#it's always dallas and american airlines that do this to me

[theninjamouse]

I treat myself to a steak after the hard weekend, and it's too spicy for me to eat

[hrtsdevils]

anyway don’t be a stranger. | fall to me au

summary reader, despite not being close to quinn, gets emotional over him leaving and reminisces on their memories.

pairing hughes family friend!reader x quinn hughes

wc 1.1k

a/n they’re so sweetie pie i love them!!!! also pls suggest nicknames for reader :)

Quinn and you were never as close as you were with Luke and Jack. There were a few reasons, one of them being he was a couple years older than you. He was also always more close with your brother, Caden, then he was with you since they were much closer in age, and both boys who loved hockey. You still loved him, though. He was like your older brother, much like Luke was your baby brother. He was a role model for you growing up, someone to look up to as he moved throughout life— albeit at a distance from you.

He gave you shots of advice while growing up, from helping you with your shot in soccer to random information that might be helpful to you one day.

“Here, sissy. Let Jack be the goalie and try shooting from your left side instead.” He suggested to you, one free afternoon when you guys were twelve and fourteen. For the most part Jack and Quinn had abandoned soccer as their main focus was hockey, but you still loved it. At the time, you’d been struggling with your shot. You were a right wing striker, so Quinn asking you to switch sides was a weird concept to you.

You messed with your pre-wrap and jogged over to the other of Quinn, “Like here?” You questioned.

“Yeah, you got it.” He started to run up the field and he passed the ball your way. You traveled up the field before shooting it in the top right corner of the net. It was the best goal you’d made all day.

You grinned and ran to hug Quinn, “I finally did it, Quinnie!” He hugged you back, before releasing you a few seconds later.

“I knew you could, it was just a matter of where you’d do it the best.” He smiled back and you three continued working on your shot throughout the afternoon.

It wasn’t necessarily a core memory, but whenever you thought of your success in the sport throughout high school, you’d attribute it to that. You might’ve spent your whole soccer career shooting on your weak side if not for Quinn.

You didn’t talk to Quinn much while you were all in high school, as he spent a lot of time away, much like Jack. It wasn’t because you had a bad relationship, it’s just that you had little to nothing in common and you were both busy. The summer of 2018, Quinn was gone a lot more due to his upcoming draft. You never expected him to invite you to Dallas, as he had his whole family and friends to invite, but you were next in line after his brothers and family.

“This is so exciting.” You said to Luke and Jack after touching down in Dallas, whilst heading to the American Airlines Center. Your brother chose not to play hockey farther than high school, so you hadn’t ever attended something like this.

Luke was as giddy as you, hoping that he would one day be getting drafted. “I know, right?!” He nudged you with his shoulder. He was taller than you now.

You giggled as he looked around at the Dallas Stars’ arena. “Mom’s from Dallas.” He hummed, as you nodded. Jim, Ellen, and Quinn were walking a few feet ahead of the three of you. “What if Quinn gets drafted to the stars?” Luke wondered.

Jack rolled his eyes, “Dallas doesn’t have a high pick; Quinn’s definitely going to be up towards the top.”

“Well, yeah.” Luke stammered, “I was just saying it would be funny.”

“You guys are silly.” You smiled as you took your seats. It wasn’t long before Quinn got picked once the draft started. He was seventh overall by Vancouver, an exciting feat for all of you to experience. The emotions rolled over everyone, like waves crashing onto the shore. There was a mix of excitement and happiness, and a tinge of sadness that Quinn would be so far away.

You squeezed him tight as he hugged you after his brothers, “You did it, Quinnie!” You cheered quietly. You were happy for him— extremely happy. As he marched down, you swore Jack and Luke were the loudest people in the room. They were beyond ecstatic for their brother’s accomplishment. He was the first to fly the coop to experience the professionals. You knew for certain that the two of them would follow in his footsteps. After all, Jack was eligible for next year’s draft and he was already doing pretty well for himself.

As the night carried on, Quinn and his brothers sat talking excitedly about what was to come. You were paying attention to the rest of the draft, but listening to their conversation when you felt like it. Their excitement carried over into the next few days, back up to the Michigan lakehouse, and right up to Quinn’s departure for the Canucks development camp.

Jim, Ellen, and the three of you dropped him off outside of the United Airlines gate but stayed for a moment to say your goodbyes. He would be back in a few weeks, and then decide whether to sign with Vancouver or play another year with the University of Michigan, but it was a sad moment nonetheless. All the boys had been farther away for one hockey event or another, but this might be permanent.

You were the last to hug him after his parents and brothers, and you managed to keep the tears out of your eyes. You were never as close with Quinn, but he still meant a lot to you. He could sense your sadness and pulled away from the hug, “It’s only a few weeks, sis.” He chuckled.

“It could be longer.” You retorted, a soft smile gracing your features. “I just hate to see you go.”

“I know, me too.”

It was silent for a second. Jack, Luke, Ellen, and Jim were talking off to the side and it was just you two having your moment. Quinn sighed before pulling you back into a hug, “Love you, sissy.”

“Love you too, Quinnie.” You pulled away this time, “Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

“Never happening.” He smiled. Everybody else came over to bid him one more goodbye, before he walked into the airport. Everybody was happy, but the mood was somber. You secretly hoped he would come back and play another year with UMich before leaving officially.

Imagine your excitement when he broke the news that he would be doing precisely that.

[deadpresidents]

Waking Up In Dallas: November 22, 1963.

Two American Presidents woke up in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Neither of them were the two men who actually served as President on that tragic day -- John F. Kennedy or Lyndon B. Johnson.

The 37th President of the United States, 50-year-old Richard Nixon, had arrived in Dallas on November 20th for a conference of the American Bottlers of Carbonated Beverages on behalf of Pepsi-Cola, a company that his New York law firm was representing.  On November 21st, Nixon sat down with reporters in his room at the Baker Hotel, where he criticized many of the policies of President Kennedy, his 1960 opponent, who would be arriving in Dallas the next day.  That night, Nixon and Pepsi executives including actress Joan Crawford, who had been married to Pepsi's chairman, Alfred Steele, until his death in 1959, were entertained at the Statler Hilton.

In the early morning of November 22nd, a car dropped Nixon off, alone, at Love Field, the Dallas airport that would host President and Mrs. Kennedy, Vice President Johnson and Mrs. Johnson, and Texas Governor John Connally and his wife in just a few hours.  Nixon later remembered the flags and signs displayed along the motorcade route that Kennedy would soon follow.  Nixon approached the American Airlines ticket counter to check-in for his flight to New York City and told the attendant, "It looks like you're going to have a big day today."

Nixon landed several hours later in New York at an airport that would be renamed after John F. Kennedy a month later.  He described what happened next in his 1978 autobiography, RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon:

Arriving in New York, I hailed a cab home.  We drove through Queens toward the 59th Street Bridge, and as we stopped at a traffic light, a man rushed over from the curb and started talking to the driver.  I heard him say, "Do you have a radio in your cab?  I just heard that Kennedy was shot."  We had no radio, and as we continued into Manhattan a hundred thoughts rushed through my mind.  The man could have been crazy or a macabre prankster.  He could have been mistaken about what he had heard; or perhaps a gunman might have shot at Kennedy but missed or only wounded him.  I refused to believe that he could have been killed. As the cab drew up in front of my building, the doorman ran out.  Tears were streaming down his cheeks.  "Oh, Mr. Nixon, have you heard, sir?" he asked.  "It's just terrible.  They've killed President Kennedy."

The close 1960 Presidential election changed the relationship between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, but they had once been very close.  When they first entered Congress together in 1947, they considered each other personal friends, and when Nixon ran for the Senate from California in 1950, JFK stopped into Nixon's office and dropped off a financial contribution to Nixon's campaign from Kennedy's father.  Nixon would later write that he felt as bad on the night of Kennedy's assassination as he had when he lost two brothers to tuberculosis when he was very young.  That night, he wrote an emotional letter to Jacqueline Kennedy:

Dear Jackie, In this tragic hour Pat and I want you to know that our thoughts and prayers are with you. While the hand of fate made Jack and me political opponents I always cherished the fact that we were personal friends from the time we came to the Congress together in 1947.  That friendship evidenced itself in many ways including the invitation we received to attend your wedding. Nothing I could say now could add to the splendid tributes which have come from throughout the world to him. But I want you to know that the nation will also be forever grateful for your service as First Lady.  You brought to the White House charm, beauty and elegance as the official hostess of America, and the mystique of the young in heart which was uniquely yours made an indelible impression on the American consciousness. If in the days ahead we could be helpful in any way we shall be honored to be at your command. Sincerely, Dick Nixon 

••• On the morning of November 22, 1963, the 41st President of the United States also woke up in Dallas, Texas.  George Herbert Walker Bush was the 39-year-old president of the Zapata Off-Shore Drilling Company and chairman of the Harris County, Texas Republican Party, and had stayed the night of November 21st at the Dallas Sheraton alongside his wife, Barbara.  Bush was planning a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1964 and making the rounds to line up support amongst many Texans who considered him far too moderate.  One of the groups that was strongest in opposition to Bush was the ultra-right wing John Birch Society, which had recently been lodging vehement protests against President Kennedy's upcoming visit to Dallas.

Conspiracy theorists claim that there were far more sinister motives for George Bush being in Dallas on November 22, 1963.  Some claim that Bush was a secret CIA operative involved in planning or even carrying out the assassination of President Kennedy.  Some even argue that a grainy photograph of a man resembling Bush taken shortly after the assassination proves that Bush was actually in Dealey Plaza at the time of Kennedy's shooting.

He wasn't.  He wasn't even in Dallas.  We know where George Herbert Walker Bush was at the time of JFK's assassination -- we have plenty of eyewitnesses who can confirm it.  While Lee Harvey Oswald was shooting President Kennedy, George Bush was about 100 miles away from Dallas, in Tyler, Texas, speaking at a Kiwanis Club luncheon.  Like Nixon, Bush and his wife, Barbara, had also boarded a plane that morning in Dallas -- a private plane that transported them to Tyler for the Kiwanis Club event.  While Bush was speaking, word of the President's assassination reached the luncheon and the local club president, Wendell Cherry, leaned over and gave the news to Bush.  Bush quickly notified the crowd, and said, "In view of the President's death, I consider it inappropriate to continue with a political speech at this time."  He ended his speech and sat down while the luncheon broke up in stunned silence. 

Bush's wife, Barbara, wasn't at the Kiwanis Club luncheon.  While her husband was speaking, Barbara Bush went to a beauty parlor in Tyler to get her hair styled.  As her hair was being done, Barbara began writing a letter to family and heard the news over the radio that JFK had been shot and then that the President had died.  In her 1994 memoir, Barbara included the letter, part of which said:

I am writing this at the Beauty Parlor, and the radio says that the President has been shot.  Oh Texas -- my Texas -- my God -- let's hope it's not true.  I am sick at heart as we all are.  Yes, the story is true and the Governor also.  How hateful some people are. Since, the beauty parlor, the President has died.  We are once again on a plane.  This time a commercial plane.  Poppy (George H.W. Bush's family nickname) picked me up at the beauty parlor -- we went right to the airport, flew to Ft. Worth and dropped Mr. Zeppo off (we were on his plane) and flew back to Dallas.  We had to circle the field while the second Presidential plane took off.  Immediately, Pop got tickets back to Houston, and here we are flying home.  We are sick at heart.  The tales the radio reporters tell of Jackie Kennedy are the bravest.  We are hoping that it is not some far-right nut, but a "commie" nut.  You understand that we know they are both nuts, but just hope that it is not a Texan and not an American at all. I am amazed by the rapid-fire thinking and planning that has already been done.  LBJ has been the President for some time now -- two hours at least and it is only 4:30. My dearest love to you all, Bar

As Barbara Bush noted in her letter, the Bushes did not stay another night at the Dallas Sheraton on November 22nd, as they had originally planned.  They returned to Dallas on the private jet that had transported them to Tyler earlier in the day, and caught a commercial flight home to Houston.  The "second Presidential plane" that took off while Bush's plane circled Love Field was the plane that had transported Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to Dallas earlier that day, Air Force Two.  Johnson was already heading back to Washington, now on Air Force One, with the casket of John F. Kennedy.

••• The 37th President of the United States and the 41st President of the United States woke up in Dallas, Texas on the morning of November 22, 1963.  The 31st President, 89-year-old Herbert Hoover, was in failing health in the elegant suite he called home at New York's Waldorf-Astoria.  Within the next few weeks, he would be visited by the new President, Lyndon Johnson, and President Kennedy's grieving widow, Jackie, and the President's brother, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy.  The 33rd President, 79-year-old Harry Truman, learned of JFK's death in Missouri, while the 34th President, 73-year-old Dwight D. Eisenhower, heard of the assassination while attending a meeting at the United Nations in New York.  Truman and Eisenhower would squash a long, bitter personal feud that weekend while attending Kennedy's funeral in Washington.  The 38th President, 50-year-old Michigan Congressman Gerald Ford, was driving home with his wife Betty after attending a parent conference with their son Jack's teacher when they heard the news on the radio in their car.  Two days later, President Johnson would call on Ford to serve on the Warren Commission investigating the assassination.  

The 39th President, Jimmy Carter was 39 years old and had just gotten off a tractor near the warehouse of his Plains, Georgia peanut farm when a group of farmers informed him of the news of the shooting.  Carter found a quiet area, kneeled down in prayer, and when he heard that Kennedy had died, cried for the first time since his father had died ten years earlier.  Ronald Reagan, the 40th President, was 52 years old and preparing for a run as Governor of California.  A little more than 17 years later, the now-President Reagan would also be shot by a lone gunman in the middle of the day.  While Reagan would survive the attempt on his life, it was very nearly fatal and reminded his wife, Nancy, of November 22, 1963.  As she was transported to George Washington Hospital following Reagan's shooting, Nancy would later note, "As my mind raced, I flashed to scenes of Parkland Memorial Hospital in Texas, and the day President Kennedy was shot.  I had been driving down San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles when a bulletin came over the car radio.  Now, more than seventeen years later, I prayed that history would not be repeated, that Washington would not become another Dallas.  That my husband would live."

The 41st President, Bill Clinton, and the 43rd President, George W. Bush, were both 17 years old and in school -- Bush at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and Clinton at Hot Springs High School in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Clinton was in his fourth period calculus class when his teacher was called out of the room and returned to announce that President Kennedy had been killed.  Four months earlier, Clinton had traveled to Washington with the Boys Nation program and, during a ceremony in the Rose Garden of the White House, pushed his way to the front of the line and shook President Kennedy's hand.  The 44th President, Barack Obama, was a 2-year-old living in Hawaii.

••• The 35th President, 46-year-old John F. Kennedy, would die in Dallas on November 22, 1963.  Lyndon B. Johnson, 55, would become the 36th President in Dallas that day.  But they woke up that morning in Fort Worth at the Texas Hotel.  Kennedy had slept the last night of his life in suite 850 on the eighth floor, now the Presidential suite.  LBJ had slept the last night of his Vice Presidency in the much more expensive and elegant Will Rogers Suite on the thirteenth floor.  The Secret Service had vetoed the Will Rogers Suite for the President because it was more difficult to secure.  It was raining in Fort Worth as they woke up, but the skies had cleared by the time they landed in Dallas.  Before breakfast, President Kennedy, Vice President Johnson, and Texas Governor John Connally headed outside and briefly addressed a crowd that had gathered long before the sun had come up in hopes of seeing JFK.  Jacqueline Kennedy didn't accompany them outside and President Kennedy joked to the crowd, "Mrs. Kennedy is organizing herself.  It takes her a little longer but, of course, she looks better than we do when she does it."

Afterward, they headed inside for breakfast in the Texas Hotel's Grand Ballroom with several hundred guests.  The President sent for Mrs. Kennedy to join them, and her late arrival to the breakfast excited the guests in the ballroom.  When the President spoke to the group, he joked again, "Two years ago I introduced myself in Paris as the man who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Paris.  I'm getting somewhat that same sensation as I travel around Texas."  Then he noted, "Nobody wonders what Lyndon and I wear."

When the breakfast ended, the Kennedys headed upstairs and had an hour or so to wait before heading to the airport for the short flight to Dallas.  It was during this time that Jackie Kennedy saw a hateful ad placed in that morning's Dallas Morning News accusing President Kennedy of collusion with Communists and treasnous activity.  Trying to calm Jackie down, the President joked, "Oh, we're heading into nut country today."  But a few minutes later, Jackie overheard Kennedy telling his aide, Ken O'Donnell, "It would not be a very difficult job to shoot the President of the United States.  All you'd have to do is get up in a high building with a high-powered rifle with a telescopic sight, and there's nothing anybody can do."

••• Even though the trip from Fort Worth's Carswell Air Force Base to Dallas's Love Field would only take thirteen minutes by air, the trip to Texas was first-and-foremost a political trip -- a kickoff of sorts to JFK's 1964 re-election campaign -- and a grand entrance was needed.  So, JFK and Jackie boarded the plane usually used as Air Force One, LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson boarded the plane usually used by the Vice President, Air Force Two, and the huge Presidential party took to the skies, covering thirty miles in thirteen minutes, in order to get the big Dallas welcome that they were hoping for.  They landed in Dallas at 11:40 AM, and President Kennedy looked out the window of his plane, saw a big, happy crowd, and told Ken O'Donnell, "This trip is turning out to be terrific.  Here we are in Dallas, and it looks like everything in Texas is going to be fine for us."

At 2:47 PM -- just three hours and seven minutes later -- everyone was back on Air Force One as the plane climbed off of the Love Field runway and into the Dallas sky.  John F. Kennedy, the 35th President, was in a casket wedged into a space in the rear of Air Force One where two rows of seats had been removed so that it would be fit.  Lyndon B. Johnson had officially been sworn in as the 36th President about ten minutes earlier on the plane by federal judge Sarah T. Hughes.  On one side of Johnson while he took the oath was his wife, Lady Bird, and on the other side, the widowed former First Lady, Jackie Kennedy, still wearing a pink dress splattered with her husband's blood and brain matter.

Two American Presidents woke up in Dallas on November 22, 1963 -- Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush -- but they weren't in town when John F. Kennedy was assassinated, no matter how many ways conspiracy theorists try to twist the story.  The President who died in Dallas that day, John F. Kennedy, and the man who became President in Dallas that day, Lyndon B. Johnson, woke up in Fort Worth on the morning of November 22, 1963.  But they'll be forever linked with Dallas -- and the world that woke up the next morning would never be the same again.    

[starsandhughes]

Kaylin’s Daily Reason to Love the Dallas Stars: Episode 1

as the new season approaches, i’m once again starting my stars agenda! so here’s today’s (yes. i said today’s. i will continue this) reason to love the stars that isn’t just because they’re good! (they are!!)

1. Razor and Bogo!

Razor, aka Daryl Reaugh (right)

-no one really remembers his name because he is known as Razor to everyone. they even call him Razor on the broadcasts

-he’s been with us since 1996! he’s basically a national treasure

-he’s absolutely hilarious and makes the most interesting (and out of pocket) game comments/quips! he also has very colorful word choice when describing plays while they’re in slow mo

some of my favs from last season include:

-“the buffalo sabres are going to need a large jar of ointment after this game” (the stars had 7 goals at this point, it ended 10-4)

-he called the devils “the lucifers”

-“18 year old wyatt johnston is coming straight down the esophagus of the wild’s throat”

-“this should be fantabulous” (in reference to us going into overtime) (it was)

-“joe did what joe does— KABANG!”

-“if there are hockey gods, this was a hockey god goal”

-“mistake hockey is the best hockey!”

-“as i was saying in second period before wyatt johnston rudely interrupted me by hitting the post… *continues talking about pav’s points this season and career*”

Josh Bogorad (i call him Bogo) (no one else does) (he’s on the left)

-he does the play by play! he’s been with us since 2018

-i like him a lot bc he gives literally everything movement. he perfectly describes the game, which is lovely for the people listening to it on the radio!

-at the stars arena, when you go to the bathroom during the game, they play the radio so you can hear everything that’s going on! they don’t have mid game conversations like some other commentators

some of my favorite Bogo quotes bc he’s also funny

-“it’s Miro and the deadline acquisitions! that sounds like a band name” (in reference to an OT line of Miro, Domi, and Daddy)

-“he is always moving and is always a threat” (this was about Quinn!)

-“he blew a tire!” (referring to a kraken falling on his ass)

-“the ref was doing an irish jig in the corner to try anf get away from all that puck movement…” (razor) “they are celebrating st patty’s here so it works out” (bogo)

-often calls fights or scrums “extra curricular activities”

-“everything he touches turns into goals!” (about robo)

-“there’s been a plot twist here at american airlines center” (referring to stars being 0-2 and then catching up)

in conclusion, the stars broadcasting team is my absolute favorite and there’s never a dull or lull in the moment!

with love, kaylin

[hockeyforthefirsttime]

The Art of Not Falling in Love- Roope Hintz

AN: This is a piece that is very self indulgent BUT it has a plot despite being like 80% smut. I am thinking of making more parts if people like this 

Word count: 5k 

TW: like its smut.. so like what do you expect. (Wrap it before you tap it) spanking light dom!Roope female reader 

You could never quite understand how you got into this situation. You’d sworn to never fall in love ever. The pain of watching the gruesome divorce of your parents, the way your friends seemed to find “the one” left and right, only to be heartbroken, was simply too much. So you decided to simply don’t fall in love ever. 

And you’d kept that promise to yourself, ever since 15. Sure a few crushes came up now and then, but you never acted on them, and you made sure no one knew about the feeling. The only person in your life that knew about this promise to yourself was your best friend Jamie.

The first person you’d met in Dallas when you’d first moved there. You had been a freshman in college and he had been, ironically so, the first person to hit on you in Dallas, and you hadn’t even officially gotten there yet.  It happened on the plane ride. He was seated beside you and you couldn’t for the life of you remember the pick up line he used. You just know it was bad, cause you remember laughing at it and the way he tried to manage his long limbs into the airplane seat. It had gone uphill from there on, and you were glad he didn’t get offended by you laughing at him. 

Now, however, you were sitting in the stands of the American Airlines Center, watching him and his team scramble across the ice in a turnover, passing the puck up the ice. Roope Hintz picks it up and flicks it into the goal, just over the left shoulder of the Blackhawks goalie, making the Stars take the lead with three minutes left in the third period. The stands erupt in wild cheers and the team celebrates on ice. You jump with the rest of the crowd, and clap enthusiastically. Knowing that it’s gonna be an insufferable team to meet afterwards. After all, athletes tend to be after winning a game like this. 

The buzzer goes off and the Dallas Stars have officially ended their losing streak. The crowd is going wild, jumping up and down, making the stands shake just a little. Thats when you decide to sneak out of the stands and find your way to the outside of the locker room, where Jamie had promised he would meet you. 

You have been around a few times, and sure enough you find your way. Jamie had made sure to let the security staff know that you would be around after the game. There is a soccer ball laying around so you pick it up and start bouncing it on your jeans clad thigh, then dropping it down onto your foot and up again, alway in control. You lose yourself to the ball, concentrating on keeping it in the air, so much so that you don’t notice the door slamming open until the boom of it makes you drop the ball. 

“Jesus fuck.” 

You whisper as you look up to find the source of the noise. What you find shouldn’t surprise you, but seeing a shirtless Roope Hintz standing there with a frown on his face, makes heat rush up your neck regardless. 

“Who are you?” 

He looks suspiciously at you, taking in the skinny jeans and the absence of a jersey. As well as the forgotten soccer ball. 

“Sorry, just here for Oleksiak.” 

You try to shrug it off, looking for the ball again. His eyes squint suspiciously at you, but his head tilts backwards as he calls for Jamie. He comes bounding out of the locker room, shirtless, but fresh out of the shower. He’s in the middle of zipping up his game day slacks, and the smile already on his lips gets wider.  

“You could have waited with the others you know?” 

Jamie says cheekily to you. The heat to your face returns, but not in full force. You look at his tall stature and the smaller man beside him. And for some reason, the blonde star of the night is the one to make you look away. You shoot daggers at Jamie instead. 

“You know, you could have told me where they were, so I didn’t have to stand here like some other crazed fan.” 

Roope slowly turns around and walks away, closing the door with one last curious look directed at you. 

“Oh come on, we all know you’re crazy for me.” 

Finally you can feel yourself relax a little, with a sigh you take a step closer to him. 

“Yeah, crazy for you to leave me alone.” 

He wraps you up in his arms and lifts you up in the air, laughing as you gasp at the surprise of being lifted up. 

“Congrats by the way, you played well today.” 

You say to him, as he lets you back down on the ground again.  

“Thank you Sparks.” 

“Now go get dressed completely, I suppose you want to celebrate tonight?” 

His signature, tooth lacking smile is on full display as he slings an arm around your shoulders. Jamie looks at you with a mischievous look. 

“We really want to celebrate this, and besides, we really need to get you laid.” 

You wrench your way out of his grip and scowl at him, pushing him in the direction of the door to the locker room. 

“Get dressed you idiot.” 

You say with a flat voice, trying to remain serious, and failing when you see Jamie wink at you last minute. You immediately go back to juggling the soccer ball, as the door slams shut. 

A couple of girls are walking towards you, and you suspect they’re here looking for their boyfriends or husbands. That’s until you see the flustered cheeks and whispers of “I can’t believe we made it all the way here.” and the agreements that follow. 

Their eyes land on you and your soccer ball, and their expressions instantly sour. You try to shrug it off, but when the whispering starts again, you look up from the ball. You start getting suspicious when one of the three girls flicks her long, perfectly curled, brunette hair over her shoulder and opens her immaculately painted lips to say something. 

“You shouldn’t be here you know.” 

The confidence in her voice almost has you fooled for someone who belongs there. Almost. You’ve never seen her close to any of them ever, even if you had managed to stay out of the public eye yourself. Something about this trio didn’t feel right. You stop juggling the ball and drop it to your foot, catching it without bounce and then placing your foot on top of it.  

“Why not?” 

You ask out of curiosity of what the answer would be.

“Well, it’s reserved for the wags, you know, so you don’t belong here.” 

You tilt your head and raise a brow, questioningly. 

“Isn’t that what the owner's box is for? you know with reserved seats, food and really comfortable sitting options?” 

A blush seems to rise through her make- up and you restrain yourself a little, you really don’t want to make her an enemy. Just in case. 

“Yeah.. I just need to see my man before we head home.”

She stutters out, looking at her two friends who nod encouragingly at her. 

“Okay, just remind me who it is again?” 

You play dumb, knowing that the media is about to get out of the room in a minute. 

“Jamie ofcourse.” 

And her voice is so confident as she says it, you let a smile show before chuckling. They really thought they could fool anyone with that. Just in that moment, the door opens and cameras and notepads or tape recorders start filing out of the door. 

You walk over to the door, holding it open for the stream of reporters and crew. Then you duck a head in and yell for Jamie. 

“Oleksiak, your girlfriend is here…” 

It isn’t intentional all the way, but it comes out in a sing- song voice.  

The entirety of the team turns to face you. Briefly you meet the eyes of Roope, who’s still shirtless. Just as Jamie passes you by with a confused look, you tap his now clothed arm to make him bend down just a little.

“Ehh, so someone somehow got past security, apparently you’re her boyfriend.” 

You say to him, loud enough for the closest teammates to hear. 

“Jesus Christ, not again.” 

Jamie mutters. Stephen Johns is closest and has his phone in seconds calling someone. You let a glance out the door and see the girls huddled together, suddenly looking unsure. Jamie takes a look over your shoulder and sighs. 

“Guess I should distract them until security gets here, just stay here.”

You roll your eyes, but stay put. Then suddenly you realise where you are, feeling like an intruder. 

“Sorry guys, didn’t mean to intrude, just thought you should know about the girls outside.” 

You say, trying to not look too closely at anyone. You can feel the heat rising up your neck. 

“‘S alright, not everyday we get to know a girl from Jamie's side.”

Tyler Seguin says from his seat by his gear. 

“Oh I know, he has a hard time finding decent ones.” 

You say it absentmindedly, but the entire team seems to crack up at that. You feel a little bad, but you also know it as true and it's already said, so you can’t take it back. 

“Seems like he did alright with you.” 

Roope says as he pulls his button up over his arms and starts pushing the buttons through the holes.

“Ahh, a common mistake. Not a girlfriend and not sleeping with him either.” 

His brows raise and a cheeky smile forms on his face. But he doesn’t say anything else. You feel off, of sorts. He doesn’t irk you like the girls did. And it was kind of scaring you. It’s the feeling you get when you start being intrigued, and you don ‘t need that now.

-------

You’re sitting at the bar, alone, not that you mind it, because the girl who finally got Jamie had been ogling him all night and talking too loud, and it was a relief when you saw them walk out the door. He had asked multiple times if it was okay for him to leave, so much so that you almost drove the uber back to her place yourself. 

Staring down at the drink in your hand, you realised you were too sober and too far behind on studying (not really) to be sitting here, in a place you didn’t want to be. So you got up, turned around and immediately crashed into a hard chest. Looking up, you find a wild head of blonde curls and a heavenly cologne. Roope Hintz.

“Can I help you you mr. Star?” 

You said ask as he leans closer, if that was even possible, without touching you. He at least has the decency to chuckle and look a little bashful as you address him that way. 

“You sure you’re not even a little infatuated with Oleksiak?” 

Rolling your eyes, you lean back onto the bar and cross your ankles. 

“Why? Are you jealous?” 

You give him a flirty smile, just for the hell of it. Roope steps forward so his feet are planted on either side of yours, not touching this time either, and leans an arm beside you, making him come impossibly close to you. 

“What if I am?” 

He asks, and his eyes are roaming all over your face, ignited with a desire you haven’t seen in far too long. It makes a heat pool in your stomach, and a little in your cheeks. Just purely out of the close proximity. 

“Then you’re gonna be sorely disappointed.” 

You try to sound casual, but Roope leans a little closer.

“And why is that?” 

You can tell he is curious, and your judgement is compromised from the closeness of him. Maybe one night wouldn’t hurt, right?

“I’m a one time offer, an-” 

Roope doesn’t even let you finish your sentence, before he has your hand in his. Just as you touch it feels like a wave of something indescribable washes over you. You’d never felt anything like it. 

“I can do that. Come along now, we haven’t got all night.” 

Roope drags you away from the bar and you scramble to keep up the first few steps. When you catch up, he laces his fingers through yours, and heads out the door. It’s cold out, and since you haven’t really been outside today, all you have is the sweater you came to the rink in. You hadn’t been dressed for a club at all, but he didn’t seem to mind. You wrap your arms around yourself, to try to preserve some of the heat from the inside. Roope has a keen eye and steps behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist. 

“One time offer, remember?” 

“Oh yeah, that doesn’t mean I can’t be nice, or no?” 

And as he pulls you closer to him, you can feel in your bones (and your lower back) that he isn’t nearly as nice as he’s pretending to be. And you catch yourself thinking that you can’t wait to see what this turns into. 

“Just, doubting what you define as nice, that’s all.” 

At that Roope, let out a little chuckle, before leaning down a little and placing small kisses on your exposed neck. He works his way up to your ear. 

“I can be very nice, it all depends on you though.” 

With a final kiss to your cheek, he steps away from your heated face, and looks at the uber that’s now in front of you, double checking that it’s the right one. How in the hell had you missed the car pulling up to the curb? Roope opened the door to the back seat and let you enter first. Then he entered shortly after you, told the lady driving the car his address and turned to face you. 

“Didn’t think you were that shy, sweetheat.” 

He gestured to the entire middle seat between the two of you. You just shake your head, with a coy smile on your lips. 

“Just been a while.” 

You say quietly, not wanting the driver to hear. Regardless, she looks at you, very discreetly, through the rearview mirror. You give her a reassuring smile trying to convey that you feel safe and that you’re okay. She gives you a wink in return. 

“I’ll make it worth your time.” 

Roope leads you into an elevator and punches one of the higher numbers, all the while his eyes are roaming you, mentally undressing you. Most definitely wondering what he would find underneath the sweater and jeans. You are absolutely feeling a little shy with the way he looks at you. However, at the same time you’re looking at him, wondering what he is going to do, if he will be soft or hard in demeanor, if he’s gonna be rough or boring, but somehow something in his eyes tells you, it’s gonna be anything but boring. 

The elevator stops, and he steps closer, taking your hand in his, entwining your fingers and leading the way out of the elevator. Just two doors down he pulls some keys out of his back pocket and steadily unlocks the door, no fumbling. You take it as a good sign even if you already knew that he wasn’t even close to being drunk. The lock clicks in place and the door slides open, revealing a dark hallway. Roope steps in first and flicks on the light. It’s neat, considering what you had been expecting. The door shuts behind you, and you hear the lock clicking. 

Toeing off your shoes you turn and find Roope already staring at you. His eyes are considerably darker. He drops the jacket he had been wearing to the floor and beckons you with a finger to follow him, all silent and a little domineering, half a smile on his lips. You see the light flicker on in the hallway as you follow him down to the left and then the first door on the right hand side it’s the only open door, but it’s not fully lit inside. Carefully you step inside, when nothing happens, you take one more step in and the room is suddenly full of tension. 

The light here is turned on low, and Roope is standing in front of you taking slow steps towards you. Determined to stand your ground you remain unmoving, but your eyes roam him, and he seems to notice. With a smirk he takes a hand behind his neck and promptly yanks the shirt off of his upper body. You feel your jaw dropping just a little as you scan him over. 

“Look at me in the eyes babe.” 

Heat rises to your cheeks, but you remain in your spot steadily holding his gaze. He takes a step closer, and then another, until he’s standing mere inches from you. A devious smile is playing on his lips, when one of his hands lands on your waist. His thumb rubs circles on your hip, just underneath the emerald sweater of yours. 

“Are you sure about this?” 

He asks, taking his other hand up and caressing your cheek. You nod your head yes. 

“I’m gonna need you to use your words for me.” 

The hand that’s on your cheek is suddenly forcing your face upwards to meet his eyes. 

“I’m sure about this.” 

You whisper, again meeting his eyes. Just as the sentence leaves your mouth, he immediately goes to kiss you, but you pull back just slightly, just to tease, and maybe test him a little. He sees the mischievous glint in your eyes, and his smile widens.

“Oh you wanna play like that, huh?” 

Roope’s hands slip from your body, before meeting again behind your thighs, lifting you up into his arms. You stare down into his darkened eyes, and lean into him. He lets you kiss him for a couple of seconds, before he deepens it. You let him, not really feeling like fighting him. His lips move from yours and down your neck, as he walks towards the bed, you can feel him leaving a few hickies before dropping you onto the bed. 

“Off with the sweater, kaunis.” 

You look up at him, while crossing your arms and gripping the bottom of the sweater, letting him take in all of you as the green top comes off. Underneath is a simple black bra and you can see his pupils dilate at the sight of you. 

“That one I’m gonna take off myself.” 

He leans over you, until you’ve laid down flat on the bed. He’s hovering over you, resting on his forearms, yet his hips have already settled between your legs. You can feel him there hard and heavy. His breath playing across your collarbones, makes you feel the anticipation building in your entire body. 

He presses a quick kiss to your lips before he starts leaving open mouth kisses down the valley of your breasts, he shifts his weight so he is leaning more on one arm and slides the other underneath your back, and makes quick work of unfastening your bra. The tension leaves the straps and you let them fall off. Then with his teeth he bites the middle of the bra, lifting it off your body and chucking it away with his free hand. 

“Upea.” 

You don’t question his words, honestly feeling a little more turned on as he speaks to you in a language you don’t understand. With a wink he kisses each of your tits a few times, before moving further down. 

“Still good?” 

He asks, and you feel your heart ache a little at it, and immediately shove the feeling aside.

“Yes, so good.”

You say, all out of breath as his fingers pop open the button, and slowly pull down the zipper of your jeans. In a swift motion he has his fingers in what you assume is the belt loops and has pulled down your jeans along with the black underwear you had been wearing. Instinctively you try to close your legs, but two calloused hands on either of your knees stops that motion. 

“I’ve got you.” 

Roope says as he leans into your right thigh and starts leaving kisses again. Closer and closer to your core, and when he finally is there, he switches to the other tigh, repeating the process. Your hands, which have been clenching the sheets, finally go to his long hair, tugging a little. Roope lets out a little groan and you swear you can feel it in your entire body.

“Aww, look how wet you are, all for me?” 

He asks in a husky voice. 

“All for you, all for you.” 

Roope seems to revel in the admittance rolling off your tongue, before he lets himself have a taste. At least that’s what you think is happening. You feel his hot breath fan over your core, and he is painfully close, you lift your hips just slightly to meet his mouth, just as he pulls away. 

“My bed, my rules. Now, you’re gonna have to ask really nicely to cum, before I let you. Got it?” 

You’re so lost in desperation for his mouth that you can only nod. You both hear and feel the sigh escaping him, before he lands a little smack on the inside of your thigh. It causes you to let out a strangled moan and clench around nothing. 

“Didn’t I tell you? Words.” 

“I’m sorry, I’ll ask to cum.” 

And then he’s all over you. The pent up feeling you have in your body only seems to grow as he spends his time licking and lapping at your folds. With his arms around your thighs and eyes firmly set on yours, your body's working overtime trying to feel everything. You feel your grip on his hair tighten as his mouth finds you clit and a finger easily slides inside you. 

“Fuuuck, feels so good.” 

You draw out the vocals as he hums against you. Your breathing went uneven a long time ago, but now you’re struggling to control anything that comes out of your mouth. Especially as the second finger enters you and he makes a “come here” motion with his fingers, finally finding that one particular spot. It nearly sends you over the edge.

“Ah ah, ask first.” 

Your brain feels like mush as he continues his assault on your pussy. 

“Please may I cum?” 

Roope hums against you, before leaning away a little. 

“No, I want you to beg.” 

He goes back in, feeling the way your body is wound so tightly you don’t know where to turn, not being able to think clearly. 

“Please, I’ll be so good, just please please let me cum.” 

Again Roope hums. 

“Okay, only if you’re a good girl though.” 

He says looking up at you, with that smirk of his, before he dives back in.  You can feel the tension in your body tightening, and when his tongue does a particularly intense stroke over your clit you can’t hold it anymore. Your legs clamp around his head and you let out a drawn out moan of pleasure as he lets you ride out the high on his face. 

When you can’t take it anymore, you gently guide his face away from your core. Roope has this cocky grin on his face and you can’t help but like it being directed at you. You pull him up towards you and kiss him deeply, not really caring if you can taste yourself on his lips. Finally he lets your hands wander over the planes of his upper body, feeling the muscles tense and flex as your fingers trace every ridge of his body. He seems to really like kissing you, but he does notice that your hands go lower and lift his hips up a little to make room so you can pop the button of his jeans. As soon as the zipper is down, your hand traces the waistband of his boxers. 

“You gonna play with me like this all night, rakas?” 

He asks with a playful tone of voice. 

“Maybe.” 

You tease, pulling on the waistband of the boxers, before releasing it, making it snap against his skin. He leans away from you completely, getting up so he’s on his knees, but otherwise full height. Your legs are caught between his, so you can only sit up as far. Not that you mind though, with the way he towers over you, giving you perfect access to the bulge that’s now in your direct line of vision. Without really meaning to your jaw goes slack. His pointer finger is under your chin, making you look up at him.  

“Eyes up here, yeah?” 

You nod innocently at him, making him groan at the sight of you. 

“Good girl. Now let’s see if we can put that mouth of yours to good use.” 

You blush at his words and the smirk on his lips. Regardless, you start peeling the boxers and jeans down his legs. Slowly. Since this is going to be a one time thing, you think, you’re gonna savour this moment. His skin is hot beneath your fingers, but not as hot as your cheeks the moment his cock springs free of it’s confinement. You’re definitely not complaining about any aspect of it. 

Without a second thought you put your lips around the angry red tip, letting your tongue explore every inch of his dick. Roope seems to like what you’re doing, judging by the groaning and panting above you. One of his hands is in your hair, doing a makeshift ponytail as you continue to suck him off. Suddenly, he all but pulls you off his cock, which now seems even more red than it was before. With strings of saliva hanging from your mouth, connected to his dick. Roope lets out a groan that makes your inside tingle before he slides back off the bed.

“I’m going to ruin you so good, rakas.” 

He kicks off his jeans and boxers before he is over you again. You look him in the eyes nodding, before spreading your legs, letting him settle between them. He cages you in with his arms, and for some reason, even with his dark gaze upon you, you feel safe. And when he grabs your arms, pinning them beside your head you let out a content sigh. Not only because you’re completely letting go, but because you can feel his cock brushing against your stomach. The anticipation is almost killing you. 

Roope, kisses up and down your neck, whispering dirty somethings in your ear, because they aren’t nothing. They are all his fantasies, of what he has come up with that he wants to do with you. As well as to you. Most of all though, you think he just enjoys watching you squirm in need of him. When he lets go of your right hand, it traces your throat.

“Now, put my cock inside yourself.” 

It’s a demand, and you follow through, out of desperation to feel him inside. You wrap your hand around his dick, carefully tugging at him, running your thumb over the tip, teasing. With a little smile on your lips. Roope is quick to kiss it away, delving into you, with a passion you’ve never felt before. “Inside, now. Or this teasing of yours is gonna have some serious consequences.” 

He mumbles against your lips, so you do as told, guiding him to your entrance. You both let out content sighs as he finally sinks into you. He is going slow at first. Letting you adjust to having him inside you. 

“Look so good for me like this.” 

You can only nod as he starts moving his hips in slow, deep thrusts. He finds a pace and as soon as you start clenching around him, when he hits that part of you. His pace picks up. The hand that’s still holding onto yours, they are now intertwined in each other. His other hand is caressing your hip. You’re pretty much just a blubbering mess of his name and curses as he hits all the right parts. 

With a final kiss to your lips, he leans up a bit, so his thighs are resting on his calves creating a steep angle, so you almost slip off him. Almost. He pulls you closer by the hips, making you yelp out, before your legs are planted on either side of him, giving yourself a little more leverage as he hits deep inside of you. The moan that escapes you is genuine, and you squeeze your eyes shut in pleasure. At that you feel a sharp sting on your thigh again. 

“Eyes on me.” 

In the fog of pleasure all you manage to get out is a weak. “Yes, sir.” 

Opening your eyes, you see Roope straining a little as well. His cheeks are tinted and his breathing is really uneven. But his eyes are blown with pleasure, and as you guide his hand to your lower stomach where you can vaguely feel him moving in and out of you. It looks like a new fire has been ignited inside him. 

His hand slips from yours as he lets it go to rub at your clit again. The pleasure almost becomes too much, and your eyes roll a little at the feeling. 

“May I please cum, sir?” 

You manage to moan out, barely remembering his demand from before. 

“Hold it for like three seconds, I’m gonna count you down.” 

So you look him in the eyes and let him blow out your back for a few more thrusts, and then he starts counting down. 

“3”

His rhythm changes as he slows down and goes harder, deeper. 

“2” 

He moans as you clench around him. 

“1, cum for me.” 

And you do. It starts in your stomach, and like a warm tide it washes over your entire body. Roope fucks you through it, before he finally pulls out and with a loud groan he is jerking himself off, letting go in hot spurts all over your torso. He finishes and stares down at his personal masterpiece. With your rapidly raising stomach and chest covered in his cum, you can tell by the smirk on his lips. He’s satisfied.

“I’ll be right back.” 

Roope says with a wink, and you just nod. Because even though you just had the best sex to date, you were trying to gather your thoughts. On how to get home. You don’t see where he goes, but you hear water running from a sink. When he’s back from the bathroom, you assume, he has a wet  washcloth in hand and is wearing a fresh pair of boxers. Gently he wipes his cum from your chest and stomach, and a little in between your legs. 

And you’re almost completely ruined by how gentle he is. But you have a promise to keep, and you’re not planning on betraying yourself. He leaves again to toss the cloth into the hamper. When he comes back, you have gathered your underwear and bra, and are standing on the floor on slightly shaky legs. 

“You’re leaving?” 

And that was really the first sign. 

“Yeah, one time offer. Remember?” 

You answer, looking for your jeans. Roope sweeps them off of the floor and hands them to you. 

“Yeah, right.” 

You get dressed in silence, and when your last sock is on. You straighten up. 

“I’ll just find the way out myself.” 

It’s meant to be casual, but Roope immediately refuses. 

“No no, I’ll walk you out.” 

And he does, following close behind you. You’ve just gotten your shoes on, when your phone pings. It’s a notification from uber that your ride is here. You’ve put your hand on the door knob and opened the door, when Roope, who was leaning against the wall, pulls you back and kisses you deeply. 

“Next time you need an orgasm, give me a call.”

He says with a wink. 

In the car back to your apartment, you can feel it. You’re not gonna get rid of Roope after what just went down in his bedroom. The worst part of it is that you’re not sure you want it to be a one time thing. Fuck. 

[whatiwillsay]

submission:

thanks eggs! im gonna add in some more dates of early swiftgron

*******************************************************

Speak Now tour arm lyrics:

Swiftgron meet cute day: “Tell me everything you want to hear – like that was your favorite year.” – Dixie Chicks, Favorite Year. Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento, California on September 3, 2011.

“You’re just somewhere that I’ve been and I won’t go back again.” – Selena Gomez, Ghost Of You. Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon on September 6, 2011.

“You are the ever-living ghost of what once was.” – Band of Horses, No One’s Gonna Love You. Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington on September 7, 2011.

“There was always something that meant more to you than me.” – Jessica Andrews, There’s More To Me Than You. Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on September 10, 2011.

“Where were you when the world stopped turning.” – Alan Jackson, Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning). Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on September 11, 2011.

“Be a best friend. Tell the truth. Overuse ‘I love you.'” – Lee Brice, Love Like Crazy. Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on September 16, 2011.

“This one’s for the girls who love without holding back.” – Martina McBride. This One’s For The Girls. Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee on September 17, 2011.

“Love, save the empty and save me.” – Erin McCarley’s Love, Save The Empty. CenturyTel Center in Bossier City, Louisiana on September 20, 2011.

“Do you realize that you have the most beautiful face?” – The Flaming Lips, Do You Realize. Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma on September 21, 2011.

*Dianna Agron and Naya Rivera kiss as their Glee castmates cheer them on at the Governors Ball. - September 21*

“I hope you know that even if I don’t, I wanted to.” – Rachael Yamagata, Even If I Don’t. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri on September 24, 2011.

“But it flew away from her reach so she ran away in her sleep and dreamed of paradise.” – Coldplay, Paradise. Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado on September 27, 2011.

“Little girl, you’re in the middle of the ride.” – Jimmy Eat World, The Middle. Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 28, 2011.

“Just as free, free as we’ll ever be.” – Zac Brown Band, Free. Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on October 1, 2011.

“No telling where it will take you, just live your life.” – T.I. [feat. Rihanna], Live Your Life. Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on October 2, 2011.

“It’s easy saying nothing when there’s nothing to say.” – KT Tunstall, Fade Like A Shadow. Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas on October 4, 2011.

“She’s out there on her own and she’s alright.” – Shawn Colvin, Sunny Come Home. New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 5, 2011.

“A little voice in my head said don’t look back, you can never look back.” – Don Henley, Boys Of Summer. Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas on October 8, 2011.

“Through autumn’s advancing we’ll stay young, go dancing.” – Death Cab for Cutie, Stay Young, Go Dancing. KYC Yum Center in Louisville, Kentucky on October 11, 2011.

“Can you still feel the butterflies? Can you still hear the last goodnight?” – Jimmy Eat World, For Me This Is Heaven. United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas on October 14, 2011.

“I hope to God I would’ve done something good with my life.” – Ronnie Milsap, My Life. Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on October 15, 2011.

“Memories fade, like looking through a fogged mirror.” – MGMT, Kids. Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, California on October 20, 2011.

“May angels lead you in. Hear you me my friends.” – Jimmy Eat World, Hear You Me. Jobing.com Arena in Phoenix, Arizona on October 21, 2011.

“Where love is just a lyric in a children’s rhyme, a soundbite” – Keane, Is It Any Wonder? AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas on October 25, 2011.

“And I never saw blue like that before. Across the sky. Around the world.” – Shawn Colvin, Never Saw Blue Like That Before. Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas on October 26, 2011.

“Cause happiness throws a shower of sparks” – The Fray, Happiness. Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky on October 29, 2011.

“But darling, I wish you well on your way to the wishing well” – Patty Griffin, Nobody’s Crying. FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee on October 30, 2011.

“It’s love’s illusions I recall. I really don’t know love at all.” – Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now. Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas on November 5, 2011.

“Birds flying high you know how I feel.” – Nina Simone, Feeling Good. Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on November 11, 2011.

“I could rest my head knowing that you were mine.” – Guns N’ Roses, November Rain. St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, Florida on November 12, 2011.

“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” – Anonymous. American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida on November 13, 2011.

“I feel lost again but this time for the best.” – Gregory & the Hawks, For the Best. Time Warner Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 16, 2011.

“We learned more from a 3 minute record than we ever learned in school.” – Bruce Springsteen, No Surrender. RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina on November 17, 2011.

“Where would we be today, if I never drove that car away.” – Darius Rucker, Don’t Think I Don’t Think About It. Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina on November 18, 2011.

“May these memories break our fall.” – Taylor Swift, Long Live. Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on November 21, 2011.

“Bring all the pretenders, one day. We will be remembered.” – Taylor Swift, Long Live. Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York on November 22, 2011.

*Dianna (and Karlie) tweet in response to Taylor’s vogue shoot* - January 17 2012

“I am on a lonely road and I am traveling, traveling, traveling.” – Joni Mitchell, All I Want. Burswood Dome in Perth, Australia on March 2, 2012.

“We sleep underneath the same big sky at night. And dream the same dream we can fly.” – Chantal Kreviazuk, In This Life. Adelaide Entertainment Center in Adelaide, Australia on March 4, 2012.

“She said watch your back, I’m nobody’s girlfriend” – Matt Nathanson, Modern Love. Brisbaine Entertainment Center in Brisbane, Australia on March 6, 2012.

“The war outside your door keeps raging on. STOP KONY 2012” – Taylor Swift, the Civil Wars and T. Bone Burnett, Safe And Sound. Brisbaine Entertainment Center in Brisbane, Australia on March 7, 2012.

“Go cut through the noise so you can know what love sounds like.” – Natasha Bedingfield, Neon Lights. Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia on March 9, 2012.

“If things go right we can frame it and put you on a wall.” – Ed Sheeran, Lego House. Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia on March 10, 2012.

“We Love our lovin’ but not like we love our freedom” – Joni Mitchell, Help Me. Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on March 12, 2012.

“Last time I talked to you, you were lonely and out of place.” – Our Lady Peace, Somewhere Out There. Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on March 13, 2012.

“All romantics meet the same fate somehow.” – Joni Mitchell, The Last Time I Saw Richard. Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia on March 14, 2012.

“Keep your feet ready, heart beat steady, keep your eyes open” – Taylor Swift, Eyes Open. Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on March 16, 2012.

“Every lesson forms a new scar” – Taylor Swift, Eyes Open. Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on March 17, 2012.

“You know wherever I am, I’ll come running to see you again” – James Taylor, You’ve Got A Friend. Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand on March 18, 2012.

**Taylor goes home (running to see someone again?) and The Swiftgron spring kicks off and all these two girls do is hang out all spring and summer**

[captainofthebrokentides]

Am I your Lock Screen? Benny Colon x OC

Just a little ramble I wrote for the prompt : “Am I your lockscreen?” “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

Lilly yawned as she followed Benny into the departure lounge of the airport, there were kids running around all over the place, and tired looking parents shouting at them and trying to round them as various boarding calls were heard over the loud speaker.

She knew she’d regret agreeing to go to Dallas with him for Thanksgiving this year. Not being from America it was never a big deal to her, she’d normally just spend the few days off curled on her sofa with a glass of wine and a good book. Perfect peace for a couple of days.

But when he and Erin broke up he’d basically begged her to come with him, as his family were expecting him to bring someone. He’d batted his big dark eyes at her and pouted. He knew it was basically impossible for her to resist him when he looked at her like that.

“Ugh fine.” She’s said with a playful grin and lightly smacked his chest.

“You know they’ve always wanted to meet you.” Benny had shrugged.

“I’ve no idea why.”

“You’re important to me.” He looked at her deadly seriously. He put his hand out, seeking hers. They were alone in his office at Tac, and it was late. They sat on the floor, their backs against the leather sofa and their legs outstretched. Benny has shed his jacket, waistcoat and tie. He’d undone the top two buttons of his shirt and rolled his sleeves up, taking the time to relax after a long and stressful day.

Lilly took a sip of the expensive scotch he had poured her, not wanting to look at him in that moment. She’d loved Benny since the moment she met him, the day Bull had introduced her to the team as his new PA and his gorgeous dark eyes had locked with hers. Over the last two years they had grown closer and closer, helping each other through tough family times and break ups and celebrating successes and events. There had been a few close moments where they’d nearly become more than friends, where they’d nearly kissed, and Lilly had wished desperately that they had.

“Come with me. Please?” He scooted closer and took her hand giving it a little squeeze. “Plus you’ve never lived until you’ve had my grandmother’s pasteles.” His eyes lit up like a child and his stomach unconsciously rumbled.

“The way to your heart really is through your stomach isn’t it?” She laughed, and he shrugged with a contented look on his face.

“What can I say? I love as woman who can cook.” He started ticking them off on his fingers, “My Gramma, My mother, My aunt Louise, hell, even you aren’t too bad?”

She reeled back and looked at him with a mock shocked face, her hand on her heart, “Not bad? Remember that triple chocolate and caramel lava cake I made you for your birthday last year?”

He closed his eyes dreamily, and grinned, showing off his perfect white teeth and dimples, “Ohhh yeah, that was good, you’re lucky I didn’t propose to you, right there on the spot.”

Lilly felt a heat rush over her body and burn up her cheeks. She felt hot on the inside. Biting her lip, she gazed into the amber liquid in her glass, “Mmm, it is a pity, What would you have done if I’d said yes?”

He took a long, steady sip from his glass, looking at her over the rim with intensity deep in his eyes.

“I’d have been happy.”

 “Ladies and Gentlemen, we are sorry to announce a delay on American Airlines flight DA4461 to Dallas due to weather conditions. The flight will now depart at 20:30. Thank you.”

Lilly rolled her eyes and leaned on the handle of her carry on bag. Benny shrugged at her, the soft suede of his jacket stretching over his arm muscles as he did do.

How does he even look this good on flights? I look like I’ve just rolled out of a hedge somewhere. He looked impeccable as ever, tight jeans and a form fitting dark blue polo shirt.

“Looks like we’ll have to wait a while, wont we?” he got himself settled in a seat, and patted the empty spot next to him, encouraging her to sit down.

She yawned and plonked herself down on the uncomfortable leather chair.

“I wish I’d have known, I could have taken that nap.” Lilly sighed wistfully, she hadn’t slept well the night before – Bull had her fielding phone calls until 5 am.

“Come here” he lifted his arm up and tapped his chest, encouraging her to lay her head on him. She welcomed the gesture, breathing in his unique scent – cinnamon, leather and something spicy she couldn’t put her finger on. “We’ve got hours to go, try and get some sleep.” He wrapped his arm around her back and traced soothing patterns on her bare arms with his finger tips.

“I can’t sleep here. There are other people around.” But the steady beat of his heart and the warmth of his body, were already comfortably lulling her, and her eye lids drooped.

“Ignore everyone else, it’s just you and me.” The last thing Lilly felt as sleep took over was Benny placing a kiss into her hair, and she smiled. She wished it was. Just him and her.

 Lilly must have dozed for an hour or so before she began to stir. Her head was still cradled in the crook of Benny’s neck and he was still holding onto her tightly, she blearily tried opening her eyes the whole way, but shut them again, unappreciative of the naked airport lights.

She was acutely aware that Benny was humming contentedly, the action giving his body a pleasurable vibration. He was staring at his phone. As Lilly’s eyes slowly came into focus, she realised what he was looking at.

There, on his home screen was a photo of them, on his birthday last year. They were both laughing into the camera, with chocolate cake smeared across their faces. He has swiped a finger full of frosting from the cake and dolloped it onto her nose. They both looked so happy.

She grinned to herself. “Am I your lock screen?” She asked him, voice still loaded with sleep.

“Uh …” He looked down at her coyly, his cheeks tinging a little pink “Yes, but you weren’t supposed to see that.”

“We look happy.” She sat up straighter, so they were on the same level again, but she kept herself clutched tightly at his side.

He swallowed audibly, his eyes switching between her mouth and her eyes. The tension between them was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“I’m always happy when I’m with you.” He breathed lowly, his voice inaudible to anyone but her.

She felt the familiar heat and butterflies of being happy with him bubbling up in her belly as she looked at him. They were so close their noses were almost touching, their breath mingling on eachother’s cheeks.

“You make me happy too.” She reached a hand up to his jaw line and stroked her fingers over his flawless olive skin.

Benny seemed to pause for a beat, his dark chocolate eyes looked like they were hiding a raging inner battle, and then he leaned forward, softly placing his lips on hers. She smiled into the kiss, and worked her hand from his face into his hair, deepening their contact.

He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers as they both caught their breath.

“Here’s to being happy.”

Hope you like @reelovesbennycolon​

[the-starsabove-you]

Just Friends After All

Chapter 11- Before the Storm 

A/N: Sorry this is short! Enjoy and reviews are welcomed! It had been a month since Natalie and Tyler spoke. Natalie had requested to not interview players at the American Airlines Center so she was assigned to spend more time with the Dallas Cowboys and the Rangers. She had a smile on her face and was trying to be happy.. But she wasn’t. The image of Tyler and Kate in his bed had crossed her mind a lot. She would take a moment to sit down and think what happened.. How the friends with benefits thing didn’t quite work out for her. Katherine, her roommate, had been a great support system. Her friend would come home after long shifts with Natalie’s favorite cookies. The two girls would enjoy a nice movie night when the sun went down. Sometimes, she wished that she could call Tyler and just talk with him. Before moving to Dallas, Tyler would call Natalie and tell her about the games and life.. The ups and downs. Tyler had tried to call and text but she never answered. After the second week, he just stopped. Natalie was on the sofa, doing work on her laptop. She had a Dallas Cowboys interview tomorrow with the coach and she wanted to be prepared with her questions. Katherine was out for the night with a couple of her friends. The phone rang and Natalie saw that it was Katie and she picked up “Hey Katie!” She said. Although she wasn’t around much, she always kept in contact with Katie and Jamie. The couple even went to her apartment to cook dinner with her some days. “Hey, so I’m not sure if you heard the news.. But I wanted to tell you before anyone else did” Katie muttered and Natalie frowned “What happened? Tyler okay?” Katie sighed “Yeah.. He’s okay.” She said quietly, she did sound a bit upset but she sighed “So.. Tyler is dating Kate” Natalie was silent for a moment before she spoke, her voice was shaking “What?” “He brought her to the family skate and Jamie asked him if they were official and Tyler said yes.. I’m so sorry Nat” Natalie bowed her head and sighed “It’s fine.. It’s okay” Katie knew that her friend wasn’t alright “We love you.. We don’t care if you were with him or not. You’re part of our family” Natalie smiled softly, grateful for Katie in that moment as she grew to love and cherish their friendship “You and Jamie will always be welcome to come over and everything” “So what now? I knew you moved here to be with Tyler when you guys were friends..” Katie said and Natalie frowned “I don’t know.. I may just stay in Dallas. I can’t avoid going to the arena all together and we have mutual friends. I’m gonna have to face him one day” “Well.. If you want, we have a girls spa trip with your friend Katherine next week. Can do those stupid mud baths we had been hearing about” Natalie laughed and nodded “Yeah, I would love that if I’m being honest” “I’ll text you the details during the week. I may bring Jamie if you don’t mind?” Katie said and Natalie chuckled “Jamie is always welcomed, plus it would be funny to see him getting into one of those mud baths” “I think he would be disgusted” Katie said and the two laughed until Katie spoke, her voice soft “I’ll talk to you later Nat, be careful” She said and Natalie nodded “Love you Katie” The two girls said their goodbyes and Natalie was on her laptop.. She was now researching the Dallas Cowboys history and was watching a movie on Netflix when the door suddenly knocked and Natalie jumped a bit. Katherine wasn’t supposed to come home for another hour and she didn’t order any food. Natalie got up from her sofa and made her way towards the door and she looked through the peephole and she let out a breath when she saw who it was at the door. Natalie opened the door to see Tyler, dressed in black jeans and a sweatshirt, looking down at her with a frown on his face “Do you wanna explain why you haven’t been talking to me for the last month?”

[copperbadge]

clockways replied to your photo “Also I'm apparently on a 13 hour flight from Dallas to Dallas via St...”

Welcome to Texas Sam- assuming you ever arrived! Don't get killed by Cedar Fever!

Oh man, it’s bad right now, isn’t it? My parents picked me up at Arrivals and the first thing Mum threw at me was a box of Mucinex. 

junker5 replied to your photo “Also I'm apparently on a 13 hour flight from Dallas to Dallas via St...”

Hope you are finally at your parents, getting delicious treats, and being ignored by the chihuahua! :

Ever since Cowboy’s death, he’s gotten a bit clingy and neurotic to be honest -- I ended up playing with him for like half an hour last night because he wouldn’t stop barking, and he really just wanted some attention. 

omgkimwtf replied to your photo “Also I'm apparently on a 13 hour flight from Dallas to Dallas via St...”

That's not your flight, that's just how long it takes to get between the terminals.

Having been through DAL, you aren’t lying. I often had to take the train (or as I call it, because it’s the American Airlines train, the TRA’AIN) just to make a connection. 

hellenhighwater replied to your photo “Also I'm apparently on a 13 hour flight from Dallas to Dallas via St...”

Sam, this post says that you're flying from Dallas to Dallas. Maybe it would have been easier to just stay in Dallas, sans airplane?

I mean, Dallas is never easy, but it does seem like I could have just gotten a snack in the airport. We didn’t have to spend thirteen hours trying to escape it. 

arukou-arukou replied to your photo “Also I'm apparently on a 13 hour flight from Dallas to Dallas via St...”

Ummm... welcome to StL? Where the only food available sucks even more than normal airport fare?

Fun fact, St. Louis is also one of the very few airports left in the US that has a smoking lounge! Or at least did last time I was there a couple of years ago. 

capt-spork replied to your post “I'm on the plane to Texas for the holidays and fell asleep during...”

Sam, do you perhaps look like an OJ and Tequila at 10am kinda guy?

Fuck, I hope not! Unless a hoodie, jeans, and Chucks says “please order me a tequila.” I don’t even have pink hair right now. 

daroos replied to your post “I'm on the plane to Texas for the holidays and fell asleep during...”

ok your first mistake was not wanting a morning tequila waht is wrong with you you monster?

PARENTS! One hour from PARENTS! They’re hard enough to parse while sober! 

gemini-melia replied to your post “I'm on the plane to Texas for the holidays and fell asleep during...”

My boyfriend is allergic to tequila so you could always say you're allergic to the booze too! I second the lush sentiment...I had a boss like that once

Looking back that would have been the better move, but I was so baffled by being offered a cocktail like, two minutes after waking up. I was about to ask her for a Diet Coke when she handed me the tequila! 

miss-ivyness replied to your post “I'm on the plane to Texas for the holidays and fell asleep during...”

Are you actually allergic to orange juice?

No, I just panicked! :D 

perminas replied to your post “I'm on the plane to Texas for the holidays and fell asleep during...”

i get the orange juice but not the tequila. surely a mimosa is the morning cocktail to push at strangers while they're sleeping.

I mean I guess it’s a sort of stripped down tequila sunrise, which is a brunch drink. 

yee-jun replied to your post “I'm on the plane to Texas for the holidays and fell asleep during...”

She was absolutely expecting the flight attenant to ask her to look after it for you so she could drink two while you were still asleep. If she's ordering for you, she must know you, right?

A bunch of people agree with you and I suppose that probably was her plan, but it’s not like the booze was free -- she had to pay for both drinks! Which means either she was hitting on me (thank you Anon who suggested it, it is the most flattering of all theories) or she was trying to hide that she wanted two drinks, which makes me sad. I mean, it’s not like I have never done a spot of day drinking, but day drinking while traveling always seemed like such a recipe for disaster to me. 

[simplymakenzie]

Tyler Seguin- Friends Don’t

Based on the song Friends Don’t by Maddie and Tae

They don’t cancel other plans, Have conversations with nothin’ but their eyes

You had just walked into the bar where the team event was being held. You had the absolute worse day ever; your boss quit and left you to clean up the mess. The last thing you wanted to do was come to this team event but Tyler had asked you weeks ago to come and you can never say no to him. Your eyes floated around the room trying to find him. Maybe if you told him what happened he would be okay with you leaving early. His eyes found yours and without even a word he knew something happened. He titled his head in a “let’s get out of here” way and you two left without even muttering a single word to each other.

Friends don’t call you in the middle of the night, couldn’t even tell you why. They just felt like sayin’ hi

Tyler had gone back to Toronto for the summer which meant another summer alone in Dallas. It was around 2am when you phone started ringing. At first when you saw his name on your phone you thought something had happened. But no, it was just Tyler calling for no reason. The first summer he went back to Toronto he didn’t call you much but the more time you spent together during the season the more he called you at random times during the summer when he was away. Secretly you hoped that he called so much because he missed you and hearing your voice.

Drive a little too slow; take the long way home, get a little too close

Tyler asked you to come to the game tonight and once again you couldn’t say no to him. You took an uber to the American Airlines center knowing full well that Tyler would take you home. The Stars won and you loved watching Tyler play. You met him by the locker rooms after the game and you both walked out to his car. Instead of turning right to head to your apartment he turned left out of the parking lot. You smiled to yourself. This always meant that Tyler wanted to spend more time with you. He had the music turned down low and grabbed your hand from the center console. You sighed in the passenger seat. You loved the quiet moments like this that you always shared with him.

They don’t almost say, I love you, when they’re downtown somewhere just a little drunk

Tyler and the team had taken you out for your birthday. You were very excited and also very drunk. You didn’t need to worry though because Tyler kept you close to him throughout the whole night. You two were on the dance floor when Tyler suddenly pulled you closer to him and whispered your name. Your breath caught in your throat and you stared into his eyes. You both stood there pressed up against each other just staring at each other til Jamie came up and dragged Tyler away for another round of shots.

They don’t talk about the future and put each other in it

The house was gorgeous; you couldn’t believe that something that amazing existed and that you were touring it. Tyler came through the kitchen and asked you what you thought of the house. You laughed and said, “Did you see that back yard? Yeah you definitely have to buy this house.” Tyler let out a chuckle and said, “Well what about the bedrooms? Did you like any of them?” You looked at him confused, why did it matter if you liked any of the rooms, it was his house not yours. He must have knew what you were thinking because he said, “well I was thinking, when your lease is up in April, you could just move in here with me and the boys. This house is too big for just us and I would like having you around more. If it helps, I’ll let you pick your room first.” You were stunned. You always imagined living with Tyler but it was always under different circumstances, romantic circumstances actually. But no, here his was asking you to move in with him and the dogs to be his roommate. Before you even let yourself think about it, you said yes.

I keep tellin’ myself this might be nothin’ but one look in your eyes and God there’s something. You can lie to me and say you don’t. But I know you do and I love you too

Here you were accompanying Tyler to yet another team event. You honestly didn’t mind though, the casino night was one of your favorite team events. You loved any chance to get all dolled up and put on a fancy dress. Tyler was keeping a closer stance to you than usual. You constantly felt his hand on your lower back. You told yourself that he was making sure you were comfortable and that you shouldn’t read too much into it. The ride home from the event was quiet, neither of you were saying anything. Tyler pulled the car into the garage and you both just sat there. You glanced over at Tyler at the same time he turned to look at you. Tyler decided it was now or never and poured out his heart to you. He finally looked at you to see your reaction because you hadn’t said anything. You had tears in your eyes but they were happy tears. You said, “I love you too.” And felt his lips latch onto yours. After that night, you knew things were never going to be the same, they were going to be better.

[leiascully]

Ummm....I'm a little late. But can you maybe write a little ficlet about Mulder and Scully getting assigned to the Dallas terrorist task force? A post ep for The End, but pre-FTF? Maybe a little snippet of the plane ride out there? What were they thinking? What'd they talk about? Did Diana come up at all?

Anything for you, doll!

She still smells smoke when her hair falls across her face.  It’s not real; Scully knows that.  She’s washed her hair several times in the days since the fire, with the lemon shampoo that covers even the lingering reek of formaldehyde.  She hasn’t been down to the office in days, though her finger slips automatically to the lowest button in the elevator before rising again.  It isn’t real, but she smells it nonetheless.  Mulder would understand - he probably catches the whiff of burned paper when he strips off his undershirt at night - but she can’t tell him.  Diana lingers between them like stale cigarette smoke; the choices Mulder made on the Gibson Praise case muddle the air between their temporary desks.  Scully can’t decide if the taint of nicotine or the slightly cloying smell of charred manila folders would be more appropriate.  

In the absence of the X-Files, they have been reassigned, as if the powers that be could repurpose them.  As if they hadn’t been forged in the basement long before the flames licked around the edges of their evidence.  Some swords can’t be beaten into ploughshares, not again.  How far did the higher-ups sift through their history before they hit on the terrorist task force as an appropriate venue?  Does someone, somewhere, in some smoke-hazy office, know that something’s going to happen, or is it just the general paranoia that undergirds American society?  Like the trees that turned out to be one enormous organism, like the fungi that interlace for acres underground, different threads of bigotry are woven through their society, the pretty pattern spoiled and snarled underneath.  Her life too has become irretrievably tangled, or at least her mother thinks so.  In ways, Scully is grateful that her mother can’t see the ugliness of all the other choices in her life.  Maggie Scully can still appreciate a landscape or a tapestry without imagining the brutish scurrying underneath.

Mulder is moody and standoffish, as if he has a right.  “They’re wasting our time, Scully,” he says as they deposit their bags at the airline desk.  

“Just consider you’re going back to your roots,” she tells him.  “Profiling used to be your thing.”

“Physics used to be yours,” he says.  “You using your degree, Doctor Scully?”

“Every time we get on a plane,” she says, gazing steadily up at him.  

“I guess that would make flying more fraught,” he says.  “You could always take something and pass out on my shoulder.  I’ll even let you drool on me.”  A peace offering, she sees in his eyes, but it doesn’t mean much when he doesn’t understand what he did to vex her.  The game was afoot.  Of course the dog didn’t bark in the night time.  Mulder had spent dark hours with Diana, years’ worth if the Lone Gunmen were to be trusted, and somehow that made all the years since they’d spent watching each other’s backs something he either trusted so much or valued so little that he was willing to abandon it.  

“I’ll consider it,” she says.  At least on a plane, strapped and wedged into his seat, he can’t ditch her in media res.  Unless aliens hijack them, she supposes, in which case, she’ll try to document the process so that she can present their findings to the world without looking foolish.  

They find their seats, window and middle, not an exit row.  Scully puts her newly issued coat in the aisle seat, folded so that the bright yellow FBI doesn’t show.  She’s been approached at airports for everything from directions to reports of pickpocketing.  She doesn’t want to spend the flight peered at and interrogated.  Fortunately, the door closes without anyone in the seat.  Mulder hands her his jacket as well.  She piles them together and weighs them down with the buckle of the seat belt.

“You’re mad at me,” he says as the flight attendant approaches with beverages.  Scully is lost in the relative merits of ginger ale (fizzy, too sweet, may give her a headache) versus coffee (caffeinated, acrid, may give her heartburn).  

“I’m not mad,” she says absently.

“Something’s wrong,” he says.  “Throw me a line here, Scully.  My profiling skills are rusty.”

“I’m frustrated,” she says and he groans quietly.

“You’re frustrated,” he repeats.  “That’s a mom thing to say.”

Grief flickers through her and she can see that he regrets his choice of words.  He bumps his shoulder gently against hers.  “Hey.  I didn’t mean it that way.”

“You were there for me through everything with Emily,” she says, looking him straight in the eye for what feels like the first time in months.  “You’ve been there for me through some of the most difficult moments in my life.  Sometimes lately it still feels like you shut me out of those same moments in your own life.”

He shifts in his seat.  “It’s not personal, Scully.”

“It’s not personal,” she says.  “Exactly.”

“What do you want me to do?” he asks, defensive.  “Cry on your shoulder?”

“You could have told me about your history with Diana,” she says.  “I went to see her in the hospital.  She’s expected to make a full recovery.”

“That’s not personal,” he says, avoiding her eyes.  “It’s the past.”

“The past doesn’t leave us, Mulder,” she says.  “Otherwise regression hypnosis wouldn’t be profitable or theraputic.”

He sighs.  “I don’t know what to say about it,” he tells her.  “I don’t know why I still trust her, but I owed her the benefit of the doubt.”

And not me?  She doesn’t ask the question, but it still drifts up between them, soundless as smoke.

“She’s important to me,” he says.  “She believes in the X-Files.  I believe in her commitment to the truth.  Sometimes we’ve all done things in the course of our investigations that seemed incongruous.”

Scully inclines her head in acknowledgement.  The drinks cart rattles closer.  Club soda, she decides.  Maybe the stinging freshness of the bubbles will clear the memory of smoke from her sinuses and the taste of Mulder’s mealymouthed half-apology from the back of her throat.  The flight attendant thinks they’re married.  Neither of them says anything as they accept their cups of ice and bags of peanuts.

“I didn’t know you wanted to be part of my misery,” Mulder says as Scully tips the last of her honey-roasted peanuts into her palm.  A small indulgence to offset her distaste for flying.

“Mulder, I couldn’t escape being part of your misery if I wanted to,” she says.  She crumples the empty bag onto her tray and licks the nuts out of her palm.  With her clean hand, she touches his forearm where he’s rolled up the sleeve of his dress shirt.  He gets hot on airplanes.  She can feel how cool her fingers are against his skin.  “For the record, I don’t want to.”

“Here I am, stuck in the middle with you,” he says blithely.  

“Some days, I feel stuck,” she says.  “Some days, I feel like Bonnie and Clyde.”

“I can’t recommend robbing banks, Scully,” he says.  “It’s not as much fun as it looks.  But I’m sure we can make our own fun in Dallas.”

“There’s fun in Dallas?” she asks skeptically.

“You’ll see,” he says with confidence.  “Don’t we always find a way?”

“Frequently the wrong way,” she says.

“I took the way less traveled by,” he tells her.  “It’s made all the difference.”

“I know it has,” she says, and leans back against the headrest.  The last of her club soda is fizzing in her plastic cup.  It sounds almost aggressive, the way the ice amplifies the popping of the bubbles.  But it tastes clean and fresh when she raises it to her lips.  All she can smell is the crispness of ice, a microclimate that will vanish, inevitably, as the water shifts states into a tepid liquid she won’t want to drink.  The only constant is change.  The ice doesn’t lose itself; the water retains the memory of what it was, and becomes ice when the conditions are met.  That’s comforting.  She’s heard the murmurs of ice queen around the bullpen before, but ice has structure and clarity that smoke doesn’t.  Ice remembers.  It can hold the evidence inside it of thousands of years, preserving a perfect record of how things used to be.  She becomes aware that she’s gazing into her cup and sets it down.  She hasn’t been sleeping well.  Her dreams are all hazy at the edges.

“You’re looking sleepy there, partner,” Mulder says in what he seems to believe is a Texas accent.  It’s no better than it was when they were chasing vampires in Cheney.  He pats his shoulder.  “I’m here if you need me.”

She lets herself lean against him.  For a moment, he tenses, but then his muscles ease under her head.  When she takes a deep breath, he smells like soap and heat.  

“We’re not going to a cowboy bar,” she tells him.

“You say that now, Scully.”  His arm rises and falls gently under her ear as he breathes.  “I bet you’ll be boot scoot boogieing with the rest of the Texans in no time.”

“I didn’t bring my cowboy boots,” she says.

“There’s your first mistake,” he tells her.  “You’ve got the wrong attitude about this trip.  I’ll show you.”

“I’m sure you will,” she says, yawning, and the rest of whatever he says fades into the steady hum of the engines.

[hockeyisreligion]

Trades

Authors note: this was posted on my hockey fan fiction website : captaincrosbyy

Sighing, I run my hands through my hair slightly pulling for what seems like the hundredth time in the past hour. The past couple months at work have been very hard on me and the troubles with my relationship have not helped. I have been dating Dallas Stars defence man Jordie Benn for the past three years and we have one dog together, Juice. Lately, Jordie and I have been under a lot of stress, the team has been underachieving HARD and I recently started in a higher position at work. This has been putting a massive strain on our relationship now that I barely ever see Jordie and when I do we are either fighting or not even talking. We fight mostly about me never being home when he is because of my work schedule or we fight about me saying the wrong thing about the team that sends Jordie off in a huff. Earlier I would have ran after him when he went downstairs to fix things but now I am so tired of fighting that I will just sit in the nook looking out the window wondering where things went wrong and praying that we would be able to fix this.

If you had asked me 4 months ago if Jordie were to propose would I say yes, and I would have told you in a heart beat. But after these past months of constant fighting and then the silent treatment, I don’t know if I could tell you I would have the same answer. I believe Jordie is it for me, and is the love of my life but I value myself too much to let Jordie treat me like shit and not do anything about it. Since Jordie and I started dating, my job had always been a touchy subject for him. I work at a book publishing company mainly reading manuscripts and meeting with authors to finalize their work. This requires A LOT of my time and that cut into the time I had with Jordie. During my time in the WAG’s room at the Stars games I noticed not many of the wives or girlfriends have careers and I think Jordie wanted that for me too. Well it was the opposite of what I wanted, I love my job and it brings me so much happiness and enjoyment with my adult life that I feel like I would go crazy not having it. Jordie wanted me to go to every single home game, be there to make him pre game dinners before every game, be able to take off on quick vacations when the team get time off, and spend his off days laying in bed. But that was not the case with me, I was focused on my job and furthering my career to see that was what Jordie wanted. I guess this was his breaking point and I was too tired to fight for us.

My assistant drops 5 more manuscripts off to my desk and informs me that they need to be read and briefed all for tomorrow’s meetings. I smile politely and she leaves my office closing the door behind her. “This is seriously what I need right now” I mutter to myself. Eyeing the clock on my desktop I see that it is 5:17 and remember that I promised Jordie that I would go to his game tonight. I was trying but as time was running out and I still had 3 manuscripts left I soon realized I have left Jordie down and once again picked work over him. Its 7:10 when I leave the office still having 2 more manuscripts to look over before tomorrow, figuring I will do it after the game and head to my car to race to American Airlines Centre to try and get to see some of the first period.

I check my phone for what seems to be all day to see 12 missed calls and 7 missed texts. 2 from Jordie, 4 from Jamie, and 1 from Katie (Jamie’s girlfriend). I panic thinking that Jordie was hurt during the game and quickly look at the Jordie texts.

I got traded. Now this is when my world flipped upside down and I stare at the three words that make me want to vomit.

I have to leave for Montreal tonite, call me when u get this. Jordie sent me that at 2:30 THIS AFTERNOON. I can’t breathe while I dial Jordie’s number hoping he hasn’t left yet.

“Hi you have reached Jordie, I can’t get to answering your call right now, but if you leave a message I will be sure to get back to you as soon as possible.” FUCK I scream tears brimming my eyes.

I open Jamie’s texts next.

I’m so sorry Ellie, call me

Jordie will need u

I know things haven’t been good lately, but he will need u

Jordie flies out at 7. Was the last text I received from the Benn brother. I don’t bother looking at Katie’s text I just head in the direction of Jordie and I’s house. Speeding, tears streaming down my face I get to my house in record time. Jordie’s truck is gone, lights off, the house looks dead, abandoned and I don’t get out of my jeep right away. Hoping and praying that Jordie for some reason is still here and not on a plane moving away from me, to a different country.

I can’t bring myself to open the door of my jeep I just sit there crying, wondering why this happened to Jordie and I. Finally after what seemed like 10 minutes, I slowly get out of my car and head to the front door. I can hear Juice whining from behind the door already so when I open the door he runs circles through my legs.

“Hey buddy.” I reach down to pet him and he ends up jumping up to give me a kiss. All the lights are turned off in the house except one over top of the sink in the kitchen. It illuminates the paper left out on the counter and I feel myself being pulled toward the kitchen. I take a deep breathe when I see Jordie’s terribly, scribbled handwriting filling the page.

My hands tremble as I go out to grab it and slide down the counter, my bum hitting the floor and immediately being swarmed by Juice before he figures out I am okay and sits beside me.

Dear Ellie,

I can not imagine whats going through your head right now. (Same here Jordie I think) By the sounds of it, your phone was turned off all day at work and you were heading to the arena to find out that I have been traded. Or you worked late and are now shocked to find this. Either way I hope you come to terms with what happened because I don’t know when I will. I’m looking around at the life I have in Dallas and in the matter of a phone call it has all been taken away from me. The past couple months have been rough on both of us and I take full responsibility for that El. I resented you because you had something that was other then me. I only have hockey and you and for one of my things to almost be taken away from me was a hard pill to swallow. Yes I wish you worked less but I will have to get over that if I want to be with you.

I wish I knew what you were thinking Ellie so I could help you cope in a way. I know your job is super important to you, mine is too. But you are the most important thing in my life and it took me being traded to figure that out. I cannot ask you to give up your job because as much as I love you, I don’t know if I would be able to do the same for you. Yes that is very hypocritical, yes I just said you were the most important thing in my life and then said I would choose my job over you. But this is where I am at right now. I want the best for you in life and if that means us separating ways I will have to deal with that. I want to be selfish and ask you to give up your job and everything in Dallas to come with me but what kind of person would I be if I did that? A terrible one? YES.

I know I am all over the place in this note but well I can’t even seem to think straight. I am somewhat hoping that this is all a dream or I am being punked but Ashton Kutcher hasn’t came out yet and my flight leaves way too soon.

But I leave you with this. Montreal could be a city for us where we could both start over. In Montreal, I am not Jamie Benn’s brother or the bearded Benn brother. In Montreal, I will be Jordie Benn, defence man for the Montreal Canadiens. I will be writing my own story with one of the most historic franchises ever. We could start over, leave all the shit of the past months behind us in Dallas and sell that house because to me it was never a home. We could find a real HOME in Montreal, one that we love and we build together and Juice could run around in. We could start our family there and you could find a job there that is better then the one in Dallas. Hell baby you could start your own publishing company, I will help you. Give us another chance and I will PROMISE until the day I die that I will show you and tell you how much I truly love you everyday and that our love is worth so much more then what we have been going through.

I also need to tell you this. Stay in Dallas, keep Juice, keep the apartment, I don’t care and live out your dream with this job. You worked so hard to get there and I don’t resent you for a second for choosing your job over me. If this is what your leaning towards, please do not let me slow you down or hold you back from your dreams and the endless potential you have. I’m sure you will find someone that will give you all of your dreams that I couldn’t. I know there is someone out there that can do this for you Ellie. I KNOW because I thought I was that person, but if the last few months were any indicator I realized I am not. I am the most selfish person when it comes to my life and you are the complete opposite. I treated you like shit the past months and I am forever sorry about that and I completely understand if this is the end of the road for us.

I love you more then you know.

Don’t ever be a stranger,

Jordie.

[mrtroy]

Not Getting Married

This is not the typical kind of post you see on social media. It’s probably the type of post that a lot of people don’t think should be shared in social media. But, I think it’s important to share.

--

Recently I was clearing out the old boarding passes from my phone. When I fly, I like to use the electronic boarding passes instead of the paper ones. I always seem to have a lot in my hands when I travel, and I figure it’s one less thing to carry if I have the boarding pass on my phone. It had been a while since I had deleted old passes, and the last time I flew I had to thumb through a lot of old ones to find my current one. So, I decided to delete a bunch of them.

Most of the old passes were from work trips I’ve taken in the last few years. A bunch to and from Albuquerque, a handful to and from Nashville, LAX, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Orlando, Detroit Boston, LaGuardia… I’m one of those ‘have computer, will travel’ kind of guys for work.

For personal travel, I had a handful for Phoenix, New Orleans, Dallas again, a few different ones in California and Florida. The Fort Lauderdale connection to Havana, Cuba made me smile thinking back on that amazing trip.

All in all, I probably deleted maybe 80 passes. Most of them had the familiar blue, red and yellow logo of Southwest Airlines up at the top. A handful of others on American, a few United, and one random one on SunCountry Airlines. Side note – At this point, I wouldn’t recommend flying SunCountry. It’s a newer, small regional carrier based in Minnesota. I was up there doing research at a plant in New Ulm, Minnesota. The town is great. The company I was working with was extremely welcoming. I stayed at the nicest Best Western Hotel maybe anywhere in the country… But I wouldn’t recommend SunCountry…

Double side note, if you want to learn more about New Ulm, Minnesota, Renee Zellweger starred in a 2009 movie called New in Town where she played an executive going into a plant in New Ulm to do some work. Y’all maybe can relate to Bridget Jones’ Diary where Renee became your spirit sister, but if I had to have a Renee Zellweger-connection movie, it’s definitely New in Town… Don’t judge…

Anyway, I made it through all of these boarding passes, and the last one at the bottom of the digital ‘pile’ was a white one with red lettering. Austrian Airlines. December 16th, 2015.

Ah yes, that one.

That trip had only been 40 hours long. O’Hare to Vienna. I took a backpack, two pairs of socks and underwear, and an engagement ring.

For the previous four months, I had been working on a secret plan to fly to Vienna, surprise my girlfriend with a romantic marriage proposal in a forest at the top of a hill that overlooked the city, and then fly home together for Christmas a day later.

It was all very storybook.

I worked with her friends to plan all the details. They setup this whole elaborate surprise, I showed up, looked like an absolute hero, popped the question, got the answer I was looking for, got an amazing collection of pictures in the process, and flew home a day later with a new fiancée in the airplane seat beside me.

Other than the day my brother got married, it was easily the best day of my life up to that point.

Many of my family and friends that will read this blog remember one of the pictures that was shared all over social media from the engagement. I’m on one knee in fading daylight, she’s under an umbrella in a misty rain; we were barely more than silhouettes against a wooded backdrop. Fairy tale stuff, for sure.

Except, the fairy tale didn’t play out the way fairy tales normally end.

We never got married. We never made it to the church. Or the reception hall. Or the honeymoon.

So far, there definitely hasn’t been a happily ever after, either.

These are not usually the stories you share on social media.  

--

I didn’t know it at the time, but I wasn’t ready to get married, yet. I thought I was. I wanted to be. But I wasn’t.

A friend asked me in text message the other day if I could pinpoint why I thought things went south with the engagement?

It was the type of simple, straightforward question that can be very hard to answer.

I thought about it, but never could quite articulate an answer in reply to the text.

Thinking about it more since then, I think the answer lies somewhere in between ignorance and immaturity.

Up until you get engaged and try to get married, the entire concept is just an idea. Depending on other experiences in your life with friends, family members or stories portrayed in the media, you may have an idea of what you think getting married will be like, but it’s one of those things that until you’re there, in the moment with your person, it’s hard to know what you’re going to face along the way.

--

I brainstorm and sell ideas for a living. After beginning to date and after I realized I cared enough about my girlfriend to consider spending the rest of my life with her, my imagination started to kick into gear. I started to plan the big elaborate engagement. I began to think about taking trips, raising kids, maybe living in another country… My mind has a flare for the dramatic, and everything about getting married lent itself quite well to my inclination for over-the-top dreaming.

Now, I fully advocate for over-the-top dreaming, but at least for me, I don’t think it was the right time to indulge in that kind of exercise. Not to say you can’t do it, but I did it at the expense of other very important preparations that – as it turned out – proved costly when I didn’t do them.

It’s easy to overvalue GETTING married rather than correctly valuing the steps you need to take to ensure you can STAY married. Wedding days can feel like finish lines with all the steps that go into planning one, but in reality, you wake up the next day and realize that you may have hit a very important checkpoint in your relationship, but in the grand scheme of the metaphorical race that a marriage relationship is, you’re a lot closer to the starting line than the finish line when you first tie the knot.

That last paragraph is pretty cliché. This next one is not.

Dating and a period of engagement is not about making plans. Dating and engagement is about learning how to honor your significant other.

Learning how to honor? What does that even mean?

First of all, it means getting to know them as well as you possibly can. Providing an environment where they are free to express and be themselves with the highest level of comfort, safety and freedom possible. It means respecting the process of sharing more of themselves with you. It means learning the ways they like to be treated, and practicing what treating them that way looks like on your end. It means learning how to reciprocate those behaviors between the two of you. It means learning how to let them speak up when you hurt them. It means learning how to apologize when you hurt them and the fine art of letting them know they hurt you without hurting them in retaliation.

Essentially, it means learning how to love them and helping them learn how to love you back.

After getting engaged, my fiancée and I tried to do this as a couple. We participated in a class that taught a lot of the principles I listed above. We read books, and that’s where the principle of ‘Learning to Honor’ came from.

Unfortunately, I didn’t learn. Or, maybe more accurately, throughout the process of trying to learn together, my fiancée and I weren’t able to effectively create an environment that resembled something that worked well for each of us.

She had things that were important to her that she communicated very clearly that she hoped I would be able to execute as the other participant in the relationship. And I didn’t execute them very well.

I had things that I hoped she would be able to bring for me, and for us, and we couldn’t figure out how to make that come together in harmony.

We worked at it. But more so than not, it didn’t work.

Many times, my mind was somewhere down the road, looking for the next big thing. I was great at being Mr. Flashy – the guy with the big ideas, the extravagant setups, and overly romantic gestures. But I wasn’t consistent. I wasn’t dependable. I didn’t do the things that we had talked about as being the most important things that my partner valued out of a partner.

And so, while I was able to plan a big international surprise engagement and dream up an engagement ring with an elaborate meaning behind it that could make many a woman’s heart flutter, none of that was actually the most valuable to my partner in the long run.

My advice to anyone who’s either engaged, or dating and thinking about getting engaged is as follows:

Don’t put the value in the plans you’re making for the short term. Yes, weddings are important, and they do require planning, but don’t just plan your wedding, work on learning how to honor your partner so that you can have a great life together – not just a great wedding together.

Embrace the idea that it’s okay to be boring.

People hear boring when it comes to relationships, and they turn their nose up in disgust. You think of boring when it comes to dating, and it’s a non-starter for a lot of people. Who would want to date or spend time with a boring person?

But boring doesn’t mean uninteresting. Boring doesn’t mean a lack of spontaneity. In this context, it means reliable. Consistent. Dependable. Day in and day out, doing the things that you said you were going to do.

Over time, these are the things that build trust It’s hard to envision wanting to be boring, but after a while, there is comfort in knowing that someone will be there for you, no matter what. To have the peace of mind that no matter the circumstance, that person is reliable and dependable and is going to react in a loving way, no matter what.

Man, I can’t wait until a woman can confidently say that about me.

--

Not getting married, as it has turned out, has been a huge blessing for me.

I thought I was ready for the commitment that comes along with marriage, but I wasn’t. Or, at least with the person I was engaged to, I wasn’t.

She was – and still is – a wonderful person, but collectively, we couldn’t figure out a way to honor each other in a way that worked for both of us.

Some people hear about, or see that you’re no longer engaged and they always offer their condolences and tell you how sorry they are. I understand the sentiment, but I’m not sorry. Sure, I wish that I would have handled things with more grace; I wish things wouldn’t have gone the way they did… I never intended for the things to happen that led to a broken engagement.

But, they did happen.

And when tough things happen, all you can really do is learn from the experiences you’ve had, and then… wait. Wait for another chance. Wait for another opportunity. Wait for another person that appreciates the things that make you, ‘you.’ And when you find someone like that, make the choice every day to love them the way they want to be loved as best you can.  

In the meantime, I’m trying to be as boring as possible. As in trying to be better at the little things that build trust over time. If that means to do that as a single person, great.

I’ve tried to get better at keeping up with laundry, keeping the house clean, making my bed more consistently, being on time for social engagements, etc. If I can do more of these things well, for myself as a single person, then I feel like I have a better chance doing the bigger things well the next time I’m in a long-term relationship.

And so, here I am, three years later, with a lot more frequent flyer miles under my belt and hopefully a few more boarding passes in my future. For two years or so, there were twinges of pain in the realization that one of the coolest things that ever happened in my life – flying to Europe for less than 48 hours to propose – ended without the fairy tale ending. But, it is something that happened. It’s a part of my story, and it’s something I can use to build my own bank of experiences to draw from in the future to hopefully not repeat the same mistakes over again.

And, I can share my stories with others.

If you’ve been down the road of a broken engagement, or are thinking about getting engaged, think about what it means to learn to honor a significant other. Pray for the opportunity to get to do that. Be intentional. Be confident. And be kind.

It’ll be worth it.

[profoundpaul]

WWE Legend Makes Surprise Jesus Statement During Hall of Fame Induction Speech

When World Wrestling Entertainment star The Undertaker was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on Friday night, he had one move no one was expecting.

The Undertaker, known in what passes for real life as Mark Calaway, talked about his family, including his wife, former wrestler Michelle McCool.

“I think the greatest thing that you’ve ever done for me, though, is restore my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” he said, as McCool and their daughter looked on during the ceremony at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.

JESUS IS KING

@undertaker AMEN BROTHER pic.twitter.com/aB9oEk2scS

— . (@burlyboykev) April 2, 2022

During an interview last year, according to CBN, Calaway talked about how that change came about.

“I’ve always believed in God, I just didn’t lead my life that way,” he said. “I lived a pretty excessive lifestyle and I wasn’t living my life for God.”

McCool attended Lake Hills Church in Austin, Texas, and one day invited Calaway to come along.

Calaway threw out objections, claiming “rafters are going to start shaking.”

“I believe in God, I’m good,” he recalled telling his wife, adding, “it’s not going to work.”

But he went anyhow,

“I was thinking the pastor’s going to see me and he’s going to throw fire and brimstone right at me … and it wasn’t nothing like that,” Calaway said.

“I found myself being kind of tense and pensive to kind of leaning in and like, wow this is pretty cool. And that started my journey back to leading my life the way I should,” he said.

In the interview, he said his wife deserves the credit for helping him change his life.

“She wanted me to be the man that I could be and that has nothing to do with being The Undertaker. It was the start of me and my journey and realizing there was a whole ’nother part to life that I was missing out on,” he said.

Calaway said he is a work in progress.

“I’m not perfect. I’m still in my process. I’m getting there but I spend a lot more time these days reading my Bible.”

During his Friday speech at his induction, Calaway also thanked his fans, according to Bleacher Report.

“My first ‘thank you’ is to you,” he said. “You were the motivation I needed many nights.”

The post WWE Legend Makes Surprise Jesus Statement During Hall of Fame Induction Speech appeared first on The Western Journal.

source https://www.westernjournal.com/wwe-legend-makes-surprise-jesus-statement-hall-fame-induction-speech/

[popolitiko]

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan has seen Greg Abbott’s insane coronavirus vaccine mandate ban and raised the Texas governor seven more deadly diseases, tweeting that “Ohio should ban all vaccine mandates.”

It’s disturbing but not surprising that when the Republican Party is having a race to the bottom, someone’s going to scrape it. It’s no surprise at all when that someone turns out to be Jordan, who thinks rolling up his shirt sleeves when the cameras are on marks him as Everyman, albeit one who’s been accused of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse during his former career as a wrestling coach at Ohio State University.

It’s awfully quiet inside Jordan’s head, without the clanging from Republicans who are OK with every other vaccine but dead set against mandating this one to help stop the spread of a disease that’s still killing nearly 2,000 Americans a day for the simple reason that their base hates anything elites want, no matter how sensible or helpful. He’s resolved the dilemma by objecting to all of them.

Fortunately, Jordan’s words were just that, and responsible parents all over the Buckeye state had already delivered their children to the first day of classes fully immunized against polio; measles, mumps and rubella; chickenpox; hepatitis B; meningococcal disease; and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, as required by its its health department.

Still, it was enough for Jordan to claim the rhetorical lead in the wild competition among red-state officials to take the most radical position possible. But one reason Jordan is talking so wildly is that unlike many of his rivals who have real power, he only has Twitter.

There’s South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who found time to push through her daughter’s real estate appraiser’s license when she wasn’t encouraging 500,000 bikers to come to Sturgis for 10 days of partying and superspreading. And Abbott, whose favorable rating in Texas has fallen to the mid-40s as he faces a re-election campaign next year and who has already lost most of the women in greater Houston and Dallas with his vigilante-enforced ban on abortions after six weeks.

Abbott has to actually do some governing, and so his position is a little less crude, sufficiently revolting to appeal to the “you’re not the boss of me” crowd while at least trying to remain flexible enough to repackage himself later for general consumption. To that end, he insists he likes the COVID vaccine, don’t get him wrong, but he won’t let government tell people what to do—unless of course they’re women who need to end a pregnancy. So he says President Biden “invaded” the Lone Star state with a vaccine mandate and the governor is only trying to protect Texas from that.

It’s a position that puts him on the other side of companies like American Airlines, which welcomed a push from Washington to help get its employees immunized and said outright that Abbott’s order “does not change anything” for it. Fortunately for Abbott, the world’s biggest airline is too big to move its massive fleet of 737s parked at its longtime hub in Dallas-Fort Worth or the thousands of employees in the state where it’s headquartered. But watch him become more nuanced should Exxon-Mobil, McKesson, or AT&T make noises. At least he’ll always have Tesla, even if the electric carmaker is an odd fit for a state in many ways defined by the oil and gas industry.

Not to be outflanked by his governor, Sen. Ted Cruz falsely claimed that the Southwest Airlines meltdown that stranded thousands of travelers was caused by pilots who refused to abide by the Biden vaccine mandate, an assertion with no basis in fact according to the carrier’s CEO and the FAA. What does Lyin’ Ted, who fudged bailing to Cancun during his state’s freeze-out, care about facts if he can own the libs for a news cycle?

Not McConnell, who summarized his opposition to the AG’s memo by describing what’s happening as “democracy, not intimidation,” a new chapter in defining deviancy down as practiced by former Vice President Mike Pence. He recently downplayed Jan. 6, when Trump supporters weren’t actually looking to lock him up but to string him up, as just “one day in January” that the media supposedly wants to distract the public with.

The worst COVID-incited turmoil is at the local level, where the havoc anti-vax and anti-mask politicians is wreaking has turned so violent that the National School Boards Association (NSBA) sent a letter to the president deeming the clashes at school board meetings akin to “domestic terrorism.” With videos of parent-on-parent and school official brawls pouring in, Attorney General Merrick Garland told the FBI to recommend ways to address the violence.

Immediately, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell shot back that Garland’s memo doesn’t reflect what he’s seen at school boards meetings, which raises the question what news he’s watching. He should tune in to the testimony of Florida’s Brevard school board member Jennifer Jenkins describing her life. She disagreed with a resolution to curb parent participation at meetings. What she’s asking for is protection from parents menacing her and her family outside meetings, brandishing weapons at her house, and “following me around, saying that they’re coming for me, that I will need to beg for mercy.”

It gets worse. Someone made “a false DCF [Department of Child and Family Services] claim" against her, she said, and since all such reports have to be followed up on, she had “to take a DCF investigator to her [daughter's] playdate to go underneath her clothing and check for burn marks.”

A false report to child protective services anywhere is a crime, and if Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey weren’t such a staunch Republican and friend of former President Donald Trump, he might investigate this one as such. Meantime, Jordan and the other Republicans who routinely go on TV to dismiss the flames they’re fanning in no small part with their pandemic pandering should stop puffing themselves up with stories of brushing off their own harassment as they walk through airports and ask themselves if they’ve ever endured having a child strip-searched because a political adversary accused them of abuse.

That, Jenkins clarified at the end of her testimony, “is what I’m against.”

We no longer live in a country where there’s agreement on what constitutes the common good. It’s two decades since half the country told Gallup we were on the right track, and longer still since 600 children died in the early days of the polio vaccine but parents still followed the science and lined up their offspring for the immunization until iron lungs all but disappeared.

If Jim Jordan would roll down his sleeves—he can since he’s had his shots, like most of his GOP colleagues—and stop making absurd pronouncements, the same will someday be true of ventilators.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/jim-jordan-makes-his-move-to-be-the-most-batshit-anti-vaxxer-of-all?ref=scroll

[orbemnews]

Bryan native starring in Disney on Ice says dream job was gone in seconds when pandemic hit HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Ever since Jamie Hathaway was a little girl, she knew she belonged on the ice. And seeing Tarzan swing across an arena instead of the jungle, his normal domain, helped too. “I saw my very first Disney on Ice show when I was 5. I saw Tarzan fly across the ice, and I knew I wanted to do something to that degree,” Hathaway, 22, said. “My brother started playing hockey at a rink in Texas and I thought, ‘Ok, maybe I can do that,’ and as soon as I started taking classes, I was like, ‘I want to skate for Disney on Ice.'” That dream became a reality in 2019 when the Bryan, Texas native was selected for her first show – Disney on Ice presents Road Trip Adventures. After sending in a video portfolio, she auditioned in person at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Then a week later, she received the news she’d been waiting years to hear: that she would be part of the show. “When I read that, I called every single person on my phone, and cried and danced and laughed. All the emotions… I couldn’t explain. They all poured out of me,” she said. But like anything in life, there are always challenges. One of them came long before she would be playing iconic characters like Mary Poppins in figure skates. When Hathaway was 14, she was diagnosed with scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine that tends to develop during the growth spurt just before puberty, the Mayo Clinic describes. “When they told me about the scoliosis, it was an instant ‘Will I keep skating? Can I keep skating? I don’t want to have surgery. I don’t want to put poles in my back and all of that.’ So I worked with a doctor who helped me get on a wellness direction of keeping myself healthy and doing exercises to help strengthen muscles that would help realign my spine in a way,” Hathaway explained. “I believe all of it worked, because I’m still here, I’m still skating, I’m still able to do what I love without having needed surgery.” Most scoliosis cases are mild, though there are a variety of treatments, and a wide range of symptoms. Hathaway says her case was not severe, allowing her to continue taking care of herself in such a way that she could still skate. And if she does experience back pain, she says it’s more likely from a hard fall on the ice. The largest challenge to come Hathaway’s way would be in March 2020, although she’d soon learn that would be difficult for everyone. The Road Trip Adventures show she was performing in closed in March 2020 as planned, but instead of going on to the next tour or practicing, she had to head home for the start of a long quarantine. “We were in Minneapolis when it happened, and all of a sudden, they were like, ‘Ok, we’re sending you guys home because there’s a global pandemic,” she began. “It was definitely confusing because I think ‘pandemic’ had never been a word that I heard until that came up. It was always ‘apocalypse’… ‘world ending.’ Never global pandemic. It was one of those things where I wanted to reach out and ask, ‘How do I handle this?’ But no one knew.” “Being sent home from your dream job. One second I had it, one second it was gone,” she added. Fast forward, and now Hathaway and the colorful cast are finally back on the ice and presenting magic and enchantment once again. This time, the show is Disney on Ice presents Mickey’s Search Party. It’s Hathaway’s second tour. “It’s the first time people are going to get to see something like this of this nature, in 11 months, and that’s weird to… think… like, we are the first live entertainment that’s getting back on the road since a global pandemic and to have the power to change the energy in the world and the atmosphere, that’s just so rewarding, and I feel honored to be part of something so magical,” Hathaway said. This time around, she’ll play Little Bo Beep from “Toy Story.” While it feels like everything the entire world has experienced over the last year is something out of a movie, it all felt very real for her to finally get back on tour. “We landed in Love Field in Dallas and I.. as soon as we touched the ground, I just started crying. It wasn’t like I was sad or happy, it was just an overwhelm of emotion, thinking back to a year ago when everything got shut down,” said Hathaway, whose family has often come to see her perform, sometimes traveling hours. “To be here in Texas, sharing this with my family, friends and the rest of the world, it’s … you can’t put that emotion into words, that’s why I just started crying,” Hathaway continued. But along with a supportive family, she has also credited the Girl Scouts with helping her reach her goals. “It has taught me so much discipline and helped me achieve my dreams because I had to work for things… building little goals for myself through Girl Scouts like how many cookies I was going to sell, or what badge I wanted to get,” Hathaway explained. “Working toward that showed me you can also set goals like that in figure skating.” Hathaway is a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient, which she describes as similar to being an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts. Families who wish to check out the show while Hathaway is performing should mark their calendars for the next two weekends. Disney on Ice presents Mickey’s Search Party will be in Houston the weekend of April 16 and again from April 23-25 at NRG Stadium. Tickets start at $25. Feld Entertainment, which runs Disney on Ice, says COVID-19 protocols will be in place including, pod seating, reduced venue capacity, and required face coverings for guests age 2 and older unless eating or drinking in their seats. You can head to this link for more on guest wellness measures during Disney on Ice. Copyright © 2021 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function()n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments); if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '301587867451487'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); Source link Orbem News #Bryan #disney #disneyonice #disneytour #dream #figureskater #hit #howmuchisdisneyonice #ice #iceskating #jamiehathaway #Job #mickeyssearchparty #native #Pandemic #seconds #starring #whereisdisneyonice