short laugh as he turned to look at Tommy, who’s complexion had paled considerably, which caused Roxxy to raise an eyebrow. “Long story.” He added. “Nikki, by the way.”

“She’s aware.” Mick stated as he leaned back against the bar, vaguely gesturing to her shirt. The rest of the guys giving a collective, “Ooh” in response as Roxxy gave a nervous chuckle. Not even sure how any of this was happening right now.

“Come. Sit.” Nikki nodded at their table as Tommy pulled two more stools over for her and Mick. Roxxy briefly giving them a skeptical look, somehow waiting from them to laugh and say they were just kidding...but when that didn’t happen, she moved her things and took a seat at the table between Tommy, and Mick, who took the other seat beside her. “So, what’s your story?” Nikki added curiously after Roxxy was settled at the table.

“Like, the short version?” Roxxy snorted as she took a sip of her whiskey, cocking an eyebrow as she looked up at the band’s bassist. “Woke up yesterday morning to help my band pack for a gig ‘slash’ audition, showed up, walked in on my ex screwing my best friend; the bands lead singer. Packed my shit. Left. Drove 12 fucking hours from Seattle till my car broke down, had to walk, nearly died, missed my fucking audition, got rained on...and now, here I am.” There was a few minutes of collective silence as the guys sat there, staring at her as they tried to process that output of information.

“Jesus.” Mick mumbled into his glass.

“Yeah...And that’s only the last 24 hrs.” Roxxy replied. “A fuckin’ cake walk compared to the rest of my life.”

“Well, fuck that guy.” Nikki finally spoke as he offered her shot glass. “And fuck this day! I mean, at least it’ll end on a note of awesomeness; sitting around having a drink with this group of fucking degenerates!” He added, reaching a hand over and bouncing Tommy’s forehead off the table, which earned a round of laughter from the group.

“Not gonna argue with that.” Roxxy chuckled with a shake of her head before knocking back the contents of the shot glass and placing it upside down on the table. Taking a drag from her cigarette before adding, “I mean honestly, if someone had told me a year ago that I would be sitting in a bar sharing drinks with Mötley Crüe...I probably would’ve punched ‘em in the face.”

“You should most definitely come to our party!” Tommy stated excitedly after pounding two more shots. Roxxy raising a questioning brow as she waited for him to continue, but before he could they were interrupted by the bartender who brought over a telephone and held it out for Roxxy to take; giving a very confused, “Hello?”

“Are you a Miss,” He paused, the sound of papers being rifled through filling the silence on the other end of the line before he continued. “Roxanna Hale?”

“Yeah, that’s me?” Roxxy stated as she waited for the man to continue.

“This is Dan, I’m with Auto Doc’s 24 hr towing service. You called earlier this evening about your car? A Black ‘69 Chevelle?”

“That would be mine.” Roxxy sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, waiting for what she assumed would surely be bad news.

“Well, we picked it up and got it back to the shop. Someone should be able to take a look at first thing in the morning...but um, we’re gonna need the keys. I also have some papers I need you to sign off on before we’d be able to look at it? I understand it’s late, so if you can’t--”

“No, no, it’s cool.” Roxxy replied as she grabbed a napkin off the table and gestured for a pen, three suddenly appearing in front of her face as she grabbed one. “What’s the address?” The man gave it her, along with the shop number before she hung up and downed what was left of her whiskey.

“Wait, you’re not leaving already, are you?” Tommy asked with a mildly dejected puppy dog expression as they watched Roxxy stand and slip on her leather jacket; flipping her hair out of the collar as she smiled softly at him.

“Yep, unfortunately...gotta go sell my soul to the devil so I can get my car fixed.” Roxxy replied jokingly as she threw her bag over her shoulder and picked up her guitar case. “It’s been a pleasure, boys, truly.” She added, turning to address Mick separately as she said, “And thank you for the drinks.”

“No problem.” Mick gave a slight nod as he slipped his sunglasses back on. Disappointed she was leaving already, but not about to show it as he turned back to his drink as Roxxy turned to head for the door, the rest of guys turning to stare at him in disbelief. “What?” Mick stated as he glared at his band mates from behind his glasses.

“You’re seriously gonna let that just walk outta here?!” Vince arched a brow skeptically as he spoke up.

“So?” Mick retorted in a gruff tone as he took another sip of his Vodka.

“So?! You could at least give her the address to the apartment?!” Vince exclaimed as Mick simply shook his head, ignoring him entirely. “You know what, fine. I’ll do it.” He added, reaching for one of the pens on the table. Tommy beating him too it as he snatched one and bounded off towards the door to catch Roxxy. Returning a short while later, grinning triumphantly as he returned the pen.

“Fifty bucks says she shows up.” Vince smirked as he glanced over to Mick who had finished off his drink and was making to leave, himself. Pausing for moment as he turned back to the lead singer with his usual, disgruntled, expression as he replied, “Hundred bucks says she won’t.”

And without another word, Mick disappeared into the crowd.

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we-are-only-halfway-home93 · 5 years

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Come and Lay the Roses 7- Take A Good Thing and Fuck It All Up- [Ivar x OC]

Summary: Ivar and Aaline’s engagement party puts stress on their already tenuous relationship.

Characters: Ivar x OC, Bjorn x Torvi, Ubbe x Margrethe, Hvitserk x Thora, Sigurd x OC, Lagertha, Ragnar

Warnings: Arranged marriage, language, violence, sex, torture

Word Count: 4494

Ch. 6

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars.” ~ Khalil Gibran

Aaline had been living comfortably in the Lothbrok estate for two months. She had adjusted to living among so many people fairly easily. Every morning around seven she would have breakfast with Sibylle and Thora. Margrethe was not a morning person and elected to sleep in most days. Aaline learned that she used to work for Ragnar but, following her marriage to Ubbe, she stopped working and spent most of her days sunbathing or shopping. Aaline had her own opinions about Margrethe’s behavior but said nothing.

Once breakfast was done, all three women would head off in their own cars, with a driver per Ragnar’s insistence, towards their respective offices. Thora worked closely with Hvitserk. She was studying for her own degree in law and worked as a sort of intern for Hvitserk’s firm.

Sibylle worked in Björn’s office. She spoke multiple languages and had a degree in Cultural Studies. She functioned as a translator for several of their international clients.

Aaline still worked in her old office downtown as head of Jensen Construction. Just because Ragnar owned 51% of the shares, Aaline still owned the name. Ragnar now had a significant amount of power in her company but she was still CEO. She tried not to let Ragnar’s control affect her business.

She would work in her office from 7:30 to 12:30 and then she would take lunch with Lagertha and Torvi. These lunches functioned not only as get-to-know-yous but they also served as a way for Torvi and Lagertha to plan the wedding.

Aaline had attended dozens of lunches with Lagertha and Torvi and they had yet to tell her what the incident at that fateful dinner was all about. Every time she brought it up, they would go strangely silent and shift the conversation back towards wedding plans. Aaline didn’t feel comfortable enough to push either one of them so she always let it go but she was beginning to get frustrated.

It was the night of her engagement party and Sibylle was helping her get ready.

She truly liked all the daughters of Ragnar, as he liked to call them, but Sibylle was her favorite. Sibylle made the most effort to get to know her and she genuinely seemed to care about Aaline. Not that the other women didn’t. Thora and Torvi had been amazing but they maintained a sort of professional distance from Aaline. She wasn’t sure if it was because she didn’t open up to them or if it was because she was marrying the youngest son of Ragnar. Either way, Sibylle was the most open and friendly sister to her. Margrethe was distant at best. She attended all the wedding planning events and gave her opinion when asked but she made no moves to associate with Aaline more than necessary. With Margrethe, Aaline was sure it was because of Ivar.

Aaline was sitting at her vanity watching Sibylle pin her hair up in intricate braids. She’d learned early on that the braids the women wore were a sort of symbol of their rank and position. Braiding one’s hair was a custom among the Northmen women but the more braids you had and the more complicated the style, the more power you had.

Lagertha always wore her hair in tight, intricate braids that started at her hairline and came back along her head and then came together into a distinct sort of ponytail. Torvi liked to wear her hair in a solid plate at the back of her head. It crossed in a complex set of strands from ear to ear and was framed by four smaller strands of braids and two thick rope braids. Thora’s braids were always elegant, starting at her temples and curving around her head like a crown leaving most of her hair down around her shoulders. Margrethe kept her braids the simplest. The hair at the top of her head was gathered into one long braid that dripped down her back to her waist. Aaline hardly ever saw it any other way.

She blinked when Sibylle stepped back from her work and Aaline turned her head from side to side, examining the updo. Sibylle had given her two lace French braids on the left side of her head that trailed into a large bun at the nape of her neck. The hair was secure but not tight and there wasn’t a hair out of place. She smiled at Sibylle and leaned forward to finish her makeup.

Sibylle began to putter around the room as she spoke. “So roughly two hundred people have been invited but…” Aaline cut her off. “I’m sorry. Two hundred people?” She turned in her seat to look at Sibylle. The other woman didn’t seem to think this was odd. “Yes, two hundred.” Aaline gaped. “I don’t even think I know two hundred people. Why so many?” Sibylle shrugged. “I said two hundred were invited, I didn’t say two hundred were coming.”

Aaline rolled her eyes and turned back to her mirror. “I think the list I gave Torvi had maybe fifty people on it.” She snorted. “Well, Ragnar’s an important man. Most of the people who were invited weren’t going to come anyway. They were sent an invitation simply because they do business with Ragnar. Out of the two hundred invited maybe a hundred will come. Maybe.” Sibylle said as she picked up a set of heels that Aaline opted not to wear.

“So, who is coming?” Aaline watched Sibylle flutter around. “Well, all of us will be there, obviously. Ragnar’s brother Rollo and his wife Gisla. Floki and Helga will be there.” Sibylle looked up and smiled at Aaline’s confusion. “Floki is Ragnar’s best friend. They’ve been friends for years. Next to Floki his closest friend is Athelstan.” Aaline nodded slowly, cataloging all the names for later. “The brothers, Harald and Halfdan, will most likely be there and…” She hesitated and Aaline looked at her in the mirror.

She was picking up a discarded skirt of the floor when she stopped and glanced at Aaline in the mirror. “Who else is coming, Sibylle?” Sibylle swallowed thickly and stood up, wringing the skirt in her hands. “Aelle and Ecbert will be there as well.” Aaline’s mouth dropped open and she whipped around to face Sibylle. The other woman had her bottom lip tucked between her teeth and the skirt twisted like a rope in her hands.

“Aren’t Aelle and Ecbert the ones who attacked Kattegat and cost Ragnar millions of dollars? The same Aelle and Ecbert who’s rogue soldier gunned down Aslaug seven years ago? Aelle, who’s brother Ivar is currently torturing?” Sibylle stood wide-eyed as Aaline listed off all the connections to Aelle and Ecbert.

“How do you know all that?” Sibylle whispered. Aaline scoffed and turned back around. “Did you really think I would marry into this family and not know all of that?” She watching Sibylle, waiting for an answer. When none came she continued. “Did you not know any of that?” Sibylle shook herself and shrugged. “I mean, I knew about Aslaug and Kattegat but I didn’t know about Ivar torturing Aelle’s brother. How did you know?”

Aaline brought her eyes slowly up to Sibylle and the other woman took a measured step back. There was something dark in Aaline’s eyes. Something that Sibylle had only ever seen in Ivar’s eyes before and it scared her. As quickly as the look had come, it was gone. “I pay attention. I listen. The men around here aren’t as subtle as they like to think. Besides, I knew that Aethewulf was missing and there’s really only one plausible answer to where he is.” Aaline said.

She leaned forward and slicked on her lipstick. Sibylle watched her and thought that maybe Aaline and Ivar would be more suited for each other than they thought. She blinked and asked the question that had been nagging at her since Aaline first spoke. “Do you know anything about me?” Her voice was soft but it carried enough for Aaline to hear. She stopped applying her makeup and carefully screwed her lipstick back down and replaced the cap. She met Sibylle’s eyes in the mirror. “I know enough.”

Sibylle had nothing to hide but she still got goosebumps at Aaline’s admission. She tried to swallow and realized how dry her throat was. She cleared it and tossed the skirt back onto Aaline’s bed.

Aaline watched Sibylle smooth her hands down the skirt of her dress and realized that she made the woman nervous. She tended to have that effect on people. She sighed and turned around in her chair. “Sibylle.” She waited for the woman to look at her. When she did Aaline gave her, what she hoped was a pleasant smile. “Do you remember, a few months ago, when we had dinner together as a family for the first time?” Aaline knew right away when Sibylle figured out what dinner she was talking about. Sibylle straightened so fast it looked almost painful. Her hands knotted together in her lap and she pursed her lips tightly.

“What was Sigurd talking about?” She watched as Sibylle struggled with what to do. On some level, she knew that Sibylle probably wanted to answer her. She was a good woman and she was trying to be a good friend to Aaline so she wanted to be honest. On the other hand, no one discussed the incident that Sigurd was referring to. They liked to ignore it and push it under the metaphorical rug. It also wasn’t fair to Margrethe since this all happened before she married Ubbe.

She finally sighed and looked at Aaline with wide eyes. “You have to promise not to say anything to Margrethe.” Aaline sat back and crossed her fingers over her heart. She didn’t even particularly like Margrethe. Then, again she didn’t dislike her either. She didn’t really have an opinion one way or the other. She was fairly indifferent to Margrethe as a whole, really.

Sibylle gave her a tense smile and sighed again. “Okay, well, this all happened years ago. I mean, before Aslaug died and before Ubbe and Margrethe were even married.” Aaline nodded with encouragement and adjusted in her seat. She felt like she probably needed to be comfortable for this story.

Sibylle gave her a withering look before she continued. “Alright. Ragnar owns and operates several different kinds of businesses. He has shipping docks, accounting firms, law firms, construction companies,” Aaline bristled but said nothing. “Restaurants, vineyards, wineries, you get the idea.” Aaline nodded and gestured her along. Sibylle smoothed nonexistent flyaways back along her hairline and continued. “Well, Ragnar owns a few strip clubs as well.” Aaline’s eyebrows shot up into her hairline. That was surprising considering the kind of business that Ragnar mostly dealt with.

“Margrethe used to work at one of these strip clubs. That’s how she met Ubbe. And Hvitserk. And Sigurd.” Sibylle cringed remembering Sigurd’s past with Margrethe and Aaline was kind enough to keep her mouth shut.

“Margrethe worked at this strip club and was a favorite between the three oldest. Ubbe and Hvitserk would come and see her during their breaks at school and Sigurd hung around a lot in high school and during college.

“At first, it was just dances and private shows but, as I’m sure you’ll come to find out, it’s difficult to say no to a son of Ragnar.” Aaline arched an eyebrow at that statement but chose not to say anything. She’d investigate it later. She waited for Sibylle to continue. “It wasn’t very long before Margrethe was sleeping with Ubbe. And Hvitserk. And Sigurd.” Aaline felt her mouth slowly drop open. She’d heard of open relationships and had even tried one herself in college but she quickly learned that she was painfully monogamous. Just the thought of sharing her partner with someone else brought up intense feelings of jealousy and paranoia.

Sibylle looked like she was in an extreme state of discomfort but she continued. “Well, Ivar was in high school right around this time and was jealous. As you know, Ivar is kind of...difficult...and he was even worse as a teenager. Constant feelings of rejection and self-loathing made it hard for him to...be around people and girls were a topic best left alone.” Aaline nodded along, transfixed. She was learning more about her fiance from Sibylle than she probably ever would from him.

“Anyway, Ivar told his brothers that he wanted to...be...with a woman. They asked him who he wanted to be with and he said Margrethe. Since the rest of them share her, why not him too.” Aaline felt her mask of indifference slip over her face and she turned back to her mirror. When Sibylle didn’t continue she looked at her from the mirror and nodded. “I’m listening.”

Sibylle nodded and kept going, wringing her hands as she did. “Well, Ubbe approached Margrethe about it and she said yes, mostly because I think she was afraid of what would happen if she said no.” Aaline’s face tightened and she stared at her hard expression in the mirror. “Ubbe and Hvitserk set up a time and a place for Ivar and Margrethe to… you know... and everything was ready.” Sibylle shrugged and shook her head.

“I guess during the actual event Ivar wasn’t able to... perform.” Aaline turned around and looked at Sibylle. “Nothing actually happened, apparently. Everything was fine until Margrethe started telling people.” Aaline bit her tongue to keep from speaking. “She told Ubbe and Hvitserk and Sigurd and then Sigurd started telling his friends and eventually everyone knew about Ivar’s performance issues.” Sibylle looked away and shook her head.

“I mean, of course, he’d have issues. It was his first time with an experienced woman and he had no idea what to do. Anyone would have issues.” Aaline took Sibylle in with a new light. The same thoughts were going through Aaline’s mind and for Sibylle to share her opinion, clearly she didn’t have such negative feelings towards her brother in law.

“Anyway, Sigurd likes to throw it in Ivar’s face every once in a while and I should’ve been prepared for it that night. I was just hoping that he wouldn’t bring it up in front of you but,” She stopped and looked over at Aaline.

Aaline was sitting at her vanity with a pensive expression on her face. Sigurd was either cruel or held a deep resentment towards his younger brother. She decided to go with cruel and came to the conclusion that she would keep her distance. This situation was already difficult enough, she didn’t need the added presence of Ivar’s jealous older brother to strain her already fragile relationship.

It was cruel and unnecessary for Sigurd to bring up an event like that at a family dinner. Cruel because Ivar wasn’t the only person he was hurting in doing so. Margrethe had clearly been embarrassed and Ubbe was angry. Sigurd upset not one person but three with his actions and Ragnar hadn’t been too happy with him either. If anything, Aaline was a little angry at Ragnar for letting it go as far as it did. No wonder Ivar had such deep-seated trust issues and an impressive list of reasons why he was self-conscious.

Aaline sighed and looked up at Sibylle. She smiled and nodded once, placing her earrings before standing. “Thank you, Sibylle, for telling me. No one else was willing to.” Sibylle nodded half-hearted and let Aaline pull her to her feet. “Let’s get this party over with.” Sibylle couldn’t help but give Aaline a real smile before she was pulled out of the room.

Aaline heaved a deep sigh and took a long drink of her champagne. The engagement party had been in full swing for over an hour and she was already exhausted. She’d played the part of a happy couple with Ivar, standing in the front entryway and greeting their guests. Smiling at the appropriate times and letting Ivar touch her back and shoulders. He was never inappropriate but they hadn’t quite reached that level of comfort in their friendship.

Ragnar and Lagertha stood next to Ivar as they greeted guests and Ivar’s brothers and their wives mingled in the back lounge where food and drink were being served. Aaline’s father stood beside her and she made a show of ignoring him. He didn’t make any moves to talk to her but he didn’t talk to anyone else either. He kept to himself and shook hands with the guests. That was really all Aaline needed him to do.

About twenty minutes after the party had started, an imposing man walked in with a pretty brunette by his side. Her hair was pulled back into a thick braid that trailed down her back. She was dressed in a flowing gold dress that shimmered as she walked and she had a dainty smile on her lips. The man had hair nearly as long as Björn’s pulled back from his face.

They had stopped in front of the couple. The man shook hands with Ragnar before bringing him into a tight bearhug. The woman gave Lagertha a warm smile before pulling her into a hug, kissing both her cheeks. When the man turned to Ivar, he received the same treatment and the woman gave Aaline a similar greeting as Lagertha.

“My, you are a beauty.” Aaline blushed under the man’s gaze and Ivar laughed. “Uncle, please, don’t embarrass her.” Aaline was grateful that Ivar said something. She was not surprised by the praise of her beauty but it made her uncomfortable when it came from strangers.

The man nodded once and took a step back, placing his arm around his wife. Ivar did the same and leaned down towards Aaline. “This is my Uncle Rollo and his wife Gisla. They live a few hours away so they’ll be staying here while they’re visiting.” He straightened and gestured towards the party. “Please, Ragnar and Lagertha have worked hard to arrange the party. It would be a shame if you did not enjoy it.” Rollo beamed and escorted his wife towards the festivities.

Another couple quickly followed Rollo and Gisla. The man was tall and skinny and had a strange glint in his eyes. His grin was slightly mad and his eyes were lined heavily in black. The woman by his side had thick curls that swayed behind her and an array of flowers braided into her hair. Aaline learned that this was Floki and his wife Helga, one of Ragnar’s closest confidants and Ivar’s favorite uncle.

No sooner had Floki and Helga entered another man came in. He was alone and dressed more casually than the others. He shared a strong hug with Ragnar and an equally as powerful embrace with Lagertha. Ivar shook his hand and thanked him for coming and when he stepped in front of Aaline he took her hand and kissed the back of it.

Aaline watched him straighten and clocked the gun on his hip and the badge at his chest. She cocked an eyebrow and he laughed. “I’m Detective Athelstan. Ragnar and I have worked closely for several years and I would’ve hated to miss the party. Unfortunately, I am on duty so I won’t be here long. I just wanted to wish you all the best.” She nodded once at him and he was quickly escorted into the main area by Ragnar.

It had been over an hour since Aaline and Ivar had been released to mingle and Aaline was ready for the party to end. She took another long drink from her champagne and turned back to the bar. She nodded to the bartender and he turned to fix her another drink.

“I really do hate these big parties.” She turned to look at the man who spoke. He was sitting on the barstool next to her. He was dressed in all black with gold cufflinks and a gold tie clip. His red curls were styled in a sweeping manner across his forehead and he was swirling an amber liquid in his glass. He looked up and smiled at her. She shrugged and nodded at the bartender when he handed her her glass.

“Well, it’s my big party so I shouldn’t complain too much.” She watched him from the corner of her eye as she took a drink. He nodded and looked towards Ivar. “Your fiance is a lucky man.” She turned to face him fully and narrowed her eyes. “Now why do you say that?” She asked.

He shrugged. “You’re a beautiful woman and you have goals, ambitions. It’s not every day a man meets a woman whose ambitions align with his own.” She hummed. She looked towards Ivar. He was standing with Floki and his brothers, laughing and drinking. Aaline wished she could be having as much fun as he was.

“And what kind of ambitions are those?” She turned back to the mystery man beside her. He shrugged. “Power. Money. The same ambitions we all have.” He watched her as he drained his drink. She smiled and leaned closer, intrigued by this man who thought he knew her. “What makes you think my ambitions align with Ivar’s at all?” He leaned forward as well, his breath warm and smelling of scotch. “Why else would you be marrying him?”

Aaline jerked her head around when she was suddenly pulled away, literally. Ivar had his hand wrapped around her bicep and was pulling her across the room towards the front of the house. Aaline tugged against him but her strength was no match for his.

The entryway was deserted and Ivar whirled on her as soon as he was sure no one was in hearing distance. “What do you think you’re doing?” He snarled down at her. His lip was curled up and his eyes were ablaze with rancor. She snapped her eyebrow up and scoffed, disbelief clouding her mind. “I thought I was mingling with the guests at our engagement party.” She tipped her champagne glass up and took a swig, keeping her eyes locked on Ivar.

He sneered and took a half-step towards her, his first two fingers leaving his glass to point at her. “You’re making a fool of me.” She scoffed and looked over her shoulder. No one was paying them any mind. A Lothbrok party was quite an affair and most took the time to get drunk off Ragnar’s impressive supply of wine and ignore the petty drama that took place right under their noses. Aaline wished she could join them but, clearly, her fiancé had other ideas.

“And how, exactly, am I making a fool of you?” She whispered. Her voice was low and there was a dangerous cut to it that set Ivar’s teeth on edge. He ignored the feeling and peered down at her, forcing her back. She kept eye contact and he took it as a challenge. “By standing around, laughing with other men, flirting like you’re not already spoken for.” Aaline scoffed and shook her head.

Ivar’s insecurities were at the forefront of this attack and Aaline wouldn’t let him push them onto her. She wasn’t about to let him blame his misgivings and self-doubt on her “behavior” at their engagement party. She was trying to have fun and get to know people. She hardly knew anyone and figured that if she was going to be married to a son of Ragnar she may as well get to know the allies of Ragnar. It would do more good than bad. Clearly, her attempts set off Ivar’s anxiety because as soon as she started to forget all about her situation, he pulled her away and accused her of making a fool of him.

“Forgive me if getting to know your allies hurts your feelings.” He didn’t like that at all. His lips pulled back over his teeth and a low rumble settled low in his chest. He lurched forward into her space and was nose to nose with her. She didn’t give him the satisfaction of flinching and he ground his teeth together. “That man is not an ally. He is Aethelwulf son of Ecbert.”

Aaline clenched her jaw and felt something pop. She huffed and a bitter smile came to her lips. “Well, I wasn’t the one who invited your enemies.” She took another drink and delighted in the color that rose to Ivar’s face.

He had to swallow down the scream that rose up in his throat and he released a slow, hot breath through his nose. Aaline raised an eyebrow at his impressive show of control. This was a new concept for Ivar and she had to give him props for trying.

“It is a power move. You, of all people, should know that. Now, we’re going to go back in there and you will not embarrass me again.” He made to grab her elbow but she pulled away from him and downed her champagne. He stared at her in what appeared to be bewilderment and she almost laughed. She placed her empty champagne flute in the entryway table and moved around him towards the stairs.

“I don’t think so, Ivar.” He gaped at her as she began to ascend the steps. “Where are you going?” He sounded incredulous. She turned to look at him, her face set in stone. “You think you’re embarrassed? Imagine how I feel being manhandled out of our engagement party by my fiancé. A fiancé who doesn’t look too happy, by the way. Then, you have the audacity to tell me that I made a fool of you when you’re the one who invited your enemies to the party. Forgive me if being a good hostess embarrasses you.

“Now, I’m going up to my room to finish out the night with something relaxing. I hope that’s not too embarrassing for you.” She turned around to leave and growled when he grabbed her again and turned her to face him. She brought her hand up to his throat and squeezed. Ivar sneered and set himself down one step below her but he didn’t let go. She did.

“What am I supposed to tell people?” Aaline was thrown by his compliance. If anything, she expected him to stomp and yell until she came back to the party. She wasn’t sure what this move did for him but she acquiesced.

“Tell them I got sick. Tell them there was an emergency. I don’t care. Figure it out.” She shrugged and he released her. She turned away from him and made her way back to her room. She didn’t see Ivar stand at the bottom of the stairs and watch her go, rubbing lightly at his throat as he did.

tags: @funmadnessandbadassvikings @jay-bel

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thecandywrites · 5 years

Text

The Perfect Magic Touch

ya’ll I have an obsession. Modern orcs. I have A MIGHTY THIRST for them. So here I am trying to sate my own thirst and if ya’ll like it too, that’s a bonus.

So- this is Rox- A CEO, a divorcee, a single dad trying to do his best to raise his son with his own dramatic and tragic backstory. Oh yes. All the cliches. And Zara a poor widow who had life do her wrong and has had to pull herself up by her own bootstraps, which again, CLICHE. I know but I don’t care. So enjoy.

Rox and Zara- The Perfect Magic Touch

You walked into the large office building, your specialized massage chair rolling behind you- a specialty item that had cost you a fortune but that you felt was worth the investment, it was made out of a titanium alloy that was both ridiculously light while also ridiculously strong and wildly adjustable so that you could work on the smallest midget dwarf or the largest orc and accommodate both and everyone in between.

Everyone smiled happily and waived and greeted you excitedly. You were a massage therapist and you had the sweetest gig ever. You came into the office and gave 5- 15 minute treatments to the office workers, usually you’d set up your chair on a floor and treat everyone on that floor that day which kept you very busy since it took you three weeks to get to every floor of the 15 story office building and you got paid in cash at the rate of a dollar a minute and you treated up to 20 patients every hour so you made about fifty dollars an hour plus tips which pushed you into the 75-100 dollar an hour range and you worked on average of 6 hours a day from 9-3 - five days a week at the office and then out of your home on Saturdays and you were making bank. You were incorporated yourself and you were insured yourself and you made your own hours while still being able to care for your daughter Audrey and yourself really well.

And the reason you were exceptionally successful was that you had what your teachers and clients called “the perfect touch” or “the magic touch” or combined and used most often “the perfect magic touch”. You weren’t actually magic but you had a gift and a talent as a massage therapist and your touch was considered to be the holy grail of perfect. You spoke the language of the body long before you had gone to college to learn it formally. You had the kind of touch that was both therapeutic and relaxing while balancing medically corrective, a skill most massage therapists spent years honing but that you just naturally had a knack for knowing and using. And it’s what made you so sought after.

Plus you made each client feel like you came all the way just for them and you seemed to remember everyone and their names and their spouses names and kids names and pets names and what was going on in their lives because you genuinely cared. And it was because you were genuine that your perfect magic touch was even better.

Even your Saturdays, when you chose to work them in your house, you were booked solid, you felt like a psychologist while you were a massage therapist because you heard everyone’s story and you had the whole picture of what was going on because you got everyone’s side but you never repeated what you heard from your clients and you earned their trust and confidence.

Your first stop after graduation was to this office building and to Mr. Rox Mikael’s office who was the new CEO of Kaziki Enterprises who he himself had only gotten that position a few months prior to your own arrival to the company. And every Friday, your last hour of the day was spent working on him and over the course of a couple of months you got to befriend him and were on very friendly terms with him. You were one of the privileged few who really got to know him as a person rather than just ‘the boss’ a feared and respected one at that. He was a divorcee himself with a son, Atris, only a couple of months older than your daughter and they were in the same grade in different schools, your daughter went to public school while Rox could afford to send his son to a private school. And you two bonded over the shenanigans your kids got into. Atris was always getting hurt playing sports or playing roughly with his friends and Audrey was Extra and Dramatic and you felt like your life with her was part soap opera and you both dreaded and feared her teenage years and you forbid her to date until she was a decade older than she was simply to save you and her some headaches and heartaches.

But today was a little different, today you were a little out of sorts because today was a certain anniversary.

“You ok?” Rox asked as he stripped his dress shirt and under shirt off because you treated him in the comfort and privacy of his office and he got you for a whole hour so he got a full upper body massage and he always took his shirts off so you could have all the access to his magnificent body you wanted before he came over to your massage chair but paused to look at you while you seemed deep in thought getting your lotion prepped on your hands. And to be honest, him stripping out of his shirts was usually your favorite part of the week. He was built like a god and he had no right to be as gorgeous or magnificent as he was. He was a half orc himself, half orc and half elf which meant his skin tone was much lighter and brighter than other orcs, your favorite color- turquoise, he had cheek bones and a jaw line you could cut a pussy on along with these tusks that while they weren’t as large as others, something about their super bright pearly whiteness banded and inlaid with gold in these gorgeous designs really popped and those big Bambi brown eyes he had made you swoon and he was just as broad as other orcs and just as well muscled and despite his office and desk job and was just naturally thicc in the best way. He had the best ass you’ve ever seen in your life and had gotten the pleasure of working on that you just wanted to sink your teeth into and he had pecks you wanted to motorboat and abs you could wash all your laundry on when you weren’t fantasizing licking the trail of hair that went from his belly button down and you felt you were gifted my the gods themselves when he would “accidentally” sport a boner but he did his best to hide them but you knew one when you saw one and he was packing. And he had a wonderful tuft of super dark brown, almost black- curly chest hair across his chest and it formed the happy trail from his pecks, to his belly button to his groin and god you just wanted to lick and kiss it all and his actual hair on his head was this gorgeous head of hair groomed impeccably well except for a single, big fat braid in the back of his head, which was the tradition of most orcs in this area was to have a single long braid in the back to put all their beads on.

He was your favorite client here. On top of being gorgeous, he was actually, genuinely nice, incredibly respectful, thoughtful, kind and generous. You could not understand how he was divorced. You couldn’t understand how any sane woman in her right mind would ever leave Mr. Perfect for anyone else. It just wasn’t fair and he had fueled so many lust filled fantasies you’ve been having especially since you met him. You were actually interested in him but you held back because you were a larger woman and a human elf mixed person yourself and you didn’t think he would find you attractive.

Because being half elf, meant you got the amazing eyes, great cheek bones and the half pointed ears. But that’s where your elf heritage ended for you personally. From the neck down you were very much human, you had larger breasts but coupled with a gut and butt and thunder thighs and it didn’t matter how much you tried to starve yourself, or go on diet after diet, the weight stayed with you. So after a while and a lot of therapy you simply learned to accept yourself while also really throwing yourself into really good food because if you were going to be big, you were going to enjoy it. Most people assumed you were half orc actually just without the tusks. Your sisters, no they got the more lithe body types and bone structures in their faces that leaned more towards elves, they just didn’t get the eyes. There were many days you’d give up your gorgeous rich and deep turquoise eyes if it meant you were half the size you were simply to keep people from treating you like garbage because you were ‘fat’.

Meanwhile Rox’s ex wife might as well be a super model and you definitely were not, at least in your own opinion, you felt like the moment you hit 30 there was nothing about yourself to be desired anymore. So it stayed a lovely fantasy.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m just having an off day, everyone has those.” You tried to dismiss with a shrug of your shoulders as your face stayed downcast but he seemed very reluctant to let it go.

“What’s made it an off day?” He asked, his voice surprisingly soft and gentle as he didn’t move from his spot.

Truth be told he had actually become fiercely protective of you since you started here, hell since the moment he met you. He was so proud of your zero flirtation policy because you were a legitimate masseuse and he highly respected you for your skills especially and he would not hear of anyone talking bad about you or gossiping about you or heaven forbid talking licentiously about you. One poor soul actually had the nerve to proposition you for a “happy ending massage” and when Rox overheard it as he was walking by and nearly went into a rage. After that moment Rox changed your contracted agreement so that the company technically subcontracted you out so that you were protected by HR from any and all sexual harassment and even gave you health insurance along with a retirement plan which was the greatest thing ever and so you technically got a paycheck in addition to being paid in your traditional way but you were under no one’s authority but your own, not even Rox could ever boss you around, not that he would but still. And when you started working here- the call off rate dropped significantly on Mondays and Fridays and he could literally track which floor you had worked on the day before because suddenly the performances and productivity spiked the day after you came since the day you were on that floor, it lulled because people were distracted in anticipation of your treatments but the productivity spikes more than made up for it. People did so much better in their presentations because you were there to give them a few moments of treatment before their presentation and gave them pep talks during their treatments which means they usually did magnificently. You were the epitome of sunshine, bright, cheerful, funny a literal joy to be around so to see you down was bothersome. Especially to Rox.

“Well...” You began before you took a deep breath and looked away, weighing whether or not to tell him. “Rox, this is your time, you should enjoy it. What has made my day an off day is not something you or anyone else can fix.” You tried to circumvent with a halfhearted but brave smile but there was a sadness in your eyes that was killing Rox, like a knife to the heart, liver and kidneys that was slowly being twisted.

“It’s your time too, if you need to vent, I’m all ears.” Rox invited and you caved.

“Today is my wedding anniversary to my late husband, he died a year and a half ago, today we would have celebrated 15 years of marriage. I was a stay at home wife and mother for most of that time and when he died, he didn’t have much of a life insurance policy and by the time I paid for his funeral and paid off all our debt, which there was a lot of, there wasn’t much of anything left. So I split the last of it to pay for living expenses for Audrey and I- and to send me to college and to support us both while I was in college so I wouldn’t have to keep down a job and be a full time student and this career is something I’ve always wanted since I was in elementary school but I just never got a chance to pursue it before now, and with today being our anniversary..it’s um...it’s difficult. Because a small part of me misses him and a bigger part of me is still mad at him for dying and leaving me in the lurch, the last few months before graduation were really tough because my savings dwindled down to nothing and it felt like it was just me and my daughter against the world, you know? So...it’s just a lot of mixed feelings today, throwing me off kilter.” You informed him as he blinked in surprise. You wore a silicone wedding band while you worked and an actual wedding ring when you didn’t work, everyone just assumed you were married and while you usually always talked about your daughter, he realized, you had never mentioned your husband, or lack thereof before and he felt like a dick because here you had been talking and been friends for months and he didn’t know that about you. And he felt he should have.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured as his shoulders literally sagged.

“Thank you, so, it’s a very good thing I’m here today, I’m the kind of person that needs to stay busy and keep distracted and working is both.” You sighed tiredly with a brave smile that didn’t reach yo eyes, which you felt was your only redeeming quality. “So have a seat and let me do that and keep this poor widow from having to tell you her sob story.” You gently teased as you nodded to the chair with another forced smile and maybe your eyes were deceiving you but he seemed incredibly torn, like he wanted to hug you or hold you or something.

“Is there anything I can do? Any way at all I can help? At all?” Rox asked as he sat down into place, you were right, there wasn’t much of anything he could do to fix that and he felt surprisingly powerless and helpless- he hated those feelings, because of his own life experiences, he had worked incredibly hard all of his life to be where he was so he would never have to feel that way again, and here he had spent all this time being jealous of a dead man who had a beautiful, talented and wonderful wife and hoping and wishing and praying that he appreciated you and come to find out, he hadn’t, that bastard. Any man who failed to take care of his own, even in death, was a dishonor and a disgrace. Part of orc culture was that male orcs weren’t allowed to get married unless they could afford a good life insurance policy on themselves so that even in death they could care for their mates and partners for years after they died, usually at least ten. To not have enough to take care of you properly so that you could grieve properly because if his math was right, you would have had to go right into massage school within days, weeks at the most after loosing your husband, even the whole time you were in school you should have been mourning, you shouldn’t have had to worry about anything but getting yourself and your daughter through that emotionally. So to know that you had done so much more purely out of survival- that was unthinkable to him and he was outraged and outright offended, he was furious with your husband for leaving you in the lurch too. He only wished he had known you sooner and would have been able to do something sooner and saved you that hardship. But he would be damned if you ever encountered it again. However, what he hated even more was the see the light and fire in your eyes practically die out, even for the briefest of moments.

You were a trusted friend, one he had learned he could talk to and keep your confidence and he kept yours and you were the highlight of his week. Even getting his own paychecks didn’t compare to the solid hour of undivided attention from you. Because of the situation with his ex wife he had tried to swear off women, thinking they were all the same but you had proved how wrong he was to think that and put faith that maybe he just had gotten a bad one and that good women still existed in the world and that he shouldn’t give up hope that maybe he still had a chance of getting a good one, who would see him for him and not see him a stepping stone to bigger and better things that he couldn’t provide now matter how hard he worked. But you, you worked hard and you didn’t pull any punches and you went after what you wanted and had a fulfilling career on top of being a great mom, he admired you and admired your character and your work ethic, hell just your ethics in general he admired and inspired him to bolster his own. Even your size and shape was especially appealing, his ex wife had simply appealed to what he thought he should want since every other guy said that his wife was perfect. But he knew that she was far from it. She was as shallow as a puddle and so vain and so full of herself and he doubted she ever really loved anything, not even their son like she should. The only thing she ever loved was the money he made and what it could buy her and she was as fake as they came.

But you- no you were real, you were fun with an excellent sense of humor. You were charming and just a general delight to be around. You even cooked. Like cooked cooked, should have been a chef kind of cooked. He lost track of how many times you had brought him food, new recipes you were tying out and he had been ready to try to steal you away from your husband because the food alone was worth trying but he did not want to disrespect you or your own marriage vows and so he withheld himself but it only seemed to fuel his own jealousy while also fueling his own fantasies of pining you down to his desk and feasting on you properly.

So to see you so down actually hurt him and he was surprised at how much it hurt him. Like his heart was taken out of his chest and trampled on all over again. But at the same time, part of him also wanted to pin you to his desk and make you forget you ever had a husband and show you he could take care of you, in every way possible. He mused you could take him, hopefully comfortably. He was willing to bet he could fuck you right out of your funk and make your day a whole lot of better. But that could wait, now he just needed to focus on you.

“Not really no, but thank you for offering. I’m taking my daughter out to dinner tonight, just the two of us, we have a six o’clock reservation at Pappadaux’s, it’s our favorite restaurant besides Red Lobster and that will give me time to go home and get cleaned up and get her off the bus and get her cleaned up and her hair curled and put a tiny bit of makeup on her, just a light shimmering eyeshadow and a bit of mascara and some lip gloss because she’s 8 and she doesn’t need to be dolled up dolled up. But enough that she feels extra pretty and special and last year when we did this we had fun and we only cried a little as we reminded each other of the fun times we got to enjoy since we lost him. Hopefully tonight, we won’t cry at all.” You smiled fondly as you started working on his neck as your own voice cracked as tears began to flood your vision but you willed them away, not wanting to actually cry on Rox. That would be unprofessional. Because the gods knew you just wanted to cry into his chest before asking him to help make you feel better than you ever did...by fucking you senseless. But no, he would never go for that and you’d ruin everything by even asking, even as a joke.

“I hope it turns out that way. That sounds...like a nice way to spend the evening.” Rox murmured as his own voice was thick with emotion and he willed his own eyes not to shed tears either, because he didn’t want to be unprofessional either but still, you were a trusted friend and his instincts were screaming at him as his mind worked into overtime, grasping at straws and trying to think of a way to make it better anyway. And he was just so close to throwing professionalism out the window and make this personal. Well, more personal than it already was. Fuck this was frustrating.

“It will be nice. I get both of us some pretty flowers and we dress up and we get each other some jewelry, it’s lovely.” You nodded as your smile grew more genuine and the tone of your voice got lighter as your tears dried up as Rox’s ear’s literally perked up. Flowers and jewelry, he could do that, he could work with that. That was easy and it was a start and that’s all he needed.

“What do you usually get yourself? Jewelry wise...I’m just..curious.” Rox asked, hoping he wasn’t being too obvious or transparent.

“Oh, necklaces, usually pendants and earrings, I have very sensitive ears, so I need to either get stainless steel or 24k gold, nothing with nickle or zinc in it, I can’t even do 925 silver.” You answered casually as you finished with his neck and started with his shoulders and once done with those you worked on his back and once done there you brought a chair over and worked on his- well frankly- impressive arms that were like tree trunks, you were pretty sure he could heft you up with one arm if he wanted to. Oh hell you had had fantasies of him picking you up and throwing you over his shoulder to fuck you against a wall or on his desk because he was surely strong enough for that. Focus Zara. Job at hand, job at hand.

Because let’s be honest, Rox was..perfect. By any standard. He was gorgeous, he was tall and broad and very well muscled and intimidating when he wanted to be. And he was your favorite color. Even though he was very quiet in the beginning of your treatments, once he got used to you, he opened up and let his hair down so to speak and you two shared a comfortable ease with each other and got along really well and became fast friends and were on first name basis with each other and while you both tried to remember to stay professional, that didn’t mean you couldn’t have fun and you had often told him of the antics of your daughter or other fun things you found on the internet since you saw him last, in fact you usually stayed a whole 10-15 minutes late just sharing funny memes you found on the internet or funny videos. Rox was a very good father, at least that’s the impression you got from him anyway, Rox’s own father was amazing and he was determined to be a good father to his son despite his ex wife who was and who his own mother was, by all accounts, a bitch and had left him for his former boss who was now retired and he had gotten this job thinking his wife would come back to him but she had simply gave birth to a son then gotten plastic surgery to make herself hotter than hot and super model skinny and moved on to ‘greener pastures’, gold digging tramp that she was and was usually on the hunt for sugar daddies since she didn’t work besides fucking said greener pastures.

And you couldn’t understand how she could ever use and then leave Rox, he was actually genuinely nice and kind and thoughtful and so sweet and generous- at least when he was with you otherwise he was revered, driven and focused. He commanded attention and respect everywhere he went, and he worked incredibly hard and led by example and you could do nothing but highly respect that. He dressed really nicely, he groomed himself spectacularly well, he worked out and took care of himself. But even as intimidating as he was, for you, he might as well be putty in your hands because you could bring him to his knees with just the squeeze of your hands in the right spots. But he loved it. He loved it when ‘hurt him so good’ and attacked those knots in his body that he got from working out or bad posture and it cracked you up to hear him whimper and hiss and whine, teasingly accusing you of enjoying hurting him. ‘I’m not sadistic or masochistic either, a little pain now means more pleasure later.’ you had told him a time or two. That and you ended each treatment you gave him with a really good hard back scratch, easily memorizing his ‘itchy spots’ he had. And the groaning and growling he did as he playfully kicked his legs like he was a dog cracked you up and left you laughing quite hard, sometimes to the point of crying and needing to use his private bathroom so you wouldn’t pee yourself. Even scratching his scalp, which he didn’t mind redoing his hair because the scalp massage and scalp scratching was divine and you loved to watch his eyes roll into the back of his head and wondered if he had the same expression when he came too.

“So, would you and your daughter simply like to go alone or would you mind some company?” Rox finally gathered the courage to ask as he debated the last few long minutes whether or not he should even ask. But he felt like this was his one opportunity and he had to take it. He just had to.

“As in you?” You asked curiously as you paused massaging his arm as you bent over to see his face and give him a curious look.

“Well, me and Atris.” He corrected before you sat back up and continued to work on his forearm.

“Does Atris even like seafood? Pappadaux’s is an expensive seafood restaurant. And nose bleed expensive at that. Audrey and I only go for really special occasions.” You questioned as you realized, if anyone else had asked you would have told them no but Rox...Rox was different...he...he was friend and technically was in your situation and you two had bonded over being parents, he just didn’t know before today that you were both single parents. You had known he was a single parent, you had actually listened to him talk at length about his mother and especially his ex-wife and how he felt uncomfortable trying to date with a son his age and how he felt he had to be picky for his son’s sake but feared his own pickiness was going to lead to his everlasting being alone. And you had never felt more kindred to him than in those moments because you felt the exact same way. And you simply reminded him that he should stay picky because it was better to hold out for a good one than to settle out of desperation and be disappointed again, which is exactly what had happened to you. You yourself never mentioned that you were single because you didn’t want to appear to be a gold digger like his ex-wife, only going after him because he was the CEO and you cherished your friendship with him so much you didn’t want to ruin it. Plus he was an orc, his ex wife was an elf/human hybrid just like you only she got the best of both worlds, she was gorgeous and you worried that he would never look at either humans or elves or any combinations of that kindly because of her. That and you were just a curvaceous, fluffy masseuse, he was a CEO big shot who deserved arm candy half your size and twice as beautiful as you to be his trophy wife. You were no trophy. You felt weren’t even a prize and as close as you were, was as close as you were ever going to get to him. He deserved better. But him asking to go out to dinner with you and your daughter and actually include his son? His precious Atris? Almost too much to hope for. Maybe he was just being nice. He didn’t mean that in a romantic way, he meant that in a friendly manner. Which was very sweet of him.

“Yeah,” Rox confirmed.

“Well let me ask Audrey and see what she thinks and I’ll either call you or text you her answer.” You offered, trying to remind yourself that your daughter was the most important person in your life and she needed to be ok with having your usually private dinner alone open to others.

“Ok.” He agreed as you moved to the later parts of his treatment, a really good back scratch and his scalp.

“There we go, all better?” You asked as you wiped your hands off on a wet wipe.

“Yes, much,” Rox nodded as he got up and put his shirts back on.

“Next time next week?” You asked as you went to your calendar with a pen.

“Absolutely.” Rox nodded and you nodded and put his name in that space as he dug into his wallet and pulled out two one hundred dollar bills, he was usually your most generous client, often gifting you a hundred dollar bill for the one full hour on him and gave them to you.

“Hey, there’s two, did they stick together?” You said as you tried to give him the other bill.

“Nope, just in case I don’t see you again in a few hours, dinner’s on me tonight.” Rox explained.

“So if you do end up coming, do you want it back then?” You asked as you hesitantly and slowly brought your arm back into your body.

“Nope,” he shook his head no with a victorious grin.

“Ok, well thank you very much.” You thanked him as you put the money into your pocket as you broke down your chair and put it back together in it’s suit case form again.

“Hey Zara?” Rox asked as he put his tie back on as he watched you appreciatively, a thousand and one things whirling in his mind and heart to ask you, to tell you and couldn’t decide what to go with first.

“Hmm?” You answered as you paused to look up at him.

“Not to be weird or overstepping boundaries, well anymore than I already did inviting myself and my son to dinner, did you need or want rather..um, a hug?” He asked awkwardly and you couldn’t help but smile. He only ever seemed to be awkward with you. Otherwise he was cool and collected and smooth. It made you appreciate the fact that he was just a normal person just like everyone else.

“I would love a hug.” You nodded as you met each other half way and hugged. You sighed contentedly and happily as he squeezed you, oh this was heavenly. Shit, fuck. Well, might as well go for broke. “Ok, I need a favor,” you said, your words muffled by his shirt. Not wanting to ever leave his embrace. Ever. Again.

“Anything.” Rox returned.

“Ok so I’m gonna put my arms around your neck and I need you to lift me without hurting yourself and squeeze around me in like my bra strap area to crack my back.” You requested before he pulled away just enough that you could do that and you could feel him smile as he stood to his full height, both arms wrapped tightly and securely around you to keep you securely to his chest so you didn’t have to hold on for dear life and all the weight from your hold around is neck, just enough to give your back some relieving stretching and cracked your back. And not just that area, he changed his hold a couple times to get your whole back. It was magnificently epic. And this time it was your turn to make those pleased growling groans which made Rox rumble a deep chuckle as he just hugged and held you for the briefest of moments but mentally chided himself for relishing every precious nano second of your embrace before he set you back down. Oh yeah, having worked out with way more weight than he estimated you to be just paid off.

“Thanks Rox, you’re the best.” You thanked him graciously and kissed his cheek super quickly but sweetly all the same as you let go and walked back to your chair. “See ya.” You called after him over your shoulder, your bright smile returning and the fire in your eyes lighting up the room again, not noticing how he seemed to be frozen in place, barely breathing, his big Bambi brown eyes never leaving you until you actually left his sight before he seemed to come back to his senses and shake his head out of his stupor before the largest smile plastered itself onto his face.

He had a date. Oh he was so happy and excited. He immediately left work and surprised the babysitter by coming home on time to get his son off the bus at his apartment since he had his son on the weekends.

“Hey Dad, you’re home early.” Atris noted as he got off the bus and walked towards his Dad curiously.

“Yeah, listen, I’m waiting on a call or possibly a text and we may have plans for dinner so I need you to go get changed out of your uniform and get dressed in something really nice and even if I don’t get the text, we’re going out to eat for dinner.” Rox informed his son urgently because even if Audrey wasn’t cool with company, he wanted to try to sit close to you and pay for dinner anyway even if he had to do it from across the restaurant and hoped that wasn’t creepy as Atris simply gave his dad a curious look but obeyed as they went into the apartment building up to Rox’s apartment, the loft apartment all the way at the top and got dressed out of his school uniform into some nice clothes, suitable for going out to a fancy restaurant.

“So who are we going out to eat with?” Atris asked as he emerged from his room in a nice polo shirt and a pair of slacks. Hoping this was nice enough.

“Zara Oliver and her daughter Audrey.” He answered as he kept refreshing his phone and turned his ringers all the way up to make sure he didn’t miss the text or the call. Trying to give you time to get your own daughter off the bus and ask Audrey while you helped her with her homework.

“Who?” Atris asked, not recognizing those names.

“Zara is my massage therapist.” Rox supplied.

“Like actual massage therapist therapist or “massage therapist”.” Atris asked for clarification with air quotes as Rox narrowed his eyes and gave his son an unimpressed look.

“Medical massage therapist, legitimate, she has her degrees and certifications and everything and before you ask, no this isn’t a date date. Today is Zara’s wedding anniversary, but her husband died over a year ago so we’re just going to keep her and her daughter company for the evening, you will behave and you’ll be charming.” Rox commanded his son firmly.

“Ok, what’s this Zara like anyway?” Atris asked.

“Lovely.” Rox answered as he turned back to his phone as a grin broke out on his face.

“What’s her daughter like?” Atris asked.

“Dramatic.” Rox snorted a laugh which got Atris to snort one too. “Oh so normal?” Atris teased.

“I guess.” Rox shrugged before you texted.

“And how old is Audrey? Do I get to babysit her or something?” Atris asked.

“She’s a few months younger than you so no but it would be nice if you conversed nicely with her.” Rox answered.

“I’ll try but if she talks about My Little Pony or Littlest Petshop, or something else super lame, I’m playing Candy Crush on my phone.” Atris warned his dad. Who spared him another warning look.

“Or not.” Atris gulped.

‘Audrey said yes, I already called the restaurant to change the reservation for four so I’ll see you there at six.’ Rox shook his fit in victory.

“Yes!” Rox cheered. “Ok, we gotta go, we gotta pick a few things up.” Rox informed his son as he seemed to spring into action and quickly took his son to the florist, to the jewelry store and to a chocolate store before they headed to the restaurant.

“So, let me get this straight, we’re not going on a “date” date but yet you’re giving this woman and her daughter, flowers, chocolates and jewelry…?” Atris asked as he sat in the passenger seat of his dad’s car and held everything as he scarfed down from his own box of chocolates.

“...Yes. Ok, I’ll level with you. This woman that we’re meeting tonight, is the single most attractive woman I’ve ever met, she’s amazing and gorgeous and even if her daughter is the biggest hellion brat, I would still give my left nut to just go on one date with her and if this is my one date, I’ll take it. Everyone in my company tries to flirt with her but she has a zero flirtation policy and so far she’s dropped clients left and right for even trying to cross the line and so even I don’t flirt with her while she’s working. We’ve kept things friendly and professional and I’m praying I don’t screw this up because if I do, I’ll have to find another massage therapist and no one compares with her. She’s human and she has these beautiful tiny delicate hands and she could bring me to my knees, has brought me to my knees crying because she’s a medical massage therapist and her treatments are painful but medically corrective rather than ‘relax make you feel good’ massage. Ok? So yeah I know, it’s overkill and a bit much, but this is my one shot and I gotta go big or go home you know? I didn’t even know she was single or a widow until today when she told me it was her anniversary with her late husband and she told me she was going to spend it alone with her daughter and I couldn’t... accept that so I offered for you and I to accompany her and her daughter for dinner and she accepted and I think she only accepted it as friends. I didn’t ask to do this under any other circumstances.” Rox explained.

“Oh so she friendzoned you like everyone else and you’re trying to get out of the friendzone.” Atris realized with a grin.

“...yes.” Rox huffed as his shoulders slouched as he grumped at his windshield.

“Ok,” Atris nodded in understanding before they sat in silence for a while.

“What are the chances her daughter is cute?” Atis asked.

“100%” Rox answered without hesitation.

“Really?” Atris blinked in surprise as a little grin grew on his face.

“Yeah, she’s shown me pictures, Audrey is gorgeous just like her mother.” Rox admitted.

“Like how gorgeous are we talking here?” Atris asked curiously.

“Long blonde hair down to her butt, bright turquoise eyes, gorgeous.” Rox recalled.

“Ooh,” Atris oohed.

“Yeah and we’re both going to be perfect gentlemen got it?” Rox urged.

“Got it.” Atris nodded and grinned giddily.

Once at the restaurant, Rox and Atris both stopped in their tracks when they saw you and Audrey relaxing on one of the couches in the little garden area by the fountain as the air in both of their lungs crashed from them and left them both breathless. Rox had only ever seen you in your scrubs with minimal makeup and your hair up in either a pony tail or a messy bun. Now, you were in this beautiful flowing blouse and leggings and your long hair was down in ringlet curls and your make up was full on ethereal goddess and even Audrey looked especially darling. He was not worthy. Don’t fuck it up Rox. He thought to himself.

“Dad, please tell me that’s her.” Atris murmured to his father as he looked from Audrey to his dad.

“Yeah, that’s them.” Rox confirmed as he willed his body forward and tried not trip over his own feet as he suddenly felt extremely clumsy and awkward like he did when he first met you.

“Hey, you guys made it.” You greeted cheerfully as you turned your head and saw them, their movement catching the corner of your eye as you and Audrey found your feet to greet them.

“You must be Atris, hi, I’m Zara and this is my daughter Audrey, thank you guys so much for joining us tonight.” You introduced as you held your hand out for him to shake as he finally tore his eyes off of Audrey to look up at you as Audrey half hid herself behind you shyly.

“Hi,” Atris greeted but his voice cracked something awful and his cheeks instantly blushed a deep green as he shook your hand and then pulled his hand back and you could tell he was embarrassed.

“Atris, it’s ok, my husband was well into his thirties and his voice still cracked. Even my voice cracks from time to time in fact it did this afternoon when I was talking to your dad so it’s ok, no need to be embarrassed.” You reassured him as Rox smiled gratefully at you.

“Thanks.” Atris mumbled before he offered the flowers in his other hand towards Audrey. “These are for you.” Atris said as Rox seemed to remember he was holding flowers too and handed them to you along with the gift bag that had the chocolates and the jewelry in it to you as well, the jewelry being slipped into the bag from the chocolate store.

“Aww, thank you.” You smiled happily as you graciously took them from him as Audrey mirrored you.

“Thank you.” Audrey said softly as she happily took the flowers and smelled them. “So how do you know my mom?” Audrey questioned Rox directly. “Do you pay her to hurt you?” She asked pointedly as you burst into laughter as both of you blushing as he was laughing too, albeit a little nervously while Atris was all kinds of confused.

“Baby, again, you can’t say it like that. Yes I treat him with massage therapy but when you say it like that- it makes it sound like an innuendo like I’m a dominatrix who specializes in actually inflicting pain with hot wax, gags, whips and chains and things like that, and I definitely do not do that, so you need to stop asking everyone that. Because when you do you can embarrass them and me.” You explained. Even though Rox was now envisioning just that with you in a black leather corset with fishnets and thigh high heels and a riding crop with himself gagged with his hands tied behind his back as he whimpered around his gag for mercy and release as his cock would be hard enough to fuck through steel and having the hardest time not physically reacting to that. Oh fuck, too late, uh, dead puppies, dead kittens, grandma naked, his ex wife fucking a ninety year old man geizer, there, that killed his boner.

“Ooh, so that’s what a...” Atris began to say before Rox reached out and pinched the back of Atris’ arm to keep him from finishing that sentence as he gave his son a warning look and sharp shake of his head ‘no’ as he cleared his throat as you bit your lips as you realized you may have been inappropriate yourself.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to uh..?” You apologized with a grimace to Rox who waived it off before the buzzer went off that your table was ready and the four of you made it inside, Atris getting the first door as Rox got the second for you all as you went to the podium and handed in your buzzer and were shown your table.

“Woah! Look at those lobsters!” Atris marveled as you passed the giant lobster tank that had lobsters of various sizes, mostly large 7, 8 and 9 pound ones.

“I know! How hungry are you? Could you eat a whole one of those?” You asked as you held Audrey’s hand and led her to the table where all of you sat down at the table, you and Rox sitting kitty corner from each other as Atris and Audrey did the same, both Atris and Rox pulling out your chairs for you and Audrey which made you and Audrey smile brightly before they themselves sat down.

“I don’t know.” Atris shrugged.

“Have you ever had lobster before?” You asked Atris thoughtfully.

“Have I?” Atris asked his dad who shrugged as he looked over the menu. As your eyes got wide, oh gods, what if he was actually allergic to shellfish? Some kids were so picky they never tried seafood until they were in situations like this.

“You’re not allergic to shellfish are you? Have you ever had shrimp before?” You asked Atris carefully.

“Yup, they’re really good.” Atris nodded yes and you blew out a breath of relief as Rox simply grinned, seeing you so concerned for his son was just heart warming and just endeared yourself to him further. His ex wife wouldn’t have cared enough to ask or remember.

“Good, well shrimp, lobster and crab are in the same family called crustaceans so if you’ve had one of those three and weren’t allergic to it, you’ll be able to eat the others without too much trouble. Now they have something here called crawfish, which is like a lobster that’s the size of a shrimp but they do all the work of cracking them open and taking the tails out and frying those so you eat them like popcorn shrimp and those are our favorite.” You explained as you gestured to Audrey and yourself as Rox nodded in understanding to that and stored that little fact to his memory along with all the other information he was able to glean from you and continued to look at the menu for a moment before the waitress came and got your drink order, yourself getting the sweet sangria as Audrey ordered an IBC rootbeer which Atris got the same thing, wanting to match her and mirror her so she would like him as Rox got a mixed drink too and then surprised you with getting a few appetizers for all of you after you put in an order of the alligator since that was one of Audrey’s favorites as Atris lit up at the prospect of getting to try alligator, which to him was very cool and so far even Audrey was cool and he liked her immediately. His dad had been right, Audrey was beyond cute, she was gorgeous.

“Thank you, you ordered my favorite.” You smiled at Rox who lit up at that. His own eyes dancing in delight.

“Yeah? Which one?” He asked giddily, barely able to contain an excited giggle even though inwardly he was cheering and jumping for joy.

“The fondeaux, it’s in the app trio.” you specified as you pointed to it on his menu.

“It sounded delicious.” Rox nodded before Audrey started talking about her new Tik Tok video she watched that she liked as Atris lit up, really loving Tik Tok videos too as they eagerly and excitedly started talking about their favorites as Rox and yourself listened and watched as Rox noticed you were leaning in your chair towards him slightly which he liked very much as he debated whether or not to reach out and try to hold your hand under the table or not as you and him simply shared your favorite vines.

A few moments later your server came back with your drinks and got your dinner order and you got your favorite, the Pappadaux’s platter with broccolini and weren’t surprised when Rox ordered two entrees, the prime rib with a whole 7lb lobster along with the Texas red fish Pontchartrain or when Atris ordered the shrimp and cajun chicken tenderloins entree with french fries because orcs had really big appetites because even Audrey had a big appetite when she was going through growth spurts since she got the fried shrimp and crawfish platter with broccolini and dirty rice. You noticed Atris small look of disgust when Audrey ordered broccolini before he looked up and that look disappeared from his face in an instant as Audrey asked him excitedly if he had ever had it before and he admitted that he hadn't but seemed tickled that she was going to share some of hers with him because sharing food was seen as an intimate gesture to orcs and humans alike.

“Hey if it gets him to eat vegetables,” You murmured to Rox who snorted a laugh. Atris was typical because he hated vegetables. Audrey was different because she loved vegetables, you and her always had a vegetable garden together every summer and grew your own and she loved broccoli, since she could eat solid food broccoli and broccolini were her all time favorites along with green beans and peas and carrots and corn.

When the appetizers came, you all passed them around, getting tastes and bites of each one as the conversation turned more towards the mundane and what was going on in school and things and you couldn’t help but feel like you were a family sharing a meal together, it was nice. Like a whole family rather than two splintered ones. Not that you were any less legitimate or valid or whole as a family or that Rox’s family with his son was either, but since your husband’s death you felt like your family was less whole without your husband being a part of it. And you knew Rox kinda felt the same way with his own son. But he couldn’t help who Atris’ mother was.

And after a couple of drinks both you and Rox seemed to relax and cut loose more and the gentle teasing and laughing really flowed as dinner was served and then it was quiet as everyone dug into their food before the sharing began since you all got something different as you continued to pass plates around until you got to try a little of everything from everyone and then when the dessert tray came though your jaw dropped when Rox ordered one of everything and then asked for one check for all of you which you blew out a small breath of relief for because two hundred bucks was not going to cover this, hell you didn’t think four hundred would either.

“Thank you Rox for dinner.” You thanked Rox as you nudged Audrey under the table to thank him too.

“Thank you Rox.” Audrey repeated pleasantly before Audrey excused herself to go to the bathroom before Atris got up and ‘escorted’ her to make sure she made it there safe which left you and Rox at the table which you were grateful for. Because you had wanted to really talk with him openly and couldn’t do that with your kids there.

“Alright, you and I need to talk.” You informed him as you turned in your seat and turned towards him as you saw his eyes widen a smidgen as he gulped and immediately clasped his hands together in his lap anxiously.

“You’re not in trouble, I just want to make sure we’re on the same page.” You reassured him when you saw how tense he suddenly became. Those knots in his shoulders were not going to be fun getting out.

“Are you trying to impress me?” You asked gently and delicately.

“Yes,” Rox admitted guiltily.

“Ok, you don’t need to do that, you really, really don’t need to blow what will probably be 500 dollars on one dinner to try to impress me or my daughter, that’s more than we spend on groceries in a month, I’ve seen you shirtless, trying to hide a boner and made you beg for mercy and ask for help, that’s all the impressing I could ever want or need, not that I’m shallow and after you for your looks which I’m not but I’m very attracted to your physical person in addition to your personality which is more important to me because who you are as a person should outweigh what you do for a living and how much you make doing it. Next, please don’t try to buy me off or buy my daughter off,” you pleaded as you picked up the jewelry box from the bag from the chocolate shop for emphasis before you put it back. “All that will do is make both of us feel cheap because any woman who can be bought isn’t worth having to begin with- also I don’t want to send the wrong message to your son thinking all he has to do is shower enough gifts, attention and kindness into any girl he wants to get what he wants from her like she’s a vending machine or something and I don’t want him thinking that myself or Audrey are those kinds of girls either, second I don’t want to send the message to my daughter to simply hold out her own affections and only bestow them for whoever can get her the latest and greatest and the bigger and the best. She’s already been approached by modeling agencies as was I when I was her age before I grew old and fat and I was younger than she was and I have done what my mother has done and turned them down because my mother didn’t want me growing up thinking that my looks were more important than anything else, more important than being a well rounded person with intelligence, morals, ethics, integrity and a depth of character deeper than a puddle and I am doing all that I can to teach the same things to my daughter.” You explained calmly and simply as Rox seemed to be a bit embarrassed as he realized what kind of impression he just gave you and Audrey and wanted a redo. He had blown his chance and missed his shot by a lot.

“Now, because I know you and I know you probably didn’t mean any of that and the fact that you’re not arguing with me or trying to justify yourself which tells me you see my point and accept it and because I genuinely like you, I’ll give you a do over how’s that?” You offered and smiled wider when he seemed to finally exhale in relief.

“Yes please, thank you. I didn’t even...realize..” Rox tried to tell you before you saw the kids coming back and you reached over and simply squeezed his arm.

“Don’t worry about it. You just probably fell back on the habits you acquired when you were courting your first wife right?” You guessed as Rox blinked in surprise as he didn’t even realize that about himself as you saw the lightbulb go off in his head.

“Yeah, I’m not like her- in hopefully any way and I didn’t want you thinking about tonight and rehashing and come to that realization on your own and then suddenly suspect me of being anything like your ex either.” you offered with a meaningful look.

“Thank you.” Rox smiled appreciatively at you as he gently squeezed his hand over yours before stealing a very quick kiss from the back of your hand right before the kids came back and sat down just as all the desserts came. And that kiss, although small, was huge. Because HOLY SHIT ROX WAS TRYING TO COURT YOU OMG. And you were beyond happy and excited about that. You wanted him to. But you wanted him to understand that things were complicated because of kids, especially impressionable ones and you had to walk a fine line.

After dessert you and Audrey opened your gifts, Audrey being totally thrilled and tickled that she got a really nice cat ear headband along with a unicorn one too and you were actually impressed at the gorgeous jewelry set he got you and you were also impressed because he obviously was listening when you talked about chocolate because you recognized all of your favorites in the boxes, one for you and one for Audrey even though you couldn’t really eat them because you both had stuffed yourselves with dinner and dessert but you thanked Rox and Atris for them all the same before you went your separate ways but not before you made plans to hang out the next day at a jump park.

“So...how did that go?” Atris asked his father as they rode home even though he didn’t see you hug or kiss his dad and thought that his father perhaps struck out since to him, you were standoffish. Polite but standoffish.

“It went exceedingly well.” Rox smiled happily as he drove them back to his place.

“How...could you tell? She didn’t even hug you or kiss you or anything.” Atris pointed out.

“And she was right in not doing so.” Rox nodded in agreement as his smile just got brighter.

“What?” Atris blinked in surprise.

“Ok, let me explain something, just because you give a girl or woman or what-have-you, a gift, she doesn’t owe you a damn thing in return, least of all affection or attention, all she owes you a simple word of thanks.” Rox grinned happily. “Remember in Daredevil when Nelson Fisk was asking Vanessa out on a date and when she told him that she couldn’t go that evening, he simply and very respectfully withdrew and simply said ‘another time then’ and she was surprised that he didn’t “try harder” by trying to buy out the gallery so she could get off early?” Rox tried to get his son to recall.

“Yeah.” Atris frowned in confusion.

“Do you remember what he said to that?” Rox instigated.

“No.” Atris frowned deeper.

“He said ‘A woman who can be bought, isn’t worth having.’ So he was being very respectful in declining even trying to see if she had a price such as buying out a whole gallery because he wanted to make sure she knew that she was priceless and worth while because he was going to put forth effort in courting her rather than figure out how much stuff it would take for her to like him because no one should be liked because of what they can give the other and affection should never be measured in stuff either.” Rox explained. “And what you saw tonight was a prime example and perfect example of how a really classy woman handled that and should handle that. Because I went overboard and it gave the impression that that’s what I was trying to do and she saw through it and saw through me, just like she has since day one and while she was polite and gracious, she made it clear that she wasn’t that kind of woman that could be bought or charmed for the price of flowers, chocolate and jewelry and she’s doing everything she can to teach her own daughter to not be that kind of woman either and everyone should respect that. You’d think I of all people would appreciate that the most and I do.” Rox just shook his head and grinned wider and prouder.

“But you didn’t mean that did you?” Atris asked.

“Nope, I sure didn’t mean any of that but and that’s what she saw, she simply saw that I was trying, that I went about it wrong but that I was trying and the second chance she’s giving me to get it right is tomorrow when we get together then. And it’s really important for you to understand that she’s not after me because of what I do for a living or how much money I make or anything like that, she doesn’t need anyone or anything because she’s a self made woman and those are the best kind there are.” Rox praised.

“Yeah, no, I got that, she was polite and nice about it but she didn’t go for it. I respect that. Same thing with Audrey, she seemed grateful but she’s weary of you because she sees what’s going on too because the reason we took a little while is because she pulled me aside and asked me if you were trying to date her mom.” Atris informed his dad.

“And what did you say?” Rox asked his son.

“I told her the truth. That you were.” Atris answered. “Then she asked me what your deal was. Which I gotta respect her for being straightforward and not pulling any punches.” Atris grinned.

“And again, what did you tell her?” Rox asked worriedly.

“That you were divorced but that this was the first “not a date” that you’ve been on since the divorce because you’re picky as hell about who you let be around me. Which I wish mom was that way and she seemed appeased by that answer.” Atris retold. “Was I wrong?” Atris asked.

“Nope you got it,” Rox shook his head and blew out the breath he had been subconsciously holding.

Meanwhile in your car.

“So, what did you think of Rox and Atris?” You asked nervously yourself as you did your best not to hold your own breath.

“I like Atris, I don’t like Rox.” Audrey sustained.

“Why?” You asked in surprise.

“Because he was trying to buy your love by buying you stuff and you have taught me to stay away from guys like that.” Audrey insisted as she gave you a meaningful look as you bit your lips.

“I have taught you that. But I hope I also taught you to be understanding of other people and other cultures. Remember how some things mean something different to different people? Like how the orcs you go to school with give each other beads and how that means something to them and how each bead means something?” You recalled.

“Yeah.” Audrey nodded.

“Well, honey, I’m not an orc, the way orcs court each other is different than how humans do or elves do or even dwarfs and Rox and I are both mixed so we both have blendings of different cultures. He was trying to be orcish with his approach because that’s mostly what he is and the one person who he dated who he ended up marrying, that’s what she liked, she liked it when he bought her things. So that’s all he’s known.” You tried to explain as Audrey seemed to consider that.

“What do you know about the woman he was married to?” Audrey asked warily.

“She is a very selfish, self centered woman, she’s what I would call, a gold digger because she was only with him because he had a good job and could take care her and treat her like a princess and Rox did that and he did it very well but it was never enough for her. But she didn’t take care of him in return. What she did was simply give him a son and thought that’s all she had to do to be set up for life, she didn’t know how to clean her own house and instead of learning, she hired someone else to do it. She got a nanny so she didn’t have to stay home and take care of Atris so she could go shopping all the time without a stroller and she spent much more than Rox could make and got him into debt over his head without telling him. She went to a plastic surgeon and made herself as pretty as she could be on the outside and then she did the worst thing a marriage mate could do to another, she cheated on him and didn’t cheat on him with just anyone, she cheated on him with his boss, and left him for someone who made a lot more money than he did because to her, that’s all that matters. She hurt him and betrayed him and was unfaithful to him and when they got divorced, she got custody of their son, solely for child support payments which she doesn’t even spend on Atris, Rox buys all of his son’s clothes and pays for him to go to a private school and pays for his tuition and school supplies. When he gets home from school through the week, he has a nanny to take care of him and he sees more of her than he does his own mom and his mom doesn’t even know how to cook and never wanted to learn. All the “cooking” she does is cookies because she can spoon some dough from a tub onto a cookie sheet and make it look like she can cook. Otherwise she has a personal chef to cook for her. And while that sounds like a nice life, it isn’t. Do you want to know why?” You asked her.

“Why?” Audrey asked.

“Because the guy she’s with, while he may take care of all her bills financially, he demands that she look perfect and act perfect all the time. She’s not allowed to have a bad day, even a bad hair day. He expects her to always agree with him whenever they talk about anything and even when he’s mean and he’s in a bad mood, it’s her job to cater to his every whim and make him feel better, whatever it takes to do that and when he tells her to jump she’s expected to ask ‘how high?’and then jump twice as high as he tells her to jump, metaphorically speaking. She’s not allowed to tell him no, ever. So when he wants sex, even if she’s not in the mood, even if she’s mad at him, even if she’s sick or not feeling well, she has to have sex with him anyway and she’s not allowed to fight back or stand up for herself in any way. She’s not her own person, he owns her and all she is- is property to him and he treats her as his slave and she isn’t allowed to have self respect or dignity unless he’s the one to give it to her and tell her it’s ok for her to have it in very small increments and for very brief amounts of time and he literally embarrasses her every chance he gets, he makes fun of her all the time and she’s the butt of every joke she tells and she’s not allowed to get mad about it, she’s expected to laugh along with him and go ‘you’re right sweetie, of course I’m a stupid whore who only knows how to spend money and can’t even do simple math’,” You twisted your voice to sound like a valley girl which made Audrey frown.

“And how I know this is because I’ve seen her at that office when I first started there, she and her current guy were picking up something and the way he treated her filled me with rage. And I can tell you right now that Rox never treated her that way, Rox has never even treated me that way. He actually respects me as a person and a human being and on days when I’m having a bad day, he’s the one to ask what he can do to make it better. These chocolates that he got me? Are all my favorite kinds, which means when we’ve talked about chocolate, he listened, and paid attention and paid enough attention to remember to get them for me. And these flowers? Again, my favorites. He didn’t have to do anything tonight, he didn’t have to buy dinner and he didn’t have to order half the menu. He only did it to try to help because of what today was. He was the only one who noticed I was having a rough day today because it’s my anniversary and Daddy isn’t here to celebrate it with me and he was the only one who cared enough to notice I wasn’t normal and ask about it and then asked if there was anything he could do to help and coming to dinner tonight was the first thing he thought of so that you and I wouldn’t have to be alone. He cares because he’s my friend. He has been since the beginning. And I know he went overboard and went about everything all wrong because he likes me and he’s allowed to like me and he wants to date me and I want to date him but I didn’t say anything before because I didn’t want him to think that I’m anything like his ex wife and please understand that I didn’t ask him to do anything, I didn’t ask for anything from him- he just gave because he’s generous and because he could. So when you went to the bathroom I explained to him that I am not like his ex wife and that I didn’t need all of that. But I understood that he was just trying. And just the fact that he tried his best was enough just like I keep telling you that at school, as long as you tried your best and gave your best effort, that’s all I’ll ever ask of you. I never ask that you get straight A’s. I do my best to never ask more from you than what you’re capable of giving but that you continue to grow and learn. So think of this as a learning exercise for all of us. I’m glad that you like Atris though. He seems like a good kid, even though he has a challenging home life and I know Rox does all he can with him to be a good father just like I do all I can and do my best to be the best mom to you that I can be. So how about you cut him some slack and let him try again and don’t write him off just yet. Give him another chance. I know that if our positions were reversed, he’d do the same for me. Everyone usually gets the first time they try something new- wrong. And if he’s going to do his best to try again, then we are going to be gracious and accept that.” You insisted.

“Is that what you did for Daddy?” Audrey asked softly as she finally dug into her chocolates.

“So many times I lost count. I gave Daddy all the tries he wanted or needed until he got it right and helped him get it right too.” You nodded.

“Ok, fine.” Audrey caved as you grinned victoriously.

“Plus, I mean maybe my eyes were deceiving me, but did you and Atris actually...you know...get along?” You gently teased.

“Maybe we did, maybe we just were trying not to be as awkward as you and Rox were.” Audrey sassed back.

“Oooh, really?” You laughed heartily.

“It was almost as awkward as a school dance.” Audrey giggled.

“Wow!” You cackled. “Yeah, well would you rather I fall all over him? Hugging him and kissing him and making googly eyes at him? I could totally blow obnoxious kisses at him too.” You teased back as Audrey made a sound that was half way between gagging and like she was a cat that was dying.

“Nooo!” She howled as you both dissolved into giggles. “Come on Mom!” Audrey pleaded. “You’re not gonna do that tomorrow are you?” Audrey asked with a wincing grimace.

“I don’t know, depends on Rox doesn’t it?” You put to her. “Just do me a favor and keep trying to get along with Atris and if it doesn’t work out between Rox and me, hopefully you’ll gain a friend in Atris either way.” You shrugged.

“That would be nice.” Audrey nodded in agreement.

“And if you could give Rox the benefit of the doubt and try to get along with him too, I would greatly appreciate it.” You requested.

“We’ll see.” Audrey huffed.

“And I feel I need to make something clear- you will not use Rox or gods forbid Atris- to get what you want, don’t see Rox trying to date me as your chance to ask for anything and everything you could ever want, like he’s a genie and will grant you any wish you make, like toys or whatever. You will not sell your pleasantness and niceness to him for stuff. Ok? Because girls who do that, especially at your age, end up like his ex wife and I will be damned if that ever happens to either you or me. You’re better than that and you’re not a spoiled brat. If anything I hope you’ve learned that you need to work for what you want and get it for yourself and earn the things you want.” You insisted sternly.

“Ok,” Audrey agreed.

#exophilia #orc #Modern Orcs #modern orc love story

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