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hotpinkhoshi · 5 years ago

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kiss it better | one

pairing: mark tuan x reader

genre: angst, smut, brother’s best friend au (sort of)

warnings: age gap (nine years), cursing, explicit sex, slow burn

summary: you were off limits for more reasons than mark could count. but everything changed for him the day you walked into his tattoo shop with those big innocent eyes and a laugh like his favorite song. he couldn’t. he wouldn’t. and yet…

*a/n*: hiiiiii! so here we go. i don’t have much to say except that you’ll probably notice this chapter is a bit shorter than they usually are for my fics. with this story, chapters may or may not be shorter in length. this is just easier on me, and helps me to keep a regular posting schedule. now, i’m not going to say i won’t post longer chapters, but i just wanted to get it out there. i have a tentative posting schedule in mind, which i’ll make a post about later, but i’d say you can probably expect a new chapter every two weeks.

also, just want to say- i hope everyone is staying safe and healthy right now. stay home, wash your hands, avoid contact with your face, and if you have to order food tip your delivery drivers a lil extra! and to those that don’t get to stay home and still have to work, i’m right there with you. we’ll get through this and all we can do is take it day by day ❤️

✩ index here ✩

make sure you read the prologue first!

Today had started just like any other day. Mark got up and went about his morning, brushing his teeth, eating his breakfast, and taking his usual ten minutes to sketch the ideas in his brain before heading off to work.

It’d been slow, but Mark wasn’t worried. There were enough appointments on Saturday and Sunday to make up for a slow Friday. The temperature had reached an uncomfortable high, so he’d dressed himself in a black muscle tee to offer some relief from the sticky air.

The early afternoon went smoothly. Mark took the opportunity to work on some new designs and do some organizing in his tattoo room, while the other guys opted to sit around showing each other funny videos on their phones.

By the time lunch rolled around, he decided to sit outside with his iced coffee, scrolling through social media on his phone while relaxing in the shade of the awning. He glanced up mindlessly, his eyes drawn to a figure standing across the street.

A girl holding an ice cream cone. Mark’s breath caught in his throat because, no, it wouldn’t be you. You’d be back home, attending some tiny college where your parents could keep a watchful eye on your every move, not here in the great big city.

Then the girl dropped her ice cream cone, her whine audible even from where Mark sat. He couldn’t help the laugh that fell from his lips. He shook his head, just as there was a knock behind him on the glass of the door.

Dahyun popped her head out. “Youngjae needs help grabbing some boxes from the back, can you help? Jackson and Yugyeom are being assholes.”

Mark nodded, one last glance across the street before he stood up, heading back inside.

-----

You took in a deep breath, squeezing your eyes shut as Mark pressed the tip of his tattoo gun to your skin. Just the constant buzzing of the tool was enough to set your nerves on edge.

Once you felt it, though, it wasn’t so bad. It hurt, but you’d been through worse. It was comparable to a thousand tiny kittens scratching you with their claws, over and over again.

“You doing alright?” Mark asked, once one long minute had passed.

You nodded, your arms squeezing the back of the chair you were straddling. It was an uncomfortable position, but it was the only way Mark would be able to access the back of your shoulder. You’d also had to strip down to just your bra, so at least you were given some modesty.

“Yeah. Just... how long will it take?”

Glancing over your shoulder, you noticed how hard he was concentrating. His tongue was stuck between his lips, peeking out the corner. He was entirely focused on the art that he was tracing onto your skin.

“Not long. The shading is what will take the longest, but it’s small, so I should have you out of here within the hour.”

You exhaled slowly and pressed your forehead into the cushioned back of the chair as he went over the same area a few times. Though he muttered a ‘sorry’, you found yourself wincing from the pain.

Yerin had left to get ready for work, as the stenciling and position process had gone on longer than either of you had thought. You’d made Mark move the stencil several times until you liked the positioning. Admittedly, it had been a stalling tactic to delay the inevitable pain that was coming.

“How’s Taehyung?” Mark asked, just as he took a break from tracing onto your skin. You opened your eyes to see him reaching for a cloth to wipe across your skin.

The question caught you off guard. Just the name of your brother was enough to rub salt into the wound you’d been holding closed for the last two months. You gulped, turning your face to press your other cheek into the chair, hiding your expression.

“He’s good. He’s been in Japan for two years now, I think. He’s happy there.”

You barely even noticed Mark returning to your tattoo, the pain less noticeable while your mind was occupied.

“That’s good. I saw on Facebook he has a girlfriend now?”

You nodded. “Mhm. Her name’s Jennie--she seems nice.”

Mark didn’t need to know that you hadn’t spoken to your brother since the week before you moved to Seoul. He didn’t need to know you’d been avoiding his calls, texts, and e-mails. Most of them you deleted without even opening.

From what you knew, Taehyung and Mark had simply drifted once they both moved out of your tiny town and started creating a life for themselves. Taehyung spent his years after college roaming the world, taking photos and putting on exhibits until he secured a steady photography job for a Japanese magazine.

Mark moved before that, though you hadn’t known he’d moved to the city until today. You hadn’t ever been close to him besides the casual greeting when he’d be downstairs playing video games with Taehyung while you were doing homework.

When you were younger, you’d had an innocent crush on him, only because he was one of the few boys that paid you any attention. You’d only ever had a handful of conversations, but he was always polite and even helped you with your math homework once or twice. It really hadn’t taken much to impress you back then.

“So, how long have you been in the city?” Mark asked.

You were grateful for the slight change in subject. It was only a matter of time before he started asking about your parents, and you wouldn’t have been able to pretend any longer.

“A couple of months. I just… wanted a change,” you told him honestly.

Maybe you’d gotten more than you’d bargained for… but regardless, you were grateful for your newfound independence.

“I get it,” Mark replied. “Alright, outline is done. Now we’ll just have to shade. I’ll give you a few minutes, okay?”

You lifted your face from the back of the chair and sat up straight. “Can I see it?” you asked.

It took a moment for you to realize Mark’s ears were turning red because without the shield of the chair, your entire bra-clad chest was now on display for him. It didn’t help that you’d chosen a pink, lacy bra just because it was the first one you’d grabbed out of your laundry bag.

Quickly, you leaned forward again to cover yourself with the chair, biting forcefully onto your lip. You could feel your cheeks burning with embarrassment.

“Sorry…” you said.

Mark cleared his throat and turned around, reaching for a handheld mirror on the table behind him. “It’s okay… I’ve definitely seen worse. Not that it was bad, or, well-”

It was obvious he’d put his foot in his mouth. You found yourself giggling, bringing your hand up to cover your mouth. Mark looked as if he was desperate for the ground to open up and swallow him whole.

“Sorry,” he said, shaking his head at himself as he turned back around. “Here,” he said chuckling softly as he held up the mirror behind you so that you could see the work he’d already done.

You managed to stifle your giggles as you turned your head. It was no wonder Mark was known for pieces like this--his lines were crisp and clear, flowing in such a way that it looked as if your skin was born with this intricate design. You couldn’t wait to see how it looked when it was complete.

“Good?” he asked.

“I love it,” you said, smiling wide. “Makes the pain worth it.”

Mark looked pleased with your answer. He set the mirror down and got up, switching out the ink on his pen for the color he was going to use for the petals, a soft cool toned purple.

You resumed your position against the chair after a few more minutes, fists clenched as you prepared for the pain.

-----

It turned out not to be so bad. Mark kept you distracted, asking you questions about your experience in the city so far. When he sensed you avoiding the topic of home or your parents, he didn’t push.

Once he got your tattoo bandaged up, you sat around talking for another half an hour while he showed you photos of his drawings, as per your request. You’d never known that he was so talented.

“I guess I should be going,” you said after a lull in conversation. If you wanted to get back to your room before your roommate began their daily music blasting and loud video game routine, you’d need to head back.

“Where are you staying?” he asked, pulling off his gloves and washing his hands in the miniature sink against the wall.

“Just… this little place,” you answered. Little was an understatement.

When you’d moved out, you’d only had a suitcase and a finite amount of cash. It hadn’t exactly been planned, so your options were limited. You stayed in the first hostel you could find, and you were disappointed to find that the wages you received from serving couldn’t provide you with anything better.

You shared a room, currently with a Russian girl a few years older than you that seemed to only be staying in Seoul to play shooting games and blast ear-piercing rock metal. Your last roommate hadn’t been nearly as bad, but you weren’t having great luck.

“Here, I’m just finishing up for the day. Why don’t we grab a bite to eat, then I’ll take you home.”

Your efforts to refuse his offer were basically ignored. He gave you no choice as he led you out to the front room to pay for your tattoo, whispering something lowly to Dahyun as she wrote up your bill.

“Mark,” you said in protest once you saw the total. You didn’t know much about tattoo pricing, but you were sure this was significantly lower than it should have been.

“What? It’s a family and friends discount.”

You sighed. As much as you wanted to refuse his help, you had to admit you could take whatever discounts you could get. Tattoos were expensive and you certainly didn’t have the budget to get one as impulsively as you had today.

“I’ll get my stuff ready, then I’ll meet you outside, okay?” Mark asked and you nodded, watching as he walked off to his room.

“Family and friends, huh?” Dahyun asked, eyebrows raised as she watched you sign your receipt. “You must have gotten really close back there.”

You laughed, sliding the receipt back over the table. “It turns out, he used to be best friends with my older brother. So… family, I guess,” you said, though you never really saw him as such. No matter how many times your mother acted like he was her second son.

“Wow, small world,” Dahyun said as she handed over a sheet of paper with a list of bullet points on it. She went over the aftercare process, recommending the creams and ointments that she preferred, and ways to help it heal faster.

After thanking Dahyun over and over for her kindness, you gathered your things and waited outside of the front door for Mark.

When your day began, you never would have thought you’d be having dinner with your brother’s old best friend, bringing back memories you hadn’t quite been ready to revisit. But he was so sweet to you, so easy to talk to, you couldn’t bring yourself to say no. You didn’t want to say no.

You’d always admired Mark’s choice to move to Seoul straight out of school, with no plan and no connections to the city. And he only came back for holidays and special occasions. While you were hastily packing your clothes into a duffel bag, you remembered thinking briefly of him.

“Ready?” Mark asked from behind you as he exited the shop. The sunlight hit his skin, bringing your attention to the swirling designs upon his shoulder. The way his shirt was cut allowed you a peek of his ribs—you could see loopy cursive etched on his skin but you were unable to make it out.

“Yeah, let’s go,” you replied with a smile, tearing your eyes from his bare skin.

#writing #fanfic #got7 fanfic #mark tuan #mark tuan fanfic #mark fanfic #mark smut #mark angst #mark tuan smut #got7 scenario #got7 smut #got7 angst

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spine-buster · 5 years ago

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The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 1

A/N: To celebrate William “Thirst Trap” Nylander’s birthday last Friday, I’m going to do a double post this week! (Also maybe because he’s technically not in this chapter).�� Make sure you set your clocks for Thursday at 7:30pm cause that’s when I’ll post Chapter 2. Chapter 3 will then proceed next Monday on our regular once-a-week schedule.

September 3rd, 2019

Aberdeen Bloom was still looking for a job.

She was still sending out her resume to companies. She was still making follow-up phone calls. She was still creating alert notifications for jobs she’d be interested in. She was still going for interviews. She was still shaking hands and thanking people for their time. She was still writing follow-up thank you emails. She was still getting rejection calls. She was still submitting work to writing contests and magazines. She was still getting “It’s not what we’re looking for right now” emails.

She sighed.

So maybe getting the dream gig was harder than she thought.

It wasn’t like the bank had let her go. She was still earning something to keep her afloat, but it was the bank. It wasn’t writing, it wasn’t anything else. It was the same stuff every single day and Aberdeen was starting to resent it. She didn’t move downtown to stay a bank teller. She moved downtown to start her career, and this was not starting her career.

But then a phone call came on Sunday – peculiar, she thought, since it was a long weekend and had expected everybody and their mothers to be at a cottage – asking if she wanted to come in for an interview. To MLSE. For the personal assistant job. Aberdeen didn’t even remember applying to MLSE. But she was desperate, so she said yes, and now she found herself looking in the mirror with her best “interview outfit” on ready to ace it.

She took a deep breath. She could do this. She packed her bag, made sure she had her wallet at keys, and left the condo, deciding to walk the short way to 50 Bay Street so she could pick up breakfast on the way. Even while eating the ham and swiss sandwich, she could feel the butterflies in her stomach – it didn’t calm her nerves at all. For some reason, she felt like this was her last chance to build something towards her career. If she didn’t, she’d be stuck bank-telling forever. When she stood outside the doors of 50 Bay Street, she took a deep breath before walking in.

“When you arrive, tell the receptionist you are looking for Frances Munro” the woman on the other line had told her when she called for the interview. As she approached the receptionist, she tried to look as confident as possible. “Hi, my name is Aberdeen Bloom. I’m here for an interview with, um, Frances Munro?”

“Aberdeen Bloom?” another voice called out.

Aberdeen looked up to see another woman lurking in the back, a clipboard in hand, dressed impeccably well. “Yes. Hi.”

The woman looked at her. Aberdeen could see her give a quick up-down. “Great. Human resources certainly has an odd sense of humour,” she quipped, chuckling for nobody but herself. “Follow me.”

Aberdeen did as she was told, giving a polite nod to the receptionist who was already ignoring her. She circled around the desk and followed Frances, who walked through the door but didn’t hold it open. “Okay, so I was Brendan’s personal assistant but I recently got promoted so now I’m looking for someone else,” Frances explained.

“Oh, so you’re replacing yourself.”

“Well, I’m trying to. We tried to be proactive and hire early but the last two Brendan sacked after only a few weeks. We need to find someone who can survive here – who can survive Brendan’s schedule and survive the pressure of the Leafs. Do you understand?”

“Yes. Absolutely.” Aberdeen looked around awkwardly. “Who is Brendan?”

“What?” Frances stopped dead in her tracks to look back at Aberdeen. “Oh my God, I will pretend did not just ask me that – Brendan Shanahan, he’s the president of the Toronto Maple Leafs,” she practically hissed at her, continuing her walk. “Not to mention a hockey legend. If you work a year for him you can get a job in any adjacent field you want – sports, media, journalism, writing, whatever. A million people would kill for this job.”

Writing. Writing. WRITING!!!!! Alarm bells were going off in Aberdeen’s ears. “It sounds like a great opportunity. I’d love to be considered.”

Frances giggled, pushing her clipboard up to cover the smile on her face. They had stopped in front of a series of doors and Aberdeen felt like she was going to have to pick the one without the tiger in it. “Aberdeen…the Toronto Maple Leafs are a hockey club. An interest in hockey…even just a little bit, is crucial,” she explained condescendingly. Aberdeen wondered how someone like this could even get promoted. “Do you play hockey?

“No.”

“Do you watch hockey?”

“No.”

Frances looked shocked. “Do you know who the Toronto Maple Leafs are?”

“Of course I know who the Toronto Maple Leafs are,” Aberdeen huffed. “I just don’t…I mean, I don’t…”

“If I put a picture of Mats Sundin in front of you right now could you pick him apart from Wendel Clark or Doug Gilmour?”

There was an awkward pause. “Are those Mr. Shanahan’s right-hand men?”

“Oh my God,” Frances muttered under her breath. “Have you ever been to a game?”

“Yes.”

“Are you lying?”

“No – no, I’m not lying,” Aberdeen said quickly. “One of my friends – her dad gets tickets through clients or whatever. I’ll go to maybe one a year with her family. But it’s not – I’m not like…the experience is fun.”

Before Frances could respond with something that was ruder than the last thing she said, her phone let out a really loud notification. She balanced the clipboard on one hand as she took out her phone. But as she looked at the message on the screen, her face dropped. “Oh my God, oh my God, no!”

Aberdeen’s face dropped too. “What’s wrong?”

Frances dropped her clipboard onto the desk and ran around it, grabbing the phone receiver and dialling a number. Almost automatically, she began talking. “He’s on his way. Tell everyone the story needs to be retracted now,” she barked before hanging up. A man walked through another door and suddenly, it was complete mayhem. People were running through everywhere.

“He wasn’t supposed to arrive until 9:30. What happened?” the man asked Frances.

“Those idiots at the Sun had the audacity to actually post the story about his daughter online. God, these people!” Frances huffed.

Aberdeen stood awkwardly as everyone seemed to go into mayhem mode. Frances was running around like a chicken with her head cut off, that one guy had mysteriously disappeared, and men in suits were in and out of everywhere with panicked looks on their faces. She watched as Frances whipped into the office and began putting stuff out on the desk – a glass of San Pellegrino water, a venti Starbucks, and the sports sections of all the local newspapers. When she was done, Frances grabbed the clipboard from her desk, a pen, and ran back down the corridor they just came from, leaving Aberdeen there, standing alone. Awkwardly.

Eventually, she could hear Frances’s voice again – much more polite this time – and footsteps of very expensive shoes clacking down the hallway. “Yes Mr. Shanahan, of course.”

“And tell David at The Sun that I’m this close to revoking media access to the locker room if he publishes another article to do with my children ever again,” a voice Aberdeen could only assume was Brendan Shanahan’s was echoing down the hallway.

“I’ll get right on it.”

“Then tell Ben up in the legal department to draw up the paperwork necessary for that to scare them,” she heard, and finally, they rounded the corner. Frances and Mr. Brendan Shanahan, President of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was angry. Aberdeen could tell, even if she didn’t hear any of his last sentences – his body language showed it all. She stepped back a few steps so he could get into his office unimpeded, where he would very obviously yell at the top of his lungs once he shut the door.

“Who’s that?” he asked.

Frances stood in front of Aberdeen, shielding her from Brendan’s view as he looked back at Aberdeen from inside his office. “Nobody – well – human resources sent her about the personal assistant job and I was going to interview her…but, but she’s hopeless,” she chuckled out, “and totally wrong for the job—”

“Well clearly I’m going to have to do that myself, since the last two you sent me were completely inadequate,” he deadpanned. Frances’s back stiffened at the words. “So send her in,” he finished as he sat down at his desk.

Frances walked out of Mr. Shanahan’s office. “Mr. Shanahan would like to see you,” she said politely, loud enough for him to hear. It was when she leaned in closer that she began to whisper so he couldn’t. “Brendan Shanahan is the absolute nicest person you will ever meet,” she began, “but he is also the busiest, most intense, most dedicated hockey professional in the entire National Hockey League. Do you understand?”

Aberdeen gulped. “Yes.”

“And I hope you know that this is a very difficult job for which you re totally wrong, and if you mess up my head is on the chopping block.”

‘That might not be so bad’, Aberdeen thought. She would have appreciated some words of encouragement, like what Kasha had given her this morning, rather than the shpeal she was getting now. But Aberdeen digressed, and nodded her head. She took out a copy of her resume from her purse before walking in.

When she did, she couldn’t help but notice all the fine detailing of his office. A lot of oak, bookcases, a lot of framed pictures of his family, and a giant Toronto Maple Leaf logo plastered – literally plastered – onto the wall. He even had a giant oak desk – so regal – in the middle of the room.

“Who are you?” Brendan asked in a tone much softer, but still angry.

Aberdeen took a deep breath. This was her time to shine. “Hi Mr. Shanahan. My name is Aberdeen Bloom,” she said, stepping forward awkwardly to place her resume on his desk. “I recently graduated from the University of Toronto—”

“And what are you doing here?” he asked.

Aberdeen blanked. What was she doing here? “Um, well, I think I could do a good job as your assistant, and um…” she started, noticing that Brendan was putting on his glasses. Her gave her a look as those words left her mouth. He grabbed the newspapers off his desk and placed them in front of him, over her resume.

‘Alright Aberdeen. Cut the bullshit’ she told herself. “Yeah, so, I graduated U of T and want to become a writer. I sent my resume out everywhere, and my work to try to get published, and finally I got a call from the MLSE human resources department, and…well, basically it’s this or bank-telling.”

Brendan didn’t look up from his newspaper. “So you’re not a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

Aberdeen’s body stiffened. “Uh…no?”

“And before today you had never heard of me.”

“…No.”

There was an awkward pause. Brendan didn’t seem like he had any more questions in him – if he even cared. It was so clear that he didn’t and that she was bombing this interview. But Aberdeen felt more words coming. “I was recently published in Acta Victoriana, the oldest continuous university magazine in Canada – twice, actually – and was also published in the Hart House Review—”

“I think we’re done here,” Brendan said, not looking up from the newspaper. That was it. Cut throat. Didn’t care.

Aberdeen swallowed her pride. So this interview was a dumpster fire from the get-go. But it was him that came in angry and him that came into this without an open mind. She couldn’t help but scoff at how he dismissed her; he didn’t even have the courtesy to look up. She turned to walk out.

‘Don’t let it end like this’ her mind told her. ‘You have so much within you that he doesn’t want to see’.

So she turned around. “You know what? You’re right. I know nothing about hockey,” she began, her voice as strong and powerful as she could make it. “The woman who brought me in asked if I knew the difference between Matt…Gilmour and something…something Sundin, and I didn’t. I don’t fit in here,” she continued, noticing that he finally looked up. “I’m a girl who grew up in an old bungalow in Etobicoke with immigrant parents. I’m an English major with a double minor in classics and film. But I’m smart. I’m really f…really smart, and I learn fast, and I will work hard if you give me the chance to do so here—”

“Good news – they’ve agreed to take down the story,” somebody burst into the room interrupting her speech. Brendan looked at her until the person laid their iPad down in front of him. “The tweet linking the article is gone and it’s completely gone off their website. Adrienne Batra wants to call you to personally apologize.”

“There’s no way I’m speaking to that woman,” Brendan mumbled. “Tell her I want it in writing. And one to my daughter as well.”

“Thank you for your…time,” Aberdeen said, as if he gave her any. She walked out of his office and out of his life forever.

Aberdeen decided to take the stairs, slowly walking down the flights of stairs, hearing her shoes clack against the bare concrete. There, she could at least wallow in her self-pity after that train wreck of an interview. She could deliberate about her next choices and steps. Keep bank-telling? Go back and get her Master’s? Take a new course? Tell her parents how she was failing? Move back home? Never do anything with her life? Live in her parents’ basement for the rest of her life? Maybe she should just stay in this stairwell. Maybe she should start living here, since there was nothing else for her out there in the big wide world. Maybe she’d become a hermit.

As she finally reached the ground floor, she thanked the receptionist again, who ignored her again. Typical. As she was about to walk out of 50 Bay Street, she heard her name being called. “Aberdeen!”

She turned around. Frances was waving her back, rolling her eyes at the same time. Aberdeen furrowed her brows. Did she forget something? What was going on? She scurried over to Frances. “What’s wrong?”

“Brendan wants to speak to you.”

Aberdeen gulped. She was going to get yelled at by the President of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was going to completely obliterate her entire life and not-yet-burgeoning career for that little stunt she pulled inside his office with that speech, and she’d never be able to find a job anywhere in Toronto again. She may as well just move into her parents’ basement now.

As they both rode the elevator back up, Aberdeen’s heart kept beating faster and faster. “Do you know what he wants to speak about?” Aberdeen asked.

“I have no clue,” Frances said absent-mindedly, typing something into her phone.

When they arrived back upstairs, Frances led her straight back into Brendan’s office. He was working on his laptop now, instead of reading his newspaper over Aberdeen’s resume. “Brendan, I have Aberdeen back for you,” Frances announced.

“Excellent,” he said, his voice much more upbeat than what is was five or ten minutes ago. “Franny, I’d like you to take Aberdeen to get her picture taken for her new MLSE identification badge,” he said.

Frances’s eyes bulged out of her head. So did Aberdeen’s. “W-What?” Frances stuttered out.

“And after that, I’d like you to take the town car and take Aberdeen to the Eaton’s Centre to get her an iPad Pro with a keyboard so we can start the process of downloading all the necessary apps and internal mail server she’ll need to do the job.”

Aberdeen’s stomach dropped. “I…I got the job?” she asked, completely flabbergasted. Was he nuts? Completely, certifiably insane?

“You start next Monday. Is that fine with you?”

Aberdeen found herself nodding.

***

“I’m so glad Steven could get that done for you today,” Brendan said as he rounded the corner of his desk so he could sit in his fancy big chair. Aberdeen nodded, looking at the screen of her new iPad Pro. Steven, one of the guys from tech support, had helped her download everything she needed to have on it.

“Yeah. It was all really fast.”

“After you finish up here today you may need to go back to the Eaton’s Centre,” Brendan informed her. “You’re going to need to purchase a work wardrobe. Keep every receipt because MLSE will reimburse you. I prefer black, but really…get whatever you think is appropriate for an office.”

“Okay.”

“No heels necessary. When we travel, I obviously don’t mind something more laid back – especially trips to the west coast. Do you have a valid and working passport?”

“Yes sir.”

“Make sure you have it when traveling. Our charter plane will still need to see it. We’ll make copies.”

“Yes sir.”

“You’ll need to be available every game day. We usually have Sundays off, but it’s a very untraditional schedule. You’re okay with that?”

“Yes sir.”

“And I have your contract for you,” he said, grabbing some paperwork on the desk. “We’ll have someone from the legal department come and explain it shortly,” he handed it to her, “but you’ll see the salary at the bottom of the first page.” Aberdeen looked down. Her eyes bulged at the number. “If everything is to your liking, then we can sign.”

“Okay,” she nodded her head. She gulped.

Brendan looked at Aberdeen and could tell she was nervous – it was obvious in her short “Yes sir” responses anyway, but she looked like she wanted to curl into her shell. “Before Ben from legal gets here, I would like to apologize about this morning,” he said. “A local newspaper ran an article about one of my daughters, and my children…well, my children are completely off-limits. Everybody knows that. But sometimes some journalists like to see how far they can take things, even though they know family is off limits.”

Aberdeen understood where he was coming from. If anyone ever said anything bad about Siena or Camden, she’d have their head on a spike. She couldn’t even imagine what it was like for a father, or any parent for that matter, to have an article published about their child without their permission. “I understand, Mr. Shanahan.”

“We are like a family here, you know – MLSE, but the Leafs especially. You will feel part of that family soon enough.”

Aberdeen nodded nervously. “I’m sure I will, Mr. Shanahan.”

“Well…” he shrugged his shoulders, leaning back in his chair and smiling at her. “Congratulations, Miss Bloom. You are now an employee of MLSE.”

***

“With the Leafs?!” Kasha was shocked when Aberdeen told her. She’d started pouring glasses of wine when Aberdeen told her she got a job, but once she revealed the specifics, Kasha was shocked. “Gosh Aberdeen, remember when my dad would bring me, you, and Siena to games with the company season tickets?”

“I know.”

“And now you’re working for them?!”

“For the President. I’m his personal assistant.”

“Oh my God!” Kasha exclaimed. “Seriously though, I bet a million jocks would kill for that job,” she commented as she finished pouring the wine.

“Yeah. Great,” Aberdeen shrugged her shoulders. “Thing is, I’m not one of them.”

“Well, you gotta start somewhere, right?” Kasha offered. She picked up both wine glasses, handing one to Aberdeen. Kasha held her glass up. “To jobs that pay the rent.”

Aberdeen giggled. “To jobs that pay the rent.”

#william nylander #william nylander imagine #william nylander fic #william nylander fan fic #toronto maple leafs #toronto maple leafs imagine #toronto maple leafs fic #toronto maple leafs fan fic #nhl #nhl imagine #nhl fic #nhl fan fic #hockey #hockey imagine #hockey fic #hockey fan fic #the president wears prada series

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mchalowitz · 5 years ago

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the process by which time passes

REPOST. you guys. @lilydalexf is the true mvp of this saga. she happened to have the story still open and was kind enough to send it to me. i owe her so much gratitude (as well as the other amazing xf bloggers that reached out to me). although i don’t interact much socially around here, it is amazing to be a part of a fandom that is so kind and supportive! writing xf fic is a creative outlet i enjoy so much and i love sharing it. now back to our regularly scheduled reading. (also if you guys wouldn’t mind boosting this new version so i can see the feedback, i would be so grateful.)

this is something i’ve been writing (at this point) for probably almost a year, which is one reason i’ve been pretty quiet on the fic-posting front. i’m so excited for everyone to finally see it but terrified at the idea that it’s not just an idea that only i know about anymore. it was originally the back half of a wip i abandoned but i couldn’t let this part go. enjoy!!

Mulder gives her a tight hug on the side of a desert highway. Scully presses her forehead to his chest, hoping her thoughts might leave her mind, reach his heart, and convince him to stay. He still gets in the SUV and she never sees him again.

In true Fox Mulder fashion, his physical presence isn’t needed to be a constant reminder. Government officials that she once exchanged pleasantries with at the coffee machine bang down her door and rip apart the life he abandoned.

“Have you heard anything?”

Skinner rifles through papers until the door clicks shut. Her badge feels heavy on her lapel. It feels wrong to be here.

“Only the official warrant,” Skinner answers. That was weeks ago. She has to frequently remind herself that he is doing the best he can. He can’t make it too obvious he’s interested in the hunt. She certainly can’t go digging herself.

“They’re closing the X-files,” he informs her. “There is an appeal process…”

“That’s not necessary,” Scully interrupts. “My assignment was to assess the validity of Mulder’s investigations. There is nothing to assess.”

“You believe in the work.”

“I’m a scientist,” she reminds him, offering nothing else.

Her final report is a jumble of words that states, no matter what she believed, the X-Files should never be reopened.

–

Scully spends idle days breathing in wet air on her mother’s porch. She hopes the sea might soothe her.

A week later, as she plans her return to Washington, she decides emphatically that it did not.

She discovers heart medication in her mother’s bathroom cabinet. Maggie attempts to downplay the circumstances, “It was a blip on a screen, Dana. The doctor said it was just precautionary,” but to Scully, it’s a call to action.

It isn’t difficult to resign. It seemed like it should, after giving the FBI almost a decade of herself, and much, much more than that.

She cries silently in her car after handing over the keys to her dream apartment and saying goodbye to her meticulously curated life.

She reminds herself starting over is the only way to move on. But she isn’t sure she believes it.

–

Scully is a seasoned Special Agent of the FBI, an instructor of pathology, but she struggles to call herself a doctor. After an onslaught of rejected resumes, she begins to believe the medical community of Maryland agrees.

A small hospital outside Baltimore is wowed by her determination alone. At the bottom of the ladder, no one knows the reputation of Agent Scully. She showed promise and expertise in her role, even if her partner was a kook. Dr. Scully has never formally practiced medicine and her bedside manner leaves something to be desired.

Scully hopes for an opening in pathology, where she might be more understood. John From Human Resources hums along with her plight. “I’ll keep an eye out,” he promises.

She begins noticing him behind her in the cafeteria line. On a fall day, she is trying to decide on the best fruit cup when he sides up to her. He is whisper-quiet, conspiratorial in tone when he says, “I wanted to give you a heads up that Dr. Harris may be retiring at the end of the year.”

The may sounds more like an is. A weight inside her lifts.

John assures her she is the first choice when the position officially becomes available. When he leads her to her new office in January, he asks her out to drinks to celebrate, and Scully is surprised, because she forgot people could see her that way.

John is completely unlike anyone else she’s been with. He is endlessly dependable. She never has to worry about where he is because he calls when he’ll be late. He thrives on a fastidious routine and makes safe, informed decisions.

Scully finally moves out of her mother’s house and into a modern three-bedroom she purchases with John. She leads an entirely new life. She climbs the ranks in pathology and is still able to go on real dates, and eat home cooked meals while they’re still hot, and sit in the pew every Sunday. She goes on weekend hikes and uninterrupted trips to the coast and has fine, but not life changing, sex. She accepts John’s proposal on the beach with a beautiful ring.

They have a small wedding. She doesn’t take his last name.

John tries so hard, never asks about her time in the FBI, even tries to adopt a child with her. When it falls through at the last minute, they decide on a dog instead. They get divorced after two years.

In her office one late morning, the phone on her desk lights up. “Dr. Scully, there’s a man on line one asking for you.”

“Thank you,” she says into the speaker. She picks up the receiver with the assumption of a request for a consult. “This is Dr. Scully.”

“Hey, Scully, it’s me.”

She drops the phone.

–

Scully’s stomach is in knots. She is too nervous to order any food. Mulder sits across from her at a diner, looking older and scruffier, and she wonders if this is all a cruel hallucination.

“Where have you been?”

His fingers tap nervously on the table. “Farrs Corner.”

After exploring little towns in the far reaches of nowhere, she remembers that’s Virginia. When she presses for how long, she discovers he’s been within driving distance almost this entire time. Her fingers clench. She wants to strangle him.

“It’s been six years, Mulder. Why now?”

“The FBI dropped the charges against me. I helped them with a case, they wiped the slate clean. I can start my life again, Scully, come back.”

Forget strangle, Scully wants to kill him. He thinks he can just come back? His ignorance to the domino effect of his actions has to be purposeful.

There was a life they wanted to live together that never had the chance to become a reality. She has spent six years trying to fill her life with meaning. Her marriage failed, her career path faltered. They have a child that is no longer theirs.

Scully stands from the booth. She stares down at him, asserts her power.

“I thought you were dead.”

He just nods. He suggests she give him a call, now that she has his number.

She doesn’t.

–

Scully always forgave Mulder too quickly; it was their fatal flaw. She frequently ignored this piece of common knowledge by justifying his more unsavory behavior as residual childhood trauma, or a severe lack of social skills, or plainly being obtuse.

She never found a way to justify him leaving her when she needed him without looking like an emotionally manipulated moron. How could she possibly forgive the embarrassment and isolation she felt after giving up her own child for ostensibly no reason?

Scully bared her soul to him, her body, and gave him everything she had, and she still took a backseat to his quest. There was a brief time where she thought something finally switched in him and the quest would take a backseat to her. In the earliest days of the millenium, working their way up from something undefined to something real.

A month passes. She speaks to no one about her meeting with Mulder, but when she has idle moments, it fills her mind. She tries to remain hot when she begins wondering what Mulder’s life is like now. She attempts to imagine how he filled six years worth of time, because he was never a picture of duality, never able to separate his life from his work, and what can he do after leaving it behind?

It’s a slow burning curiosity. Weeks long. She begins to think he didn’t push during their last meeting because he knew it would happen like this.

She scrolls through recent calls to find the number he left on her office phone. Scully hears the hello in that familiar voice and doesn’t hesitate to respond, “Mulder, it’s me.”

–

Scully sees a dream realized when she pulls up to a little house with a spacious porch on sprawling land. Mulder never liked the city.

He is clearly thrilled to finally present his vegetable garden and his paintings while giving her the grand tour. He recounts putting in the new water heater himself and his plans to replace the roof next spring.

Mulder makes her pasta and gives her the “good chair.” When her stomach is full, they talk about old times. She hasn’t talked about these things in years because she knew there was no one else that can laugh about what she saw instead of instantly recoiling except for the man sitting across from her.

“I have to get back,” she realizes when she sees the sun beginning to set out the window. They spent almost the whole day together. He nods in understanding.

“You see I’m not living in squalor,” he jokes as he walks her to her car.

“It certainly wasn’t the dilapidated hut I was expecting,” she teases. Her tone shifts from silly to serious. “You know, Mulder, after our last meeting, I really didn’t want to come here. I thought…I think you know what I thought. But I’m glad I came.”

“I appreciate any chance you’ll give me, Scully,” he replies.

–

Farrs Corner becomes a regular destination.

Mulder easily becomes the companion she was lacking, the return of the best friend she lost. Even with the passage of time, he still knows her better than anyone else.

She stops offering up her free Friday nights for on-call autopsies and tox screens to watch movies with take-out picked up just before civilization ends.

Without a Saturday shift to spoil their fun, they indulge in the full six pack of their favorite beer. His feet are propped on the coffee table next to their abandoned pizza box, as she folds her legs underneath her on the cushion beside him. She is full-bellied and warm.

“I can’t believe you were married,” he says in disbelief, taking a swig from his bottle. “Considering how many of my proposals you turned down.”

“Maybe I would’ve accepted if any of them had been serious.”

“So you’re saying there was a chance?”

She laughs and nudges his shoulder with the side of her bottle.

When she catches his eye, she sees a person that, yes, she thought she might marry someday. When she was younger, less hard, and had never seen the face of a child that was half him, half her.

She leans forward and presses her lips to his, jerking back as soon as he begins to respond. She tries to find something to say, a reasoning, but she finds his curious gaze, and can’t think of anything to say.

He closes the distance between them and starts where she left off. His kiss is wonderful. It’s hopeful and sexy as all hell.

He nudges her jaw aside with his chin, his mouth seeking out her neck. Her fingers tangle in his hair. “Let’s go upstairs,” he suggests.

–

Standing at the foot of his bed, Scully realizes she’s never been in Mulder’s bedroom before. He has simple furnishings; dark wood and soft blues. His belt clunks when it hits the floor. His bare chest warms her back.

She remembers his warmth, his proclivity to be so tender and gentle, and to let her lead the way. She turns and guides him onto the bed.

Modest kisses quickly turn unrestrained. He breaths in long pants as he shoves her panties down her thighs, letting her kick them over her ankle before hooking them over his hips.

He slips in so easily. Scully explores his changed body; the shifting muscles in his back, his thinner, sweat dampened hair against her hands, his ass clenching as he rocks into her.

Electricity runs through her when his fingers drift to her clit, taking her right to the edge. “Fuck,” he groans, his lips at her ear. “I can’t believe it’s really you.”

She moans in utter bliss, deliriously overtaken. When she comes, she shatters. Mulder thrusts two, three times more, before following behind. He spurts hotly into her with growls of satisfaction.

Breathing heavily, they lay bonelessly on their backs. She feels the sweat cooling at her hairline. Her lips break into a big smile and a laugh leaves her lips. His follows and he raises her hand to his lips, feeling his joyous puffs of air against her skin.

“We are still very good at that,” she decides, turning her head toward him.

“You did always bring out the best in me,” he agrees.

Scully finds his boyish nerves when he mentions spending the night charmingly endearing. She wordlessly moves to press herself into his side, clinging to him in answer.

–

Mulder calls their connection cosmic, though Scully doesn’t believe in cosmicity. An otherworldly connect would trivialize their effort so far in their new era.

She worried how they would assimilate into each other’s worlds without the commonality of what easily linked them before. While their forced separation may never be seen as a positive in her eyes, it did allow for the growth to be content in domesticity.

Scully adores the version of Mulder she met over two decades ago. With his unwavering desire for truth and his absolutely brilliant mind. The hours they can spend talking remind her of that man often. They spar as they always did, laugh like no time has passed.

She delights in the side of him that is at peace with the mundane. He likes filling her drawers with clean scrubs, and working in the yard until he returns smelling like freshly cut grass, and giving her drafts of his paranormal mystery novel.

Uncensored honesty is their biggest challenge. It would be so easy to never discuss what plagued them in the past. They finally get to air their fear, their guilt, and their grief. Scully thinks she and Mulder come out better on the other side.

Mulder leads her to the quiet corners of the world, using his freedom to finally venture off his little property. They luxuriate in the Bahamas shortly after their first night together and they start stopping at all the roadside attractions they used to skip. He plans to finally take her to England and show her all the off beaten paths from his youth. She would go anywhere with him.

A beach house in Maine is this weekend’s activity. Scully accidentally leaves her stack of reading on the desk in her office. “I’ll grab them quick and we’ll go,” she promises him, hanging onto the open passenger side window.

“Don’t leave the coast waiting too long,” he teases. “I’m starting to lose my island glow.” She rolls her eyes at him and pushes up on her toes to kiss him briefly.

Though she promises to be quick, Scully still signs into her computer. She printed out the newest articles hastily before an autopsy and notices now that the first ten pages of the article on top are missing. She finds herself drawn to begin reading when she goes to reprint. She pulls out her chair with blind arms, sitting down absently.

She doesn’t realize how long she’s been gone until she sees Mulder enter. “I was starting to think you’d fallen in,” he jokes.

“Sorry,” she mumbles. He brushes off her apology with a wave of his hand, rounding the desk to brace his hand on the back of her chair.

“What are you reading?” he asks.

Case 43-2009. 8-year-old with Brain Scan Abnormalities Presents Potentially Unseen Neurological Disorder.

She breaks her gaze at the screen to bring her eyes up to Mulder.

“We need to find our son.”

#x files #xf fic #fox mulder #dana scully #msr

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rareandbeautifulthing · 5 years ago

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Six Sentence Sunday

Thank you for the tag, @thehoneyedhufflepuff! I actually have some stuff to post today. Way more than six sentences...

Quarantine (This is the beginning, there’s more written but it’s not finished yet...)

SIMON

Baz comes into the room and slams the door with such force, the photo of his family falls off the wall. He glares at it like it insulted him and leaves it lying on the floor. He storms into the bathroom without looking at me and slams that door, too.

I sigh. It’s going to be a long indefinite time.

Indefinite time. That’s what they told us about this. We’d be stuck in our rooms, with only our roommates, for indefinite time. A “quarantine,” they’re calling it, to stop the spread of some heinous virus that is making half of England sick. Half the world sick, even. We’d heard about it, mainly from family members writing worried letters, but the Mage kept saying it wouldn’t touch us here. Then a few kids tested positive, and suddenly he changed his tune and implemented a quarantine. Now we’re supposed to stay shut in here, starting, well, now. Our meals will be magically delivered outside our doors. We aren’t supposed to leave our rooms. Some of the students who don’t have a private bathroom like Baz and me can only go to the bathroom at scheduled times. That seems terrible.

But not as terrible as being shut up in here with an angry nemesis. It will be a miracle if the anathema doesn’t get us, because I’m sure he’s already cooked up a scheme to get rid of me and blame the virus. Or an accident. Or a natural disaster. Who knows what his diabolical mind has come up with.

And if not, I’m not sure I can put up with his drama.

I settle onto my bed and try to read my textbook. He comes out of the bathroom after a while, smelling like cedar and bergamot. I roll my eyes and stare at the book, though I think I’ve been reading the same paragraph for the last ten minutes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him sit heavily on his bed. He sighs deeply, like the weight of the world is on his shoulders, then flops down on his back, throwing an arm over his eyes.

That’s what I’m talking about. Drama.

I’m bored as fuck. We’re only a day and half into the quarantine-of-indefinite-time, and I’m losing my mind. For one thing, these “magical meals” never have more than one scone per person, which is sheer madness. And Baz doesn’t even eat his. He throws it away. It drives me insane. How can he throw away perfectly delicious scones?

To be honest, I haven’t seen him eat at all yet. He seems to wait until I’m in the shower, or asleep, to consume food. But I’ve seen the scones in the trash. Last night, while he was in the shower (we’re showering a lot. We’re bored), I took one of them out of the trash and ate it. It was still perfectly good, and it’s foolish to waste food. Being in the care home taught me that.

I still really hope he doesn’t notice, though. He’ll never let me live it down.

Also (back to the quarantine), I don’t really like reading all that much, and since the Mage has his no-technology rule, there’s literally nothing else to do. The teachers sent up some homework, which Baz immediately dove into, but I just can’t get interested. I find myself wishing on the regular that Baz and I were on cordial enough terms to play a card game, or at least have a civil conversation, but neither of us has spoken for at least 24 hours, unless you count all the times he’s sucked his teeth or told me to fuck off for making any noise. I think he’s trying as hard as he can to forget I’m here. Several times I’ve been so bored, I’ve intentionally started to make noise just to rile him up. Once I started humming. He told me to fuck off. Once I started clicking a pen. He threw his pen at me. Once I yawned loudly, not even trying to annoy him, and he snarled so fiercely it made me jump.

“I’m not any happier about this than you are,” I’d muttered. He hadn’t deigned to reply.

Finally I can’t take any more. I leap out of bed - Baz looks up involuntarily and then tries to pretend like he didn’t - and head over to the CD player. We never use it, probably because we both know that any music either of us puts on will just cause a row. But whatever. Let Baz kill me. Let the anathema take us both. I don’t even care anymore. I’m so bored.

I look through our dusty stack of CDs. They magically appear every so often, probably so the students don’t completely mutiny because of the whole no-technology-thing. Except I suspect they’re not actually very up to date. We’ve got Kanye. We’ve got the Chainsmokers. We’ve got Lil Nas X and Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran. I have no idea when any of them were released. I find one I’ve never heard of (I’ve never heard of a lot of them, since the CDs are the only way to keep up with music trends, and Baz and I don’t use them). Odesza. Screw it, I think, and I put it on.

Baz is clearly pretending none of this is happening. He stares at his textbook and writes in his notebook all the more vehemently. I turn my back on him and let the music take over. It’s got a nice beat, and it’s both sensual and dancy at the same time. Without meaning to, I’m letting my body pick it up. I start moving.

I don’t know how long I dance. I forget Baz is there (which is rather incredible, because I never forget Baz). I forget we’re in quarantine. I forget everything and just let the music course through me, moving however I feel inspired to.

I remember everything when I finally turn around with my eyes open. (I realize then that I’ve been dancing with my eyes closed for a while. I also realize that I’m sweating a little, and apparently I took off my jumper a while ago, and am just wearing my school trousers and a white t-shirt that I outgrew at least a year ago. I don’t know when I took off the jumper.)

Baz is staring at me.

I wonder if he’s been staring at me for a while, because his book has fallen sideways on his lap, and his pen is hanging slack in his hand.

I feel myself blush, because there’s nothing worse than dancing like no one’s watching when, in reality, one’s nemesis is watching. But then I decide not to let him spoil my good time. I hold his gaze and start moving again.

And here are a few sentences from my upcoming installment to “Rain,” which is a bunch of ficlets about Ari and Dante which I’ve been updating frequently since being stuck in the house!

ARI

Dante is shaking and sobbing. I hold him close, wrapping myself around him as thoroughly and carefully as I can. I hate that his ribs are broken, and that his whole body is in so much pain.

I hate that his heart is in so much pain. And I hate the boys that did this.

He’s crying so hard, I know it must hurt his ribs. But he can’t seem to stop. I keep stroking his back, his hair. I let one hand slide down his arm and weave my fingers with his. I’m not even thinking about what I’m doing right now. I’m too overwhelmed.

“Ari?” he manages to choke out.

“What, Dante?” I breathe. My heart feels like it’s going to explode, and I’m feeling so many conflicting things I can’t even know what emotion it is that’s threatening to destroy it.

“I want you to stop.” He pulls away weakly. I don’t want to let him, but I do.

“Stop what?”

He won’t look at me. Since when does Dante Quintana look away? He’s not himself. They broke more than his ribs. I feel like screaming.

“Stop touching me,” he whispers, so quietly I can barely hear him.

I feel like everyone I follow for fanfic has been tagged! @carryonsimoncarryonbaz @sharkmartini @angelsfalling16 I don’t even know who else...if you haven’t and you want to participate don’t be shy!

#snowbaz #can you tell i love dancing #aristotle and dante discover the secrets of the universe #aaddtsotu

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violetganache42 · 6 years ago

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I HAVE RETURNED FROM TENNESSEE!

God, this is like, what? The second time I've used this GIF?

Man, these past few days have been an enjoyable experience for me. I don't even know where to begin! Oh, wait… I actually do. I think it’s best for me to break it all down day by day.

* * *

Friday

As previously mentioned, Thursday night marked the start of the mini-hiatus because Mom and I had to make sure we could catch our 6:55 AM flight to Nashville on time. Needless to say, we only got a few hours of sleep; however, thanks to us getting the caffeine from our colas and trying to nap on the plane, we were awake enough to explore the downtown Nashville area.

As you may have guessed, Nashville is a popular place for country music and a lot of the attractions in the Lower Broadway area is full of clubs and honky-tory bars. No matter where you go, day or night, there is always a bar where people perform country music live for the patrons.

Nashville also happens to be the place that harbors the Johnny Cash Museum, which was the first stop of the weekend.

As you can tell from the first image, this artifact was made entirely out of steel that was salvaged from the destroyed World Trade Center, which is where the One World Trade Center/Freedom Tower currently stands. The second image is a piece of memorabilia: the Martin D-35 guitar Johnny Cash used when he was alive as it was his favorite Martin guitar to play on stage for two decades.

Speaking of country music, Nashville had recently hosted this year's CMA Music Festival and Garth Brooks took home the award for Entertainer of the Year. I wasn't even sure if it was coincidental or not since this weekend in Tennessee was primarily about his concert, but I'll get on that later. In the meantime, another neat place we checked out was the Country Music Hall of Fame… well, specifically some of the gift shops.

Yes, one of the gift shops has a wall filled with nothing but records from all kinds of country artists.

Outside of the country-related sights, we also checked out a couple more places within the Nashville area like a local candy store called the Candy Kitchen. Everywhere you look, there were all kinds of store-brand and local candy, caramel apples, fudge, ice cream, etc. Combine that with the aroma of pure sugar and you end up either feeling like you've gone to candy heaven or your teeth ended up rotting because of how many sweets this place had.

They even have giant ass Dum Dum lollipops for crying out loud! Like, how the hell are you supposed to eat something that huge?!

Later that afternoon, we weren't sure what to do in Nashville between the bars, party tractors, and what not, mostly because we weren’t in the mood to check everything out due to the little amount of sleep we got. As a result, we did a bit of online searching and found a pretty cool mall not far from the state's capital.

Yep. That's right. That is what this mall is called. The name alone was enough to give me Sonic vibes and I'm certain y'all know why. Hell, they even had three parking lots each labeled emerald, gold, and ruby; I lowkey wished they added four more parking lots and have them named after sapphire, amethyst, diamond, and aquamarine just so it can keep reminding me of Sonic, you know? Specifically the seven Chaos Emeralds? ...*coughs*...

Anyways, that's kinda how Mom and I spent the rest of our Friday: having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and poking at some shops they had before returning to Nashville to see what it was like at night. I will say this right now: they fucking love partying.

Saturday

The next day of the trip was mostly spent driving up to Knoxville for the Garth Brooks concert, which I was able to get a decent number of photos because it was crazy. When Mom got the tickets, she said it was going to be a stadium concert and I thought it was going to be similar to Taylor Swift's concert at Gillette Stadium in terms of crowds, but holy shit! Was I wrong! When you've got a college football stadium filled with 84,000 people attending, it's bound to get fucking cramped, so comparing both stadium tours, this easily takes the cake for the wildest concert I've ever been to thus far. Nevertheless, I still managed to have fun.

Because the Tumblr app—as far as I know—only allows 10 photos per post, I decided to condense some of my favorite photos I've taken for the rest of the trip into collages to try and satisfy the limit, but it appears I may have made more collages than I anticipated, so the rest of this post will be typed via laptop. To kick off the series of collages, here are some of my favorites pictures I’ve taken of Garth.

Sunday

Sunday was the last day of our weekend in Tennessee, so having done the stuff mentioned above, how did we spend the majority of yesterday? By driving through Sevierville and Pigeon Forge, with the latter being the home of Dollywood!

Before going on this trip, Mom and I discovered Dollywood wasn't far away from Knoxville, the same town where the concert at the University of Tennessee was held. She tried to figure out ways to make additional plans to go to Dollywood to see their Christmas traditions, but we ultimately chose to save it for another time because we wanted to make sure we arrived at the airport early enough to board.

On that note, what proved to be the icing on the cake for this trip was what Mom would call a happy accident: viewing the Great Smoky Mountain Range.

The collage with the light blue background is a portion of the several photos I've taken of the Great Smokies as we were driving through a road in Sevierville that offered wonderful views from the distance. The one with a wooden background is during our trek through the mountain range; on top of the photo of the national park sign, we made a few stops along the way because those stops had some marvelous views.

And now comes the pièce de résistance. The happy accident of this trip. While taking pictures of the views at the first stop, we noticed some buildings down below; a couple of them resembled hotels, but we weren't sure what the rest were. As we were leaving the mountains, we immediately entered what we saw from above: Gatlinburg.

We didn't take a lot of pictures there because we were too mesmerized with what Gatlinburg had to offer as we were driving through: shops, an aquarium, museums, ski lifts, hiking, and so on. Everywhere we looked, there was nothing but endless entertainment, just like Pigeon Forge! They are even all decorated for the Christmas season, and honestly, I definitely wouldn't mind spending Christmas in Gatlinburg in the foreseeable future. Renting a cabin, seeing what the resort has to offer, my sisters and brother-in-law joining with Mom, my brothers, and myself to celebrate the holidays. That would be super amazing. ☺️

* * *

Anyways, that pretty much sums up the major events of my weekend hiatus. Posting and queueing on my main and Sonic blogs respectively will return to its regular schedule. Plus, a little something I've been thinking about doing, but what is it? You'll have to find out when the time is right. ;) Until then, see you guys later!

#my post #personal #update #nashville #johnny cash #knoxville #university of tennessee #garth brooks #sevierville #pigeon forge #dollywood #dolly parton #great smoky mountains #gatlinburg

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backtothestart02 · 6 years ago

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Mixed Drink - 3/? | westallen fanfiction

A/N: I’m suuuuper tempted to change this back to ‘Mixed Drinks’. lol. The metaphor sounds better in my head somehow. But we’ll see if I change it eventually. I feel like I will, but also...lazy. *shrug* Lol.

Enjoy! This was the result of my match-the-line-to-the-fic post I put out a little while ago. The 3rd in the series before I resumed my regular schedule. In addition though, I’m dedicating this to the handful of people that kept me going last night and restored my faith in myself and enthusiasm for this story.

Big thank you to @mspurple23 @valeriemperez (and also for beta’ing like the dear you are!) @flightofthestars96 @allaboutmybucks @instantsaladartisan @summervibes8.

You guys are the best!

...

Synopsis: AU - Two strangers meet in a bar. One spells danger, the other, desperation.

...

Chapter 3 -

She watched as he dressed himself, biting her bottom lip before the last of his ass disappeared beneath his pants. Despite her best efforts, despite everything screaming inside her that she could not afford one more bad decision, she’d gone and slept with a criminal not once, but twice – and the second time she’d known he had a bit of a record. She restrained a sigh and focused on the present. She’d worry about the implications of this in the future later. After all, she was very good at beating herself up. The only thing that would truly annoy her was the look Teddy would give her the second she walked into the bar later on, which was inevitable at this point.

“Like what you see?” Barry teased, zipping up his pants and facing her after he’d slipped his head and arms back through his shirt.

Iris flushed, feeling a tingle between her folds just from the sound of his voice. Curse him. Low and velvet and the perfect drawl, it was completely her undoing.

“So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?” he asked casually, coming to stand beside her so he could check his appearance in the mirror.

Her eyebrows narrowed, and she remembered exactly why she didn’t take a liking to him when he wasn’t gazing lustfully at her or standing before her naked or kissing her or…

“No.” She stopped her mind from wandering into recent memories.

“No?” he asked, amused. “No, you don’t have plans or no, you won’t tell me what they are?” She opened her mouth to answer, but he interrupted. “Or no, you don’t know what your plans are because your future is a mess and you’d prefer I fuck you through Sunday to make you forget about just how far down you’ve fallen in your life?”

Well…

“Asshole,” she whispered harshly instead, though she certainly wouldn’t mind a few more orgasms to get her mind off her disastrous present; especially the kind he gave her, because damn.

“Just a question,” he said innocently, straightening out his shirt and then glancing at her. She still looked angry. “So, what’s the answer?”

“The answer is none of your business,” she spat.

“I bet I could get it out of you in bed,” he whispered seductively, leaning towards her. She ignored the delicious shivers ripping up her spine.

“You are unbelievable!” She pushed past him and out the door, ignoring his lingering stare on her backside.

Relieved and disappointed that she’d successfully gotten rid of him once she was a block away, Iris realized – regretfully – that she’d left her phone at the coffee shop.

Or maybe he’d stolen it, she thought bitterly. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time.

She stopped, turned around and found herself staring at him just outside the shop, waving her phone in his hand.

Ugh. She hated herself. How could one person possibly be this much of a mess?

Reluctantly, she trudged forward and tried to snatch the phone out of his hand, but he used her impatience to wrap his fingers around her hand, and for a moment she truly thought he was going to dance with her. Here, in the middle of the sidewalk outside one of her favorite coffee shops.

“Let go,” she demanded, trying to yank her hand free – and the phone with it.

“Mmm, not really feeling it, actually.”

She huffed and gave up the fight, grinding her teeth. “Why. Not?”

“Let’s just say…” He took the tiniest of steps closer. “I don’t want to let you out of my sight just yet.”

She raised her eyebrows, appearing amused even though her heart was racing.

“You’re just one bad –” He raised his eyebrows. “Two bad decisions,” she clarified. “Both of which I’m done with. So, if you don’t mind?”

He relented – amazingly – and she nearly fell back as the lack of resistance left her a bit unbalanced. He caught her, of course. And the warmth of his arm around her waist nearly made her lose her breath.

Damn, she wished she hadn’t burned so many bridges. It would be so good to confide in her roommate about this…this guy that set her on fire the way no other man had.

“T-Thank you,” she said, standing evenly on her feet after he’d let go of her.

“I know a way you can thank me,” he said.

“No,” she immediately retorted.

“Calm down,” he placated, despite the return of her narrowed eyebrows. “Maybe I just want to show you around.”

“Aren’t you new to town?”

“Aren’t you so absorbed in all your problems that you haven’t really taken the time to see what Central City has to offer?”

She blinked.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” He whistled for a cab, which came to a stop right beside them.

“Wait, Barry, no-”

He opened the door for her.

“Oh, look, you remembered my name.”

With a sigh and a glance and a brief complaint from the cab driver, Iris reluctantly slid into the backseat.

Barry wasn’t even touching her, but she could feel the heat rising off his pant leg and wondered how in the world she was going to survive even an hour without jumping him again.

He caught her gaze at just the right time – when she was licking her lips and eyeing his crotch – and smiled slowly.

“Plenty of time for that,” he said, making her go wide-eyed and turn away.

“Where to?” the cabbie asked, now a good way into the next block.

“Jitters.”

She frowned. “Another coffee shop?”

“You know it?” he asked, intrigued.

“I worked there in high school and college. Paid my tuition with those paychecks.”

“Time well spent, then.”

She thought back on when her boyfriend of three years had dumped her in front of a room full of customers who had gone quiet, and how every job she’d used her major for had ended in her voluntarily leaving or getting fired.

She said nothing.

“It’s not about the coffee shop,” he whispered, leaning close. “It’s about what’s above it.”

“Offices?” she guessed half-heartedly.

“The roof.”

A vision of the two of them standing wrapped in each other’s arms, gazing out at the view of the city flashed before her eyes. She felt butterflies exploding inside her, not to mention her panties dampening again.

“Oh,” she said – and made a point of looking out the opposite window until they got there.

She could feel him smiling from his side of the car, but no amount of money in the world would get her to indulge his twisted humor.

“Are you staying with Theodore again tonight?” he asked innocently when they were a block away from Jitters.

Her mouth fell open. Was he jealous?

“I- N- Maybe.” She abandoned truth for lie. He deserved to feel conflicted after all he’d done to her.

The cab came to a stop, and Barry paid the driver before getting out and rounding the vehicle to help her out of the car. She thought of snatching her hand away and declaring her independence but decided that if he wanted to be gentlemanly, then why the hell should she deny him?

“You won’t want to by the time I’m done with you,” he said, as he guided her into Jitters.

She looked amused. “Because of all the sex?”

He smirked. “Because of the view.”

She didn’t understand what he meant by that, but one thing she was certain of: in all her years working at Jitters, she sincerely regretted never coming up to the roof.

It was absolutely breathtaking.

…

Iris leaned her elbows back against the stone wall, staring out at the city once more before meeting Barry’s mysterious gaze.

“So, what’s the occasion?” she asked.

He had the nerve to look confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well.” She pushed herself off the wall and started coming towards him. “Sex twice-”

“Consensual sex,” he corrected.

“Consensual,” she allowed before continuing. “Tracking me down for breakfast-”

“Inviting you to breakfast.”

“A free breakfast.”

He smirked. “A free one.”

“And now a ride across town to see one of the best views in the city. What’s your game, ex-con Barry?”

His eyes narrowed in a sudden, unexpected spurt of anger before it dissolved.

“No game. Just wanted to show a pretty girl a good time.” He smirked again.

“Oh, yeah, just that,” she said, amused. “Except this pretty girl is broke, homeless, unemployed, and an alcoholic.”

“We all have our baggage.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “What’s yours?”

“Ah-ah-ah, you don’t know me well enough to get that information.”

She’d stopped, so came to meet her halfway.

“You mean, there’s something other than stealing in your checkered past.”

He said nothing, but cupped her face with one hand, then leaned down and kissed her. It didn’t escalate. It was sweet. And Iris hummed contently when it was over before opening her eyes into his.

“You’re beautiful, Iris West,” he whispered softly.

She sighed aloud despite herself. God, how she wished this was real. She had nothing going for her, but to have a charming stranger giving her his undivided attention in the best way would be a great thing to hold onto.

Still, reality was hammering away in the back of the mind, reminding her of everything she’d lost and that she’d probably lose this too if she fought too hard to hang onto it.

“When are you leaving town?”

He raised his eyebrows. “What makes you think I’m leaving?”

Her heart leapt into her throat, but she forcefully shoved it back down.

“Just a feeling.”

He stared at her for a while before answering.

“At the end of the week.”

She took a step back and returned to the wall, trying to get her bearings.

“I’m an idiot,” she muttered under her breath.

“I’ll be back next month, though,” he said, coming up behind her. She refused to look at him as he lowered his lips to her ear and kissed the top of the shell. “And the month after that. And the month after that. And the month after that…”

“On business?” she asked, weakening from his touch.

“Something like that.”

She turned around and found herself immediately in his embrace, his hands lightly gripping her waist.

“You like me, Barry?”

“Oh, yeah.” He smirked. “From the moment I saw you.”

She hesitated. “What is it…that you do exactly? What are you in town for?”

“Mm…can’t tell you that. It’s classified.”

She frowned.

“I can tell you it’s legal, though.”

She was doubtful, but the small fire lighting in her said maybe he was telling the truth.

“Can I trust you?”

“Absolutely.”

She sighed. “Can you tell me anything about yourself?”

“Hmmm,” he contemplated, drumming some of his fingers on her back. Then his eyes lit up. “I know.”

“What?” she searched his eyes, hating the thrill that was pumping through her.

“I’ve got a hotel room at the tallest building in the city.”

She rolled her eyes. Thinking about sex again, I see.

“The Charlton,” she acknowledged.

“Mhmm.” He began smoothing his hands over her lower back.

“What about it?” she asked, ignoring the excitement speeding down her spine and the implications of this entire conversation.

“It’s got an even better view than this one.”

“Of what? A bed?”

He chuckled, sounding sexier than ever.

“Sassy. But no. Of the city.” He could see the suspicion on her face refusing to remove itself. “It’s truly spectacular…” he teased, leaning forward.

“What’s your last name?” she asked, just before his lips brushed hers.

“Allen,” he said, surprising her by actually answering with something believable. “Bartholomew Henry Allen.”

“Bar what?”

But he kissed her, silencing the predictable question.

“If you come with me now, I’ll even let you google me.”

She was dumbfounded as he started to pull her towards the stairs in the center of the roof.

“Where are we going?”

“Shopping,” he said, sounding so chipper. Under other circumstances, Iris would have fought to suppress a giggle.

“Shopping? What do you need?”

“Not me. You. You’re going to need a fancy gown for the gala we’re going to tonight.”

She came to a sudden stop. “The what?”

He turned around. “It’s for my job. The reason I’m in town this week.”

She blinked.

“Come on,” he tugged her hand, and reluctantly she started walking again. “I don’t know a single female who doesn’t like getting a new dress for free.”

For free?

A smile tugged at her lips, because, well… Why the hell not?

...

*Also posted on AO3 and FFnet.

#westallen #westallen fanfiction #backtothestart02 fanfiction #mixed drink #chapter 3

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goddessnemain · 5 years ago

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The Guy From The Party- Part 4

Wouldn’t you know it, it’s 5 days after the Friday night he drove all the way down here just to see me and he came down again. It was Wednesday, my pool league night, which is fine. He picked me up. He took me for dinner. He went to pool league with me. I play pool on the same team as his buddy who’s bday we met at, so we were on a date/I was doing a scheduled activity/hanging out with his/my friend(s). We had fun! When pool was over more friends showed up. I have a woman I’ve known for 18 years. She spent almost 20 years in a very abusive relationship, and this woman can spot a red flag in a man before anyone else does. She’s pretty protective of me. She LIKES Party Guy. Likes him so much in fact, she hugged him before she left the pub. LIKES him so much in fact, she whispered in my ear as she hugged me goodbye “I like him, he’s a good one”. That’s pretty high praise.

I decided that since Party Guy had put so much effort into driving 90 minutes each way- twice- that the following day, the Thursday, I would drive into the city and make him dinner. He couldn’t believe that I would be willing to drive to the city to see him, and he was even more shocked that I’d be willing to cook him dinner. He was as shocked that I would come and cook him dinner as I was that he would drive down to see me twice. It was February 13. I walked into his cute little basement suite with a backpack of clothes, a cooler full of food, and there he was with a single red rose in his hand and a little box of chocolates. He looked at me with a big smile on his face “Happy early Valentine's Day”. I was stunned. Embarrassed. Blushed. He handed me the rose and gave me a sweet little kiss.

Melt!

It turned out he’d also gone to 3 different liquor stores looking for a hard to find bottle of Jack Daniels that I liked. He didn’t find it, bought a regular bottle in a nice box, but the fact that he went to 3 different stores to try and find this whisky for me!

Melt!

I made dinner, and we talked about our families, he told me about his sisters, his parents, his very normal childhood, a childhood of stability, loving parents, no moving around all the time. Just a very normal childhood. It made me feel insufficient because I couldn’t relate to the things he was saying.

Making dinner was an experience. He doesn’t have an actual stove, just an element (we thought he had two but it turned out one didn’t work), a convection oven and a microwave. I made it work. He just watched me cook and kept talking. We laughed when we tripped the breaker trying to run too many appliances in the kitchen. We laughed when he had to go find an extension cord so we could use the microwave. And he slowly ate that damn dinner like it was his last meal. Turned out, he doesn’t really cook, doesn��t really know how to cook- with a devoted mom and 3 older sisters, he didn’t really have a reason to learn and just never has, but apparently, he can operate a BBQ like a wizard- and it had been 7 months since he’d had a home-cooked meal. He was over the moon about this damn dinner.

We spent the rest of the night watching a movie on the couch. We watch a couple of stand up comedians. We just laughed and laughed and laughed. I wound up staying at his place for a total of 10 nights.

We went to the dog park every day- he’s got a huge black lab he takes to a dog park 20 minutes from his place every day. We’d walk through the park, he’d reach for my hand. If he had to let go for some reason, he reached for my hand as soon as he was back beside me. Even held my hand IN HIS POCKET one of the chillier days. We went grocery shopping- he’d been holding my hand as we walked through the parking lot, but I let go once we got in the doors, saying it felt too “relationshipy”, and he replied that he’s “not big on PDA”. Coulda fooled me. There were way more people at the dog park than the grocery store. He brought me breakfast and coffee every day from Timmy’s. On the days he would have to work that night we would cuddle and nap on the couch for a couple hours. I found myself feeling very comfortable and content in his space quite quickly, and I shocked myself when I realized it.

After 10 nights, he came home with me. The first Friday he’d come to see me, he’d gotten 3 minutes out of my town when his car broke down. So coming home with me that Sunday made sense, so he could pick up his now fixed car the following morning. I had to be home that Sunday because it was my kiddo’s 19th birthday and I wasn’t about to miss it. We brought his black lab with us to my place to see if he would get along with my female chocolate lab. And they did. Aside from trying to hump her a lot, they did better than I expected. We were lying in bed the Monday morning, I was half awake, half asleep, still groggy from my sleeping pills (I’d only packed enough meds for 2 nights when I went to see him the day before V-Day, so the first night back on my meds kicked my ass) when he says “Come back to the city with me today in my car, bring your dog, and I’ll bring you back tomorrow night”. I realized afterward what he had said, but at the moment, it was kind of a Charlie Brown “whah whah whah” situation in my head and I found myself agreeing just to make him stop talking. So, I packed a night's worth of meds, a change of clothes, everything I needed for my doggo, and away we went in his car back to the city. I was afraid. I didn’t have an escape plan. I didn’t have my own vehicle. If he refused to take me home, I didn’t know what I would do or where I would go. So when Tuesday evening rolled around and he was hesitant to take me home, I started to panic a little. As it got later into the night, he insisted we stay that night and he would take me home in the morning. What choice did I have?None. So we stayed, and he did take me home the next morning.

He’s teaching me some pretty serious lessons in trusting people. Let’s face it, if you’ve gone ahead and read any of my other posts, you’ll know that I often find myself in situations where I get screwed over. And those are just the situations I write about. That’s not including the $200 I lent ‘You’re Safe In My Arms Now’ guy when he was broke and needed to buy firewood to heat his house when it was -40 outside, on the promise he would pay me back, and then refused to pay me back because he’s convinced I lost a $30 tool he’d left at my house (he never left a tool at my house). Or the $200 I lost on my birthday after the person that was supposed to be throwing me a bday party brought a new girl he was seeing, didn’t say 2 words to me all night because he didn’t want to make her jealous, didn’t pay me for what I picked up for him, and still won’t pay me. All the times I’ve had friends promise to show up and they don’t. The examples are countless. But Party Guy is teaching me that it’s okay to trust people, I just have to be more selective about it.

I give him a hard time about his “other girlfriends” (that don’t actually exist) and say things like “your other girlfriends will be happy I’m finally going home” or “better warn your other girlfriends I’m coming to the city Friday night” or “I won’t just show up at your place out of the blue, I don’t want to catch you with your pants down and a naked chick on top of you”. He gets frustrated and says he’s “not a cheater” and that he’d “never ever do something like that”. Sure, all humans say that, but I actually believe him that he wouldn’t cheat. I understand why he gets frustrated, he’s a good guy, he’s a genuinely good person. He interrupts me all the time when I talk and I often can’t finish a story because he’s interrupted and talking about something else and it drives me kinda crazy, but he really is a genuinely good, kind, honest, respectful person.

So here I am, right this minute, sitting at his place, chilling with his doggo while Party Guy is at work. I did have plans to go out with a friend tonight but plans changed last minute and I don’t care to make new ones at this point. However, tomorrow we’re doing all his running around and then we’re crawling in his car and going to my town where I just came from today, to spend tomorrow night drinking and hanging out with my friends/our mutual friends at the pub. We’ll spend Saturday night at my place and then back to his place early Sunday morning. It worked better for me to come into the city today, 1 so I could see my friend, 2 we get to spend more time together and 3 we can drive his car back and forth, it’s way cheaper to fill than my truck, and I won’t be trapped here, I can leave on Wednesday afternoon without an issue.

I found out the other day that he and I are dating. So I suppose I’m in a relationship now. And I haven’t been in a functional relationship in over 5 years, let alone had a boyfriend. A normal, kind, caring, sweet, honest, will bend over backward to see me, boyfriend. The weight of those words are hitting me like a Kenworth truck and I am realizing I’m scared. He’s trying so hard to wiggle his way in and I’m trying so hard to keep him at arm's length. I’m going to have to give him some of the room he wants, and that’s scary too.

#the guy from the party #scary #im a little scared #kind #honest #dating #Valentines Day #boyfriend #Party Guy

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gloss-glass-ash · 6 years ago

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Sunday's

Request: no

Summary: the farmer!ashton Au that nobody asked for

Tags: @cal-pal-cuddles

Sunday's were spent at Ashton's after the various services let out. His friends and brothers with their kids would roll up the drive, stirring up dust from the dirt road. The dogs would yip with excitement alerting him of his visitors. He'd turn off the stove top and step outside with a dish rag in his hands.

The kids would happily shout at him, crawling and climbing all around him. They'd tell him about Sunday school and regular school, Luna Hemmings would proudly show off her latest lost tooth while Charlie Clifford acted too cool for the whole ordeal. Eventually, everyone made their way inside and settled in for an early dinner.

Ashton loved Sunday's. On Sunday's he had company more than just his animals and the nosy old bat of a neighbor. He wasn't alone on Sunday's.

"I'm thinking of renting the apartment over the garage." He didn't really know why he said that. He figured it was the only interesting thing he could respond with to the "what's been up with you this week?"

"Yeah?" Calum leaned the chair back, rubbing his stomach through his shirt. "What if I move back in?"

"Cal, I love you, but I ain't cleaning your shit up again."

So, he left that alone and published his want ad in the newspaper. He didn't anticipate getting a response so soon, especially not from a teacher. Ashton arranged to meet with the applicant on Saturday after the farmer's market for coffee at the only coffee shop in town.

Ashton settled into a booth by the window, removed his cap, and unzipped his jacket. He ordered a cup of tea and waited. Teachers, by nature, were punctual and Y/N was no different. She arrived promptly dressed like a Pinterest board with a folder in hand and bag on her shoulder. Ashton threw up a hand.

"Mr. Irwin?" Polite, perhaps southern. Ashton smiled and nodded.

"Miss Y/L/N?" He teased showing his teeth. "Came prepared I see."

"There's a reference from my last land lord, my resume and schedule, and two bank statements." Y/N settled into the booth, ordered a chai, and folded her hands on the table.

Ashton glanced over the papers with pseudo intelligence. He didn't know shit about what all that stuff meant; his roommate interest was entirely about someone to use the apartment on the farm and maybe offer human interaction on day's other than Sunday's.

"Why are you leaving your old lease? Those are swanky apartments downtown." Ashton took a sip of his tea, deciding being nosy was his best bet.

There was a blush of embarrassment to her cheeks. "You can look at my bank statements teachers we don't get paid shi-nothing, we don't get paid anything."

He remembers Liz mentioning stuff before about teachers having to protest for pay and pensions. At the time, he didn't care. Today, sitting before this gentle creature soft with curves and gentle eyes, he decided he did care...a lot.

The two got on nicely so he agreed for her to come visit the following Monday evening and move in the next weekend. Monday evening arrived quickly which left Ashton little time to fix any repairs in the apartment while tending to the farm.

Calum left a lot of his shit there that Ashton placed in a box to give him later. He moved the bed frame toward the window and added some plants,interior designers be damned. Y/N arrived in a hatchback, hair falling from a ponytail. She held a coffee mug in her hand.

"Rough day?" Ashton led her up the stairs to the apartment, his hand hovering over her back close enough for protection without being invasive.

Y/N laughed a joyful sound. "Shakespeare for Seniors was today." Sometimes she was so in the education bubble that she forgot there were people who didn't live and breathe school. Ashton's confusion was apparent as he opened the door. "The language arts and social studies departments team up to study Shakespeare and perform for residents of local nursing homes."

"Woah that's so" good, adorable, amazing, "awesome." Ashton entered the apartment. "It's got a living room, bedroom, full bath, basically an open floor plan." He settled onto the bench by the front door, letting her look around. "I'll do maintenance. Heating and air is pretty stable. However, if we get a winter like last years, you'll have to come in the farmhouse it'll be too cold."

"Can I repaint? And can my car go in the garage below?"

She signed papers right away, paying him first months rent with the promise of last months soon. Ashton waved a hand dismissively and assured her he'd help move her in. Slowly throughout the week he would move her belongings over in his old pickup and trailer.

Y/N was all settled by Saturday night, just in time to snuggle up in bed and watch SNL. She was exhausted from her work week and all the stress of moving. Perhaps she should have considered farm life a bit more, but the idea of not sleeping in on Sunday's hadn't crossed her mind.

A rooster crowed at sunrise, perched on top of the fence just outside her window. Dogs barked consistently. Ashton whistled quite loudly as he went about his daily chores. Y/N managed to lay in until 8. Dressing, she headed out to the barn barn where Ashton was happily feeding his pigs.

"Morning sunshine, I didn't wake you did I?" The worry in his eyes was so sincere she couldn't say yes.

"No, I'm used to getting up early." She peeked behind Ashton to the pig pen. "Not to judge or be ungrateful, but you don't, you know" she slid her thumb across her throat.

"I sell them. I eat bacon. I don't eat my own pigs though, wouldn't feel right."

"They're awfully cute."

Without hesitation, Ashton scooped up a squealing piglet and passed it to her. "You get attached then I can't sell her. Do with that what you will."

Poppy got a little red ribbon tied around her neck by that afternoon. Ashton was quite pleased that the little piglet was staying because it meant Y/N was staying. He waved her in from the barn to his back porch. "My family is stopping by for dinner, you're welcome to join us unless you're busy."

Y/N was not, in fact busy. She had finished posting grades, she was caught up on laundry, and she was painfully single. "Are you sure?"

The sunlight hit his smile in the way only movies could, in the way that made him look like James Dean or maybe even Harry Styles. "I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it, honey." A certain smugness tightened in his chest at the way her eyes widened at his quip. "They'll be over soon."

It had been several years-10 maybe- since she'd been to Sunday dinner but she reasoned her teacher wardrobe would suffice. She searched what food she had brought to move in with, grabbed a bottle of wine, and headed to the farm house. Better to show up with a cheap bottle of wine from CVS than empty handed.

Ashton had changed into sinfully tight black jeans with a crisp white shirt that made him glow. "You wash up nice." Y/N teased handing him the wine. "Not exactly Sunday dinner material but it's something."

Without paused, Ashton took her under his arm and into his chest. A musky yet clean scent filled her senses as he gave her a quick squeeze. "You're the one who needs the housewarming gift, my dear."

Calum arrived before Y/N could worry about making a fool of herself. Ashton kept his arm secured around her while ushering her to the kitchen with Calum. The rest trickled in until they were settled around a table that didn't set level with floor and chairs that creaked.

"Mrs. Y/L/N, why are you living with Uncle Ash?" Charlie Clifford asked, fondly setting next to his favorite teacher. "I mean, I'm not complaining if it gets me an A , but I have a responsibility to report the facts."

"Charlie, you were the school news reported one day and almost got suspended, leave your teacher alone." Y/N quite liked Michael and Crystal. She liked his entire family for that matter. It had been a long time since she sat at a table and felt she belonged there.

"It's okay, Charlie. I'm not living with your Uncle. I'm renting the apartment over the garage."

"And domesticating my pigs." Ashton teased before taking her hand and Cal's to bless dinner and wow she was fond.

During the week, they adopted a routine that switched dinner from each of their places. Wednesdays were interesting, as Y/N watched from her bedroom window while Ashton did yoga with his goats ("I'm telling you they make it better"). Friday's were a little odd, watching Y/N assault his blender making cocktails while watching cable news ("I've had a long week and our country's going to hell in a hand basket I deserve this").

Somewhere between Sunday dinners and Charlie's play or maybe it was after Luna's dance recital, Ashton wasn't sure. Regardless, at some point he forgot what life was like without her. That was scary in the beautiful way. He wanted more than what they had. So, he changed into his best flannel shirt and slicked his hair back. He cut flowers from his rose garden and put a little glitter on.

Marching right up the stairs to her apartment, he knocked upon entering. Poppy squealed from her pet bed zooming right for his legs. Y/N had taken off her heels by the door and was in the process of starting dinner when he touched her shoulder.

"I'd sure like to take you out tonight" Ashton paused, hazel eyes filled with affection, "and maybe kiss you. I'll walk you home after." He winked with a sparkly smile.

True to his word, Ashton took her out, asked and then kissed her, and walked her home the morning after. Things changed for the best. It wouldn't be long before Ashton would move her stuff in into the house with the intention of forever.

#Ashton Irwin imagines #aahton Irwin imagine #ashton Irwin blurb #ashton Irwin blurbs #5sos blurbs #5sos blurb #5sos imagines #5sos imagine #5 seconds of summer imagine #5 seconds of summer imagines #farmer!5sos #farmer!ashton #ashton Irwin au

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travelingtheusa · 6 years ago

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NEW YORK

18 Sep 2019 (Wed) – We spent the day getting ready for our move. We went food shopping and stopped in at Bagel Boss for lunch. I don’t know how that place stays in business. They are soooo slow. It must be because they are the only bagel place around. At 3 p.m. I drove over to Travis & Sam’s to watch Lincoln. Sam had work and Travis was taking the boys to karate. We reviewed their finances and discussed options to resolve their issue. In the meantime, Paul was watching Caiden back at the camper because Miranda and Kenny went to Meet the Teacher Night.

It was quite cool this morning. The heater is not working right. It turns on and then shuts off. This is an issue we will have to resolve before the weather gets colder.

17 Sep 2019 (Tue) – It’s been a fairly busy week. I attended a memorial service for a member of the American Legion Post on Thursday. Gus Luhrs, past post and past division commander, passed away at the age of 86. He served 20 years in the Marine Corps and was in the Korea and Vietnam Wars. He was the bartender at the post for many, many years. I will miss him.

We went to a dinner celebrating the 100th birthday of American Legion Post 411 on Friday the 13th. It was held in the Marconi Lodge; not the post. I guess they wanted to give everyone a chance to enjoy the celebration and not worry about set up and break down. I was disappointed that few of the guys wore uniforms. Not too long ago, everyone would have proudly worn their uniform. The times, they are a-changing. There were about 60 people at the event. The food was ok but the company was great. It was fun to see all our friends from the post.

Caiden decided to skip church this Sunday. Afterward, Paul and I went to the Bayside Clam Bar for lunch. The warm days are waning and I want to enjoy as much of the waterfront as possible before it gets too cold.

12 Sep 2019 (Thu) –I had lunch with my sister, Susan, today. We met at the Cheesecake Factory in Bay Shore and both enjoyed salads. Later this evening, I attended a memorial service for an American Legion friend, Gus Luhrs.

11 Sep 2019 (Wed) – Wow. Things have been very, very busy. We have spent time watching Caiden which takes full effort. He likes to play pillow fights and pulls me into these all the time. It’s either here in the camper or on the couch in his house.

I had lunch with my daughter, Gina, today. We met at Cheesecake Factory and caught up on how things have been going since we last saw each other.

Later today at 5:00 p.m., Paul and I went to a 9/11 memorial conducted by the Town of Islip next to Town Hall. There were 15 fire departments represented there. Lots of firemen and a bagpipe and drum band played songs that left you with a lump in your throat.

5 Sep 2019 (Thu) – We celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary yesterday. We had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse. We saw a posted sign that said they give a 20% military discount on Mondays. We now have our new best eatery on Mondays!

We had my brother, Dennis, and his lady, Denise, over for dinner on Tuesday (September 3). I made chicken picata, potatoes, and green beans. Everything came out perfect. They stayed for two hours. It was a very pleasant visit.

Caiden started school yesterday (Noah started the day before on Tuesday and Hudson started on Wednesday). We all walked Caiden down to the bus stop and waited over a half hour. The first days of school always sees the bus come late. It was almost an hour late returning at day’s end; although there was a legitimate excuse – the town was out and picking up debris one block over and on our block. That held up traffic all over the area. Caiden seemed to enjoy himself on his first day. His teacher’s name is Mr. Lolo. Can’t wait to meet him.

1 Sep 2019 (Sun) – We took Caiden with us to church this morning. He was very fidgety and complained that it was boring. Not sure how much longer he will go with us to church before he decides it’s not fun. We spoke with Pastor Doug and scheduled October 20 for Lincoln’s baptism.

After church, I let Caiden do some exploring and playing on the playground behind the building. Then we went to the Clamside Bar & Grill at the East Islip Marina for lunch. We all took a walk around the pier then returned home.

Paul and I spent the afternoon doing yardwork. As Paul cleared out some of the brush, I got a good look at the trees down on that back fence. It looks like a much bigger area was crushed by our neighbor’s tree than it first looked like. And he still hasn’t started clearing anything away. I’m not sure what we are going to do about that.

After naps, we sent out for pizza for dinner. Hmmm Hmmm, good!

30 Aug 2019 (Fri)

– Paul and I took Caiden to my sister Susan’s house today. We spent the day swimming in the pool and visiting with Susan & Bill and Shay & Pat (her daughter and boyfriend). The weather was lovely.

29 Aug 2019 (Thu) – Good news! I had an appointment at Sloan Kettering this morning to find out the results of the PET and CT scans I had on Monday. After only ten days on the chemo, the lymph nodes have already started to shrink. My response to the therapy has been so good that I don’t have to come back for a month. I thought I was going to have to go in every week for 5 or 6 weeks.

After the doctor, Paul and I went to Red Robin for lunch. I had a margarita and cobb salad. Paul had a beer and burger. We were kind of giddy with relief and thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Following lunch, we stopped at Shop Rite and picked up some groceries then returned home to continue the yard cleanup.

28 Aug 2019 (Wed) – It was cool this morning. We had to wear jackets when we walked Bonnie this morning. The summer is coming to a close. There’s a kind of sadness and yet a feeling of excitement as we build up to the holidays.

There is a spider that builds a web outside my bedroom window every night. I first spotted her during that thunderstorm last week. When the lightning flashed, she was illuminated on her web. She seemed to be floating in midair. She comes out every night and stays until early light the next morning. I watched her this morning as the sun came up and she climbed up and away to her den for a well-deserved sleep. She is an orb weaver and measures about an inch and a half in length. What a beautiful specimen of the insect world!

27 Aug 2019 (Tue) – We went to church on Sunday. Caiden decided to take the day off so he did not go with us. Everyone missed him.

On Monday, I went to Sloan Kettering and had both a PET scan and a CT scan. They sure keep those rooms cold. Brrrrr! Since I had some radiation, I couldn’t go near pregnant women or small children for 24 hours. I had to wave across the room to Caiden rather than get my Caiden hug. At 4:30 p.m. today, I was sure to get my big hug. And it came with a great big smile!

This afternoon, we drove to the V.A. in Northport. I wanted to establish myself as a cancer patient and see about getting medicine as we move around the country rather than having it mailed to me every three months. The doctor referred me to hematology. There was no answer at the department so I have to wait for a call back. I got an appointment with Audiology for October. Ugh. I hate the thought of being here that long. But, unfortunately, I think I will be here. The doctor wanted to schedule me for a mammogram but I said I’d go with my regular radiologist. She did schedule me to come back for a pap smear but I think I’ll just see my own gynecologist instead. She seemed to be somewhat flustered by me. She wanted to do all this medical stuff and I kept turning it down. She wasn’t sure what to do. lol

24 Aug 2019 (Sat) – The air is full of the sound of generators, chain saws, and leaf blowers as everyone cleans up after the storm. Seems like there are tree removal and PSEG trucks all over the place. A company has been working on removing the trees from the two neighbors on the south side. We think they took out 11 or 12 trees in total. We finally got power back on around 2:30 p.m.

We met with the counselor this morning. Afterward, we drove to the Clamside Bar at the East Islip Marina and had a late breakfast. It is nice to sit by the water and watch the boats come and go. There weren’t many people out on the water considering that it was a beautiful, clear Saturday and summer is fast coming to an end. You’d think everyone would want to be out getting in their last licks for the season.

When we finished our meal, we went home and took Bonnie for a walk. Then we drove out to Mastic Beach and toured the William Floyd Estate. What history exists in our own backyard! William Floyd was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence. Nine generations of the family lived on the estate from 1718 until they gave it to the National Parks Department in 1976. They originally had 4,400 acres. Over the years, family inherited the property and divided it among heirs, with just 673 acres remaining on the estate today. The Floyd family was much involved in politics and several prominent people visited the estate to include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. During the Civil War, the family fled to Connecticut while the British occupied Long Island. The house was pretty much trashed when they returned after the war but the Floyds were able to restore it. The estate began as a two-story, 6 room house. Additions were made over the years until it ended with 25 rooms, 13 outbuildings, and a family cemetery.

23 Aug 2019 (Fri) – Wow! We had a hum dinger of a thunderstorm blow through last night. The phone pinged a warning that a severe storm was going to hit in 15 minutes and everyone should seek shelter on a lower level in the interior of the house. That was different. I’ve gotten many storm warnings but never one that told me to get to the middle of the house. They must have expected tornadoes although the warning did not say that.

At about 9:45 p.m. it began to rain. Shortly after, the wind picked up. Then the skies opened up and the thunder and lightning started. We lost power after about 15 minutes. We sat and watched the transformer on the pole blow. Then another one blew down the block.

Finally, the storm passed and we all walked outside to see what kind of damage had been left behind. Kenny had gotten out of work just after the storm ended. He reported having to take a crazy circuitous route to get home because of downed trees and wires. There were trees down at either end of the block. The next block had a tree land on a car. Over on the main road (Saxon Ave), there were two trees down at opposite ends, thus closing off the road to through traffic. People were trying to go down the block. When they couldn’t get through, they turned and went down our block only to discover they couldn’t get through that way either. Our neighbor in the back on the south side had five trees go down. Two landed on our fence. Another tree came down on our fence in back on the west side. That tree was also from a neighbor’s yard. All our trees stayed put for this storm. lol.

We had gone over Trap’s house earlier to help him with an electrical problem he is having at the house. Paul and he worked for over an hour but couldn’t solve the problem. Sam and I went food shopping with the baby while the two older boys stayed home. We picked up pizza on the way back home and shared a meal with them before going home. Luckily, we got home before the storm hit.

21 Aug 2019 (Wed) – The church had their annual outdoor service on Sunday. We took Caiden with us. I guess the outdoor setting was too much for him. He wanted to go play and squirmed and fidgeted throughout the entire service. Afterward, there were all kinds of foods in a potluck meal. Everything was very good. I really enjoy those potlucks!

I really messed up today. I was scheduled for a PET scan at Sloan Kettering this afternoon. The test requires you to fast for six hours prior. I was watching Caiden and he asked for something to eat. I got him a snack out of the refrigerator and without thinking, popped a piece of cheese in my mouth. Yikes! When I got to the cancer center, it turned out I was supposed to be there at 1:15, not 2:15 p.m. Fortunately, the 2:15 appointment had shown up at 1:15 so they let me take the later appointment. Unfortunately, I had eaten the cheese and couldn’t take the test. I had to reschedule for next Monday.

I started chemotherapy on Monday. I am taking Ibrutinib once a day. So far (knock on wood), I am not having any side effects. Reading all the warnings, I have been fully expecting diarrhea and vomiting. Maybe it will come after the chemical builds up in my body. I have to admit that I am afraid of this drug. It interferes with the production of white blood cells. This lowers my resistance to infection. I have to be careful about keeping my hands clean and avoiding sick people. It is something I have to learn to live with since I now have to take this drug for the rest of my life.

The saga with trying to get Miranda financial help goes on. Social Services turned down her request for financial aid as well as food stamps. The department has a requirement for certain categories of persons to be referred to New York State HQ for examination when applying for Medicaid. We have to wait and see what happens there.

17 Aug 2019 (Sat) – We saw the counselor this morning. She was empathetic to our situation and gave us some suggestions for dealing with our adult children and their issues. Afterward, we drove to Bayside Clam Bar at the East Islip Marina for lunch. It is a great time of year to sit down by the water and just enjoy the season. All too soon, the cold weather will be upon us.

We stopped by the thrift shop at church and helped move tables and chairs from the storage area to the door. Tomorrow will be our annual outdoor service and potluck. We were staging the items by the back door where they would be taken down to the yard. Paul found a pair of super cool looking glasses for Caiden. They look like some kind of futuristic robot apparatus. They have a battery pack and when you turn it on, blue lights come on either side of the glasses. They also have a magnifying glass that folds out in front of the right lens. He loved them!

16 Aug 2019 (Fri) – It’s been a pretty quiet week. I got my hair cut this morning. It was good to see my hairdresser. She moved down to the Carolinas years ago and comes up about every 3 or 4 weeks. She said it was too hard to start a new following down south so she just continues coming back to New York to see her customers. I am glad about that! She is the only one who can get my hair right.

I went to visit my niece, Jennifer, and her new baby, Ava. She delivered about a month ago. My sister, Susan, and her other daughter, Sharon, joined me. The baby is adorable. Susan picked me up in her new red Tesla, of which she is very proud. It rides pretty nice.

Later at 5:30 pm, we went over Travis & Sam’s to watch the boys while they tore up the carpet in the upstairs hallway and put down new flooring. First we played outside. Then we followed Noah and Hudson on their bicycles around the block (they rode; we walked). Then we drove them to a nearby playground and let them play for a while. Interestingly, Noah pulled a book out of the book exchange and sat down on a bench to read while Hudson climbed all over the playset. Two very different boys!

Finally, we capped the night with a trip to Carvel. The ice cream was delicious but needless to say, their parents weren’t too happy about all the energy they came home with after the sweet treats. It is good to be the grandparent! You can spoil the babies and not suffer the aftermath. Sweet!

11 Aug 2019 (Sun) – We went to church this morning. Caiden is spending the weekend with his other grandma so he wasn’t with us. It seemed like everyone missed him. Everybody we spoke with asked about him. He is pretty popular.

After church, Paul and other folks helped to unload furniture for the church’s garage sale in October. I went down to the thrift shop and helped them sort baby clothes. They got a donation with dozens of outfits. We put them in bundles of six and marked them at fifty cents for the bundle. It must have been clothing from a store that closed. There is no way they could have all come from one family. Many outfits were brand new, some with tags still attached.

We went to Sagtikos Manor for a tour of the historical home. The land was purchased from the Secatogue Indians in 1692 and a 4-room house was built in 1697. The home was purchased by a wealthy family and over the years, more rooms were added until it now has 42 rooms. It was fascinating to hear the history of the property. The Gardiner family, one of the wealthiest in the area, owned the home in addition to Gardiner Island. They also had several homes around the Island and in New York City. In 1963, the house was put into a foundation trust. The property was sold to Suffolk County in 2003. What used to be 1,400 acres is now just 10 acres of land. There is a cemetery, a walled garden, a carriage house, and a buttery on the property. British soldiers occupied the manor during the American Revolution. The newly elected president, George Washington, slept in the house during a tour of Long Island in 1790. There were many delightful pictures and prints hanging on the walls. The family kept everything and all the furnishings were from the period. We really enjoyed the tour. Here was something in our own backyard that we never explored.

10 Aug 2019 (Sat) – Caiden keeps us amused. He is a charming, sweet soul. I went over Trap’s house Friday night and got to read the boys bedtime stories. It was fun. We went bowling with them on Wednesday. They are two very ener- getic boys! The night was quite interesting. Hudson and I had the same score for almost the entire game. I pulled it out in the end and broke 100. I think he got eighty something. Pretty good for a 4-year old (or bad for a 67-year old). :-}

We’ve been keeping busy. Paul went down to the church and power washed the fence in back and the front entry way. We will be having an outdoor service next Sunday and Pastor Doug wanted the area to look nice. I helped out in the thrift shop for a couple of hours. There were a couple of boxes with baby clothes in them. I took them for Lincoln.

I went down to Social Services with Miranda. I am trying to get them some financial aid as well as food stamps and Medicaid. It took over an hour just to fill out the application form! We left without seeing anyone after sitting for a couple of hours. An agent called Miranda later and told her she did not qualify for financial aid. Her $160 a week disability check combined with her husband’s $177 weekly unemployment check is considered too much income. WTH??? That comes to $1,348 a month. Who can even find rent at that price? Plus electric, car insurance, phone costs, education loans, etc., etc., etc. The agent is sending forms to Miranda to fill out and submit. DIDN’T WE JUST DO THAT??? Talk about aggravation and frustration!!!

6 Aug 2019 (Tue) – We brought the truck down to Safelite Glass today to have the windshield replaced. We have had a ding in the passenger’s side since 2015 when we were in Alaska. It often interfered with the pictures I tried to take through the front window. This year, we got another ding in the driver’s side of the windshield. It was time to replace it. We dropped the truck off and walked up to Main Street. The café we were looking for was no longer there. We wound up having bagels and coffee at a deli.

At 3 p.m., I went in to relieve Miranda from childcare duties. I took Caiden to the playground at the local elementary school playground. He had a great time! I told him he deserved an Italian custard at Rita’s. When we drove there, we found the shop closed permanently! What a bummer. So we drove a little further down the road and “settled” for Carvel ice cream. Caiden was not disappointed.

We went to Cavanaugh’s Bar & Grill tonight. We met Joan & Peter, Pat & Fred, Ginny & Milton, and Johanna & Thom at the bar. The restaurant had a $14.99 special for a 20 oz. porterhouse steak. It came with onion rings, baked potato, and a vegetable. The food was very good. It was a fun evening.

4 Aug 2019 (Sun) – We gathered up Caiden and headed off to church this morning. Paul’s sister and husband, Joan & Peter, showed up at church, too. After service, we went to the Bayside Clam Bar at the East Islip Marina with cousins Lee & Donna and friends Fred & Pat. It was a beautiful day on the bay. I took Caiden down by the docks where we watched folks putting in and taking out boats and jet skis. He was very impressed with the jet skis.

After we dropped Caiden off back home, Paul & I drove to Willie’s Appliances, a scratch-and-dent retailer. We bought a washing machine for the house. The one in there now has gotten out of balance and dances all over the room during the spin cycle. When we got home, Paul switched out the two washers.

3 Aug 2019 (Sat) – Yesterday, we took the three grandsons to my sister’s house to swim in the pool and lunch. It was like trying to keep ferrets in an open-top box. It couldn’t be done. They were all over the place and not as obedient as we would have liked. Having additional adults to help out wasn’t enough. At any rate, I believe the boys enjoyed the swim time and my sister really went out of her way to provide a varied menu for everyone.

Today, we enjoyed an unplanned adventure. While scanning Facebook, I came across a posting of a friend who plays in a band. He advertised that they would be down at the East Islip Marina playing at the Bayside Clam Bar and Grill from 10 to 1. We went there for lunch. I had lobster roll and Paul had fried shrimp. The music was delightful, the bay breeze was balmy, and the sky was blue. It was so nice to sit and listen to the 3-piece band play while watching watercraft (boats and ski jets) come and go.

31 July 2019 (Wed) – I almost wound up in the hospital today. I took a new supplement – a proteolytic enzyme. ��Then I took the dog for a walk. About ten minutes into the walk, the palms of my hands started itching. At first, I thought it was one of those lucky itches. You know, the kind where your palm itches and you’re going to come into money (or pay money)? But then it got intense, almost burning. My stomach started in next. Although I got the heaves, nothing was coming up. I barely made it back to the camper. Then the vomiting and diarrhea started. I was so weak, I could barely stand. I lay there wishing Paul would come into the trailer so I could have him call an ambulance. The vomiting finally subsided and I lay on the bed trying to recover. Next, the bottom of my feet began to itch, then my whole body. As I sat there trying to scratch everything at once, red blotches started breaking out on my legs. At that point, Paul came into the trailer and realized I was having a severe allergic reaction. He ran down to the drug store and picked up some benedryl. That stuff is great! It worked almost instantly. For the rest of the night, I sat in the lounge chair nodding in and out. It was one scary experience!

We have been busy working around the house. The men’s softball league at church had the last two games of the season on Monday and Tuesday. We went down to watch. Our team lost.

Both Paul and I went for an annual physical. My appointment was on Monday. It turned out to be a Medicare Wellness Check. I spent an hour and a half answering questions from a nurse who input everything into the computer. I could have stayed home and put the information in the computer myself! What a waste. The nurse was very apologetic and said that Medicare does not allow for an annual physical exam. If you want to see the doctor, it has to be scheduled as a follow up to a condition or an illness. We went to the desk and changed Paul’s status for his checkup the next day. I made an appointment to come back for an EKG. I won’t get any bloodwork but Paul did. What a screwed up system! I was very happy with my health insurance before they forced us to go on Medicare. I can’t imagine what will happen if everyone gets put on Medicare like the current presidential candidates are touting!

28 July 2019 (Sun) – We took Caiden to church with us this morning. Afterward, we stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast. We couldn’t get any fries (they don’t cook them until noon), so we cut up a pancake and fed it to the gulls. There has been a significant change in the kind of gulls prevalent on Long Island. There used to be black backed gulls all over the place. Now we don’t see any. There are laughing gulls flying around. I wonder what happened to the gull population.

When we returned home, we worked around the property. Paul cleaned out the gutters on the house and garage. I bundled up branches from the trees Paul trimmed or cut down. It was so hot. We were both drenched in sweat.

26 July 2019 (Fri) – We had dinner with my brother, Dennis, and his lady, Denise, at Chili’s Grill tonight. Dennis is working as an usher at Island 16 and gave us two free tickets. We can’t use them on a Friday or Saturday and are restricted from going to a Disney movie during the first two weeks of a new release. Otherwise, we can enjoy the movies for free. That was a very nice gift.

My sister’s daughter, Jennifer, delivered a baby girl on July 24. Ava Shea checked in at 8.9 lbs. I just love that name!

25 July 2019 (Thu) – We drove to Port Jefferson Station and had lunch with Travis and his family. He gets an hour for lunch and works close enough that he can go home for his noon meal. We shared McDonald’s while the boys showed off their pool and playing skills.

At 6:00 p.m. a French bulldog came running into the yard barking and barking. It wouldn’t let us touch it but it wouldn’t leave either. The dog honed in on Kenny and when we all stepped away, it walked with Kenny into the backyard where he secured it. Paul walked up and down the block looking for its owners (it had no collar), but couldn’t find any. At 6:45 p.m., Miranda and I drove to Bohemia to Maguire’s Comedy Club to watch a comedy laugh-off. My brother, Dennis, was performing and we went to support him. We had dinner and drinks. The food was excellent. The comedy was hit or miss. Apparently, comedy is not easy to do. We left before the show was over at 9:45 p.m.

When we got home, Paul told me that the woman across the street claimed the dog. It is not chipped and they take the collar off when they put the dog in its crate. It somehow got out and they didn’t miss it for several hours. Oh, well. It’s a happy ending any way.

24 July 2019 (Wed) – It was a busy day today. First destination was the TSA Pre-Check booth located in a Staples store. I brought my birth certificate, marriage certificate, and driver’s license. The clerk took my picture and fingerprints. The charge was $85 but is good for five years. What the pre-check does is to allow me to go through the security screening line at the airport without having to take my shoes and belt off, and to leave a laptop in its computer case. Next, we’ll have to get Paul the pre-check.

We then drove back to the camper to get Bonnie. We took her to the vet to see if we could find something that can be done about her chronic diarrhea. She has also been showing signs of arthritis in her paws. The vet prescribed Tylan for the diarrhea and gabapentin for pain. We’ll see if that helps.

After dropping Bonnie off at the RV, we went to the dentist where I got my teeth cleaned. Paul had been there on Monday. He has a small cavity that will need filling. My checkup was perfect!

23 July 2019 (Tue) - Well, the parents are back. Whew! What a week. There is a reason children are best raised by the young folks. Our 5-year old grandson sure had us running around from dawn to dusk. Caiden slept in the camper every other night, alternating with his bed in the house. We went through an incredible heat wave and, at one point, we just stayed in the trailer all day and night. Poor Bonnie had to be put out every time Caiden came in. She does not like him and for some reason, she tries to go after him. That breaks my heart because if she ever does bite him, we’ll have to put her down.

Ok. Some of the things we did over this past week. I saw a doctor at Sloan Kettering in Manhattan. The doctor said the disease is well advanced and I should have started two years ago when it was first discovered. She described the same options that Dr. Ahmed in Texas offered – a pill for the rest of my life, an intravenous protocol as a temporary stopgap and going on the pill after a time, and a new treatment whose performance is not yet known. I asked to have my case transferred to the satellite clinic on Long Island. If I had to go into NYC, it would drive me crazy! I had to take a train and two subways to get to Dr. Noy’s office. I don’t know how people can live like that – like cattle being pushed along by all the other bodies traveling underground.

We took Caiden to the library where he had a great time playing with the toys. We also went to playgrounds and chased each other around as his imagination conjured up monsters, pirates, and Darth Vadar from Star Wars. We drove to Port Jefferson Station and picked up our other two grandsons and took all three boys to the movies to see Toy Story 4. Poor Paul. Each boy had to go to the bathroom twice. Paul would take one while I watched the other two, then he would drop that one off and take the next one. They all had to go in the middle of the movie, too. While we enjoyed our time with the boys, we certainly won’t try doing that again unless there is at least one adult for each child and an extra grown up for back up. The energy level is incredible. It was like trying to keep ferrets in a box. Can’t be done. We took Caiden to visit my sister, Susan, in Hampton Bays. He loved swimming in the pool.

We were able to go to church last Sunday and this past Sunday. It was so good to see all our friends. The pastor announced our presence and the congregation clapped their greeting. We enjoyed catching up with everyone.

20 July 2019 - Haven’t forgotten you! Just been super busy watching our grandchild while his parents are gone. My blog will be back in a few days. Thanks for your patience!

12 July 2019 (Fri) – We got a call from our son at 1:30 p.m. that he had been scalded and needed to be picked up. Apparently, he had tried to open the radiator cap while the car was still hot. Our truck was in the shop to have the real pinion seal repaired so we borrowed Miranda’s car and drove to Commack to get him. He had been drinking and refused to go to the clinic with us. The car was towed away and Travis just walked away. We left and drove to the shop to pick up our truck. I cooked dinner tonight.

11 July 2019 (Thu) – We left West Point at 9:55 a.m. Although the distance to Bay Shore was only 102 miles, it took us three hours with all the traffic on the road. We pulled in around 1 p.m. After set up, we visited with Miranda, Kenny, and Caiden. Kenny drove Caiden and me to Lake Grove where we got their cell phone problems fixed. We had pizza for dinner.

10 July 2019 (Wed) – It was a lot of driving around today with very little results. First was the KOA in Plattekill. We were looking for another campground besides the one we are at that is near West Point. It was a very nice campground. The manager said he could also coordinate bus tours into New York City as well as the surrounding area. That peaked our interest! We wanted to bring the group to the city but didn’t want the hassle of trying to shepherd 44 people around all the people and traffic.

We then drove to the U.S. Military Academy. First stop was at Thayer Hotel Restaurant. We went in and had lunch, then stopped by the check-in desk to ask for the group sales manager. The coordinator came down to see us. Although she wasn’t the one to coordinate our kind of group (she’s does weddings, birthdays, and celebrations), she gave us contact information for the other coordinator.

We then drove off the base to the Visitor’s Center. Although there was a tour desk in the center, they told us to go across the street to the Bus Tours Office. We went over there and were given a website to check out. It has the various tour options listed. Then we drove back on base to the West Point Club. The woman we spoke with was on the verge of going to a meeting but gave us a website to check out for menus and various meal options. We looked at some of the rooms available in the club.

After wandering around the grounds for a bit and trying to look in some of the buildings (they were almost all locked), we headed back to the campground. So when we get internet again (the cell phone and wifi signal in this campground is almost nonexistent), I’ll have to investigate the options for touring the U.S. Military Academy.

9 July 2019 (Tue) – We left Watkins Glen at 8:55 a.m. and drove to West Point, stopping for a quick bite to eat at Wendy’s. We pulled into Round Pond Recreation Area at 2 p.m. It is a military campground associated with West Point Military Academy. We had thought it would be good to have the caravan stay here but this campground would not be good for our group. It is a little too rustic for some folks, the sites are close in some quarters, and the campsites are spread out around a large pond. In addition, the water and electric hookups are on the wrong side of our RV. I’m not sure all campsites have that issue, but ours does. There are no sewers but they do have a dump station.

Once we were set up, we grabbed the laundry and threw it in the washers in the laundry room. There were three machines in the room; one had a sticky note on it that said “Ate $2 July 9.” I surmised that person lost $2 in the machine today. So we didn’t use it.

After we put the laundry away, we took a walk with Bonnie around the lake. It is very pretty here. I love all the greenery. We have been on the west coast for over a year and around desert and cacti. I didn’t realize how much I missed the trees. It’s lovely.

8 July 2019 (Mon) – We drove to Corning Glass Museum this morning. They have really expanded the museum since we were here 48 years ago on our honeymoon. We spoke with the group sales coordinator and got the information for the museum, a tour, a glass making experience, and a catered meal. We then drove down the street to the Rockwell Museum. Their tour takes 45 minutes to one hour. We may leave this museum for folks to go to on their own. We’ll see.

We drove by a couple of campgrounds and gathered information on availability for group camping. The town of Watkins Glen campground – Clute Memorial Park & Campground – looked very promising. They are located across from the beach on Lake Seneca.

We had lunch at Sorges Restaurant in Corning. I had a cheeseburger wrap. It was ok but nothing I would buy again. We then drove around Lake Seneca, stopping at a couple of vineyards for tastings. When we got back to the KOA, we went in and got contact information for the owner. We also picked up a few souvenirs for the grandkids. It was a fruitful day.

7 July 2019 (Sun) – We packed up and left Bath at 10:15 and drove to the Watkins Glen KOA, which was only 40 miles away. When we pulled in, we recognized that we had been here back in 2007 when we drove up to pick up our first fifth wheel RV. The part they put us in at that time was brand new. They have added some other buildings and cabins since then. They wouldn’t let us into the campground until 12 noon. We had to keep ourselves busy for five minutes then passed through. The wifi in this park is non-existent. In addition, the cell phone does not work well either. We must be a valley or something.

After set up, we drove into the town of Watkins Glen. It is very touristy. Watkins Glen State Park was packed with people. We stopped at CPT Bill’s Seneca Lake Cruises to get information. There was a restaurant next door that is also owned by CPT Bill’s. We stopped in there as well to find out about group meal options and costs. After walking along the boardwalk of Seneca Lake, we drove up into the state park to look at the campground. It was too tight with narrow turns and lots of trees. It would not work for our group.

We stopped for lunch at Nickel’s pit BBQ. I got ribs and Paul got wings. We didn’t care for either for the food. It was overdusted with dry rub and actually seemed to be gritty. After lunch, we drove to Watkins Glen International. It is a NASCAR race track. In town, they painted the crosswalks in a checker flag pattern. The street signs have race cars on them. We had trouble finding an entrance into the park. After driving around the place, we finally discovered an open gate. The office was closed. There were cars racing on the track – we could hear them. There is a campground at the track and we wanted to find out about it. Finally, we discovered an employee who answered our questions. He said they only allow camping during special events. Guess that won’t work for our group either.

6 July 2019 (Sat) – We went into the campground office first thing this morning to get information about group reservations for the caravan. Then we drove to Letchworth State Park. Letchworth is called the Grand Canyon of the East. It was over an hour away. Although we thought it was such a great place when we came here 30 years ago, it didn’t look so great today. You couldn’t really see the gorge or canyons or river because of all the trees. I guess having just come back from seeing the national parks out west made us a little jaded.

We then stopped at a campground near Letchworth to check out the place for the caravan. They didn’t have everything we wanted for the group so we won’t be camping there. We had lunch at the Iris Glen Inn. It was the house of Mr. Letchworth converted to a restaurant. The upper falls were visible outside the window. The food was good. The drive back was under rainy skies.

5 July 2019 (Fri) – We packed up and left Lockport at 9:15 a.m. We drove 12 miles to a nearby campground to dump the tanks. The Elks Lodge recommended dumping at the nearby waste treatment plant but when we went to look at the site, it turned out you would just open the spigot over a grate that covers a collection tank. The cover had bits of toilet paper and other debris on it. Ugh!

It was an easy drive to the KOA in Bath. We stopped at a Pilot station and got lunch at Subway. The campground is a little tight. It is pretty big with over 200 campsites. We are parked on the grass in a pull through. A couple used to be managers at the Watkins Glen KOA and bought this KOA in Hammondsport/Bath in February. They were selling pulled pork sliders for dinner. The baked beans were too sweet, the cole slaw was bitter, and the pulled pork was very dry.

After we got set up, we drove to the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum to gather information for the caravan. We then drove down the road to Bully Hill Vineyards and enjoyed a small snack in the restaurant. We sat out on the deck and watched a thunderstorm grumble and growl its way across the sky. Down the road was the Finger Lakes Boating Museum. Their complex used to belong to Taylor wines. We were there about 8 years ago and had a wine tasting. Since then, Coca-Cola had sold the wine division. Sales decreased and Taylor wines were sold to a couple of different owners until, today, only their dessert wines are being sold (Taylor Flagate and Port). The Taylor Wines complex is now mostly closed with parts of it being sold off. The boating museum owns one of the buildings and is in the process of buying another two of them. It will be a pretty big museum in two years.

We returned to the campground just before the skies opened up and the rains poured down. Sheba spent several hours hiding in the closet.

4 July 2019 (Thu-Independence Day) – It was a quiet day for us. We went over Kevin & Joy’s daughter’s home for a barbecue. Their son-in-law, Justin, made a variety of delicious appetizers to nosh on before grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, and coonies. Coonies are a popular barbecue food for the upstate folks. It is a kind of mild flavored sausage. That led to all of us talking about different foods peculiar to areas around the country. It was a funny discussion.

3 July 2019 (Wed) – We went to two wineries this morning. I found wines I liked (the Niagara wine has a wonderfully distinctive taste) but Paul did not find a good one. We went to Tom’s Diner for lunch. It was small but the service was good. We both had salads that were huge! At 4 p.m. we drove to Buffalo to visit a campground there. With all the information we are collecting, we are starting to form an idea of how we want the caravan to run in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area. Since we are thinking about using a tour bus, we want to keep the cost of the campground down. There are not many nice campgrounds in this area. Just the two resorts on Grand Island with sites over $100 each.

We met Kevin and Joy at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. The food, as always, was great. We enjoyed their company very much. They invited us to join them at their daughter’s house tomorrow for a BBQ.

2 July 2019 (Tue) – We drove into Niagara Falls today. The intent was to find a nice restaurant in which to have a dinner for the caravan. It was incredibly crowded and there was construction that made navigation around the area difficult. We got frustrated and finally gave up. We drove into town and had lunch at the Pearl Street Grille & Brewery. It was rated #1 of 234 restaurants in Niagara Falls by Trip Advisor. I don’t know what criteria they used to rate these restaurants, but this was certainly NOT a #1. There were six booths, two tables, and six chairs at a counter. They served pub food. I got Beef on a Weck. We’ve seen that on several menus now and I decided to try it. It turned out to be a roast beef sandwich where they dipped the roast beef in au jus then put it on the roll. It only made the bread soggy (and I HATE wet bread). The meat also had some grizzle in it. Paul got a tuna melt and it came without any cheese. We really didn’t feel the place deserved to be rated #1.

After lunch, we stopped at the Underground Railroad Heritage Center. They mentioned Harriet Tubman frequently but had very little about her in the center. It was very small and basically boasted of how the folks in Niagara Falls helped escaped slaves cross over into Canada.

We then drove to Youngstown to Old Fort Niagara. The group tours manager was not in and the clerk gave us her contact information. We have to call her tomorrow. When we stepped out, we saw the Buffalo trolley shuttle. It provides a shuttle from Niagara Falls to Buffalo with 14 stops along the way. We asked about a tour and the bus driver gave us contact information. We’ll have to contact that lady tomorrow, too.

1 July 2019 (Mon) – We brought the truck to Ford to get it inspected this morning. Kevin & Joy met us for breakfast at Bob Evans. After breakfast, we went back to the campground where they are parked. After a brief visit, we returned to Ford to get the truck. There were (supposedly) several lights out that they had to replace. We paid $139.12 and went on our way. We drove into Buffalo to the Buffalo Naval and Military Park on the Eric Canal. They had three ships there: The USS Croaker (a submarine), the USS Sullivans (a destroyer), and the USS Little Rock (a missile cruiser). There was also a small museum on the second floor of the visitor’s center and gift shop. We spent three hours climbing up and down stairs as we explored the three ships. It was fun.

We drove to the Pearl Street Grill & Brewery for a late lunch. The food was excellent. On the way back to the Elks lodge, we stopped at Lockport Locks & Eric Canal Cruises. They have a very nice program for lunch followed by a two-hour ride on the canal. It will be a definite venue if we do the New York caravan in 2021.

30 June 2019 (Sun) – We drove to several campgrounds today to check space availability and options. Of the four we stopped at, two are possibilities. One charges $102 per night and the other charges $113. Yeow! That’s a lot of money. There’s a possibility we can negotiate prices at one of them because we have to call back to speak with the owner.

We also stopped at the Niagara Power Plant to see about a tour. The manager was out and will be in tomorrow afternoon. We’ll have to call back.

We stopped at a restaurant on Lake Ontario for lunch. We sat up on the second floor out on the deck. It was too windy to put the umbrella up but there was a brisk wind blowing that kept the sun from feeling too hot. As we were eating, there was a sudden CRACK and a tree across the street split. A large trunk with wide spread branches came crashing down. How it avoided hitting the power line next to it or the cars parked in front of it, is beyond me. There was a guy walking his dog in front of that tree not two minutes before. The angels were watching over everybody.

29 June 2019 (Sat) – We left Youngstown at 8:45 a.m. Although the sky got cloudy, the rain held off. The drive took us through Pennsylvania into New York. We stopped at a travel center when we crossed into New York. It was crazy! The place was so crowded. There was only one facility on the west side of the thruway. Those on the eastbound side had to cross an overhead bridge. We each got a slice of pizza.

We arrived in Lockport at 1:30 p.m. We are staying in an Elks Lodge in the back parking lot. After set up, we went in and paid for our site. At 3:30 p.m., Kevin & Joy, a couple who was on our Utah caravan, met us and we all went to an early dinner. The food and company was good. After we returned to the lodge, Paul and I went food shopping to pick up groceries and to Pet Smart for Bonnie’s food. When we got back, we looked through brochures for activities in the area.

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