#it ain’t easy being wheezy

[laz-kay]

Officially been diagnosed as an "exhausted asthmatic" today which is hilarious to me. I've been sick consecutively for months, and it turns out it's all been one huge asthma attack encompassed with burnout🤨 On the plus side, my eGFR and ECG were great, so my vital organs will survive through my next bottle of Sauvignon Blanc✌️

[miss-americanbi]

only cool kids have asthma

[stelladeaindomita]

It ain’t easy being wheezy

[doomcoon420]

It ain’t easy being wheezy

[luminarai]

Wanted to express my solidarity as someone also spending their Friday night propped up in bed trying to breathe

Oh asthma and flu season what a terrible combination you make

It’s really true that it ain’t easy being wheezy 😔

[halfblood-princes-crown]

I found a song called Eurydice || by Megan Shumway and Snape vibes frl

On chapter thirty, this book is such an easy read because it’s boring

It’s just that every single event in this book feels dull BUT next book is when Sirius dies <3 so we getting a little more dramatic

“His wheezy” will never not be funny

And every time Snape sees Harry it’s like

No1 : Harry is running back after getting caught by Draco and he apparently carries Rons gifts with him

No2 : Harry is taking Ron to the place where they just caught 2 kids making out

There’s probably more examples

Imagine being Snape and for The Yule Ball since you don’t wanna dance your in charge of banishing the horny from teenagers 💀

Not Krums crush on Hermione 🤭🤭🤭

I completely forgot if we ever found out about the twins secret message thingy

Oh well

Without wands, I could beat Draco

I imagine he has a similar build as the guys whose neck I accidentally broke in 5th grade so I could possibly take him

It’s so fucking funny reading Barty Crouch begging not to go to Azkaban

Reason 1: ITS YOUR DAD LMAO he ain’t give a damn, living with him for 19 years you still ain’t process her cares more about his reputation than you!!!

Reason 2: later in the book he claims he wasn’t a coward he did the begging, although I suppose it could’ve been a strategy not to get stacked but ehh

Just remembered Cedric’s death but it was mid so eh

HAVE A FANTASTICAL DAY

I think I heard that song before🤔 it does give Snapey vibes, I might add it to some of my Snape-centric playlists

No2 : Harry is taking Ron to the place where they just caught 2 kids making out

LMAOOOO Ronarry confirmed

The Yule Ball was a lose/lose situation for Sev😭 then he had to deal with Karkaroff on top of that💀 I would’ve called out sick 😩

Ngl, I used to ship Krum and Hermione🤔 now I’m all over Romione 💯😌

I could beat Draco too. Without a wand he ain’t faster than me. If Hermione got his ass in the nose imagine what I could do🤣

And back up…you broke a neck? Are they alive? Did they deserve it? I need details 💀

Reason 1 is so true😭 like did he ACTUALLY think his crocodile tears would work!? You ruined his prized reputation, you’re getting locked up and the key is getting swallowed🤣

Reason 2, I think his tears were a bit fake. Barty doesn’t strike me as the cry for mercy type. Even if they were fake, it was still a dumb plan💀

Cedrics death was not mid! How dare you 😩

Have an extraordinary day!

[hyperfocusthusly]

Tired because it’s hard to breath, can’t sleep because it’s hard to breathe

[spicychickentendy]

I always carry my inhaler, just incase you take my breath away🖤

[motherfated]

areum: has gauges

@mcssagereceived aya: *putting her finger through them*

[newhologram]

It ain’t easy being wheezy

Art sourced from krishnaart on tumblr

[ID: Artwork of a young Krishna fighting the many-headed serpent Kaliya on the ocean. The caption reads, “Me fighting multiple chronic illnesses on the daily.”]

[rwby-necro-au-archive]

Ozpin Week

Day Six: Day Off/In Battle

@ozpinweek

Description: It’s no surprise that running a Necromancer academy can come with issues. Necromancy is outlawed in many parts of the world after all.

One such issue is the equally unsurprising amount of Pursuers that try to sneak into beacon. Good thing that beacon is made for this, by having what is essentially a maze surrounding it’s buildings. The pursuers most times end up getting lost due to this.

Perhaps it’s also good that a certain headmaster watches his academy and students like a hawk in case of such incidents.

“How upsetting, and on such a lovely day like today.” Ozpin sighed. It would seem that he had been swamped with sorrowful reports and countless uninteresting meetings all day. What he had truly wanted was to be outside or at least to be interacting with his students. But it would all have to wait until these reports and paperwork were finished.

Even though today had started off as it normally would, Him getting up, getting ready for the day, and then heading off to the academy, it still felt like it was particularly monotonous and dull. Nothing interesting had happened, hell even the students hadn’t done any of their usual antics today.

He shook his head, it’s not like any of them could anyways, they had term ending exams to study for. Although he couldn’t help but wish someone would’ve done something.

Knock Knock Knock

A gentle but firm knock was heard at the door. He could tell it was Glynda, it was the small, seemingly insignificant details that he focused on when it came to people. Even the way someone knocked on a door could tell you who they were.

“Come in, Glynda.” Ozpin called out cheerily.

The door opened, “I will never understand how it is that you know whose outside your door even before they walk in.” She quipped.

“I always did pay attention to detail did I not?”

“That is true. Anyways, you look like you��ve had the life sucked out of you. How much paperwork?”

Ozpin leaned back in his office chair “What on remnant makes you think that I know? Absolutely nothing interesting has happened today. Such a shame, it’s such a lovely day too, and here I am stuck doing paperwork.”

Glynda gave a sympathetic sigh, “You aren’t the only one. Despite that, that’s not what I’m here for.”

“Right, To the point. Is it something I should be concerned about?”

“Yes actually.”

His face became stern in response, “What is it?”

“A pursuer has decided to go looking for students to harass on premises.” She explained

“Why haven’t you or the other staff gone to handle the situation.”

She gave an eyebrow raise “Why?”

“My apologies but if they haven’t done anything yet then what would be the point in coming to me?”

“Fair. This one has been…..persistent. He refuses to “take the hint” and stay away from the school. He essentially mocks any staff that tries to get rid of him. Figured you’d be in more luck getting him to leave the students alone.”

Ozpin pinched the bridge of his nose. How annoying. Not just a pursuer but a pursuer with the gall to mock his staff and harass innocent students, his students. It’s no wonder she came to him with the issue, she’s most likely more frustrated than he is.

“Also, I figured since you’ve been stuck in here all day that it would be good to give you something interesting to do. Not to mention get some fresh air” Glynda smiled

He smiled back “I appreciate it. Now then, where is he right now?”

“Seemingly lost in the northern wing’s maze.” She said, she handed him a photo taken from security footage.

He thanked her before leaving his office. Sure, pursuers weren’t an uncommon problem at Beacon but that didn’t make their presence any less annoying.

What was more surprising was that none of them whom he himself had dealt with, have had the audacity to actually go to their boss to tell him about his so called “friend” being a necromancer. Although, what pursuer would ever want to admit to their boss that they ran away from a necromancer?

In fact they, to Ozpin’s amusement, started heavily embellishing their stories to the other pursuers about what he was like. Some tales painted him as a terrifying monster, some painted him as a roughed up intimidating man with unspeakable power, and some painted him as a different being entirely.

It had turned into a game for the headmaster, to see what stories the pursuer he was dealing with had heard. At least it made the job of getting rid of those pests more enjoyable.

Without fail though, every pursuer who had heard about him was surprised to see him in person. The man they had heard was a terrifying monster, a roughed up untouchable man, or a different being entirely, was in reality a dapper, polite, and well kept 6’8 man with a northern Atlesian accent and a love and protectiveness for children.

He quickly walked out the main buildings doors and searched around for the northern entrance into the maze. Once found, he set off towards it. As he walked through the crowd he was greeted by students, all of whom were most likely on their way out of the school, he gave a quick hello and wished them well on their way home.

“Of course a pursuer would choose a time like this. Easy targets.” He mentally noted.

Once he entered the maze, the rest was muscle memory. He knew every corner, every corridor, every alley, every brick, stone, and piece of concrete of beacon like the back of his hand. Knowing where everything was at Beacon was as easy as walking itself for the headmaster.

As he walked he also listened. Listening was important in a situation such as this one. Eventually, what he had been listening for was heard. A yell. He picked up his pace and followed what he presumed was a female students yell.

As he listened further, it wasn’t just the one student, it was a group of them, most likely friends, who this pursuer had decided to go after.

This pursuer seemed to be a real colorful one too, throwing slurs and disgusting innuendos at the girls. There were 3 things Ozpin specifically hated, Pursuers, Those who aim to hurt children, and Creeps. Unfortunately for this pursuer, he was checking all the boxes.

He reached a corner and peered behind it. There stood 5 female students, backed into a wall by this disgusting excuse for a man.

“I bet the guards will have some real fun with you bunch once you get to atlas.” The pursuer sneered.

Ozpin appeared out from behind the corner, standing behind and over the pursuer, “Well that’s not very nice, now is it?” He spoke cooly.

The pursuer jumped and turned around. Eyes widening in realization as he looked up at who was standing in front of him.

“Y-you’re the monster all of the pursuers were talkin’ about.”

“Why yes! That is me!” He said cheerily

“I-I ain’t scared of you! You aren’t anything like they make you out to be. You’re just some guy, I can take you!” The man yelled.

“Tch tch tch, none of you ever learn from one another, do you?”

“The fuck you talkin’ about?!”

Ozpin smiled and looked towards the students, “Now students, here are 2 lessons for you all. Looks can be quite deceiving, take this man here for example. He may look threatening, but in reality, he is weak. He is weak because he is letting his anger get the best of him, which is not a wise decision if you are going to engage in combat.

When you are angry during combat, you stop thinking about how to hit your enemy, and instead just think about hitting your enemy anywhere in general. This leaves you vulnerable.”

“Fuck you!”

“Oh dear, and it seems we have quite a vulgar man as well.”

“Why are you bein’ so polite? I thought you were supposed to scary.” The pursuer snickered

Ozpin laughed, a cold, merciless, and wheezy sound, no doubt from his smoking habit. “Well, my friend, What kind of an example would I be setting if I wasn’t polite? I’m the head councilman of a country, a headmaster, and a professor! It’s my job to make sure I’m setting a good example on how to deal with pests such as yourself.”

He looked over at the pursuer, “show time.” He thought. In a simple blink his eye colored changed from a warm, caring hazelnut brown to a cold and soul destroying green.

“Besides, I am a merciful man. I wouldn’t want to make more of a fool of you when you’ve already done most of the work yourself.”

The pursuer visibly froze, he mentally laughed “Everytime, without fail. I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of it.”

Ozpin turned back to the students and told them to go home. He had business with this pursuer that he needed to attend to. Who was backed against the wall and helpless now?

The pursuer continued to yell slurs and insults at the headmaster. Eventually, he took out a blade an managed to slice Ozpin across the cheek, causing the headmaster to stumbled back some.

Okay, maybe not helpless. But he surely was backed against a wall in a maze with him.

Once he regained his footing, Ozpin ungloved one of his hands as he gently touched two fingers to the wound, “Well, I’m impressed, consider yourself lucky. You’re the first pursuer to ever actually land a hit on me. Even if it was a cheap shot.”

The pursuer laughed victoriously, while distracted by his small victory, Ozpin grabbed long memory. Quickly shifting it into its shotgun form.

“Although,” He spoke.

He harshly shoved the pursuer against the brick wall, leaving the man slightly dazed and confused. Ozpin aimed long memory at the wall besides the pursuers head and stared down at the man.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to bring a knife to a gun fight?”

[princessculture-blog]

@girlmonstering I’ve never heard of eating too much. Hm. But yes, I’d love to get together before curfew.

[waitimcomingtoo]

hihihi i’m a new follower and i love your writing style! i have a request :) reader and peter parker are dating and she finds out that he doesn’t like tattoos but reader has always wanted a tattoo so she gets one on her thigh, outer thigh of course, and she’s a little paranoid because she doesn’t want peter to break up with her but one day he sees a little bit of it & when he sees the whole thing he thinks it’s the sexiest thing he’s ever laid eyes on.

Thanks for following 🥰 I liked writing this so I hope you liek reading it!

Ink

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Synopsis: “I’m going to be honest with you.” Peter began. You hung on to his words, preparing yourself for the breakup. “Saying you were wearing a garter was more wishful thinking, because that’d be super hot. But this…” Peter brushed light fingertips over your tattoo, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “This is way hotter.”

Masterlist

Requests are CLOSED

“Bleh.” Peter shuddered as he set two coffee mugs down on the table. He had a displeased look on his usually bright eyed face.

“What’s wrong?” You asked as you shook a packet of sugar. “Did you accidentally use the soy milk again?”

“No. It wasn’t that. Never making that mistake again.” Peter laughed. He leaned across the table as if he was telling you a secret. “The barista had two full sleeves of tattoos.”

“Oh.” You said with fake shock, not seeing the problem. “Wow.”

“I know.” Peter shook is head. “I’m pretty sure he had them on his neck too.”

“Oh dear.” You chuckled. “Anything but his neck.”

“Alright.” Peter smiled as he stirred his coffee. “I know when I’m being teased.”

“I just didn’t know you had a problem with tattoos.” You took a sip of yours and wiggled your eyebrows.

“I just don’t understand the point.” Peter shrugged and lazily played with your fingers. “I mean, it hurts, it’s expensive, and people usually end up regretting them anyway. Plus, they sag.”

“Oh god.” You fake gasped. “Not sag!”

“I’m sorry, what’s your opinion on tattoos?” Peter asked sarcastically. “Pray tell, I’m dying to know.”

“Oh, you know.” You shrugged and stirred more sugar into your coffee. “I dig em.” You said nonchalantly.

“You dig them?” Peters draw dropped like he didn’t believe you.

“Yeah, I dig them.” You playfully challenged, meeting his eyes. He looked genuinely surprised.

“I love you, and so I respect your opinion, but why?” Peter asked, his mind seemingly blown. He had no idea of his girlfriends favorable opinion on something he felt such disdain for.

“Maybe because they rock.” You laughed. “They’re works of art that you can put on your actual body. How cool is that?” You gushed. “It’s liking carrying around the Mona Lisa in your pocket.”

“I doubt the Mona Lisa would fit in your pocket.” Peter sipped his drink with a smile. “Perhaps a nice tote bag.”

“You’re funny.” You said sarcastically. Peter pretended to brush hair over his shoulder in flattery. “And I’m being serious. I think tattoos are wicked.”

“What about that kid at school with asthma with the tattoo that said “it ain’t easy being wheezy?” Is that tattoo wicked?” Peter teased.

“Yes.” You stated. “Because it meant something to him. That’s why tattoos are so cool. You could get your favorite song lyric from when you were a teen, or a quote from the book that always makes you cry. Or, you could get something completely idiotic that you sober up and regret in the morning.” You shrugged as Peter listened carefully, trying to see things from your point of view. “The possibilities are endless. And that makes them wicked.”

“I didn’t know you felt that way.” Peter remarked. “Would you ever get one?”

“Would my darling boyfriends upset if I did?” You asked, bringing the flirty conversation back to serious. Your body was your body, but you loved Peter. You respected and valued his opinion more than anyone else’s, but his thoughts on tattoos came as a surprise to you. You’d always loved tattoos and had been saving up to get one for two years already. You never wanted to upset Peter, but you also didn’t want his disapproval to keep you from something you’d always wanted to do.

“Your darling boyfriend wouldn’t love it.” Peter said honestly, which you appreciated. “But your darling boyfriend knows he has no say in what you do with your body.”

“And that,” you held up your mug and clinked it with Peters, “is why I love my darling boyfriend.”

The topic didn’t come up again after that day. You and Peter had agreed to disagree. But three years later, you found yourself outside a tattoo parlor with a broken down car in the pouring rain. You tried to called a mechanic, but your phone decided that was the perfect time to die. You let out and angry breath and went inside the nearest building, which happened to be Kings and Queens Ink.

“Hi.” You said to the tattooed lady behind the front desk. “Could I please use your phone? My car broke down.”

“Sure thing, gorgeous.” The lady smirked. She had a pin-up look to her. Her cherry red hair was buzzed on one side, revealing an orchestra of studded piercings. If you were braver, you’d look just like her. You didn’t just love tattoos, you loved the whole New York biker style. You lived your dream every now and then in a leather jacket or some studded boots, but you usually kept your inner badassery on the inside, for Peters sake. He liked soft girls. Sure, he loved you no matter what you wore, but he had a special place in his heart for pink skirts and fuzzy sweaters.

The lady handed you a telephone and the number of a mechanic. You shot her a grateful smile and dialed the number.

“Three hours?” You whined into the phone. “Why would it take that long?”

“Listen lady, you’re not the only one with a broken down car in Queens today. Plus, it’s raining cats and dogs outside. Three hours. Final offer.” The mechanic grumbled.

“Alright.” You sighed. “I’ll see you in three hours.”

You hung up the phone and rubbed your temples. The girl at the desk was drumming her fingers on her desk.

“Looks like you’ll be here a while. We might as well get to know each other.” She said. “I’m Monica.”

“Y/n.” You told her. “Do you have anything I can do for the next three hours?” You laughed in annoyance. Monica shrugged.

“You ever wanted to get a tattoo?” She joked.

“Yes, actually.” You said surprised, as if she’d read your mind. “I’ve always wanted to get one.”

“What’s stopping you?” Monica leaned her head on her hands.

“It always seemed like it was just a dream of mine. Not meant to come true.” You told her. “Plus, my boyfriend doesn’t like them.”

“Don’t you listen to Alicia Keys? This is New York, baby. Where dreams are made of. I say, get that tattoo. It’s only permanent.” Monica quipped.

“I don’t know.” You shook your head. It was a big decision to make on an impulse.

“Do you have one in mind?” Monica pressed.

“Yeah.” You told her.

“Do you have the money?” She went on.

“Yeah.” You smiled, seeing where she was going with this.

“Then get your sexy ass in the chair.” She huffed.

And so, you got your sexy ass in the chair.

Three hours later, you stood in front of the full length mirror, admiring your new tattoo.

“Do you like it?” Monica asked you hopefully.

“Like it?” You asked incredulously. “Monica, I could kiss you right now.”

Monica laughed as you continued to gawk at your own body art.

“I’m serious. It’s exactly what I wanted.” You gushed. You turned to Monica with a glowing smile. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

“Anytime, doll face.” Monica said, pleased with her own work.

Once your car was fixed and you paid for your tattoo, you made your way back to your apartment. Your tattoo was wrapped snugly in cellophane. It stung slightly, but your adrenaline and excitement kept you from feeling the extent of the pain. Your excitement faded when an incoming call from Peter came in. You were suddenly reminded of his disdain for the permanent body art and feared for his reaction. On an impulse, you declined his call. He didn’t have to know just yet. Yes, it was your body, and Peter respected that. But you had to respect him too. And Peter hated tattoos.

You knew that.

You knew that and you got one anyway.

You felt guilt forming in a brick in your tummy. You felt like you betrayed your boyfriend. You turned into your apartment complex with a worried frown.

You spent the next two weeks avoiding telling Peter about your tattoo. You only wore pants around him, since the tattoo was on your outer thigh. You were careful not to let him touch your leg, in case he accidentally brushed it and caused you to wince, revealing your secret. As the weeks went on, you grew more and more paranoid. You felt yourself growing more guilty with each passing day. You became full blown terrified that Peter would break up with you on sight if he found out. When he wasn’t around, you flaunted it around with pride. But on days you spent together, you covered it like your life depended on it. You loved your tattoo. It was everything you’d ever dreamed of. But you loved Peter more. And you weren’t ready to tell him just yet.

A month later, your tattoo became old news. You’d almost completely forgotten about it one morning as you got ready for a date with Peter. You threw on his favorite pink skirt with a fuzzy white sweater. Peter came by shortly with your favorite candy and some popcorn.

“You ready to watch Only You?” Peter asked as he kissed you hello.

“It’s only my favorite movie.” You smiled.

“You just like it because you think the main actor is cute.” Peter rolled his pretty eyes, always the jealous type.

“Yeah, yeah.” You waved your hand dismissively and pulled Peter into your apartment by his shirt collar.

An hour into the movie, you cuddle into Peters side and swung your leg over his.

“What’s that?” Peter tilted his head to the side, catching sight of something black on your outer thigh. Your eyes widened when you caught a glimpse of your tattoo peaking out from under your skirt. You took your leg off of Peters in a panic.

“What’s what?” You asked innocently. You scrambled to pull your skirt over your tattoo.

“That.” Peter pointed to your thigh, with a curious smile on his face. “On your leg.” He used his pinky to lift your skirt a little, catching another glimpse of black lines of your leg. “It’s something black.”

“Oh.” You said, dumbfounded. You’d been caught. You couldn’t play dumb anymore. “That’s my…garter.” You lied.

“You’re wearing a garter?” Peter asked, a pleased grin decorating his face.

“Yes.” You were committed to the lie now.

“Just the one?” Peter asked, blushing faintly. “Only one leg gets a party hat?”

“That leg was cold.” You continued.

“Like a bride?” Peter giggled as he tried to sneak a peak. You swatted his hand away, which made him come back with a vengeance.

“They’re highly fashionable.” You informed him, keeping a tight grip on your skirt.

“Y/n.” He whined. He picked up your hand and kissed your knuckles. “Come on pretty girl, let me see.”

“No.” You said shyly, moving his hand once more. You were fully sweating at this point, your secret being moments away from being revealed.

“As much as I wished it were true, I have a feeling you’re not wearing a garter.” Peter paused the movie and gave you his full attention. “Come on, baby. Tell me what’s up?”

“I have to tell you something.” You sighed. You took your bottom lip in between your teeth and chewed on it.

“You can tell me anything.” Peter said softly. “You know that.”

You looked at Peter and sighed. You didn’t know how to say it, so you didn’t use words at all. You lifted your skirt above your thigh, revealing your tattoo to Peter. It was fully healed now. The jet black ink stood out on your smooth skin. Peters eyes widened in surprise at the sizable tattoo. He wondered how he’d gone so long without seeing it. Right there on your outer thigh was a delicate, black spider hanging from a web. You’d had the image in your mind long before you met Peter, but finding out he was Spider-Man only made you want it more. You watched his face closely for a reaction. You searched for signs of disappointment or disgust, but there were none. Peter looked at your tattoo with an awestruck expression. His brown eyes were wide with delight, reminding you of a child.

“I’m going to be honest with you.” Peter began. You hung on to his words, preparing yourself for the breakup. “Saying you were wearing a garter was more wishful thinking, because that’d be super hot. But this…” Peter brushed light fingertips over your tattoo, leaving goosebumps in their wake. “This is way hotter.”

“What?” You asked, thoroughly shocked by his reaction. “Really? You think so.”

“Yes.” Peter laughed breathlessly. “That is the sexiest thing I ever laid eyes on.”

“For real?” You sat up in shock. “You like it?”

“I love it.” Peter traced the tattoo with his nails, trying to remember every detail of his girlfriends body. “I seriously love it.”

“Oh, thank God.” You let out a breath of relief. “I thought you were going to break up with me.”

“As if.” Peter laughed. “Are you gonna get more?”

“Yeah.” You shrugged, smiling happily at his unexpected reaction. “I’d like too.”

“Could I come with you when you get the next one?” Peter asked excitedly, getting ahead of himself. “I could hold your hand if it hurts. Did this one hurt? I bet it did. God, you’re so cool.” Peter gushed over his badass girlfriend.

“I would love that.” You told him honestly, squeezing his hand in a appreciative manner.

“Me too.” Peter intertwined his fingers with yours. “I can’t wait. I’m gonna hold your hand so good.”

“I thought you hated tattoos.” You wondered with a content smile.

“That was before you had one.” Peter said simply. “And I can’t hate anything about my darling girlfriend.”

“And that”, you pressed a gentle kiss to Peters lips, “is why your darling girlfriend loves you.”

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@maybemona

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[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

We All Have Those Up And Down Days....Right?

today hasn’t been perfect, well last month wasn’t perfect either....

and March was just so freaking awful.

even if I did change my tumblr username from

mythicalmarvelgirlnerd to floweytheflower-of-deltarune

(because I didn’t want a misunderstanding after I found another tumblr with the name “Mythical Marvel.” and we all know how misunderstandings can be at times.)

but I am thinking of changing the tumblr username again.

I mean I can still have the whole Deltarune thing that has to do with the tumblr home being “Delta-Flowey The Flower”

I still plan to go another round with Chapter 2 of Deltarune.

also I have a headcanon theory that Kris has three souls in them.

one being their own, which I believe might be a light turquoise color,

the red soul being the player (and the Undertale’s red soul might be the players too.)

and the third soul being the Knight, which I believe is a Monster’s Soul if it turns out the Knight is a monster.

I think the Knight’s Soul would be a Dark Purple color.

i believe that all the naughty and even dark pranks that Kris did before that we heard from others that have done (even if the Player had just got there in Chapter 1)

was all the work of the Knight, who had made Kris do pranks against their will before we the players even showed up.

even if in the game, it is said that Kris’s choices don’t matter.

but I think even if we do control Kris in the game, it might be nice if their choices did matter so long as we let it happen.

like if when the choices pop-up, it has colors on the words

and what Kris would want to pick comes out as a light turquoise color.

if we pick another choice that isn’t the light turquoise color, it wouldn’t be Kris’s choice.

in theory, before the Player’s Red Soul came along....

Kris’s life might of been already miserable, which might of been the cause of the Knight....who was possibly the real culprit in the certain dark pranks that “Kris” pulled before.

but since the Player came into the picture, we keep them safe.....at least until the end of each chapters where the Knight will take control of Kris’s body.

it might be possible that if the “heart” is not in the middle when the choices pop up and it is on the left or right side, it could be Kris’s choice and if we choose the opposite of what they want, it might make them unhappy.

the Red Soul that is us the Players, should see it as a symbiotic bond.

we might of not truly had that with Frisk, 

it might be possible that Frisk might of been one of the discarded vessels that ended up in the Undertale Universe.

but we know that it is possible that the Red Soul we see at the start of the Undertale game........was never Frisk or Chara’s but it belong to the Player.

which is us, those who have been playing both Undertale and Deltarune.

it be nice I could play Adventure Quest Worlds, well I did try to do so today but whatever update they did....and me not having played in a while....tried to put my hero’s name and password and didn’t work.

maybe I should just leave it alone for right now.

and if it comes down to it, I guess I will have to make a new one....possibly.

it be nice if Simpsons just had it’s whole seasons on DVDs and just get cancelled already.....give me my Disenchantment and another Season of Futurama.

I know not everyone is gonna agree, and no one has to....it’s just my feelings.

but it might be better if they stop working on the Simpsons and stop working on a new episode or season of them and just work on the Disenchantment, but make sure to take some breaks to take it easy and not overwork.

plus it is just creepy on how some things are with the Simpsons, with the whole “prediction” thing and I want it to stop....it isn’t even the good kind....unless they showed good ones that I’m not aware of.

but Teen Titans Go will have to stop soon too, for their sake so they do not end up like Spongebob Squarepants....

they just had to keep showing that Marathon for....I think it first started last year....?

the same episodes over and over.....I would understand it if it was on the next day but it was a freaking nightmare for me.

I guess I still like the show, but at the same time it has become a love-hate type thing....

 like you love it, but at the same time you hate it because those who are in charge basically broke the marathon and keep doing the same episodes over, over, over and over.

and your family doesn’t have a clue how it makes you feel, and you have to go to another room to get away from that Spongebob show.

I mean I like watching non-stop shows and movies, but that Spongebob Marathon was broken and it was becoming so annoying that it was the same episodes over and over, with very little change.

it even gave me some unpleasant thoughts....which after a while it got better of course.....but I just hope things with the whole Spongebob and Teen Titans Go gets better....

maybe I can just hope things will improve.....

I would still rather have another Season of Wander Over Yonder....

at least that would of been nice, as well as hoping there will be another season of Owl House.

also for the whole “Amazon Prime” to try to do a bit better....

it sucks that Star Vs The Forces Evil is only on the Prime....

it needs to be on DVD or at least Blu-ray.

oh and it isn’t gonna be possible to get one of the seasons of Red Vs Blue I a missing......sure it be a while before the new seasons get on DVD/Blu-Ray,

but those seasons will be worth the wait.

the season I am missing, is being sold on “prime” but I know it ain’t gonna be on the DVD/Blu-ray where it will come to your door in a package.

so I will have to wait until the DVD/Blu-Ray version is restocked......which might be a very.........VERY long wait.....

at least the new My Little Pony G5 Movie made me feel happy.

it was pretty awesome, and no one got turned into scapegoat-stone by Discord and the Sun & Moon Princesses.

as much as I still love those three, it was still messed up what happen.

this is why the Element of Empathy is needed.

even if my Mom pointed out some good parts of Prime, it does seem to have it’s down side in my point of view....

maybe things will get better with it, I don’t know.....guess have to wait and see.

I was doing okay while watching the new MLPG5 Movie....

but then ended up having a down day.

your day can go both ways, going up and down, up and down....

it happens......one can only hope for more better days.

at least I’m feeling a bit more better now...

and I hope some of you agree with my theory

that Kris has three souls in them,

the first one being theirs, the second one being the knight who has been making their life miserable (before the Player shows up) and the third soul being the Player.

 and it is possible that the red soul in Undertale, is the Player’s Soul

and was never Frisk’s Soul in the first place.

the trait of the soul is unknown, but in the Fanon it is Determination.

cause that is what Fans have assumed it was the name of the Red Soul. 

which can still be used in the Fanon Timelines and AUs.

I hope that the Cuphead Show starts soon....but it might be possible it wont happen until next year.....

not sure the whole Cuphead having a crush on King Dice is true or not.

but if what someone on Youtube said is true, then I guess it could be true.....or it might not be....

if it were true, it be like Semi-Canon which it is a one-sided attraction and the other side doesn’t return the feelings.

I wonder if it be funny if the song “you spin me right round.” plays

while ya slap King Dice’s head round and keep it spinning while the song plays.

if the Devil owns King Dice’s Contract as well as the contracts of the other employees that work at the casino.....

if I lick one of the contracts,

would that mean I own the contracts and their souls...?

it be like “I licked the contract, so now I own their soul.”

which would be very weird and funny.....

give me Mr. Wheezy’s contract so the deed may be done.   XD

[tiredcowpoke]

TITLE: Blank Spots [4] PAIRING: (Somewhat pre-established) Arthur Morgan/Fem!Reader, could be seen as an OC. REQUEST: Unprompted. BLURB: After waking up at the base of a steep incline and nearly freezing to death, you stumble upon a group of strangers who swear up and down that they know you. WARNINGS: Some creative license for amnesia. Head injury. NOTE: I struggled a bit with this chapter on pacing, direction, and getting it to where I wanted it, so hopefully that’s not easily read. As always, thank you all for the feedback on my previous chapters, it’s been great to get such a warm reception for this story so far. TAG LIST: @on-my-way-to-erebor / @otherthingstoreid @ireallyhonestlydontcare​ @elanisha @darlingsdevil @cirillamylove @bunnyreese12

The next time you awoke, it was marginally warmer than the last couple days in the room you shared with Arthur.

A slow lift of your head and a glance around told you that it was well into the day with sunlight seen through the semi-broken window, Arthur’s cot empty. There hadn’t been much conversation after your meal last night. With at least a little bit of information on your situation and some questions starting to get answered, it allowed your mind to slow enough to sleep when your head wasn’t aching in pain. As you sat up, there was a sharp pain that appeared behind your eye below where the injury was, but it seemed to ebb out somewhat more than what it had been doing the days before.

Still, you knew you should be taking it somewhat easy for a while.

Rising up, you decided to do something other than hide out in the cramped room and stepped out into the main area of the building. The camp was quiet, knowing there was going to be a robbery of a train today so you figured you would be alone. However, Hosea remained behind, almost hunched over in the chair as he sat in front of the fireplace before straightening up slightly at your reappearance.

“It’s warmer today…” you commented, taking a glance around yourself a moment as he nodded slightly.

“It is. It’s good for us, means we can finally get outta here once all them return from that train.”

There was a touch of something to his tone, a bitterness, but you figured it was better that you left that alone. Even if you had gotten out of this with all your memories intact, you had a feeling maybe it wasn’t best to question or poke at the higher ups in the gang. At least...well, you really weren’t sure how they ran their gang. If there was room for question. Dutch was charismatic, headstrong, but he hadn’t done anything so far that suggested you couldn’t mention things to him. Hosea, too. Still, you just...didn’t know.

“How’re you feelin’?” Hosea asked, causing you to come back to the moment at the question.

“Better,” you stated with a soft nod, “My head hurts a little less.”

“Good. There was a lotta concern over that bump on your head.”

“Yeah, I...I could see that a bit in Arthur.”

Hosea nodded in understanding, gesturing toward the chair beside him. You paused for a moment before deciding to take his silent request, sitting yourself down in the chair before taking a moment to take in the heat from the fireplace.

“Told me a bit about that train, too,” you continued.

“Well, you always did have an interest in them. Wanted to go on nearly every one we got our hands on. Maybe once you’re better you can get back to that…” he trailed off at the look on your face, meeting his gaze like he was telling you some story you had been waiting to hear, “Or not, I suppose.”

“I just figured out last night that I was--am an outlaw, running with a group of outlaws. I shouldn’t be surprised, but any information on how I was before all this is something I can’t help but wonder about.”

“Of course, I don’t blame you,” Hosea replied.

“It’s just strange. I’m filled with uncertainty and a part of me feels bad because I know I’m not acting like myself, or at least the person people are expecting, as most people I’ve talked to seem to look at me like I’ve grown a second head.”

“You certainly aren’t acting like yourself,” Hosea confirmed, “Suppose we’ll just...have to see what happens. If we have to get used to this new you or just wait a while longer before you start soundin’ like yourself.”

You didn’t reply to that, looking away from him as you worried your lip between your teeth a moment in thought. He had a point. You could still talk, you had some idea on what you did and didn’t like, you had some memories. You weren’t a completely blank page just waiting for someone to fill. Yet, you still weren’t sure who you were, both past and present. You knew your name, your age, that you had a family somewhere. You had been told you were this outlaw, that you knew how to use a gun and liked to rob trains.

If that was who you were now, you had no idea. It raised the question of if...well, if Arthur had agreed to be in a relationship with the previous you, was it fair on either of you to continue it as it were?

“You don’t have to stay with us if you don’t want to,” Hosea said after your pause, causing you to glance back toward him, “I imagine Dutch’ll have somethin’ to say about that idea, but…”

“I really don’t know what I want, Mr. Matthews,” you muttered, earning a quick chuckle from him that almost dissolved into a cough.

“Haven’t heard you call me Mr. Matthews since you first joined us,” he commented, letting out a sigh as the light amusement seemed to falter somewhat. “Nobody’s forcin’ you to stay or go. Just...have you talked to Arthur about everythin’? What you’re wantin’ to do?”

“Not really. He answered some of my questions last night, but...that’s the hard question.”

“No doubt.”

“I can’t pretend…” you continued, “I can’t tell him the moments where I realized I...felt more for him than just a fellow gang member or pretend that I know what he’s like, why I decided to…”

“You’re gonna have to start over,” Hosea replied, “In a lot of places, I figure. You didn’t just know Arthur, myself, or Dutch. You might have to decide on if bein’ with him is right at the moment, if he’d be willin’ to start over with everythin’.”

“Would he?”

Hosea let out a short huff, “I can give you an idea but it’s best you ask him yourself.”

“Any information helps.”

“He’s always been fond of you in ways...never thought it would get to where it is with him now, but…”

“Is it...is it love?” The question put a pit in your stomach, a part of you really hoping it was ‘no’. However, Hosea let out another rough, wheezy chuckle as he shook his head.

“Now that’s somethin’ I really can’t answer for him.”

Despite the situation and the thought, you couldn’t help the slight pull upwards to your lips at his response. Yeah, that was fair.

“Thank you,” you stated, sincerity lingering in your tone. “For letting me ask strange questions and not putting a bullet in me a couple nights ago.”

“You remember that?” he asked, “Well, I came close. We’d just kidnapped that O’Driscoll, thought one of his buddies had wandered in after him.”

“...You kidnapped someone?”

“Not me personally,” Hosea muttered, “Would’ve been more focused on makin’ sure we had enough here to survive the snowstorm, but...well, that’s somethin’ better left for you to ask Dutch about. It’s a long story but O’Driscolls have been a thorn in our sides for years, and us them.”

“I feel I get more questions every time I get one answered…”

“It ain’t your concern right now,” Hosea stated, placing a hand on your shoulder before rising from his seat, “I would just focus on gettin’ ready to leave this place once all them get back.”

                                                           ***

You didn’t know how far out that train was, but it was another sleep before Dutch and company had come riding in with the pride of a successful job in his tone. Arthur was notably missing from this little parade, but the flurry of action that followed after was enough to push that observation to the back of your mind. It was early morning, but people didn’t waste much time on getting the wagons ready to head out to where they had decided their next camp would be.

Considering you weren’t even sure on where that was, it put a small twist of anxiety in your gut, but you had been allowed to be relatively hands off with the process with the weakness that still persisted from a mix of trying to heal your head and the lack of food. You weren’t the only injured person in camp at the moment, it seemed, as you had watched some people discussing what to do with a man named John and a woman, Sadie, who didn’t seem to be hurt but was definitely disturbed by something. Grimshaw, much as your first impression of her was rough around the edges, had seemed to get even more so under the pressure of getting the camp set up. You were getting used to hearing her ordering people around, though it wasn’t until some sunlight brought more heat that the snow and ice keeping the wagons in place were able to be removed.

You didn’t have anything to really pack, and being pushed aside from doing much in your condition for the moment, it left you feeling out of place and just waiting for something. Eventually, Grimshaw approached you in a bit of a huff, pausing to point toward a wagon that was being loaded up.

“We’re going to put you in with Mr. Marston,” she explained, leaving you to only nod along, much as you had no idea who she was talking about, “If he can keep awake for long enough, maybe the two of you can keep an eye on each other.”

“Is he the man who’s been laid out in that cot in the other room?” you asked, “I remember him from when I showed up here. If anything, I don’t think I’m that bad, but I can keep an eye on him for now if that helps.”

“Well, I appreciate that, miss, but as we needed it more in closing up camp…” she remarked, shifting to look toward your forehead a moment.

“Next time…” you muttered with an almost tense grin, though you found yourself almost flinching back when she reached out and gripped at your bandages.

However, upon feeling her just check the wound, you relaxed somewhat as she looked at it a moment before securing the bandage back to where it was.

“Well, at least Mr. Morgan has this wrapped properly so I don’t have to redo it for now…” she muttered, “That’s going to leave a nasty scar once it’s healed, but it’s lookin’ better.”

“Feels a little better,” you said with a small nod.

“Well, good,” she stated, “Go on, get ready. We have no time to be standin’ around for much longer.”

You weren’t too sure what exactly you had to gather and ready for the trip, but you wandered back into the building you had been staying in to gather up what you knew you at least had. Securing the weapon belt around your hips, you took a moment to remove the gun that had sat in the holster. Thankfully, you at least remembered the basics your uncle had taught you all those years ago, but anything else would have to be relearned. Though, upon further inspection, it appeared a couple shots had been taken in the round, a small frown settling in your expression. You stared at it a moment as if the sight would open something up in your mind, but after nothing seemed to surface you sighed and tucked the weapon back into the holster and made your way back outside.

John had already been loaded up into the wagon by the time you made it over there, climbing up into it before sitting down toward the back of it. You could hear some chatter around you, Grimshaw mostly with Dutch’s voice in and out.

“Well, ain’t you a sight.”

The voice came from behind you, near croaking but it caused you to glance back to see John’s head had tilted slightly toward you, peering out at you from the bandages around his face. You could see the ugly red gashes on his face that were closed haphazardly with stitching. Out of the two of you, it was clear he suffered more physically. Though, again, he was another stranger to add to the list of people who seemed to know you. For a moment you were about to go into the whole “I don’t know you, what happened?” piece that sat on your tongue, but it seemed to die a bit at the woozy state he seemed to be in.

“I’m not the one with the ruined face…” you commented, earning a quick huff from him as he lowered his head back down a bit.

“Ain’t always been anythin’ to look at,” he returned, almost a mutter over the noise around him.

“Guess we’ll have to see how things are once we’re both healed.”

“Mm…” It was a sound of agreement, but with how he seemed to nod off again after the words, you decided that was the conversation you would get for the ride to the new camp. You leaned yourself against the side of the wagon, listening to the people around you as you waited for things to start moving. Which, much as it was getting close to pressing on your patience, things eventually did.

There would still be some snow to get through, more trees and mountains to be seen as the wagon moved along and away from the camp. Away from the lands that held some familiarity to you, even vaguely in parts. Still, you allowed yourself to shut your eyes, knowing John was just passed out as the movement and eventually the warming weather allowed for some sleepiness to take hold.  

However, it really only felt like you had slept for a couple minutes before you were opening your eyes again to the sound of some ruckus, noticing the drastic change of scenery as the light glow of a setting sun cast onto the green grass and tall trees that surrounded you, a river nearby. You raised your head slightly, blinking against the heaviness behind your eyes as you noticed one of the further off wagons had stopped, catching sight of Arthur stepping off to seemingly check on something. Well, at least he seemed to be around. You hadn’t seen heads or tails of him for a day, but you figured you might have to get used to that. Glancing back toward John, who still appeared to be asleep, you situated yourself back down into the wagon and soaked in the heat for a minute, much as there still was a slight bite to it.

You couldn’t help but feel relieved to be out of the snow and cold, away from that terrible mountain and what happened on it.

                                                             ***

“Grimshaw suggested you might need some help?”

Less of a suggestion, really. A day and a half had passed since you had arrived at the new camp, your strength returning fairly quickly and Susan was also pretty quick to catch on to that. She wanted you to start helping out around camp again, something she claimed she had been fairly patient about. To her credit, she had been, much as you could catch the odd comment here and there. Approaching the camp’s cook had been her suggestion, his wagon thankfully already set up and hard to miss so you didn’t have to fumble around with the question on who he was. Still, despite that, he seemed somewhat surprised to see you standing before his table.

“I’m gonna need all the help I can get,” he started, “I’m out of supplies, I need someone to go into town.”

“Someone had mentioned I should check in with the doctor in town,” you commented, “I would gladly do it for you, but I don’t have a horse or much of a sense of direction out here.”

“Well, it’s good we got a wagon and plenty of riders around here,” he said in return, leaning over to look over your shoulder toward someone approaching, “Mr. Morgan!”

You let out a slow breath at the sound of approaching foot falls, not too sure where the pit in your stomach came from. There hadn’t been too much time to really talk with him, Hosea’s words still circling in your head but you still weren’t sure how to go about bringing it up. It would have to be, eventually, but you still didn’t quite have the words for it.

“What you want?” he asked, causing you to cast him a glance as he came to a stop beside you.

“I need someone to go to the general store in Valentine to pick up what I ordered here,” the cook explained, handing him some paper, “and since she’s saying she needs to visit the doctor, figure you two could do it.”

“Oh, so you’re callin’ the shots now?” Arthur asked, sarcasm heavy in his tone.

“No, but I am feeding you all. So, please…”

“It’s not a problem,” you said, shifting away from the table.

Really, you kind of wanted to get out of camp anyway, much as a part of you didn’t fully know where you all were while also still wanted to leave on your own for a while. You gingerly pressed a hand over your eye upon the small ache that appeared at the movement of your body, pulling a small sigh from you. Would be a while still with that, you supposed. Could have been worse, considering the injury, but it was still a bit of a pain to deal with. Outside of the obvious issue your memory presented, that is.

“You need a doctor?” Arthur asked after a moment, causing you to pause as he moved on ahead toward where one of the wagons was sitting.

“I need something for my head,” you explained, “Also, I think one of the women suggested doing so anyway, much as I trust you all in helping me.”

“Oh, nobody here’s a doctor,” Arthur returned, “much as we do well for ourselves.”

You let out a small sound of understanding from the back of your throat before waiting until the horses were ready, climbing up into the passenger seat with Arthur before heading down the trail through the trees and out of camp. Really, you couldn’t help but look around yourself at the cliffs and hills, the deer that would scatter off at the sound of approaching hooves. They had mentioned heading out east, somewhere you couldn’t recall ever heading out to. Your father and uncle liked to keep close to home out west, though...well, it was hard to tell if you had travelled anywhere else. Maybe not this far out east, but still. Somehow you had ran into these people, had stayed for a year or two apparently.

You really didn’t want to dwell on the fact that a couple years of your existence had just disappeared.

“I...hate to ask, but what’s the cook’s name?” you asked after a moment, Arthur glancing toward you with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“You two ain’t been introduced?” he asked, then seemed to realize the answer to his own question, “Ah, guess not. Dutch hasn’t been exactly loud an’ proud ‘bout what’s happened to you. Some people know but not everybody.”

“Neither am I.”

“His name’s Simon Pearson.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” you muttered, “So, what does he need?”

“Nothin’ special, I don’t think. Corn, some provisions…”

“He couldn’t get it himself?” Much as you appreciated the chance to get out, you couldn’t help but wonder why he couldn’t fill his own shopping list if it was that short.

“Oh, he certainly could, but he’s more at home hangin’ out in camp and butcherin’ what’s brought to him,” Arthur remarked around a small chuckle, “You used to avoid camp meals after a while. Used to get his feathers up.”

“Huh…” That stew you had back in the mountains wasn’t exactly the...best, but you figured it would change once there was a more ready supply of meat and things to cook with.

“You still ain’t remember much?”

You shook your head. “Hosea mentioned that I should probably treat this like I’m starting over, but...I don’t know, some things seem familiar but I can’t figure out why.”

“Familiar’s good news, I guess,” he offered with a small shrug. You could feel the addition to what you had talked with Hosea about sitting on the tip of your tongue, but you bit it back as you could see a small town appearing in the distance. That or perhaps you were a little unsure if you should agree to starting over or just...well, the alternative wasn’t really fair.

What the hell was fair in this situation? You had no idea. So, perhaps that is why you decided to leave that for another time. Hopefully soon, you could imagine Arthur’s probably going to start wondering.

Valentine wasn’t much to look at, “mud and morons” as Hosea had said, but you couldn’t help but take in the liveliness of the people around you a bit. Granted, perhaps it wasn’t much, but compared to the bareness of the mountains and different from the faces you had been getting used to seeing around camp. You took in the buildings as Arthur led the wagon next to what appeared to be the stable, dropping down from the wagon as you did the same. Much as you felt your clothes were still a little warm for the town, Valentine was cool enough to at least let you not worry about it too much for the moment.

There was a man standing at a table on the street for what appeared to be donations for some kind of charity, Arthur not really paying him much mind as he passed, leaving you to trail a bit behind him a moment as you watched the man coughing heavily into his arm. You watched him a moment as he lifted his head back up, a sinking feeling dropping down into the pit of your stomach as a quick feeling of recognition washed over you for a moment. There was a moment where Valentine had stilled and you were stuck with the feeling of your father’s hand gripping at your forearm, pulling you harshly into the house. You could remember glancing back to see a man and woman talking outside. Then they were gone behind a heavy door being slammed shut, your father’s voice ringing in your ears.

“She’s gone and married some softhearted farmer and suddenly thinks that gives her the right to tell me that I got no right to raise my own kid?”

He had changed drastically from what you could recall in your memory--frail, sickly, his eyes sunken and rimmed in red. You found some words rising to the tip of your tongue until reality seemed to shift back into focus with the touch of a hand to your elbow, making you flinch.

“Hey--calm down, it’s me. You ain’t heard me callin’ your name?”

You blinked up at Arthur for a moment before you shook your head slightly, swallowing down the tightness in your throat. You were pretty sure your uncle was standing on the street corner looking like he was slowly wandering toward death’s door, but...well, you weren’t too sure how to approach that situation in the moment.

“Just--yeah. I’m sorry,” you replied, Arthur dropping his hand as he glanced toward the man in question before he glanced back down at you.

“You becomin’ one of those givers to charity, now?” he asked, his tone teasing but it pulled a tension out of you that you couldn’t seem to explain in the moment.

“I’m going to the doctor,” you stated, “I’ll meet you out here when I’m done.”

[tempesrature]

IDOL | Chapter 5 [Unfinished]

Platinum x Ride or Die (AU) Crossover

Pairings: (Major) Ride or Die | Logan x Ellie (Minor) Platinum | M!Raleigh x Cadence Warnings: PG13+ Word Count: 11k+ A/N: I can’t even begin to apologize that I’m leaving this story unfinished. I tried to finish it, I really did but school is just so heavy right now that I barely have time to do anything else. And as I’ve said, the passion isn’t there anymore. I’ll post up to whatever I’ve written and if given the time, I’ll definitely come back to finish it. If you decide to drop this story, I completely understand. I’m sorry that I let you down :(  @troublemakerinspace @raleiighcarrera @harrys-wheezys @raleeeighcarreras

“Wow, when you said you’d pick me up I thought you meant your manager was going to drive us.”

“The option was definitely there,” Logan grins as he pushes himself off of the yellow and black-striped 2005 Devore GT to stand in front of her. “But I thought it would be nice if I drive.”

Ellie chuckles as she makes her way to the passenger’s door and takes her seat just as Logan slides into the driver’s seat.

“Are you a good driver?” Ellie asks teasingly as she buckles her seatbelt. “If I get into a car accident and Mona finds out, she’ll call the ambulance and tell it to turn around.”

“I’m a great driver,” Logan chuckles as he revs the engine and he pulls out into the road. “Do you trust me?”

Ellie blinks at him for a moment before a smile tugs on her lips. “Weirdly enough, yes.”

The smile on Logan’s face strums the little tiny strings of her heart. It’s absurd how good he looks behind the wheel. If he was handsome during the any normal setting, it’s magnified by tenfold at how easy and comfortable he is as he drives. She tries not to stare at him, telling herself that she has set ground rules for how she’ll interact with Logan, but she seems to be breaking them every minute she’s in his presence.

“As an honored guest of the Devore, you have the privilege of picking the song.”

Ellie chuckles as she pulls out her phone and scrolls through her playlist. “Do you treat every passenger like this?”

“Only the pretty ones,” He glances at her with a devilish smile and a small wink.

She ducks her head to hide away the blush before her eyes light up at the instrumental track of Candy. She had asked Micah to send it to her so she could practice a little on her own before promotions truly start and they’ll have to start appearing on TV to sing it. She clicks on the song and the intro of the synth fills the car and a smile pulls on Logan’s lips.

“Logan, let’s do it live.”

“Huh?”

Logan barely has time to register her words when she starts to sing the intro of the song as she dances and does small body rolls in time with the beat. Logan lets out a laugh and he glances at her in amusement as he listens to her and waits for his cue.

Their voices fill the inside of the car—teasing, playful, flirty—and Ellie feels light and free. She’s never had this before, someone she can sing along with without the pressure of hitting the right note or conveying the right emotions. Even when she’s singing with Raleigh or Cadence, there’s always a certain standard she has to hold herself around them. After all, her voice croaking in front of those two would send her into a spiral of embarrassment.

But she doesn’t have the same worry with Logan.

Cadence had told her of this feeling—the feeling of being able to sing with someone that you’re so in tune with that it feels natural when there’s only you, the other person and the music. Cadence said that she has that with Raleigh.

And now…Ellie can admit a little that she just might have it with Logan.

The fourth verse comes in and he glances at her briefly, their gaze locking, and she grins as they sing out the next lines together in a perfect blend of light and husky.

I say, I want to be clear and simple I want to adjust just for you, oh yeah I'll give you something original I know how complicated you are

Logan attempts the sustained high note in the bridge and Ellie rolls her eyes because of course he still has excellent breathing control and can let out a perfect G#4 note even while seating down. At this point, Ellie feels like there’s nothing this guy can’t do.

The song finally finishes the last of its note and the playlist jumps to the next song on her list, a slow and soothing song from Cadence’s new album. A comfortable silence settles between them and Ellie is once again amazed that even in the silence, it doesn’t feel awkward or stifled.

“I’m probably the luckiest fan in the world,” Logan says as he turns into an intersection. “I get to hear you sing live with only me as the audience.”

Ellie smiles. “Don’t sell yourself short. I’m pretty lucky to hear you sing live as well. You have a great voice.”

“Thanks,” He chuckles a little as he stops at a red light. “I’m really glad that I got to do this collab with you Ellie.”

“Me too,” She leans back and lays her head on the window. “Which reminds me. I never got to ask. Why the sudden genre shift? The song’s great but it’s not your usual release.”

Logan nods with a small smile, a look of apprehension crossing his face in a blink of a second.

“I really don’t like my songs. I just got roped into singing it because it sells,” He takes one hand off of wheel and gestures to himself. “Along with the whole heartbroken bad boy image.”

Ellie nods and looks at him sadly. It’s not that uncommon for companies to completely have control over an artists sound and image. It’s usually for younger and newer artists where they have no power to truly choose what they want to do with their music. She was lucky than when she started out, she had Raleigh and Cadence backing her so whatever musical direction she was going to venture into was going to be supported by two music industry giants. But for artists like Logan? They’re perpetually bound to whatever their producers want for them until they can somehow break out of the image without alienating their current fans. Fortunately for Logan, their collab single ‘Candy’ is a big hit. Maybe this will even open up the path for him to finally sing songs he actually likes.

“Are you saying that you’ve never had your heart broken then?” She teases. “Is that why you can’t fully commit to the heartbroken bad boy image?”

“Maybe I’m the one that breaks hearts,” Logan says, his voice almost pained, before the light turns green and he drives. “Or maybe I just don’t like the bad boy title.”

Ellie chuckles a little. “Yeah it’s pretty outdated. Plus, if you can’t hold yourself to the same standard as Raleigh Carrera then why even try?”

“What? Property damage and grand theft auto?” He smirks. “I could totally do that.”

“Hey! The courts cleared that up, the car was legit,” She laughs and leans back on the seat. “It created a shitstorm in the company though and any car he wants to buy has to go through the suits now. Cadence was not happy.”

“I’ll bet,” Logan snickers as he pulls up to the restaurant he had recommended to Ellie the night before. “Cadence seems like she doesn’t take any of Raleigh’s shit.”

“You have no idea,” Ellie chuckles as she unbuckles her seatbelt and gets out of the car. “But I guess that’s what makes them work.”

“Yeah?” Logan grins as he opens the glass door for her.

“Yeah,” She looks around the restaurant and sees that it’s practically empty except for them. “Uh…you sure this place is open?”

“Yeah it’s owned by—Vaughn!” Logan turns to walk to Vaughn coming out of the kitchen and gives him a hug.

“Logan!” Vaughn exclaims as he returns Logan’s hug and looks over to where Ellie is standing. “Woah, you brought your girlfriend? I thought you were bringing Ellie over.”

Ellie tries to rein in the blush on her cheeks but fails miserably as Logan stands next to her.

“This is Ellie,” He turns to look at her with an apologetic smile. “Sorry about him, he’s clueless when it comes to anything other than cooking.”

Ellie smiles as she steps forward and offers her hand. “Nice to meet you Vaughn. Are you Logan’s friend?”

“Cousin more like it,” Logan corrects with a fond smile.

“We ain’t actually related. But we’re family. Known each other for a long time,” Vaughn replies as he motions to the empty restaurant. “Pick a seat! I’ll have the specials right out.”

Logan turns to look at Ellie expectantly as he points to the table hidden away from the glass windows. They take their seats across each other and Ellie is only now realizing how much all of this feels like a date. She banishes those thoughts as quickly as they came, this is just a casual hanging out with a potential friend and co-worker. That’s all there is.

“So, do you always clear out restaurants when you bring girls out for lunch?”

Ellie cringes at herself and groans internally. She was thinking it of course but she didn’t expect herself to outright say it.

“Not often,” Logan replies with a smile. “This place is pretty popular. I had to ask some serious favors from Vaughn so we could have it for ourselves today.”

Ellie smiles a little. “You didn’t have to, you know. I would’ve been fine either way.”

“I was thinking that a thousand pair of eyes constantly glancing at you while you eat would be uncomfortable.”

Ellie chuckles as she tucks her hair behind her ear. “You overestimate how much I get recognized in public. People rarely ever notice.”

“Liar,” Logan grins. “I would’ve noticed you from a thousand miles away.”

Ellie grimaces a little as she looks at him teasingly. “Not to be rude but are you always this…flirty?”

Logan laughs as he looks at her face earnestly. “Can’t help myself I guess.”

Ellie rolls her eyes a little. Perhaps that’s why it’s so difficult for her to stick to the rules and guidelines she’s set up for Logan when he seems to be so adept at making her break them.

The ping of Logan’s phone cuts through the silence and he grabs it from the table, astonishment and awe taking hold of his face.

“Woah,” Logan says as he turns his phone to her. “Looks like Candy has 80 million views on PlayMe now.”

“Seriously?!” Ellie exclaims as she takes his phone and stares at the number below the video. “This is insane.”

“Yeah I didn’t think it would be this popular…” Logan says in awe before his face softens.

“I did,” Ellie grins as she hands him his phone back. “And not just because of me by the way. The song is really great Logan. You should write your own stuff more often.”

“After this, maybe I’ll finally be able to,” Logan looks at her gratefully. “Thanks Ellie. You have no idea how much I’ve wanted this.”

“No problem. I really meant what I said back then. About how I can help you out and be your friend. If you ever need help just hit me up and—” Ellie’s eyes flick to the ringing of her phone and her eyebrows shoot up in surprise when she sees Mona’s name flashing on the screen. She had already informed Mona that she’ll be taking the day off so this call must be important. “Sorry it’s my manager. I’ll be quick.”

Logan nods. “Take your time.”

Ellie nods as she grabs her phone and moves a little ways away from their table before she takes the call.

“Mona hi, what’s up?”

“Are you with Logan?”

Ellie’s eyebrows furrow in confusion and absolute fear. She hadn’t said anything about why she wanted a day off. Was Mona just this good? Was someone tailing her?

“Uh…yes,” She replies as she looks around the restaurant in apprehension in case she’ll see Mona suddenly pop out of nowhere. “But its just lunch I swear! And we’re both sober and we’ll stay sober. I’m not up to trouble—”

“I don’t care about that, put me on loud speaker. I need to talk to you both and make sure you’re alone.”

“To us…both?” Ellie asks as she confusingly makes her way back to the table. Logan looks at her with a question in his eyes just as she takes her seat again. Ellie shrugs before she pulls the phone away from her ear, puts in on loud speaker and places it in the middle of the table. “You’re on loud speaker Mona.”

“Good. Logan, can you hear me?”

“Uh yeah I can,” Logan looks to Ellie for answers but Ellie merely shakes her head signaling that she doesn’t know either. “What can I do for you?”

“I’ll cut right to the chase. With how popular Candy’s release is, the company has approved the music video. We’ll start production in two weeks.”

“Seriously?!” Ellie exclaims as she shares an excited and happy look with Logan. “That’s great news Mona!”

“Yeah and one more thing. We need you both in a fake relationship to drum up the release of the music video. I already went through this with your manager Logan. He should be calling you about this soon.”

“Woah wait,” Logan looks at Ellie’s phone apprehensively before he glances at Ellie. “Fake relationship? This isn’t. I mean I wasn’t—”

“Mona you know how I feel about fake relationships,” Ellie cuts in, annoyance lacing her voice. “Why can’t we just promote the song the normal way?”

“This isn’t just about the song Ellie, it’s to clean up your image as well. Everyone loves you with Logan, he’ll basically become your Cadence.”

Ellie frowns.

“If Ellie isn’t comfortable with this then I won’t do it,” Logan replies sternly.

“Fine then, you both have until the end of the day to give me your final decision,” Mona pauses for a moment before her voice drops down to something soft and caring. “This is good for you Ellie. I wouldn’t have suggested this unless I knew it was going to work. Have I ever led you wrong?”

Mona doesn’t afford Ellie the time to reply as she drops the call. Ellie lets out a heavy sigh and takes the phone and shoves it into her pocket, hoping that she won’t have any more calls to ruin her day.

“Shit. This is fucked up,” Logan says as anger and annoyance takes hold of his voice.

“Yeah but not uncommon,” She sighs and leans back on her seat as she thinks about it.

When Cadence revealed to her that the first time Raleigh and her started to date was actually just a fake relationship, she had vowed herself to never take that route. Mainly because she wanted to spare herself from the drama of being in a fake relationship with someone she had no feelings for. Pretending to kiss and fawn over a guy she’ll barely talk to outside of a few convincing texts to screenshot and post on Twitter to parade their relationship around like a prized horse.

She wants to be authentically herself because she owes it to the fans that love and support her.

“What do you think Logan?”

“I mean what I said Ellie,” Logan says as he leans forward a little and gazes into her eyes. “If you don’t want this then I don’t want this.”

A small smile tugs on her lips. “So if I was okay with this…you’d do it?”

Logan chuckles a little. “I mean…would any fan pass up the opportunity to fake date their idol?”

Ellie laughs a little as she takes the table napkin in her hands and twists it around nervously. She weighs her options. Mona wasn’t lying about the image clean up. It’s no doubt that once her new album drops in the coming months, it’ll be used to comb through all of her relationships in the past. So much of the songs she plans to record in the album revolves around heartbreak and recovering from that heartbreak that she knows full well that her critics will unfairly attach a guy to every track in that album. If she gets into a fake relationship with Logan and they “break up” amicably, then all of it will just bounce back to Logan alone. Maybe they could even spin the story so that she’s the dumpee which would then earn her sympathy and support for getting dumped by a truly great guy.

Plus, if she’s being honest with herself, it’ll give her a test run on the tiny crush she has on him without all the pesky strings of getting attached in a real relationship.

It’s all just positives at this point so how could she say no?

“Okay, I’ve made up my mind,” She glances up at Logan shyly before she steels her confidence and clears her throat. “So uh Logan, will you be my very first fake boyfriend?”

The way his eyes sparkle and the way the smile stretches on his lips makes Ellie momentarily forget how to breathe.

“I’ll make you so happy Ellie,” He promises, more truthfully than he had initially intended before he reaches forward and offers his hand. “It’ll be an honor to have you as my first fake girlfriend.”

Ellie laughs a little as she takes his hand, his palms warm against hers, and shakes on the deal just as Vaughn comes arrives with his specialties and sets it the down on the table with a big grin before he goes back into the kitchen.

“Okay, so how did it happen?”

Logan looks at her curiously just as he’s about to take a bite from his burger. “How did what happen?”

“I mean how did we start dating? Why did we start dating?”

He blinks at her, confusion clear on his face. “Because you like me and I like you back?”

“Not good enough,” Ellie says as she takes a bite from chicken sandwich. “It has to be authentic and it has to be meaningful.”

Logan chuckles a little nervously, not really expecting her to be this thorough about the whole thing. After all, he was just planning to post a Pictagram post about it and leave it at that.

“Love at first sight then?”

Ellie coughs and thumps her chest as she looks at him in disbelief. “Seriously? That’s so cliché!”

“It’s plausible,” He smiles and looks at her pointedly as Ellie rolls her eyes.

“How about this. We hung out a lot after the recording, we talked and realized that we had a lot in common and we ended up liking each other.”

“Why is this so important?” Logan frowns as he throws a French fry into his mouth. “Why is it anyone’s business how we got together? Isn’t it enough that we’re dating?”

Ellie scoffs as she takes a sip of her glass of water. “You’ve clearly never been in a fake relationship before.”

“Neither have you,” Logan replies as he playfully bumps her knee under the table.

“Yeah but I got references,” She grins as she raises her phone and waves it a little. “People always love the backstory and we’ll probably get asked about it a lot so it’s better to get our stories straight to really sell it.”

“Right…speaking of selling it, is kissing allowed?” Logan asks cheekily. “What are my boundaries? What are the things I can and can’t do?”

Ellie chuckles a little. “Kissing should be allowed in public. I mean, how else would we make it convincing? Hugging and touching is fine too—as long as it’s in public.”

“Got it,” Logan smiles.

“How about you? What are my boundaries?”

Logan tilts his head to the side with a playful smile. “No food in the Devore?”

Ellie laughs. “Is that all? You’re easy to please.”

“I’m a simple guy I guess,” Logan hands her some tissues when some of the sauce clings to the side of her lips. “We should probably also lay out all of our bad habits while we’re at it. Get it all out in the air so we don’t annoy each other.”

Ellie nods. “You’re right. I’ll go first. I’m cranky during mornings and I hate food that feels mushy no matter how good it tastes.”

“Hmm…” Logan perches his elbow on the table and leans his cheek on his closed hand. “No one drives the Devore but me and I’m really particular about my hair products.”

“You should tell me what you use in your hair. I don’t know how you got it to be so soft,” An embarrassed flush takes hold of her cheeks when she realizes that she just brought up the night she had undoubtedly buried her fingers in his hair.

“I could take you out shopping,” Logan offers with a knowing smile. “Part of the fake boyfriend experience.”

“And I’ll make sure to drag you around multiple stores,” Ellie smiles teasingly. “Part of the fake girlfriend experience.”

Logan pretends to groan as he tilts his head back. “I feel like I’m getting the short end of this deal.”

“Hey!” She bumps her knee against his underneath the table. “You get to fake date the Ellie Wheeler, not many can say they had the privilege.”

“You’re right,” Logan answers honestly, his eyes gazing into hers. “I’m really lucky.”

Ellie smiles softly as a bubble of worry start to form itself in her stomach. “Do you think…we’ll be fine? I mean, nothing bad is gonna happen right?”

“What’s the worse that could happen?” Logan asks with a shrug as he leans back on his chair. “We get along and we make great music together. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Ellie nods a little, her fears disappearing with his words. With how crazy her life has been in the past few months, this could very well be the first break she’ll get since the Colt scandal. In theory, nothing bad should happen if she just keeps her crush as just a crush and cruise through the next few months until their eventual breakup.

Everything is going to be great.

~*~

“I’m calling Mona right now.”

“Babe, come on. This is Ellie’s decision—”

“Shut up Raleigh,” Cadence leaves it at that as she moves to the kitchen of their penthouse and starts a heated discussion with Mona.

Ellie looks towards Cadence direction a little guiltily. After she had lunch with Logan and after ironing out the last of the details for their fake relationship, she decided to drop by Cadence and Raleigh’s penthouse so she could give them the news herself rather than the subtle and suggestive Pictagram posts they’ll both be dropping within the week.

Raleigh sighs and runs his hand through his brown and messy hair before he looks at Ellie sitting on their plush couch. “So how long is this going to go on?”

“About three months or so,” Ellie says as she takes some of the candy they usually leave out on their coffee table. “Until I’m almost finished with my album I think. Mona still hasn’t told me the specifics.”

“Hmm…” Raleigh acknowledges as he observes her quietly. “Want some advice?”

“Uh, I didn’t know you’d have some Raleigh, you did say I should fake date him to promote the song,” Ellie grins as Raleigh glares at her lightly. “But alright, give it to me.”

“Take it from someone who got fucked up from a fake relationship,” He motions his head towards the kitchen. “If you have even the slightest feelings for him, don’t do it or you’re going to end up hurting yourself.”

Ellie frowns. “But you two worked out though…”

“Yeah but the shit we went through?” Raleigh sighs as he shakes his head, his voice a little pained. “I had to watch her get dragged by the media and I couldn’t do or say shit because we “broke up”, then I had to pretend like I was over her and pretend like I didn’t give a shit when I saw her kiss another guy. Even if it was a fake rel. That shit messes with your head, you know?”

Ellie nods sadly. “I won’t develop feelings for Logan. I promise.”

“Good, keep it that way,” Raleigh shrugs before the familiar playful and teasing smile makes its way to his lips. “But if you start to feel like it’s there, it’s a good indication that its time to bounce.”

Ellie grins just as Cadence makes her way back into the living room with a huff and deep furrow on her eyebrows.

“I talked to Mona.”

“Sounds more like it was yelling babe.”

Raleigh merely smiles at the glare Cadence sends his way before she sits next to Ellie and takes Ellie’s hands into hers.

“I understand why you did this. I’m not going to say it’s easy but if this is what you really want then I won’t stop you. Just…be careful okay?”

“Yeah and have fun!” Raleigh says as he reaches out to the bowl of candy and throws it towards Ellie who clumsily catches it. “I’ve met Logan, he’s a nice guy.”

“Aren’t they all?” Cadence sighs as she leans back on the couch. “I’m not saying that it won’t be fun. Sure, it will be but it’s also going to difficult when the real and fake just…blur together and that’s when it starts to get less fun.”

“When did it start to blur for you Cadence?” Ellie asks innocently as Raleigh’s eyes sparkle in absolute delight as he leans forward and looks at his fiancée with curiosity and affection.

“Yeah Cadence when did it start to blur for you?”

Cadence rolls her eyes as a small smile tugs her lips. “The charity function when we sneaked away.”

“Ah,” Raleigh leans back with a fond smile. “That’s a good one.”

Ellie’s eyes bounce between them and she already knows that she’s effectively been shut out. Not that she minds, she’s practically used to the two of them so attached and magnetized to each other that it’s not uncommon for her to feel like the perpetual third-wheel.

“Right, I’m going home guys,” Ellie announces as she stands from the couch and unconsciously pockets the candy Raleigh had thrown to her. “I still have songs to write.”

“Keep up us updated!” Cadence calls out as Ellie makes her way to the penthouse elevator. “About the album and Logan!”

“Always,” Ellie calls out just as the elevator doors close in front of her. She sighs and leans back on the elevator and lets her mind wander. It’s not like she didn’t have her apprehensions, after all she’s well aware of the things she could be risking if she ends up falling for Logan.

But a part of her is undoubtedly curious. What kind of boyfriend would Logan be? Would he be just as cheesy and flirty or would she see a different side to him? Would she be able to pull some inspiration from their fake relationship for her album?

The last question makes her flush a little as she gets into the cab and makes her way back to her penthouse. It wouldn’t be weird for her to write a song about Logan, after all an artist is supposed to get inspiration from the influence and their environment right? It would be weirder if she didn’t have any songs about Logan on her album if they plan to fake date for three months or so.

Ellie doesn’t have time to fully delve into those thoughts when she reaches the building her penthouse and she hurriedly makes her way to her floor. She goes through the motions of putting away her keys and flicking on the lights before she makes her way to her bedroom and flops down on the mattress.

She takes a minute to stare at the nonsense patterns of her ceiling before she reaches into her pocket to pull out her phone when her hands close in on a small round object. She pulls it out and looks at the red candy with confusion before she realizes that it’s from Raleigh and Cadence’s place.

An idea suddenly hits as she quickly scrambles to sit up on the bed and takes out her phone. She tears open the wrapper and presses the candy on her lips. She turns the camera of her phone to her before she snaps twenty or so pictures before settles on one and places a filter to make it look a little bit aesthetically pleasing. A wide smile takes hold of her lips as she pulls up her Pictagram account and posts the picture with the caption:

Boy I’m your candy. Tell me what you’re waiting for.

It’s subtle and suggestive, just like they agreed on, after all it’s just part of the lyrics for their single ‘Candy’ and people could even say that Ellie is simply promoting the song—but with no link to the actual single nor the usual words of “stream Candy” attached anywhere, the comments that rush in quickly figure out what she’s hinting on.

I knew it! I fucking knew it! This is folks, this is the sign we needed that they’re dating. Oh my god I’m so happy but I’m so sad?? But I’m so happy too omg If she breaks his heart, I’m gonna kill her. I heard that there’s gonna be an MV dropping. Will we get a kiss scene???

Ellie laughs a little as she lays back down on the bed and continues to scroll through the comments that come in. She skips through the hate comments, already immune to them at this point, and focuses on the love and support of their “relationship”. She feels a little tinge of guilt that she’s fooling her fans like this but at the end of the day, it’s her life and she’s allowed to live it according to how she wants to.      

A notification pops up in her screen and her heart races when she sees that Logan has posted something. She navigates to his page and when the picture loads, the little squeal of delight she lets out is both embarrassing and well-earned.

The picture is a shirtless selfie of Logan with a piece of candy trapped tantalizingly between his teeth as he looks into the camera with playful smile and sparkling brown eyes. The caption at the bottom reading:

Girl I’m your candy. All I want is you my love.

It’s far from the “subtle” that they had agreed on but it’s not like she dislikes it. In fact, it puts a silly smile on her face that she can’t wipe away. Now, she’s wondering if this truly is his first fake relationship because he just seems too good at it.

Ellie goes to look at the picture again, carefully trying to commit to memory everything about it, before she closes her phone and tosses it next to her. She knows that tomorrow, every celebrity gossip blog is going to start writing articles about their Pictagram posts and she’ll feel the full effects of their fake relationship once dawn breaks.

But for now, she allows herself to get lost in her thoughts and lets the exhaustion of the day pull her to sleep. Because tomorrow, she’ll be going through an experience she’s never had before.

An experience that, that she hopes, will bring more good than bad.

~*~

“Helloooo? Earth to Ellie?” Ingrid huffs as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. “Look if you’re too busy to hang out with me and get pics for my Pictagram, we can always reschedule.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” Ellie replies sheepishly as she places her phone on the table. “My bad Ingrid, what were you saying?”

“I was saying,” Ingrid says as she gestures her hand to Ellie, her sparkly pink nails glinting under the florescent lights of the café. “What’s up with you and Logan?”

“Nothing’s up.”

Ellie’s phone pings with a new message and Ingrid narrows her eyes suspiciously as she leans in and swipes Ellie’s phone from the table. Ellie scrambles to get it back but Ingrid is too quick and she’s already inputting Ellie’s password and seeing the new message.

“Still up for date night, El?” Ingrid reads in delight and shock before she turns to Ellie with a dramatic gasp. “Ellie Wheeler you’re dating Logan and you didn’t tell me? What, are we not friends anymore or something?”

“Shh!” Ellie moves across the table between them and grabs her phone as she nervously looks around the semi-crowded space of the café. “And he’s exaggerating. It’s not date night, we’re just watching a movie.”

“Yeah because that’s soooo not a date,” Ingrid rolls her eyes as she picks up her cup of tea and takes a sip. “Whatever. I’m happy for you, he’s definitely an upgrade from all the assholes you’ve dated in the past.”

“I told you we’re not dating,” Ellie says as she takes a peek at her phone and almost melts a little at the list of movies he’s already curated for them to watch later tonight. “At least not officially, not until we announce it in three days.”

“Announce? Officially?” Ingrid narrows her eyes at Ellie before she lowers her voice. “So it’s a fake rel?”

“Yeah,” Ellie picks one of the movies from his list and sends him a quick message. “It’s just that—fake. So we aren’t actually dating.”

“Then what’s with his Picta posts?” Ingrid pulls out her own phone and navigates to Logan’s page. “In the past week he’s either posting about his car, his upcoming album or cryptic posts about you. I mean look at this,” Ingrid clicks on a picture and turns the phone to Ellie. “It’s a picture of him in a field of flowers. The caption literally has the lyrics to your song. Dude sounds like his halfway in love already!”

Ellie blushes a little as she looks at the picture Ingrid’s showing her. She really does love that photo, it’s probably one of her favorite ones his posted. In the past few weeks, they’ve both been trying to be “subtle” about slowly enticing the public with their supposed relationship but Ellie has gradually learned that there is nothing subtle about Logan. All of his posts leave no room for speculation or doubt while she tries her best to be subtle when she posted a picture of her wearing a yellow and black dress.

“He’s just really good at the whole fake dating I guess,” Ellie shrugs as her phone pings with another new message from Logan. She glances at her phone and a small smile tugs on her lips when she sees his message.

Nice, I wanted to watch that one. Your place or mine?

Yours, she replies with a small smile.

Ingrid frowns. “I feel like a third wheel and he’s not even here.”

“Okay, phone down now. Let’s take the picture because I need to go and finish up one more song for my album.”

Ingrid rolls her eyes as she motions with her fingers for Ellie to come closer so they can take the picture together over their array of untouched desserts on the table. Ellie smiles prettily, the kind of smile she’ll only ever use when she’s taking pictures to be posted, as Ingrid tilts her head down a little and pouts her lips a little.

After twenty or thirty pictures with different angles, Ingrid is finally satisfied and flicks through the pictures before she finally settles on one.

“What should the caption be?” Ingrid says as her nails tap on screen. “Girls day out? One in a Million reunion?” Ingrid looks up from her phone and frowns when she sees Ellie grinning at her phone before Ingrid sneakily takes a candid photo. “When your friend can’t get off of her phone because she can’t stop talking to her fake boyfriend?”

Ellie glances up at Ingrid with a small frown. “One in a Million reunion sounds better.”

“You think?” Ingrid scoffs as she types out the phrase and posts it first. She then pulls up the candid photo she took of Ellie, writes down a caption and posts it. She leans back and observes Ellie and waits patiently for her response.

Ellie furrows her eyebrows before she looks up at Ingrid with blank face. “Really Ingrid?”

“It’s not a lie,” Ingrid smirks knowingly.

Ellie sighs as she reads the caption again under her picture.

Guess what’s making El smile so much? Hint: it’s a date.

Ingrid is right at least, it’s not a lie that she’s genuinely excited for her not-a-date with Logan. In the past week or so, they’ve gotten closer. A lot closer than she’d expect them to be and she’s starting to see how…charming, caring and genuinely nice Logan can be. It has come to the point where they’ve been talking late into the night until she’s basically fallen asleep on the phone.

And that terrifies her. Ellie doesn’t want to admit it but the feelings she’s starting to catch from him are starting to spiral into a dangerous territory and if she was smarter, a little more cautious, she’d cut her losses and ask for this fake relationship to be cancelled and, as Raleigh advised, bounce.

But she doesn’t want to. Not when she really likes the feeling of being able to unironically say that the Logan is her boyfriend.

“Anyway, I need to go,” Ellie pockets her phone and stands up from the chair. “Let’s meet up again next week if you’re free.”

“Sure,” Ingrid waves her way and flips her blond hair over her shoulder. “But next time actually pay attention to me, okay?”

“Roger that,” Ellie grins as she places her sunglasses, makes her way to the door and out of the café.

~*~

The ping of Logan’s phone sounds loud in the empty space of his makeshift studio in his apartment. He looks at it curiously before he moves the guitar to the side and reaches for the black device. A wide smile pulls on his lips when he sees the picture of Ellie grinning at her phone, his eyes flit to the caption below the picture and the smile on his face starts to physically hurt his cheeks.

He goes to message Ellie, his fingers typing out his thoughts before he can stop them.

I’m excited too troublemaker. He pauses, deletes the message and tries again.

You look cute in the picture. He pauses again and decides fuck it—he’ll send both.

I’m excited too troublemaker, you look cute in the picture.

He waits with anticipation when he sees the three dots appear and disappear. When he reads her message, he’s sent into a fit of laughter as he lays down on the carpeted floor and holds his phone inches from his face.

Oh my god shut up. She follows up the reply with a cute sticker of a tiny bunny character repeatedly thumping on the chest of a taller bunny.

He grins lazily as he types out his next message. Are you bringing snacks?

Better, I made something.

Logan raises a curious eyebrow. He can confidently call himself an Ellie fan and he, embarrassingly, knows a lot about her. Her knowing how to cook though, somehow, escaped his radar.

Didn’t know you could cook. Are you any good?

The reply is instant, almost as if she already knew that he would ask that question.

Of course I am. Don’t you trust me?

I do. Because strangely enough, he really does. Careful troublemaker, you know what they say about a way to a man’s heart.

Logan, I don’t need to be good at cooking to get through your heart.

Logan’s eyes widen, his heart picking up in speed, and he’s finding it a little difficult to come up with a reply. But his few seconds of silence must’ve set her in a panic when she hurriedly follows it up with another message.

I mean, I’m already your fake girlfriend, right?

Right, he replies before he gathers what little is left of his self-control to finish his message. I’ll see you later El. I gotta finish up the last song before you come.

Okay, see you later!

Logan lets out a heavy sigh and drops his phone on his chest and lays his forearm across his eyes. His mind swims and he can’t stop himself from finally admitting that he has the biggest crush on Ellie Wheeler.

And it’s not just a fan-crush either but a real, tangible, heart-stopping crush.

Not that this is a recent development or anything, he’s noticed that in the past few days—he’s finding it increasingly difficult when he’s nowhere near his phone. Even when he’s recording the newer songs he wrote for his album that finally got approved (due to Candy’s success), he always goes to his phone after each session so he can reply to whatever message she’s left for him.

That’s never happened to him.

Whenever Logan gets himself involved with a girl, he’s usually fine if they don’t talk for a couple days. Hell, he even prefers it since he values his solitude. But with Ellie, it feels as if he’s going to miss out on something important if he doesn’t reply to her messages or talk to her at the end of the day.

It’s a terrifying feeling for him. They haven’t even properly stared to fake date and he’s already catching this pesky crush that he can’t seem to shake out. And Logan knows himself well. No matter how hard he’s going to try to mask it, it’s going to be obvious on his face when the Paps take their pictures.

He sighs and pushes himself off of the floor and grabs his guitar. He’s been having trouble with composing his last song for the album since he’s been instructed to make it the kind of heartbroken love-pining that he’s known for—except make it R&B pop. He was excited at first, finally being able to blend what he’s known for and what he loves to create, but these days he just can’t seem to write down a single word or strum out a single note.

The subject is about heartbreak after all but all he’s been feeling is flutters of butterflies in the past few days.

He strums out the first few notes and looks to his notebook to test out the words he’s able to somehow to write down.

“Tell me once again, tell me you love me like you did that moment,” Logan pauses, reaches out to crush out a word, and he tries again. “Tell me once again, tell me you love me like you did that—time? Fuck!”

Logan places his guitar down and weaves his hand through his hair in frustration. He’s well aware that if he doesn’t finish this song within the month, it’s going to get handed to ghost writers. He’s also scarcely aware how important this album is. If the reception is good, he’ll be able to continue to release songs that he’ll actually love to sing on stage for once. No more grumpy producers telling him to cry in the booth and no more forced interviews where he has to pretend that the song is about a girl who broke his heart once.

It’s finally going to be only him, his music and his own art.

The distant and muted sound of his apartment buzzer reaches his ears and at first, he’s a little annoyed that someone’s here to interrupt his session but the annoyance is immediately wiped away when he remembers that it’s most likely Ellie.

He pushes himself off of the floor and takes quick and long steps towards the front door and yanks it open. He can’t help the smile that breaks out on his face when he sees her standing in front of him with a light peach sundress and a Tupperware of something in her arms.

“Hey, I’m here for movie night.”

“Date night you mean,” He corrects with a grin before he moves to the side and motions for her to enter the apartment. “Make yourself at home. I’m sure you already know where everything is.”

Ellie rolls her eyes with a smile before she makes her way to his kitchen. “How’s the song going?”

“Awful. I’ve got a mental block I can’t get over,” Logan sighs as he leans on the doorframe of the kitchen and observes her quietly as she pulls out plate and puts it on the counter. “Anyway, what did you make?”

“Cookies!” She smiles with pride as she tilts the Tupperware full of cookies to him before she starts to place them on the plate. “I hope you like peanut butter cookies.”

“I love them,” If Logan is being honest with himself, his feelings towards any flavor of cookie is about average. He neither likes them nor hates them but if Ellie is the one that made them, somehow he can find himself to love them. He walks to the counter and plucks one cookie from the plate and takes a bite. His eyes widen a little as the flavor hits his tongue. “Damn, these are good.”

“Told you I’m good,” Ellie beams with pride as she takes the plate and motions towards the living room. “Also, what’s blocking you from the song?”

“You” is what he’d like to say but he’s not sure if he can survive to the aftermath of that conversation. So he shrugs and follows behind her as they make their way to the living room.

“Don’t know, guess it’s just one of those days.”

“Want me to help?” Ellie abruptly stops walking and turns around, almost sending Logan crashing into her. “I also want to bounce off some lyrics with you for a song I’m working on.”

Logan thinks for a moment at the proposition. If he’s being honest, he’d rather not revisit the song until he’s let it sleep for a few days. But he does want to hear the new song she’s working on and there is one song he’s been meaning to let her listen to.

“I have a better idea. I have this song I want to run by you, get your feel for it.”

Ellie’s eyes light up as she looks around a little to try and locate the direction of his studio. “Raincheck on movie night then?”

“Sure,” Logan chuckles softly as he points to the door down the hall. “Bring the cookies though, something to keep our brain going.”

Ellie nods as she walks towards the door he points to and enters his studio. It’s a lot smaller than the one in her penthouse but it’s enough provide a good space for creating music. She places the plate of cookies on the table before she sits on the carpeted floor, crosses her legs, and pulls out her phone from her purse so she can find the instrumentals for the song.

Logan chuckles as he takes sits next to her. “I was going to offer you a chair.”

“No way, I think better when I’m sitting on the floor.”

Logan smiles softly, the little string of his heart tugging at the thought that it’s the same for him too.

“Okay here are the instrumentals,” Ellie starts, her voice serious, commanding and—for Logan—extremely sexy. “I’ve got the chorus down and the bridge but the first verse still sounds clunky.”

“Sing it for me.”

Ellie nods as she presses play, latches on to the lyrics on her phone and starts the song with a few adlibs of soft and raspy ohs.

When I see you, I feel a sense of familiarity After a moment of thinking, I approached you Besides us, everything else has vanished Please trust this experience Match my tempo babe

She finishes and looks at Logan expectantly but he only looks back at her with awe.

“I still can’t get over how good your voice sounds,” He chuckles softly when Ellie glares at him slightly. “Hand me the lyrics.”

Ellie hands him the phone. He rewinds the song a couple of times and mumbles through the lyrics a little before his eyes catch on to the part where it feels a little clunky.

“Here, this part sounds a little off the beat,” Logan moves her phone closer to her, his shoulders touching hers. “Maybe something with one more syllable to hit the last note?”

“Hmm…” Ellie takes her phone and hums through the lyrics, her eyes intensely trained on the words, as Logan observes her with a soft smile. “How about this? Please trust this moment to me.”

“Sing it for me.”

Ellie nods and she gets through the first part quickly before she slows down at the end of the first verse and sings the new lyrics.

Besides us, everything else has vanished Please trust this moment to me Match my tempo babe

“That’s it,” Logan says as he unconsciously moves closer to her, his face so close he can see the light peach blush on her cheeks. “Sounds like a hit already.”

She turns to him with a smile but quickly looks away when she realizes how close their faces are. She distracts herself by typing in the new lyrics to the song. She goes through the entire song again a couple of times, just to make sure that there’s nothing else he needs to comment on, before she’s finally satisfied with the results.

“Okay, I’m done with mine. Let me hear yours.”

Logan chuckles softly as he pushes himself off of the floor and moves to the keyboard in the corner of the room. He takes a seat just as Ellie follows him and stands behind him. Logan looks over his shoulder at her with a smile before he pats the space next to him.

Just as she takes a seat, his fingers fly over the keys and the soft and slow start of the song fills the studio. Although the actual song will have more layers to it, this is the best he can do for now. He drops his voice down a little as he tries to achieve the emotions he’s wanted to inject into this song the moment he composed it—sultry and enticing.

It’s a little stuffy when I make eye contact with you I’d like to dive deep into your eyes I’d like to look into them but I can’t If your fingers touch me, I feel like I’m losing my mind.

He goes through the first verse with ease, the emotions in his heart easily flowing out and mixing with the beat and lyrics of the song and he’s terrified of how easily all these emotions come to him when he’s singing for her.

He glances at her knowingly as he reaches to the second verse, the lyrics of the song starting to jump out of the page and into what little space is left between them.

I think I’m drunk Try mixing in another blue sapphire Let me know if there’s an island for me in your sea It’s like I’ll explode The blue spreads through all of me. You can fall for me, if you want.

He reaches the bridge and belts out a sustained high note and finishes the song with a few adlibs of ohs and lets the last of the note ring out in the studio.

“Wow,” Ellie says as she looks up at him with wonder and awe. “That’s an amazing song Logan. I feel like I already have a favorite song from your album.”

Logan grins as he gazes into her eyes. “No changes then?”

“None. Absolutely none,” Ellie unconsciously plays with the edge of her dress. “You should sing for me more often. I like being your only audience.”

Logan laughs a little, his body unconsciously moving closer to hers. “Does this mean you’re now a Logan fan?”

“Release the full album first,” She replies teasingly as she tilts her head to him. “I’ll decide then.”

“Ellie…” Logan whispers softly, his brown eyes searching hers, as he starts to move lean forward but he catches himself—his brain catching up to his erratic heart. He pulls away abruptly and tries to internally shake away the haze that she’s brought on him. Anymore than this and he’ll be helplessly falling into her arms. “Anyway, it’s getting late, don’t you think? Don’t want Mona to chew your ass out.”

“Oh,” Ellie says, the disappointment clear in her voice, before she turns to look at the clock on the wall and is shocked that two hours had run by without her knowledge. “You’re right, I should go.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Logan stands from the chair and grabs the plate from the table. “I’ll pack this up too.”

“You can keep it, it was supposed to be our snacks anyway,” She chuckles as she makes her way out of the studio.

Logan follows dutifully behind her as they walk down the hallway and reach his front door.

“Thanks for helping me with the song Logan. Too bad I can’t give you the credits for it.”

Logan grins as he reaches over and opens the door for her. “Make it up to me by giving me a signed album.”

“Careful, that’s how other artists end up taking advantage of you,” Ellie warns with a playful smile before she steps out of the door and looks at him a little apprehensively. “Our fake relationship is going to start in three days. Are you ready?”

“I am,” Logan says honestly, maybe even a little excitedly. “I doubt anyone’s going to be surprised though.”

“That’s your fault, I told you to be subtle,” Ellie chuckles softly before she turns to leave. She looks over her shoulder and gives him a small smile. “Goodnight Logan.”

“Goodnight Ellie. Message me when you get home.”

Elli gives him a small wave goodbye and watches her carefully to make sure she gets to the elevators without the any problems. When the elevator closes, he closes the front door and presses his forehead against the wooden surface. He squeezes his eyes shut and runs through everything that happened so far.

He groans a little when he realizes how close he was to kissing her after he finished singing his song. If he was a weaker man, he would’ve done it. But she already set her boundaries. No kissing, hugging or touching—unless it’s in public. And he’s going to keep that promise.

Although, embarrassingly, he’s already running through the best date spots for their first official date as a fake couple.

A date, he’s hoping, will end with a kiss.

~*~

“Ellie! Come here!”

Ellie turns to look at the director in her chair as the make-up artist continues to touch up her make up for the music video shoot.

“Coming!” Ellie replies as she stands from the chair and smooths out the orange and black jacket she’s wearing before she makes her way to the director.

Once she reaches him, he gives a quick rundown of the scene needed for the shoot. She follows him around the set, an explosion of yellow, pastel neon and soft orange lights and décor that mimics old 90s arcades, as he points out the different places she’ll be shooting her solo scenes. One where she’ll be inside a tube like structure, another is in front of a makeshift brick wall and the last one is a raised platform with fairy lights dotted in the background and foreground.

“We’ll shoot your parts first then we move on to Logan’s,” The director motions to where Logan is sitting in his chair having his final run through from the assistant director for his own scenes. “The props should be in the tube.”

Ellie’s eyes light up when she turns to look at the tube structure and sure enough, there on the bottom is where a myriad of different shaped and colored candies in aesthetically pleasing glass jars wait for her. It’s already pretty rare for her to eat anything too heavy days before a music video shooting so having the opportunity to eat on the actual shooting is a blessing she’ll never have again. Unless she titles all of her songs to something food-related.

“Can I eat it?” Ellie asks as she crawls into the center of the tube, takes the glass jars and puts it on her lap as she takes a seat. She twists open the lid and takes out a blue dice-shaped candy and holds it up to the light.

The director laughs. “Just try not to eat all of it. We start in five everyone!”

“You okay over here?”

Ellie looks up and smiles when she sees Logan approaching her in a red and white hoodie, his white pants hugging is legs in the most distracting of ways. He reaches the tube structure and takes a seat on the entrance of the tube.

“Good, you?”                                                                                                                  

Logan smiles as he motions to run his hand through his hair before he stops himself when he remembers that his hairstylist has already spent hours on his hair.

“Ready to eat something, I’m hungry.”

Ellie grins as she offers him the candy she’s holding. “Want a bite then?”

Logan raises an eyebrow before he leans forward and takes the candy between his teeth, his eyes never leaving hers as his lips touch the tips of her fingers.

Ellie is immensely thankful to her makeup artist for making her makeup just a little thicker today so it can survive the harsh lights. It turns out it has a dual purpose today—survive the lights and hide away the blush on her cheeks.

“Delicious,” Logan comments with a cheeky smile as he runs his thumb over his bottom lip. “Save some for me later.”

Ellie doesn’t have time to reply, not that she had any coherent words to reply with, when the director calls out for the first take. Logan stands from where he’s sitting and gives her a little thumbs up before he walks out of the frame of shoot.

Ellie takes a minute to get her beating heart to settle before she turns to the camera, her demeanor already changing, as she hears Candy playing in the background.

“And action!”

~*~

“Good job Ellie, let’s take a five minute break and reset,” The director calls out as Ellie hops off of the platform.

Just as she’s about to go back to her seat somewhere behind the cameras, Logan intercepts her and offers her a water bottle. She smiles gratefully and drinks almost half of the bottle. Maybe being under the lights and nibbling on candy for forty minutes made her more dehydrated than she thought.

“Want me to get you another one?” Logan chuckles as she shakes her head no.

“I’m good for now,” Ellie twists the bottle cap close and hands it back to him. “Ready for our shoot?”

“Yeah,” Logan’s eyes flit to somewhere over her shoulder and he moves to her side, wraps an arm around her waist and guides her away a little. “Careful, there’s a camera behind you.”

“Huh? Oh thanks,” Ellie looks behind her just as she sees the huge black device hovering near where she had been standing. A memory comes to her and she laughs a little. “Ever hit your head on this?”

Logan winces at the thought and shakes his head no.

“I did, when I was shooting Easy,” Ellie chuckles as she unconsciously leans into him, his hand warming up the skin on her waist. “Just as I was really feeling the music, I turn to the side and bam! The makeup team had to do some magic to hide the red bump here.”

Ellie points to her right temple and Logan snickers as he gazes into her eyes with a soft smile, giving her waist a reassuring small squeeze. “I’ll make sure we won’t get a repeat of that then.”

“Then you’re doing a fantastic job so far,” Ellie moves closer to him, the space between them nonexistent, and somewhere in the back of her mind—she’s aware that she shouldn’t be this close to him even if everyone knows that they’re “dating”.

“Logan and Ellie! Let’s start,” The directors voice booms around the space of the studio and the spell they’ve trapped themselves in breaks. Ellie is the first to move a little away from his hold and Logan, reluctantly, lets his arm fall away from her waist. When he’s no longer in her space, he can already feel the rush of cold air that envelopes him.

“Make sure you don’t get left behind,” Ellie comments as she looks up at him with a teasing smile.

Logan smiles and puts his hands in his pockets, the fire in her eyes both inspiring and addicting.

“Never troublemaker.”

~*~

Ellie takes a sip from her glass of wine, her back against the headboard of her bed, as she crosses her ankles and goes through the selection of movies on her TV for her next movie to watch. After the music video shoot that ran for close to three hours, she was finally able to relax for the rest of the day and she’s been spending it catching up on movies she’s wanted to watch for awhile. Although she wanted to hang out with Logan after the shoot, he had to quickly get to an interview with a popular podcast channel on PlayMe.

After she picks one from the thriller category, she blindly pats around for her phone on the bed. She goes through her Pictagram account and lazily scrolls through her timeline as the opening scene of the movie fills the silence of her bedroom. Since they’ve announced their relationship (with a cringy couples pose pic that had them laughing and wheezing the first few takes), most of her timeline has been full of their fans congratulating them and making compilation videos of whatever little interaction they had shown in public. Ellie doesn’t want to admit it out loud but she really does enjoy seeing people so happily supporting the both of them. In her past relationships, most of her fans and friends disapproved of her choice (with good reason too) but with Logan, all she’s getting is love and support.

It’s painful for her to admit it but Logan is just that good of a guy and he really is the Cadence to Ellie.

Ellie frowns a little at the idea that she’s the Raleigh of their relationship.

!!!!!!!! El, watch this!

Ellie’s eyebrows furrow a little when she sees PlayMe link that Riya, her closest friend even before she became an artist, has sent her. She pauses the movie and places her glass of wine on her nightstand when she sees the thumbnail of the video. She can already tell that it’s Logan sitting in a podcast room and if she isn’t mistaken, it’s probably the interview he had to quickly run to after their shooting.

You sure this is all fake?

Ellie’s eyes widen a Riya’s message before she quickly locates her earphones, plugs it in and plays the video. It starts off innocently enough, just going through Logan’s music history and talking about his most popular songs. Then it delves into Candy and, naturally, to her.

“So, Candy and Ellie. What’s that like?”

Logan chuckles a little, a soft smile pulling on his lips. “Which one do you want me to talk about? Depending on how much time we have left, I don’t think we can get to both.”

The hosts laughs. “Ellie of course!”

“Yeah Ellie!” His co-host chimes in. “What’s it like working with her?”

“Amazing,” Logan grins as he leans back on his seat. “She’s passionate about her work. She doesn’t take any of my crap either.”

“And you guys are dating now! What’s that like?”

“It’s…” Logan pauses a little, a soft smile tugging on his lips. “Surreal you know? I mean dating your idol is probably number one on the list of things that doesn’t happen to guys like me.”

“I bet Ellie is just as lucky,” The co-host laughs.

“Nah, I’m the lucky one,” Logan’s voice drops down to something soft, something honest. “She’s sweet…way too sweet for someone like me. She knows how to have fun too and it’s never boring when I’m with her...it kinda feels like home sometimes.”

The host whistles. “Write her a song while you’re at it.”

Logan laughs. “Told you I’d only have time to talk about one.”

“If Ellie is listening in—hi Ellie!—what would you like to say to her?”

“Where’s the camera—oh there,” Logan smiles handsomely directly to the camera, his brown eyes sparkling with amusement and affection. “Miss you already troublemaker. Let’s reschedule that date night already.”

The whole room dissolves into awws and Ellie touches her cheek, feeling the warmth of her blush heating up her palm. She doesn’t even get the time to properly process what she just saw when Riya sends her a flood of messages.

Did you see it? El tell me you’ve seen it. Was he really faking it? And why does he call you troublemaker? El!!! Reply already!!!

Calm down Riya! I just finished watching it.

Cool. Thoughts?

So many. Ellie probably has enough thoughts in her head to last her for the rest of the week. But how is she able to properly articulate all of them without giving away her crush for Logan? Nobody knows about it—not even Raleigh and Cadence, the two people she shares everything with.

I think…maybe it isn’t all fake?

I knew it! I freaking knew it! The way he looked at the camera? The things he said? Sorry but your boyfriend is hot El.

She wants to correct Riya. That Logan isn’t her boyfriend but rather her fake boyfriend but surprisingly, giddily, she doesn’t. So she immerses herself a little in the fantasy, in the belief that maybe there really is something more to them than just their fake relationship.

It won’t hurt right? After all, this is just a little crush. A feeling she won’t allow to grow into something more. After all, she promised Raleigh that it wouldn’t get to that—hell, she promised herself.

But a crush is something small and insignificant. Something she can easily overlook and abandon when things start to get sticky.

So Ellie flops down on her bed, a wide grin on her face, as she dials Riya’s number so they can properly gush over her extremely hot boyfriend and talk about all the things she’s excited to explore with her very much fake but not fake relationship with Logan.