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Sketches I got from @pawberri and @lamuliz!
[ID: Left panel is a chibi colored sketch of my bat-eared fox, Prue, smiling with her hands covered by oversized sleeves. Right panel is a grayscale half body sketch of my ouessant sheep, Vermilion, standing at a 3/4 to the left, smiling and making hearts near his head. End ID.]
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Recently been trying to replay the whole series to get in the zone for Veilgaurd. Wanted to share my bebes.
Nessaya Mahariel is my Warden Commander! Not having a good time™️. Comes up with weird sayings and metaphors to boost moral. It only works because people will be too confused to feel despair.
Zevran romancer who also dualwields. But longswords. Hers are bigger 🤣. Is besties with Velanna.
She has a side kick in Prudence (Prue) Amell. She's a bit of an airhead but she's ride or die with Nessaya. Keeps a silly diary. Romances Alistair because of course she does. Translates Nessaya's metaphors to the rest of the group. Criminally 90's eyebrows.
#dragon age#dao#dragon age origins#grey wardens#warden mahariel#warden amell#my oc#oc: prue#oc: nessaya
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tagging: @tudorgirl, @makeyouminemp3, @maya-matlin, @tophsazulas, @clubglee
#buffy summers#tara maclay#iris west#marissa cooper#max mayfield#prue halliwell#octavia blake#raven reyes#rachel green#monica gellar#kara danvers#daisy johnson#agents of shield#the 100#charmed#stranger things#buffy the vampire slayer#btvs#the flash#the oc#supergirl#tumblr poll#polls#this will be very difficult because tara daisy prue kara max marissa raven octavia ugh lol#I'll probably choose either daisy max or kara lol
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OC HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE 2024
Day 2: Mystical Communication
When Minty Liddell asks to read her friends' fortunes, she thinks nothing bad of it. Hell, they live in Auradon Prep, so what's the worst that could happen to them? Most of their cards are fine, of course, but two in particular worry her the most...
TEMPLATE
TAGLIST: @eddysocs @ocs-supporting-ocs @foxesandmagic @veetlegeuse @decennia @hiddenqveendom @arrthurpendragon @luucypevensie @nikosasaki @noratilney @wordspin-shares @oneirataxia-girl @endless-oc-creations @stelstellakidd @andromedalestrange @far-shores @daughter-of-melpomene @bibaybe
#ocappreciation#ocapp#ohc2024#fyeahdisneydescendantsocs#disney descendants oc#oc: petra müller#oc: willa darling#oc: greer grimm#oc: tee wiley#oc: minty liddell#oc: tabby andrews#oc: falk white#oc: june of agrabah#oc: reese hood#oc: collette potts#oc: prue woods#oc: rosalie gardener
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If The World Ended
Based on Die With A Smile - Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars + those sad tiktok edits of Andrew Garfield's Peter Parker & Gwen Stacy + The End of the World by Skeeter Davis
“Wait… just—just hang on, Leon. Just hold on—please! Wake up… Leon? Leon!”
Prue cried out, cradling the blond haired male's head in her hands as she caressed his cheek gently with her thumb; her dark brown eyes glossy when a stray tear betrayed her pent up feelings she'd kept locked away to prevent herself from going through so much pain. The vulnerability was too much for her to handle, but she would feel everything for the man that lay unmoving in her arms. Even if it made her feel like a piece of paper being shredded to the tiniest bit until there had been nothing left of her to give.
And yet. . .
Blood trickled down Leon's nose, indicating the harsh impact of the long fall damage he'd taken when Harry Osborn, Prue's former childhood friend turned villain—the Green Goblin, had snatched up Leon from where he had stood, taking him up to the clock tower of New York. Leon knew how to fight back. He worked under a government agency, after all. He knew what to do against villains like Harry who had been too lost to be pulled back to the right side.
“Don't go… please, don't go. Not like this. Not like this… come back… you can't die like this, Leon…”
Still it wasn't enough.
Despite his professional career, it served as a reminder to the limitations of a human's mortality the moment time slowed down when Leon was falling a long way down from within the clock tower. Everything happened so fast yet so slowly at the same time. Prue's senses had been completely heightened at that instance. What tore her apart was the fact she could hear his heart racing a hundred beats per minute. The fear that had shown on his usual stoic and strong features was painted on his handsome face as the masked heroine leaped down in an attempt to catch the agent by whatever means.
It felt like the world was crashing all around them at once and there was nothing Spider-Woman could do for Prue to save Leon.
Her webs shot out from her wrist, forming into a hand, desperately reaching out to grab him—and for a second—she allowed herself to hope that she could do it. She'd vowed that if she could save him, she would push him away if he'd lived. That this would be their last time together. It was too risky for him to be with Spider-Woman. He knew how to handle himself, he said. He wanted to be close to her. He wanted to stay.
So he stayed.
“You think you can get rid of me that easily?” He had told her once. He had found someone who knew what it was like to suffer all the responsibilities of protecting human lives, to suffer the consequences of losing said lives—he wasn't going to let her go. He dug his heels into the ground, and he made sure Prue wouldn't be able to pry him away from her. They were a team, and he'd be damned if she tried to take that away from him.
But this was something he and Prue hadn't seen coming from a mile away. Her spider senses weren't as advanced as she'd wished they could've been that night. Seeing him this way was sobering enough, serving as a reminder that he was more than the government's personal weapon. That he was more man than machine as they made him to be. That he loved, lost, feared and cared more than they made him out to be otherwise.
The sound of his neck cracking on impact whether from the harsh pull of her webs or the concrete after falling for what seemed like eternity… the specifics didn't matter. Prue blamed herself for it all. When he couldn't open his eyes—it was her fault. When his heart stopped beating—it was because of her. When his body turned cold—her fault. Her organic webs backed up at the wrong time… shortening out on Leon's abdomen, being the cause of his death right then and there. She felt sick to her stomach as bile formed at the back of her throat the second she ripped her mask off of her head, dark curls falling freely from the material as she rushed to Leon's side as he hung from the web, hovering over the ground; the world's cruelest joke of having Prue's loved one dangling before her—taunting her for her failures.
She had never wanted to end it all right then and there, joining Leon in death than she did at that moment. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry… she wanted everything to stop. She wanted to die. She wanted to rip her chest open until she was exposed from the inside out. She wanted it all to end.
She was suffocating; drowning in her emotions and self-loathing as she embraced the male in her arms, taking in his faint scent for one last time. Her body trembled violently as she let out a choked out sob, burying her face into the crook of Leon's neck, running her fingers through his soft locks in an attempt to comfort herself even despite being undeserving of it.
Memories of their time together flooded through her mind as she held Leon's cold cheek in her hand. Her lower lip trembling as she thought back to their first encounter. He had flown to New York City for a mission—a deadly one based on a bioterrorist threatening to wipe out humanity by transforming them into the undead. He dealt with special cases whereas Spider-Woman dealt with weird villains in animal or other themed costumes—if not, literal powerful beings the human mind would not be able to comprehend. They understood each other. They just got along very well. They had responsibilities to their own occupations and at the end of the day, they were still able to look each other in the eye and see a person on the other side. They saw each other for who they were, not what they were.
She'd come in right where Leon was struggling with a particular bioweapon—a tyrant and Spider-Woman made her first appearance in his vicinity. Swinging in, launching herself at the tyrant with speed and agility of a literal spider; using her webs to hold the tyrant down whilst Leon and his companions would finally take it down along with the infected citizens of NYC much to Prue's dismay at the realization of how deep the situation had been. Leon had been so perplexed by her abilities; and this warranted his companions—Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers to interrogate Prue as they had made assumptions of her being a “bioweapon” of some kind. She certainly wasn't any average human being.
Their “accidental” encounters after the first. The coincidental gentle brushes of their hands or the way his hand felt so comforting when on the small of her back or her shoulder after a particularly rough patrol that ended in Prue getting her ass handed to her very badly. Those moments where they would both go to each other and nurse the other's wounds that needed tending to. Those lingering glances they'd make on the other, catching each other staring at the other's lips for a mere second before averting their gaze.
Long story short, when their eyes met that day… there was an undeniable connection that had formed that should've terrified Prue. It should've scared her to the point to walk away, to pretend she's never met Leon Scott Kennedy. It should've.
But she didn't walk away.
She stayed.
The cold, bitter rain felt like razor blades on her skin as the water filtered through the ruins of the clock tower as she sat there, holding Leon's body in her arms. Dark eyes bloodshot, puffy and swollen as a low ringing noise filled her ears in the distance. Her curls stuck to her soaked cheeks and her suit clung to her body uncomfortably, causing her to shiver but she didn't care. She missed him already. The one person who had understood her needs to keep her abilities and identity a secret… to keep events like these from happening to begin with. She thought it was because of his work as a field agent that it would be easier for her to deal with her own enemies without worrying about his safety—that everything would be alright. That life would be okay afterwards. That they would continue to be together after the toughest mission of their lives.
How could she have been so foolish?
“Wait for me, Leon.”
♡
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♡
I forgot how writing for myself is so incredibly fucking CRINGE, BRO. BROTHER EUGHHHH. I haven't written in a like 7 years so I'll let it slide this time. I'd explain my oc/self insert's lore, but it's so complicated man let's just beam the information into your head and pretend you know exactly what I'm talking about. Also crossover fandoms! Spiderverse x Resident Evil. I don't know what I be yapping about in my writing but I just wanted to put my own spin on Peter losing Gwen in TASM but with Prue losing Leon!
Also, sorry if things don't make sense like at all. I'm very rusty and my mind is more about like romancing my fave or making things angsty lmaooo so mhm.
#im not tagging leon or RE for this#this is specifically for me to be happy i posted something#and im scared of the RE fandom on tumblr so...#i will tag spiderverse tho#prue montez#spidersona#oc fic#oc fiction#original character x canon#oc x canon#oc fanfiction#spiderverse
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hpma meme; newer ships
yvonne dubois x prue durand ( @potionboy3 )
frances fersen x nicholas wraxall ( @unfortunate-arrow )
#hpma#magic awakened#prue durand#oc: yvonne dubois#prue x yvonne#(pruevonne maybe as a shipname?)#oc: frances fersen#nicholas wraxall#frances x nicholas#(fersall as a shipname maybe?)#ship intro#myedit*#mine*
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Prue Zane, age 13: fresh from her first kiss from one James Corvin, is daydreaming of a farmhouse and two kids and blue ribbon pies at the harvest festival, and she can't stop smiling. Even when Reese Verner teases her about the 'PZ + JC' heart doodles in her math notebook.
Prue Zane, age 14: James asked her to the spring semi-formal and gave her a corsage that matched his boutonniere. Reese's date came down with mono (did he actually have one to begin with?), and he looked so miserable standing in the back corner of the school gym. So she pulled some of the blooms from both her and James' flowers, and made him his own little bouquet, and used a hair clip to pin it to his suit jacket. Sofia used the last three photos in her Polaroid camera so they could each have a memory of that night.
Prue Zane, age 14 1/2: the fire destroyed everything.
Prue Zane, age 15 to 22: all foster homes and group homes look the same through a haze of cheap liquor and weed and bad decisions. She keeps the fake IDs in the CD jewel case labelled 'Sandstorm by Darude'.
Prue Zane, age 24: Court-ordered rehab sucked, but she's okay now, and the only things left from the previous years is a nose ring and a butterfly tattoo. She's well on her way to completing her GED, and her co-worker Becca is turning into a fast friend. Prue makes them waffles for dinner at Becca's grandma's house.
Prue Zane, age 25: Her grandpa is dead. She's bitter at being abandoned by him 10 years earlier, but therapy was helping. Then, the letter from Chief Bowers arrives, and Prue feels like puking. No, she does puke. Right into Becca's grandma's hydrangea bushes. Becca makes a road trip playlist, and buys a five pound bag of sour patch kids. Prue tries meditation.
It's time to return to Fernweh.
(playlist under construction)
#the fernweh saga#fernweh saga#oc: prudence 'prue' zane#I'd like to give a shout-out to canva and Pinterest and picrew and a slow afternoon at work#welcome to my newest hyperfixation#I'm playing the JR route and this throuple has my whole heart and we're only on book one#might write a fic later who knows
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Some bg3 characters I’ve been rotating recently. Verdaline, my drow dnd character with dark hair, and Prue (?) the bard 💕
#they both have complicated relationships with astarion who’d have guessed#verdaline romances him and Prue is his best friend while he has no idea what the hell that is#she gives him a friendship bracelet and he mentally screams about it for the rest of his life#myart#artists on tumblr#bg3#baldurs gate#baldur's gate 3#drow oc#dnd#dnd ocs
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if you could give prue kids (in an au where she lives), who would it be with (can be anyone dead or alive) and could you tell us a little bit about them?
Okay, so this might be a bit of a boring answer, but canonically, I think that Prue really only ever would've ended up at a place where she was comfortable having kids with Andy, if he had survived. Obviously, if she hadn't died, I think that they'd have given her another love interest, but looking at her canon love interests for more than an episode: Andy (dead), Bane (jail), Jack (...c'mon), and Justin (literally got dumped for no personality.) And while I'd love to spin up a Prue/Bane kid (not a Jack kid bc quite frankly, @phoebehalliwell has got that on lock already), I think it's gotta be Prue and Andy, assuming that they both survived.
The rest of this kind of have to go under the cut because I finished it, checked how many words it was, and went 'oooh, fuck.' In case you're wondering, the answer is over two thousand, so. I'm gonna get blocked if I just drop that on people's dashes lmao.
So, in this 'verse, I think that Prue would've actually been the first to have a child, for several reasons. Firstly, we actually do see her express a desire to have kids at a few points in the show and she doesn't seem to have as many as the same hang-ups of her sisters. Her issue seems to just be the good dad part. Secondly, she'd be the one with the longest and most stable relationship, since she and Andy have known each other for so long and were pretty much on the verge of committing to each other anyways when Andy, y'know. Got dead.
That said, I don't particularly think that it would have been an intentional pregnancy. This is kind of dependent on where we're at in the show, but I think that it'd probably end up at a point where the danger is ramping up and the Source is becoming more of a threat. I don't think that Prue would be initially willing to a) step back from the front lines of the fight b) bring a child into the consistent danger of the household and c) risk orphaning her child like she was. I can see it as a plotline where demons are constantly attacking and frazzling the sisters and we see her miss her meticulous birth control pill or something and then a few episodes later assume that it's because of stress, only to find out that, surprise! You're pregnant, and probably a bunch of dangerous stuff is happening.
But anyways, I think that Prue and Andy would go with the P tradition, because Andy seems like the type of family guy who'd be all for it and I think that Prue, having seen this kind of different continual line of her family, would be into it. (Also, I don't really see any reason why she'd be against continuing it either, tbh.)
So our firstborn daughter is Perri Christina Halliwell, and I'm now realizing the obvious connotation of that lmao. I'm just trying to look at P names that have not been taken by any of the sisters themselves or my main next gen, and Christina is actually a reference to two different female writers that my brain initially thought was the same person: Christine de Pizan, a medieval feminist writer (responsible for The Book of the City of Ladies), and Christina Rossetti, a Victorian writer whose works were often viewed through a feminist lens (at least in my class). I like the name flip thing though, so now I'm keeping it. As for the first name, I think that Perri has this almost rebellious feel to it, which fits for her.
But anyways, Perri, our firstborn witch! I think that because of the circumstances around Perri's birth, especially with Prue having lost her own mother at such a young age, she's incredibly protective over her. (God forbid if Piper or Phoebe died in this 'verse, because it'd multiple by ten.) Perri is also the first member of the next generation, so she's kind of the test child on "Training Your Magical Child 101." And the thing is, I'd genuinely argue that the sisters not being raised with their powers both endangered them as they tried to figure everything out and kept them from reaching their full potential, and I think that Prue's biggest goal is keeping Perri safe, so she goes. kinda hard on the training witch thing. And Andy kind of sides with Prue on this because he doesn't have the magic to help or protect Perri, so. It's not just Prue, but Piper and Phoebe (and Paige? idk if Paige is in this AU or not yet tbh) are also training her, so it's a little less harsh than it could be.
Perri grows up to be a powerful witch with a pretty thorough background on all of the different aspects of magic (spells, potions, powers, demons, etc.) Like her mother, she's a telekinetic witch. I think that under her mother's tutelage, her powers also actually advance relatively quickly so that she develops advanced telekinesis. Lastly, she also had this combination of levitation/limited flight in that she can lift herself and other things off the floor but can't go Superman-ing around. (Is this half because I want to imagine a scene of Perri mid-air wrecking someone's shit? Yes. I fully admit to my utilization of the Rule of Cool here.)
Beyond powers, however, she's a bit more like Phoebe or Paige than Prue as a teenager. She rebels against her parents a lot, but a lot less of the punk teenage rebel thing and more like the artsy creative checking out the art exhibit at the local rec center or whatever. She loves her parents but chafes at the protectiveness. She's very independent, vivacious, bold, etc. She's actually a lot like Prue in that tbh, very popular in high school but with a less "Student Council president, head cheerleader, straight A-student" type of vibe. She's a lot fun. I've kind of bounced between a few different job ideas for her, but I think that she'd love to work in fashion, probably as a designer. Her vibe is very much just nicely saturated colors and colorful modern art.
After Perri's birth, shit probably hits the fan at some point and we get a dark point where all seems lost, maybe a death from someone close (not Prue or Andy obviously and I hesitate to kill anyone else, so some character that they got close to in this rewrite that wasn't in canon. What do you want from me, this is about the kids not the show.) Or maybe just struggles with the Elders and trying to buck that control, especially since we'd have the Piper/Leo and Phoebe/Cole relationships at some point here. But they persevere, and there's probably been another little Halliwell kid running around this point with Perri, but this ain't about them.
Next up, we have Presley Artemisia Halliwell! Now, if you haven't seen that Tumblr post about Artemisia Gentileschi, it's metal af and I have no clue where it is, but short story: girl got a shit deal for quite awhile, including being raped then tortured to give evidence during her rapist's trial, but she was also an amazing painter that focused on women from myths, allegories, and the Bible. Okay, actually, I really gotta find that Tumblr post to explain it, gimme a second. Here it is, high key recommend reading it but trigger warnings but discussion of the previously mentioned rape and torture. Okay, but the point for the middle name: a) I think that she's a fucking cool ass painter and b) seeing as I've mentioned that something awful has happened, the element of surviving that pain and refusing to bow down, especially to a male-dominated society, for someone like Prue. And Presley is because it has this almost academic vibe about it to me, a little cold in a way. (Idk how to explain this, it's one a.m. and I've been at this for two hours, y'all.)
Now onto our second Prue/Andy daughter: Presley! At this point, they've been raising a daughter in the house, maybe even another of the sisters' kids, so there isn't as much of a strictness on her at all points. Don't get me wrong, there's still a level of protectiveness, but Peri's continuing survival has proven to Prue and Andy that magic isn't an instant death sentence. But I'd say that it's Presley's powers that shape her so fundamentally here.
Presley ends up with molecular immobilization initially, but her powers don't advance to molecular combustion. Instead, her next power is an extension of slowing down molecules to freezing them entirely (molecular inhibition, the freezing power that warlock!Piper temporarily had when the sisters were turned evil in Prue's Dark Wedding to Zile). So she ends up being able to freeze things metaphorically and literally. Over time, the molecular inhibition grows to be a bit more versatile, specifically in regards to hand gestures. I'm trying to decide if there's another logical advancement here, but I think that makes her powerful enough for now at least.
With the ability to temporarily freeze everything around her, Presley utilized it to give her time to think. She's very analytic, observant, and intelligent. Unlike her sisters, she's more quiet and introverted but has no issue interacting with people. She's just more content to observe the people around her than be as social as her sisters but is perfectly fine with other people approaching her. Like her mother, she can be a bit prideful and bossy, and Presley can sometimes assume that she knows best because of her observations and intelligent. She actually works adjacent to her dad as a forensic specialist because I knew I wanted her adjacent but not actually a cop. I'm not sure what her specialty is yet though! Her vibe is a lighter neutral Sherlock Holmes and a park on a nice day. (I know that doesn't make it sense, I am simply trying to translate the vibe in my head.)
I think that the last daughter is probably after the craziness has finally died down for the sisters so maybe after any Ultimate Battles or something. They're finally able to just live their lives how they please, with not so many demon attacks, which is when Prue has her last daughter.
Our youngest witch is Pamela Dorothea Halliwell! Dorothea is a shout-out to Prue's love of photography, specifically to Dorothea Lange. Considered one of the most influential photojournalists of the 20th century, Dorothea Lange is known for her work during the Great Depression. Pamela is actually also a shout-out to Pamela Barnes, a psychic in Supernatural! It can also be considered a shout-out to Pamela Bousquet, a Warren ancestor in one of the spinoff novels, who had telepathy.
Pamela rounds out our trio as the resident psychic. While her primary power is premonitions, she's fascinated by divination as a whole, including her powers expanding to show her the past and future, reading palms and tarot cards, and whatever else you'd count that as. Beyond just seeing the future, she also has astral projection, telepathy, empathy, and dream leaping. Her family is pretty sure that at least some of this is magic that she learned instead of naturally possessed, but neither she nor they could tell you which is her own natural power and which she gained through studying the craft. Technically, Pamela could be a threat if she was interested in fighting demons, but she's much more interested in the study of magic and her specific branch of it to wield her powers offensively. She's a threat despite not because of the way she studies.
Continuing with the psychic vibes, Pamela is best described as somewhat dreamy. She's an absolute sweetheart but can get a bit lost in her own head sometimes, which can be dangerous with her powers. Despite what you may initially think, she is voracious when it comes to learning and wants to know everything about everything. She pursues her passion with relentless abandon, which can sometimes bite her on the ass. Honestly, a lot of her dreaminess and kookiness is because of her powers, which are going to cause her some problems soon if she doesn't figure out how to not get lost in them. So of course she works in a witch shop reading palms and tarot cards, basically a more legit "The Amazing Phoebe!"
In my head, I think that Perri is about 26, Presley is about 24, and Pamela is about 21 maybe. The girls are all still in California but maybe spread out a little. Perri is probably in some more fashion-y city that I'd have to ask my sister to pick (but not tonight bc she'd kill me for waking her up at 2 a.m.) while Presley may still be in San Francisco but Pamela definitely is.
Okay, so this definitely ended up taking and being a lot longer than I thought it would be, but this was so much fun! I'm always a sucker for the next gen, and I love thinking about how it may have turned out differently with different characters, relationships, or plots. It's especially fun because there's so many possibilities in the Charmed 'verse for the kids and I'd love to spin out some of the ones that unfortunately just didn't fit for my "canon" kids. (I used to do Charmed roleplay on Tumblr and actually have a new blog that I'm probably never going to actually use, and it has the entire set up of an alternate next generation stemming from Pandora, Paige's daughter, in the Warren Witches spinoff novel. Pretty much all of Phoebe's kids were designed to utilize some of the interesting power ideas I couldn't make my canon girls get.)
But if you have any other suggestions like this, definitely drop it in my askbox! This was so much fun! (Granted, it's two a.m. and I have to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow but whatever.)
#charmed#charmed 1998#prue halliwell#andy trudeau#should i really tag this as them? idk man im gonna for now i guess?#i have no idea wtf to tag the rest of this tho#bc i'm Nuts and want my tagging system to be Nice and Organized#so i dont wanna mix up my canon next gen with noncanon ones but like#fuck it it is literally two in the morning#next gen#charmed next generation#non canon next gen#gonna cover my bases with that even tho this is currently the only thing in that tag#abi's ocs#i mean i guess technically lmao#asks#fuck i need to update my navigation#charmed au#if anyone else asks me about anything similar i'll come back and update the tags i guess#perri halliwell#presley halliwell#pamela halliwell
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PRUDENCE WOODS
↳ for @ginger-grimm as part of her birthday exchange; I really hope you like this!!
#my edits#made for others#character: prue woods#friend’s oc#anna maria tag#mutuals’ exchanges#anna’s birthday exchange
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Nightshade
Chapter 6 | Chapter 8
Outfit Inspo for this chapter
Chapter 7: Topsy-Turvy
TW: mentions of nudity if you squint really really hard, language, Simone sucks (y'all already know the drill), some cancer mentions & a pinch of dark humor, vague mentions of drinking and smoking, a bit of jealousy 👀, a little brotherly threatening, some close quarters flirting, laser tag, panic attacks. This chapter is the longest so far of this series, so enjoy y'all!
Jake felt light, almost weightless, as he lay in the warm bed basking in the rays of sunlight. The air around him was laced with the sweet smell of perfume, cherry with hints of rose, and light woodsy leather. It was intoxicating, and the more he breathed it in, the more he found himself craving the smell. A weight was comfortably settled onto his chest as his fingers ran through silky strands of hair. His blunt nails scratched her head, drawing out soft noises of contentment. He chuckled, an odd sense of joy rushing through his veins.
“What’s funny?” She asked, lifting her head off his chest.
Opening his eyes, he smiled up at the sunlit halo of red hair and sparkling green eyes that stared down at him. “Nothing at all.”
Her eyebrows lifted as amusement made her face even more beautiful. “Nothing at all? Why do I not believe you?”
“Calling me a liar?” He teased, his hands running along her smooth skin, tracing the curved shape of her snake tattoo up her spine. “In my own bed, that’s rather inconsiderate.”
“You weren’t complaining earlier,” she teased back, leaning into him, her fingers tracing his lips. Jake watched her face slowly soften, looking at him like he was everything to her. “You never thought you’d get this attached, did you?”
Cold weight started creeping back into his body as his mind recognized the dream. He still clung to her, clung to her soft skin beneath his fingers, the loving gaze she gave him, the smell of her perfume. Jake still closed his eyes when she leaned in to kiss him, and he hesitated to pull away even though he couldn’t feel her lips against his.
When he opened his eyes again, she was gone, and he was alone. He set his hand against his chest, taking deep breaths to escape the sudden slight feeling of breathlessness. Then, rolling onto his side, he looked at the empty space beside him, quietly recalling the sight of her bare back and that damn tattoo that he now knew painted her skin. Jake forced himself up and followed his shitty routine to prepare for another long night of service. It was starting to get ridiculous the never-changing nature of bartending at 22West.
He found himself thinking about what would have happened if he had gone through with his plans with Scott. Would he have his own restaurant? A bar that wasn’t constantly surrounded by rich assholes with more money than god and still stingy with their tips? Would he get to wear what he wanted and throw people out when they’d had enough? No. He reminded himself. It was a dumb idea, rushed and poorly thought out. It would have failed before it even started. Simone was right; all that was just a pipedream meant to help keep him from going insane with the mundane normalcy of life.
It was a fine day, not too hot but not cold either, as he rode his bike through the crowded sidewalks of people and even more crowded streets of cars and noise. Simone stood in the kitchen with a sweet smile as she fixed the collar of some girl. For a second, he thought she was Tess; they looked similar enough with the same bangs, brown hair, and big nervous eyes. He moved past them, an unsettling feeling of repressed emotion churning his stomach. “You’re late, my love,” Simone called to him.
“Not later than usual,” he replied, looking over his shoulder.
“I saved a plate for you.”
“Whatever,” he grumbled, starting up the stairs.
“Comb your hair!” She hollered.
“Fuck off, Simone!” He yelled back with a tiny smirk.
Her nagging was annoying, but it made him feel like the two of them were slowly beginning to find their normal again. She cared, even after all the bit of a bender he’d put her through in the months after Tess left. Simone always cared and always took care of him. After Etienne’s visit and Jake’s near business endeavor and Tess, Simone had kept him at arm’s length. She’d said she needed space and didn’t know if she could count on him. Now he just hoped her sober appearance and mother-hen nature meant they were both on the right track.
As he sat down at the table across from Sasha and the others, he was reminded that today was one of Lena’s days off. That was good. It’d give him time to get the image of her looking down at him, kissing him, out of his head. Sitting at another table, quietly polishing the salt shakers with a nervous glint in her eyes, the girl Simone was with took in her surroundings. She was cute, innocent, and scared shitless in the new environment.
The rowdy friends talked about her quietly before giving her the usual welcome of a pile of dishes and the order of washing them. She jumped up and did it without hesitation, looking like some lost animal for a second before she jogged to the back. It reminded him of Lena’s first day. She hadn’t even flinched when they dropped their dishes in front of her, finishing her before speaking Russian to Sasha and confidently carrying their dishes to the back. But, of course, not everyone could be like Lena, he reminded himself, eating his food with a smirk.
Most newbies were like Tess at the start. Timid, innocent, and easy. It was why he’d always had his way with the newcomers. It was easy and uncommitted. And as the night continued, the more obvious the new girls’ doe-eyed stares became. She was enthralled with him, and he hadn’t even spoken to her. God, was it always this easy? He thought after catching her staring for the third time.
Simone stopped by the bar, quietly instructing the girl to get a bottle of wine from the cellar. “So you’ve got a trail?”
She laughed. “Yes, it appears Will is now too important for such things.”
“She seems clumsy,” he replied with a smile. “You’ll have fun with that.”
“Olive is new to this. So, of course, she will be a bit clumsy.”
Jake laughed. “Her name is Olive?”
“It’s a beautiful name,” Simone scolded. “She’s sweet.”
“I’m sure she is,” he replied.
“It seems she already has a bit of a crush on you.”
Jake made a face. “That so?”
Simone merely smiled. “You’re handsome and mysterious. Of course, a girl like her will be drawn to you.”
Something in her tone made that unsettled feeling creep back up. “She looks like Tess.”
“Does she?” Simone asked with a hum. “I hadn’t noticed.”
Jake watched her for a minute, quietly recognizing the lie and thinking about what to do. Simone wouldn’t lie to him. She had no reason to, yet there was no way she didn’t see the similarities between Olive and Tess. Her eyes filled with a gleam of something as she held his gaze… An unspoken expectation, one that Jake wasn’t quite sure he understood.
“We need more ice,” Nicky said over Jake’s shoulder.
“I’ll get it,” he answered, turning away from Simone to grab the bucket.
Olive hurried back to Simone’s side, glancing at him with a pink blush, tucking her hair behind her ear as he moved past her. Behind the safety of the walls, Jake tried to keep his breath even. Simone was lying for whatever reason. This new Tess, his dream, all of it was becoming too much. The harder it became to breathe, the more he was sucked into the dark pit holding specific memories of all the times he’d spent holding his breath under the water in the bath. He remembered the crushing weight that stole his breath when Simone had told him his mother’s death was no accident. He had to steady himself on the wall as he remembered seeing Lena disappear beneath the water.
Pull yourself together, he cursed. He harshly forced breath into his lungs and shoveled the ice into his bucket until the numbness took over, and everything was pushed down where it belonged. He walked back through the kitchen doors and faltered at the sight before him. Lena always stood out with her vibrant hair, but this was something else.
The black dress was simple and elegant, unlike what he would have pictured her wearing on a night out. Her hair looked soft, cascading in waves down her freckled shoulders, and if possible, her eyes were even brighter tonight. Maybe it was the lights or how she smiled, but he was enchanted. He refocused quickly, forcing the question to come out as calm and disinterested as he could muster, “The hell are you doin’ here?”
“Our little Red is a guest tonight,” Nicky replied, giving him a light nudge as he passed by.
“A guest?” He repeated, busying himself with refilling the ice to keep his eyes off her.
Lena scoffed at his disbelief. “I could be a guest.”
“So, who’s the lucky guy?” Nicky’s innocent question made Jake freeze for a fraction of a second. Was she here with someone? He wondered swiftly before bitterly forcing the angry thoughts to cover it. Why do I fucking care? He wasn’t going to get into this, not tonight, not here.
“No one,” she said simply. “I’m here for a family dinner.”
He chuckled, imagining her loud and leather-clad family sitting at one of the tables eating fancy food like rich people. “Family dinner? I’m dyin’ to see what your family comes in lookin like.”
“Me too. I told them it was upscale, but Ozzy’s version of that makes him look like an old victorian count, and Patrick...” She made a face and sighed, “Patrick is going to show up in something fucking hideous. So, I guess I should apologize in advance for you guys having to look at them all night.”
“Well, I don’t know about Nicky, but their outfits won’t bother me,” he insisted, failing to keep his attention from drifting to her exposed skin and soft curves.
“Oh?”
“I’ll be too busy looking at yours.” He winked, watching in absolute delight as she turned her head away from him, blushing almost as red as her hair. Seeing her smile because of his flirtatious banter made him remember the dream in even more detail. In an instant, that smell… That damn sweet cherry made his brain feel foggy… foggy with her and her alone.
“What the fuck are you wearing?”
*
Patrick spread his arms wide, revealing more of the hideous orange-colored suit, covered head to toe in bright bedazzled jewels. His copper hair was practically glowing from the amount of gel he’d used to slick it back. “It’s pretty good, right?”
“Oh my god, you look like a cartoon character,” I whined. “I told you this place was fancy!”
“This,” he gestured to his suit again. “Is fancy!”
Turning back to Jake and Nicky, who stood frozen, wide-eyed at the horror of my brother’s suit, I sighed, “It can’t get worse than this, can it?”
Nicky’s eyebrows shot up as the door opened and closed again. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”
“Oh god,” I turned and instantly covered my mouth at seeing Ozzy’s outfit. “Ozzy!”
He was dressed in a fine black overcoat that hugged his shoulders tightly and flared into a rounded tail. His neck was adorned with a simple red necktie, and an old watch hung from his buttoned chest. His leather gloves squeaked as he brought the ornate cane forward, clacking it against the floor. He tipped the tall hat to me and smiled, “It’s brilliant, isn’t it?”
“I said no hats!”
Peter rolled himself in through the door, stopping the wheelchair off to the side and giving me a knowing look. “I told them it was too much.”
He wore a very loosely fitting suit and a simple black face mask to protect him from airborne threats. I smiled, gesturing to his outfit. “At least you tried to blend in.”
“Don’t thank me yet, sis. This thing is one wrong move away from sliding right off me.”
Ozzy ran a hand through his hair as he looked around. “So this is the place, huh? I thought it would be a bit more… colorful.”
“People are staring,” I pointed out, looking at the large dining room full of people.
Patrick scoffed and turned to the restaurant with a smile. “Eat yer hearts out, you rich a-”
I slapped my hand over his mouth and dragged him back to my side. “Shut up! You can’t just waltz into my workplace and call these assholes assholes.”
“Oh, lighten up, girly,” Patrick teased.
“I could get fired!”
Peter rolled his eyes. “Howard wouldn’t fire you.”
“Relax and try to have some fun, tight ass,” Patrick added.
Jake and Nicky stifled their laughter from behind the bar. “Your ass is the one that’s gonna feel tight with my foot shoved up it.”
Peter looked behind the bar and nodded to the two men there. “Nice to finally meet some of Lee’s coworkers.”
“You must be her brother,” Nicky smiled. “I’m Nicky. This asshole is Jake.”
“Jake,” he repeated, looking him up and down. Then, finally, he looked at me with gleaming eyes. “He certainly is your type.” He said in Irish.
“Good lord, not you too.”
Patrick threw an arm over my shoulder. “Lighten up! Tonight is going to be fun!”
Howard walked briskly toward us, trying to mask how his brows rose at the sight of my group. “You must be the Harrow party.”
Ozzy grinned. “That’s right. Nice place you’ve got here.”
Howard nodded, looking past Patrick to Peter. “It’s a pleasure to have our paths cross again, Peter. I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”
“Always a pleasure, Howard,” my brother said in a tense tone.
“Be nice,” I quickly signed to him.
“I’m always nice,” he signed back. Then, with a grunt, he pulled himself out of the wheelchair. Patrick’s hand on my arm was the only thing keeping me from rushing forward to help him. Peter struggled a bit but steadily himself, rising to meet Howard’s height. “Where are we dining tonight?”
With a tight smile, he gestured to the closest table. “Right this way.” Patrick discreetly helped Peter down the stairs as they headed toward the neatly made table. “Everything has been freshly placed, so it’s perfectly sterilized.”
“Thank you, Howard.” I shook my head. “I apologize for the disruption to your evening.”
He waved me off. “Nonsense. You’re Glovers, maybe not in name but in blood. Besides, this place is as much yours as it is mine at this point. So please, enjoy your night Lena.”
The table was right in front of the bar, front and center of the whole dining room. Howard pulled out my seat for me as Sasha stepped beside him, winking at me before showcasing his skills in service by presenting the wine he’d selected and filling each of our glasses while he talked about it. He poured Peter’s water and stroked his cheek with a smile. “Good to see you, little sick boy.”
“Good to see you too, exotic cheater,” Peter replied, taking a sip of his water.
“Do you know what you’d like to order this evening?” Sasha asked after giving us a minute to mull over the menu.
I gave him my selection, knowing full well the quality of the meat and Scott’s perfect technique. Ozzy ordered what sounded the fanciest, which turned out to be one of the more straightforward dishes on the menu, and then there was Patrick, who hummed some jaunty Irish tune as he mulled over his options. “It all sounds so… pretentious.”
Sasha nodded. “I recommend the Dukkah-crusted salmon with quinoa and arugula salad. It’s one of our less pretentious dishes.”
Patrick chuckled and tipped his glass to Sasha. “Sounds perfect.”
Peter ordered a relatively simple dish, one I knew would likely make him feel sicker after the fact. I waited until Sasha returned to the kitchen to quietly excuse myself and follow him. The doors swung open, and Sasha smirked at me. “I knew you’d be following, sneaky bitch.”
“I’ve gotta make sure he can handle the meal,” I answered him before turning to address Scott.
“Oooh,” Isaac cooed as he turned. “Somebody looks hot tonight!”
The cooks all joined in, of course. Finally, Scott rolled his eyes and shouted, “Everybody shut the fuck up! She knows she looks good. Spill it Red; what do you need?”
“Sorry to slow down service Chef,” I started. “I just wanted to hand deliver my brother’s order. He’s… He’s got some dietary stuff.”
“Better safe than sorry,” he replied, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. “Give me the list of what he can’t have, and we’ll accommodate, won’t we?”
“Yes, Chef!”
I smiled, accepting the rare sight of Scott’s good side. “Okay, so all meat needs to be cooked through, nothing unpasteurized, no raw sprouts, and he’ll need toned-down spice. Ummm, also, any alcohol needs to be reduced and cooked down fully.”
Scott nodded, double-checking the paper before nodding. “Did everyone get that?”
“Heard, Chef!” The kitchen answered.
He nodded to the kitchen door and smiled, quick and thin. “Don’t sweat it, Red. We’re professionals back here.”
“Thanks, Scott, you’re the best!” I replied quietly, slipping out the kitchen door and making my way back to the table where Patrick was laughing as loud as possible, and Ozzy was struggling to grab hold of the small appetizer on his plate. Again, I giggled, sitting next to Peter. “Having trouble, Oz?”
“Why do they make these things so damn small?” He asked, holding his hands up. “Do these look like dainty baby fingers to you?”
“No,” we all answered.
“No!” He reaffirmed with a shake of his head as he grabbed his fork and stabbed into the small food item. “Fuck manners.”
Peter smiled at me. “Did you get the menu off your chest?”
With a nod, I sighed. “Sorry, I know I’m being extra about it all, but-”
“But you just want to make sure I get to enjoy this,” he finished. “I know, Lee, and I appreciate it. I appreciate all of you making tonight happen.”
“It’s the least we could give you,” Ozzy assured him. “Besides, I know how badly you’ve wanted to meet our girl’s work friends.”
Patrick lifted his wine to his lips. “Jake,” he muttered before tipping the glass back and sloppily sucking up the rich liquid.
I kicked his shin. “Shut up. And stop chugging the wine, you animal.”
While we waited for our food, Peter watched the dining room, the servers specifically. Though his eyes always seemed to follow one in particular. Simone smiled at us as she passed by, dropping off her plates of food and making polite small talk with her table, doing everything to earn those tips. Peter leaned over after she’d disappeared through the kitchen doors. “She’s the one that reminds you of mom?”
“Yeah,” I answered. “How’d you know?”
“She reminds me of her too.” Peter laughed. “It’s weird seeing another person like her just out and about.”
“We’ll keep our distance,” I assured him.
The food was terrific, though I’d expected no less from Scott. Peter cleared his plate, a sight I was glad to see after months of half-eaten food and hearing him vomit from the other room. He was really here, a bit pale and skinny but eating… But getting better. For a minute, all I could do was stare at him, thanking whatever gods or beings I could that my brother was still here.
Ozzy and Patrick blew through the wine, happily grumbling about how delicious the food was and how stuffed they were. Patrick unbuttoned his pants, “Feels like I just spent an hour with Nana.”
“Stop that!” I hissed, trying not to laugh.
“Sorry, sis, gotta make some room, or I’ll bust.”
Peter tapped my arm. “Hey, do me a favor?”
“No booze.”
“I know,” he insisted. “I just want to sniff it. Come on, Lee, let me live through you.”
“Fine,” I caved. “Which one?”
“Irish whiskey.”
“Of course,” I groaned, turning and making my way to the bar. Jake smiled, polishing a glass. “Got any Irish whiskey?”
He nodded. “Course. Didn’t take you for a whiskey, lady.”
“I’m not.” I nodded to Peter. “He loves it, though.”
My brother took his time, opting to listen to a story Ozzy started telling before meeting me at that bar. “So,” Jake started. “I knew you had a brother, but I didn’t know he was sick.”
I sloshed my drink around for a few seconds. “Yeah. He’ll pull through. Pete’s a fighter.”
“Why keep it a secret?”
“Didn’t want the pity.” I looked at him and chuckled. “Admit it, you pitied me a little when you realized he was sick.”
“Alright, fair point.”
“It just… Never sits well with me how everyone pities me and apologizes when I’m not sick.” I shook my head. “Peter is the one that has to live with it, that has to fight. He deserves respect and pity and everything in between.”
Peter sat down next to me, pulling the drink from my hand, lifting the glass to his nose, and inhaling deeply. “Ahh, that’s the good stuff.”
I put my hand on the glass when he pressed his lips to it. “No.”
“Just a little sip?” He begged.
“A tiny one,” I relented, loosening my hold on the glass only for him to tip it almost all the way back. “Peter!”
He chuckled, swallowing the rich liquid with a wince. “Sorry, sis, I couldn’t help myself.”
“Asshole,” I grumbled, pulling what remained in the glass away from him. Nicky chuckled. “Don’t encourage him!”
Patrick sat down on the opposite side of me and sighed. “Loosen up. One little drink won’t kill him.”
“No, but I might.”
“I’ve got to get back to the bar,” Ozzy said, pressing a kiss to my head and giving the boys a clap on the shoulder. “See you, kids, tomorrow! Try not to stay out too late. You make sure they rest, Lena.”
“When did she get put in charge?” Patrick complained.
“Since you chugged the wine!” Ozzy replied.
“Goodnight, Oz,” the three of us called after him.
With the last guests gone, everyone slowly began filtering down from the locker room. They all approached Peter with smiles and friendly handshakes. Sasha finally got to tell his story of meeting my sickly brother, and I introduced them all as best I could until I got to an unfamiliar face.
“And this is…” I looked more carefully at the girl standing in front of me. Dark hair, a round face, and a nervous smile. “I don’t actually know this one.”
“Olive,” she said with a giggle. “I just started.”
Smiling back, I offered her my hand. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Lena. I usually work in the kitchen.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said quietly. “You must be pretty good to be working in the kitchen.”
Laughing, I shrugged. “I don’t know about that, but I’m sure you’ll pick things up quickly.”
She looked around with awe in her eyes. “I hope so. This place is amazing.”
“That it is,” Simone said, smiling at Peter and holding her hand out. “It’s a pleasure to meet Lena’s family.” Her eyes trailed down his ill-fitting suit. “Though judging by the attire, it was last minute.”
Peter shook his head. “Not last minute. These idiots had their outfits picked out last week.”
Simone’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Oh, forgive me. I just assumed since it seems you hadn’t had the time to tailor the suit.”
Here we go, I thought to myself as Peter hid a smirk. “Oh, this used to fit me great. I lost quite a bit of weight recently. Leukemia is a bitch like that.”
Her face fell as she scrambled to apologize. I slapped his arm lightly and spoke to him in Irish, “Don’t make jokes like that.”
“It was funny,” He insisted. “Plus, she’s a bitch.”
I rolled my eyes. “No more cancer jokes, asshole.”
“Alright, alright,” he chuckled. “Sorry, my humor can be a bit… abrasive.”
Simone cleared her throat and nodded. “It’s quite alright.” She caught Howard’s gaze and smiled. “Walk me home, Howard?”
The tall manager nodded. “Of course, goodnight changelings!”
“Now that the boring ones are gone,” Sasha began with a wide smirk. “Let’s give our guests a true party!”
Nicky rolled his eyes. “You hooligans forget I don’t have all night to sit around and clean up after you.”
I stood, downing the rest of my whisky, and headed around the bar. “Get outta here, Nicky, Jake, and I will clean up and close it all down.”
“Oh, will we?” Jake questioned with raised brows.
“Yep,” I answered sweetly as I kissed Nicky’s cheek. “Go on.”
Nicky looked over at Jake, who shook his head and shrugged. “You heard her. We got it.”
“Thanks,” he replied, giving me a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t break anything!”
I tied half my hair up to keep it out of my face and smiled over the bar at Sasha. “What do you want, prince Sasha?”
He beamed. “God, I love you!”
Jake and I worked side by side for a while, though he spent most of his time behind the bar answering the slew of questions the new girl asked him. She leaned over the side of the bar closest to the kitchen, showing off her cleavage and batting her eyes at him whenever he glanced her way. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at the high-pitched praises she lamented to him, clearly looking to stroke more than his ego. Patrick wiggled his eyebrows at my slightly irritated face while Peter’s smile thinned into a straight line as he watched me from the other side of the bar.
Prue skipped through the front door before I could ask him what was wrong. She happily tracked Will down and pressed a kiss to his cheek before running to Peter and pulling him into her arms for a tight hug. Quinn smirked as she tossed something over the bar before giving my brother an equally loving hug. I caught the peach with relative ease. My brows furrowed. “No. Quinn, come on!”
“Yep!” Quinn said smugly, sitting down across from me. “I decree that The Peach Soiree will be held in one week’s time. Payback for not returning my calls when you left.”
Everyone looked at us like we were crazy, but Scott was the one to ask it outright, “What the hell is The Peach Soiree?”
I sighed, setting the peach down on the counter. “It’s a party kind of. We each get to be in charge of one every year.”
“Mine is The Peach Soiree,” Quinn said with glee winking at Ari. “I’m an ass girl.”
“Prue’s is The Melon Matinee,” I continued. “She throws hers at the beginning of the year because she’s impatient.”
Prue made a noise and quickly signed, “Fuck you.”
Quinn said, laughing, “And our lovely little Lena’s is The Cherry Gala.”
“Why cherry?” Jake asked, looking over at me with a sly grin. “Let me guess, the hair?”
“Nope,” I replied, making sure to pop the P.
“Wait, have they not seen what you can do with cherry stems?” Quinn asked with a shocked and delighted face.
I groaned and threw the peach at her. “You’re the worst! You know that, right?”
Jake turned with that devilish air of absolute curiosity that told me he wouldn’t let this go anytime soon. “Cherry stems, huh?”
“Yeah,” I answered, sliding Sasha his drink. “It’s not that impressive.”
“Let’s just say she’s good with her tongue,” Quinn teased. “She’d make a great lesbian.”
I pointed at her with a poorly concealed grin. “One more word, and I won’t offer to get your little soiree a reservation.”
Her mouth hung open, and her eyes shifted to large puppy dog eyes. “OH PLEASE!!! It would be so perfect, Lena! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll do it if you shut up!”
“My lips are sealed,” she answered, dragging her long, manicured nail over her lips.
Jake leaned on the bartop. “So when’s your party?”
“Next year.”
“She used hers a few months ago,” Quinn said before remembering her promise.
“Was it any fun?”
I rolled my eyes and shrugged. “I thought it was.”
He sighed, “Come on, princess. You gotta give me more than that.”
Quinn’s eyes grew wide at the nickname. I ignored her and Prue, looking at Jake with a smug smile. “I don’t, though.”
“That’s just cruel.” His eyes slid down to my lips. “You at least gonna show me that cherry trick?”
“It’s really not that impressive.”
Sasha rolled his eyes, reaching over the bar and clamoring around for the cherry jar. “Enough foreplay!” He set the jar in my hand and winked. “Show us what that talented tongue does, sassy Tiger!”
I shook my head, opening the jar and ignoring the hoops and hollers that filled the bar. I pulled two cherries free of the stems and showed them to everyone before popping them into my mouth. My tongue worked the top into a knot with ease before I turned it and did the same to the bottom, finishing the not-so-impressive heart shape by shoving my tongue between the two stems and bending the top with a tiny bit of pressure. Pulling it out of my mouth, I showed the group the little cherry stem heart and set it down on the bar top. “There. Like I said, not very impressive.”
Ari gave me a look as she fanned herself. “That was so hot.”
Quinn shot her a teasing look and laughed as Ari pinched her arm. Sasha clapped loudly. “Tiger Bitch you never fail!”
Jake picked the cherry stem heart up and looked at it for a minute before he turned to tease me. “That’s cute.”
“Shut up,” I groaned, trying to flick it out between his fingers. But instead, he moved it out of the way and laughed as I shoved him toward the kitchen. “Go get changed, loser.”
*
He squeezed past the busty, doe-eyed girl as she smiled, batting her eyelashes at him, and went upstairs to follow Lena’s advice and change. When he opened his locker to find the familiar sleek black leather of his jacket, Jake smiled. How the hell did she even get this up here? Her perfume was all over it, covering up the boozy musk he’d been so used to the old thing reeking of. God, he wanted to keep it to his nose and burn that smell into his sinuses.
After he changed into a simple T-shirt and jeans, he slid the jacket over his shoulders and put the cherry stem heart in his pocket, already thinking of how much fun he’d have pulling it out to randomly tease his little redhead. The doorway filled with the familiar copper-haired brute and the thinner bald man. Patrick and Peter looked around for a minute before they looked at each other. “You wanna start, or should I?
Peter scoffed, “I’m the oldest. I’ll start.”
“There a problem?” Jake asked calmly. If they’d wanted to kick his ass, Patrick certainly would have done it by now.
“Not yet,” Patrick replied, keeping his arm out as Peter took a step forward.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” the brother said with a grin. “Oz and Pat have been pretty good at keeping me in the loop regarding you and my little sister.”
Jake shook his head, leaning back against his locker. “There’s not much to tell. We’re friends.”
Patrick rolled his eyes, mumbling something in a different language that made Peter chuckle. “Friends is hardly the word I’d use to describe you two. But I don’t care what you call it so long as one thing stays the same. You respect her.”
“God knows she’s had enough of dumb little pretty boys taking advantage of her,” Patrick added, giving him a stern look, not unlike the ones he’d been giving him from the start.
“Listen, Jake,” Peter continued. “I know, my sister. I know she comes off as this strong, indestructible force of nature that can kick anyone’s ass, and that doesn’t feel a damn thing.” He winced as he shifted, balancing himself on Patrick’s waiting arm. “Lena is strong… She is one of the strongest people I know, but she’s still human. It still hurts when people she cares about let her down.”
“And you think she cares about me?” He asked, trying to sound amused to cover up the way he genuinely wanted to know.
Patrick nodded, quietly making sure Peter wouldn’t fall. “She doesn’t bring just anyone to the old place, and she’s brought you more than enough times. Even talked about pops.”
“She also shared Cape Cod with you.” Peter nodded. “Yeah, I know about that. If she trusts you with that, then it means something. So, I’ll just cut to the chase to make a long conversation short. You hurt her, and I will kill you. Dom will be on board. He already isn’t too fond of you, so making it look like an accident or some bs will be a breeze.”
Jake looked at the thin, sickly man whose suit hung off him in a way that would typically be comedic. He could take Peter down with one light push if he wanted to. But, instead, he remembered how Lena spoke of him, of the big brother that loved to box and was kind and good. Peter may not have looked like a boxer now, but the rest remained true. So, Jake took his warning with a humble nod. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
A smile spread on his face as he nodded. “Good. Now let’s go before she realizes we’ve been sneaky.”
Patrick helped him back down the stairs sparing Jake a last look over his shoulder. It was a quick and simple look of gratitude as he nodded his head to Jake that made him feel weird. He’d never had someone like Patrick’s approval… never had someone’s big brother treat him with respect instead of just chasing him out of his one-night stands with cuss words and physical threats. Jake held back a minute to sit in the feeling before putting on his black beanie and going back downstairs.
*
“Where to now, big brother?” I asked when Peter and Patrick returned from the bathroom. “The night is yours.”
Peter shrugged for a minute. “The old arcade?”
Sasha clapped his hands together. “I’ve never been to an American arcade! Is it shit?”
Patrick laughed, “Absolutely!”
“Can we come?” The Russian pleaded, his studded sleeves catching in the light as he brought his hands together to beg. “Please, little sick boy!”
“Everyone is more than welcome to come,” Peter insisted. “The more, the merrier, I always say. Unless the more are doctors, then it’s not as fun.”
Jake strode out from the kitchen, wearing his leather jacket and a simple black beanie. It was stupid how happy seeing him back in the jacket I’d bribed Isaac into sneaking into his locker. I hadn’t noticed before how well it suited him… how good he really looked in it. His lips curled into a smile as he caught my blatant stare. “Arcade?” I blurted out. “You coming with?”
“Aren’t those for kids?” He asked.
“They’re fun,” I insisted. “You coming or not, grumpy?”
Sasha leaned over the counter and tugged on Jake’s hat. “Come on, grumpy Jake! Join us in being children tonight!”
“You’re a child every night, Sasha,” Jake retorted, fixing his hat.
“I have to stop by my place to change,” I told Peter and Patrick as they started heading toward the door. “Please, for the love of god, tell me you two are going to change too.”
They laughed but nodded. Patrick waved his hand at me. “Of course. I wouldn’t want to ruin my suit!”
“See you there?” Peter asked, checking his watch. “Ten minutes?”
“See you in ten.”
Quinn nodded toward Prue and Will. “I’m catching a ride with them.”
“Se you there. Don’t let them fuck in the back of the cab!”
“On it!” She yelled back before disappearing out the door after Will and Prue.
I pointed to the rest of the group. “I can help cover cab fare with anyone that needs it, but I’ve gotta run home first.”
Sasha and Ari quickly raised their hands. “We want to see your apartment!”
“Why?” I asked.
“We have a bit of a bet going,” Ari admitted.
Sasha nodded, smirking. “I think you live like I do, filthy with sex toys and lingerie everywhere!”
Ari rolled her eyes. “And I think you’re a neat freak with drawers dedicated to your dirty sexy little secrets.”
“You two are nuts,” I replied. “But come on.”
“Got room for one more?” Jake asked.
I smiled. “I thought you were above the arcade.”
“I never said that,” he answered. “Can I ride with you or not?”
“Sure, just try not to let us children get on your nerves too much.”
The cab ride was pretty short, and before I knew it, I was leading two loud, obviously, already kind of drunk individuals up my front steps. Jake followed behind them quietly, taking in the sights of my building’s newly painted hallway as I unlocked my front door. Sasha and Ari scurried inside like two hyperactive dogs, quickly looking around to confirm or deny their bets. Once Jake stepped over the thresh hold, I closed the door and flipped on the lights. “Tada. Is it everything you hoped it would be?”
Sasha pouted as he handed Ari a twenty-dollar bill. “I’m disappointed in you, Tiger Bitch. I thought you’d be more of a mess.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” I replied, patting his cheek as I passed. My apartment was nothing special. Most of my essential belongings were in my old bedroom above the gym, safely tucked away with two of the people I trusted most. Jake went straight for the bookshelf, leafing through my collection while Sasha and Ari opened drawers and cabinets randomly, trying to sniff out my secrets. “Make yourselves at home. I’ll just be a minute.”
I closed my bedroom door behind me, quickly fishing out my comfiest pair of jeans and a simple long-sleeved shirt from my drawers. Tossing them onto my bed, along with my comfortable shoes, I started trying to attempt the zipper on my dress. I could barely reach it, but no matter how much I pulled or wiggled the damn thing, it didn’t budge. Finally, with a frustrated sigh, I kicked off my shoes and opened my door.
“Hey,” I called out into the living room, turning my back to the now-open door. “Someone help me with this piece of shit zipper?”
I’d expected Ari or Sasha to come to my aid, but a familiarly rough hand settled on my back, and his smokey smell wafted around me. Jake’s fingers carefully brushed my hair over my shoulder, skimming the strip of exposed skin and causing a ripple of pleasure to shoot down my spine. I held in the unholy noise that threatened to make him even more smug and unbearable in his flirtatious pursuit. He pulled on the zipper a few times before it finally loosened, and the warm pads of his fingers glided down my spine, following the shape of the snake tattooed there until he stopped at the middle of my back. “Think you can get it the rest of the way from here?”
Swallowing the heated lump in my throat, I looked at him over my shoulder, smiling like a dumbass. “Yeah, I can get it. Thanks.”
Jake smirked, his eyes shamelessly drinking in the sight of my bare back. “No problem, princess.”
Damn him and that stupid nickname. I slid back behind the safety of my bedroom door, closing it with a quiet sigh. He’s just a friend. I reminded myself. Don’t be a dummy, you fucking dummy! I double-checked that the door was closed before sliding the dress off and shoving on my less-revealing clothes. I washed the makeup off my face and fixed a few puffed-up sections of my hair, securing the half updo and heading back to my living room.
Sasha and Ari were raccoons, sniffing through my kitchen and pulling my couch apart. Jake leaned against the wall by my door, reading one of the books he’d pulled off my shelf. “Sasha! Put my couch back together!”
“Where are the sex toys?” He whined. “I know they’re here!”
“Leave my sex toys alone, you Russian raccoon. Ari, don’t eat all my crackers.”
“Sorry,” she said with a mouthful of food. “I’m so high right now.”
Jake raised his brow. “What, no scolding for me?”
I shook my head. “I’m just as surprised as you.”
“Hemmingway?” He asked, lifting up the book.
“It’s a classic.” I pulled it out of his hands and set it on the shelf. “Alright, let’s go. The arcade is just a little ways past Ozzy’s.”
Ari groaned. “We’re walking?”
“You walk everywhere,” I reminded her, practically shoving them all out my door and locking it behind me.
“I’m really high, though,” she laughed, leaning against Sasha.
He waved us on. “I’ve got her. Just lead the way.”
Jake and I took up the front, casually tagging one another at random and making small talk about the neighborhood and the arcade. It got easier to ignore the loud remarks Ari and Sasha made about Jake and Is “upcoming fucking" as they liked to call it. Though I could tell they made Jake tense up more each time.
The old arcade light shone brightly across the street, where the rest of our group huddled together, waiting. “There you are!” Heather rolled her eyes and slid beneath Sasha’s waiting arm. “These people are insane!”
“You can say that again,” the Russian agreed.
“Hey, Jake,” Olive chirped with an awkward wave.
His brows furrowed, but he waved back regardless as we made our way inside. It was shitty; old arcades usually were around here. You could practically taste the burnt pizza crust and cheap soda that was always just a little too watered down. Lights were on in every corner, flashing and dashing and everything in between. It was chaos. The chaos screamed with some of my few good memories from childhood.
I’d spent hours here on weeks when I was with my dad and the boys. We’d all spend the day running errands for Nana to earn enough change to buy some coins. Patrick rigged every game he touched, winning hundreds of tokens and ending up with the biggest prizes. Peter worshiped laser tag and got crazy good at it, while I just enjoyed the sounds and the freedom.
Breathing in the shitty air, I smiled. “God, this place is great.”
“It’s interesting,” Jake said quietly, analyzing the don’t room. “You spend a lot of time here?”
“When I was with my dad,” I admitted. “The three of us used to be quite the hit around here. Quinn too.
“I can imagine.”
Nudging him, I gestured to everything. “You ever get to waste time in a shit hole like this?”
He shook his head. “Not really. Simone hates these places, so she always found some excuse to keep me far away.”
The anger I felt toward Simone grew at that moment. Denying Jake so much of his childhood over something as minor as her own opinion was selfish. Though it wasn’t surprising considering the woman’s need for control. My brothers and Will stood by the door to the laser tag arena, their eyes lighting up as they caught mine, waving me over to get me to join their game. “So… You’ve never played laser tag before?”
“Nope,” he said.
They waved me over again, big eyes begging as they shouted please at me. “Come on then. You’re gonna lose your laser tag virginity.”
Jake rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Am I?”
“Come on,” I pleaded. “You’re being such a grump!”
“I’d be far less grumpy if I was drunk.”
“You gotta give this place a real shot. Come on!” I grinned. “I’ll let you be on my team.”
Finally, he gave in and nodded. “Fine, one game. But you owe me.”
I scoffed. “Resorting to extortion? That’s a new low.”
“Low but effective.”
“Alright, I’ll owe you. Now, let's go.”
Olive slipped into the group, evening out the teams. We all stood in the back room, getting fitted into our vests and assigned our guns. Olive, Jake, and I were on the blue team, while my brothers and Will were on the red team. The employees gave a very dull presentation on the game's safety and the rules while Patrick and I made faces at each other and silent threats with our hands.
“Don’t be fooled by Peter’s sickly appearance,” I warned, making sure my vest fit snuggly. “He’s an absolute powerhouse at laser tag.”
Jake smirked, overconfident. “Yeah?”
I slapped his arm. “Yeah, and he’s not gonna go easy on you, first time or not. Don’t even try to go up against Patrick. That asshole is insane, and he’s not afraid to throw a punch or two to win.”
“Sounds like you guys really hate losing.”
“We’re competitive,” I replied. “Especially when losers have to treat.”
“Competitive and cheap,” he said with a laugh. “You Harrows are somethin’ else.”
Rolling my eyes, I stepped forward, tightening one of his straps. Then, looking up at him through my lashes, I smiled, “Try to keep up grumpy.”
Olive cleared her throat and stepped up closer to us. “This is gonna be awesome, right?”
I stepped back and laughed. “Absolutely.”
Patrick narrowed his eyes at me, sticking his tongue out. Then, he shouted in Irish, “Your little boyfriend’s ass is mine, girly!”
“Not if I get your ass first!” I shouted back, flipping him off. “Pete, try not to overdo it!” Peter rolled his eyes, carefully following the employee back to their respective starts.
The laser tag arena was two floors of walls, both large and short, with holes in various spots for aiming. The three of us stood on the far end, against the blue wall. From there, I could see the red wall peaking up over the second floor. The lights dimmed, and the neons glowed brighter, illuminating the shitty pattern on the carpet and casting all of us in a glow of ugly bright colors. Jake didn’t look ugly, though. As I turned to look up at him, I couldn’t ignore how the blue brought out his eyes and how the haze of greens, reds, and yellows made him look like he’d been carved from stone.
He looked down at me with a smile, one of the rare ones that wasn’t some shit-eating smirk that followed his quips or the stiff ones I was convinced he smiled just because it was expected of him. “Better stay close, Red,” he said, tugging on a strand of my slightly luminous hair. I rolled my eyes and waited for the countdown and the vests' buzz, signaling the game's start.
Peter would stay low. He had the energy to play, but that didn’t mean he had the energy to climb to the next level or down when the game ended. Patrick would go high, he always did to try to get some kind of advantage on the other team, and he liked jumping down and scaring people. And then there was Will. Will was the wildcard. I hadn’t played with him before, but he seemed like the type that would be surprisingly good at the game.
It began in earnest when the fog machines kicked in with that familiar hissing sound. We walked forward, and Olive practically curled into Jake’s side, not even bothering to keep her gun up. Peter’s vest peeked out from one of the barricades as he swiftly vanished in the fog. I stopped, quickly aiming and shooting the lit-up red vest just as Patrick jumped down, trying to catch us off-guard. He made a fuss for a moment before he grinned as Peter and Will emerged behind us.
Olive went down easy as Jake and I dodged to the side, squeezing into a little covered half circle. Chest to chest, I could smell his lightly spiced cologne and smoke as I looked up and smiled. “This close enough for you?”
Jake hummed, pressing himself even closer to me. “Not nearly close enough.”
“Peter’s the one to worry about.” I turned my head away from his intense gaze, looking at the little section I could see. “If Will’s smart, he’ll be going up top to try and get a better view.”
“I go high, you go low?” He asked.
“It’s a decent plan,” I answered.
He nodded to the dark foggy arena. “Let’s go then. I’d hate to owe your brothers a drink.”
I slipped out first, going right where Peter had been last. Glancing back at Jake, who headed left toward the upper level, I admired the bright smile on his face and the gleam of a childhood dream being fulfilled. My brother was moving slower than usual, which led us to our stalemate, him behind one of the erect barriers and me behind one of the kneeling ones. “Having fun, Pete?”
“I’m about to kick your ass at laser tag. Of course, I’m having fun!”
With a laugh I stood, aiming my gun at the barrier he should have been behind, only to have him jump out from a different one and hit square on the sensor. “Damn! You’re moving quicker than I thought!”
He shrugged. “I’ll admit I have had to resort to some of Patrick’s trickery.”
His vest flashed as a laser from up top hit the sensor. Jake smirked down at us. “Trickery aside, that was a good game.”
Peter nodded. “Looks like we owe you two a drink.”
“Don’t worry about it tonight,” I said, patting my brother on the back. “We’ll demand payment in two or three business days.”
“How considerate of you.”
In the back room where we removed our gear, Olive chattered about how fun the game was and how amazing Jake did. A heavy pit began to form in my chest as I watched her hop on her feet, drawing Jake’s eyes to the low neckline of her top and the very obvious cleavage that practically spilled out of it. It was a decent move to get a man's attention, one I couldn’t fault her for taking advantage of, but something about it bothered me. I felt… disappointed… disappointed that he looked? No. I shook my head and smiled as Jake turned to look at me. “Good game. You’re now officially no longer a laser tag virgin.”
“It was pretty straightforward,” he answered. “But it was nice having a seasoned vet in my corner.”
The six of us returned to the main lobby, purchasing coins and slowly making our way through various games. Quinn pulled me onto the dance machine next to her the second I tried to slide past. “Dance with me!”
“You dance all night for a living,” I teased. “How can you have the energy for this?”
“I have godly stamina,” she replied, winking at Ari. “You know that, Lee.”
“Alright, bring it on, stamina goddess!”
Both of us bobbed to the music that played over the shitty surround system, barely even looking at the screens before we started moving our feet. Left. Left. Right. Back. Right. Front. It brought me back to when Quinn and I first started hanging out. The wild nights of her and I ripping up the arcade with Patrick and Peter until Dad and Ozzy eventually came to drag us home.
She grabbed my hand, belting out the song's words and urging me to give in to the music. “Move your hips, Lena, just like I taught you!” Through the others gathered around cheering us on, I could feel Jake’s eyes. Unlike the many times before, this time, there was a rush to have captured his gaze. It made my face burn and my heartbeat quicken ever so slightly as I tried to focus on the moves, not him.
Quinn won. She always won; of course, when she did, she was unbearable about it. “HA!” She cheered, jumping up and down, shaking her ass at me. “And that is why stamina is important, kids!”
I slapped her hip and hopped down. Patrick took my place and grinned at her. “Let’s go, Quinny.”
Prue waved me to where she and Will stood next to Jake and Olive at the mini golf course. “Grab a putter and come with us!”
Jake clapped his hands together. “Quite the show you gave us, princess.”
I followed Prue’s instructions and smirked at him. “Never would have pegged you for a golf guy.”
“I’m not,” he admitted. “Prue’s convincing, though.”
“Yeah, she’s good at dragging people to do stuff.” I swung my putter around a little. “What’d she bribe you with?”
“Secrets,” Jake whispered, smacking my putter with his.
I rolled my eyes. “Liar. Prue’s an angel. No amount of golf could convince her to sell my secrets.”
Jake shrugged. “Maybe, but I can be convincing too.”
Prue and Will headed inside, leading the group in the shittiest and shortest mini-golf course. Jake was surprisingly shit at it, which made the whole thing much more fun. Olive was good, clearly coming from that family that always went mini golfing on vacations, but she purposefully stuck back. I bit my lip, watching her stand just a little too close to Jake as he lined up his shot. Prue rubbed my arm and quietly asked, “You good?”
I finished the final hole and smiled at her. “I’m good.”
The employee looked at my card and gave me a string of tickets as I exited and headed toward the ticket counter. I didn’t want to focus on how I felt seeing Olive glued to Jake’s side all night. I didn’t want to admit that maybe… just maybe, the little green monster had bitten my ass while I wasn’t looking. Even worse, I didn’t want to admit that the little green monster was only a symptom of a much larger and much more complicated feeling. So instead, I waited for them to count my tickets and give me whatever shitty prize I’d won.
From the front, I could see everyone laughing with each other as they moved from one game to another. Sasha had his arms around Ari and Heather, pointing out how most game names could be dirty if you said them right. Peter sat in his wheelchair, tossing the small basketballs across the long game toward the hoop. He was good, but I could see the effort it took him now to keep getting the ball through the hoop. Patrick stood beside him, tossing balls, each one missing completely.
Jake strolled out of the mini-golf section and put his gear away before making his way to my side. “Finally finished?”
Leaning against the counter, he replied, “I told you I’m not a golf guy.”
“Yeah, well, a little golf didn’t kill you,” I teased. “Got any tickets to cash in?”
“You actually keep those?” He questioned with a raised brow.
“Hell yeah!” I insisted, nodding to the wall of cheap toys. “I wouldn’t miss out on this goldmine.”
He chuckled, watching the man behind the counter finish counting and pull a little stuffed frog out from beneath the counter. “This is what I’ve got for thirty tickets.”
I giggled, looking at the tiny crooked crown, its angry face, and its too-long limbs. “It’s perfect, thank you.” Then, turning to present the stuffed animal to Jake, I grinned. “See? Who wouldn’t want this?”
He nodded along. “It’s quite the prize for all your hard work. You gonna name it too?”
Humming, I looked at the little angry frog face and laughed. “I think I’ll call him Jake.”
Jake laughed and shook his head. “How creative.”
“He even looks like you,” I replied, showing him the grumpy face and laughing harder.
“Jake!” Olive called out, hurrying from the golf cave with a handful of tickets. “You forgot your tickets.”
With a sigh, he took them from her hands and tossed them over the counter to the employee, who started counting them. “Thanks.”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled at him. “This has been quite a night, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he answered, barely looking at her. “It’s been fun.”
“I thought arcades were too childish for your adult tastes,” I responded. “Is this you admitting that maybe I was right?”
He rolled his eyes. “It is childish, but I guess I liked it more than I thought I would.”
I nodded. “Soooo, I was right?”
Jake laughed and shook his head but relented all the same. “You were right.”
The employee finished counting the tickets and set another frog on the counter. “Here’s your prize.”
Jake looked at the frog with a wide grin before he turned it around to show it to me. His frog had a similar crown but had exaggerated red lips and long eyelashes with little stars in its eyes. “Aww, you got a cute one! You gonna name it?”
“I think I’ll call her Lena,” he replied with a shit-eating grin. “Even looks like you.”
“Oh ha ha,” I answered, swatting his cheek with my frog. “You’re hilarious.”
Olive stood close by us, awkwardly waiting for an opening to show off the simple eraser she’d gotten with her handful of tickets before she politely asked Jake to show her how a game worked. He stuffed his frog into his pocket and walked back into the game section of the arcade as I found a nearby place to sit to give my feet a break. Quinn slid into the seat across from mine, turning to glare at the dark-haired girl across the room. “Are we fucking this bitch up or not?”
“What are you on about?” I asked with a nervous laugh.
“Uhh, the new bitch that’s been glued to your man’s side all night, twirling her hair and touching up on him.” She elaborated as Prue sat beside me.
“That bitch needs to go down,” she signed. “Touching his chest. Putting her dirty hoe ass hands on YOUR jacket!”
I rolled my eyes and swallowed that annoying sense of possessive jealousy that had threatened to overtake me all night. The one I was NOT entitled to feel. “Jake isn’t my man, and the jacket is his. If he wants to flirt with her, he can. He should! We’re just friends.”
Quinn shook her head, pointing to my face. “Ohhh, you’re fuckin pissed!”
“I am not!”
Prue smoothed a finger down the tight crease in between my eyebrows. “Damn, she better back off before you send her to a morgue!”
I rolled my eyes at her and shoved Quinn’s finger down with a sigh. “Listen, Jake is a big boy. He is free to make his own decisions. We’re. Just. Friends.”
The two looked at one another before rolling their eyes. “Right, just friends, whatever you wanna call it, Lee.”
They leaned back, giving me a clear view of Olive giggling at whatever he’d said and tugging on the sleeve of his jacket, pulling him toward some game. This was dumb. Irrational even. Jake was my friend, a friend I liked because friends like each other. It didn’t mean I liked him or had any reason to be angry that someone else liked him too. On the contrary, Jake was fun to be around and fun to flirt with, and I was not the only one entitled to enjoy those things.
After my feet felt a bit less sore, I returned to the fun. Olive now stood with everyone else, watching Sasha and Patrick battle it out on the dance machine. Jake wasn’t with them. I tapped Olive’s shoulder, asking over the noise, “Where’d Jake go?”
She shrugged. “We were over there by the older arcade games. When I turned around to ask him which one he wanted to try, he was gone. I figured he was with you.”
I ignored the snark in her tone and followed her finger over to where she’d said they were when she lost track of him. The annoyingly jaunty tune from the old Swimmer arcade game echoed in my ear as I looked at the group of teenagers attempting to play it. The small figure of the man hit a log before slowly sinking into the water. Game over. Shit. I hurried toward the nearest bathroom, hoping Jake was as easy to predict as I was in moments of panic.
“Jake?” I knocked on the bathroom door before slowly pushing it open just enough that he could hear me. “Jake? It’s Lena.” All I could hear for a minute was the sound of the water running, but the longer I stood in the doorway, the more obvious the uneven sound of his breathing got. “I’m gonna come in… Okay?”
He didn’t speak as I opened the door and quickly shut it behind me. Jake sat on the floor, his face wet and his chest heaving with the effort each sharp breath he sucked in took. I knelt down in front of him, taking up the space between his legs. “Can you tell me what you need?”
Jake shook his head, eyes glossy with tears he refused to let fall. “That’s okay,” I assured him. “Let’s just focus on breathing.” I slowly took hold of his hand and pressed it to my chest, sliding closer to him. “Can you feel my heartbeat?”
He nodded.
“Can you feel my breaths?”
He nodded again.
“Good. Now just try and breathe with me, okay?” I took deep, slow breaths counting quietly out loud to give him some kind of audible distraction. After a few minutes, his breathing began to match my own. “There you go. Just focus on breathing.” Jake’s blue eyes watched me closely, a fear I was familiar with staring back at me. I hadn’t seen this side of him before, and I had no idea what he needed, so I just squeezed his hand and smiled at him, calm and gentle. “You’re here,” I told him, imagining all the times my dad had said the same to me. “You’re safe with me.”
That did something. The fear slowly shifted to a deep look of relief, and then just as quickly, his eyes tore away from me, and his face burned with embarrassment and frustration. I didn’t move, not even when he pulled his hand away from my chest, setting the still, slightly shaking limb on his knee as he flattened his legs out. After a moment of silence, he spoke, voice slightly off. “You can go now. I’m fine.”
“It’s okay not to be okay sometimes,” I said softly. The unspoken message was communicated as I retook hold of his hand. I’m here.
Jake chuckled breathlessly. “Not for me.”
“Why not?” I asked. He didn’t answer, just kept his eyes trained on the wall. For a minute, I just let him catch his breath before I squeezed his hand. “You’re human too, Jake. And after everything that’s happened… That biker asshole punching you and my shit in Cape Cod combined with your own Cape-related stuff. So understandably, you’d be feeling overwhelmed.”
Jake sighed. “It’s so fucking stupid. All this over a dumb arcade game.”
“It’s not stupid.” I stroked my thumb over the back of his hand. “It took me years to get over that shitty fake drowning animation. I still can’t go swimming. No matter how shallow the water is, I always feel like I’m going to sink.” His eyes held the understanding that his face refused to show as he looked at me for a second. “We don’t get to choose what affects us. We just have to do our best to get through it.”
A cold, empty look settled on his face as he retreated back into the safety of his shell with only a quiet mumbled, “Thank you.”
“That’s what friends are for,” I answered, slowly withdrawing. “I’ll give you a few minutes to yourself.”
He didn’t answer, just nodded stiffly.
Coming from a place of absolutely no experience with Jake after a panic attack, I couldn’t offer him much, and it was likely even he didn’t know what he needed. Some space was all I could really give him. And even that didn’t feel like enough. He was my friend, and though he’d opened up to me significantly over the past few months, Jake was still Jake. He was closed off and private about the serious stuff. Even after everything I’d shared with him, he’d given me the bare minimum about himself. That was okay. I was prepared to take the friendship at his pace, given his seemingly limited experience with this sort of thing outside Simone’s well-crafted role.
Jake thought he had to do it all alone, just like I did after moving away from my mother. I was determined to show him he didn’t, just like my dad and Oz and Peter and Patrick had shown me. I didn’t have to suffer alone, and neither did Jake. I kept the group busy while Jake took whatever time he needed, which evidently wasn’t much. It took him all of five minutes to slip out of the bathroom and silently make his way to the door, leaving without a word to anyone. I watched him go, quietly hoping he’d be okay.
The night dragged on, and no one commented on Jake’s absence. He’d done this a lot, I’d gathered. Finally, when the arcade closed for the night, everyone parted ways. Peter was exhausted though he’d never openly admit it, and Patrick had efficiently worn him out too. I helped them get home, opting to stay the night in the old apartment just in case Peter needed anything. The three of us collapsed onto Peter’s old bed, now clean with fresh sheets.
His room was still pretty bare, boxes holding most of his belongings, so none of it got lost while he was away, but the gentle green that painted the walls and the boxing paraphernalia that remained made him smile as he pushed his head into his pillow, fluffing it gently. “I forgot how good real beds feel.”
Patrick rolled onto our legs, trapping us to the bed as he used our limbs to stretch out his back. “Tomorrow, we can continue celebrating, but let’s all just enjoy the peace and quiet for tonight.”
“You enjoy the quiet?” I laughed, lifting my leg to dig my foot into the spot between his shoulders where I knew he held most of his tension. “That’s a good idea, Pat, one of your first!”
“Shut up.”
We laughed for a minute or two before letting the room grow quiet. Outside, the noises of the city were muffled against the sound of Peter’s ceiling fan whirling and the bumping of the old furnace kicking on randomly every few minutes. The sounds of home always helped me drift off, but as I curled into the blankets, Peter mumbled, already half asleep, “I like him.”
“Who?” I asked in a mostly teasing tone. “The arcade guy?”
Peter kicked me. “Jake, you idiot.”
Opening my eyes, I looked at his face, searching for the sarcastic quip that was no doubt coming. Peter was sincere, though, his calm face bathed in the moonlight from his window as he smiled. “You do?”
“He reminds me of you when you still lived with mom.” He shook his head, chuckling. “He seems polite too. Didn’t even laugh when my skinny ass threatened to kill him if he hurt you.”
“When did you do that?”
Patrick groaned from the bottom of the bed. “Did you really think we needed to go to the bathroom?”
I sighed. “You two are idiots. Nothing is happening with Jake and me, so your stupid little threat was pointless.”
Peter just smiled a little wider. “I know you better than anyone, sis. Nothing is going on right now, but you like him.”
“He’s conventionally attractive, but he’s-”
“Your type. Stop pretending you haven’t thought about it.”
“I haven’t,” I insisted. It was a lie, of course, but they didn’t need to hear that.
Patrick laughed, shaking the bed. “Was she always so bad at lying? Or has she just gotten worse over the last few months?”
Peter joined in. “Oh, she’s definitely gotten worse.”
“Fuck both of you,” I replied, trying to kick both of them.
The room grew quiet again, and Peter pulled me into his side, hugging me tightly. “I mean it, though; he seems like an okay guy.”
“Thanks, Pete.” I snuggled into his side, glad to finally have him home again. “Now shut the fuck up and go to sleep. Your sick little ass needs it.”
When my idiot brothers finally closed their eyes and started snoring, I flipped my phone open, scrolling to Jake’s contact and sending a simple message.
Goodnight, Jake.
I lay in bed, watching the hands of the clock until my phone lit up. Relief made the tension I’d been holding onto disappear as I melted into the bed, smiling at his equally simple response.
Goodnight, Lena.
#fic: nightshade#jake and lena#lena harrow#jake x lena#sweetbitter lena#jake sweetbitter#sweetbitter#sweetbitter jake#sweet bitter#sweetbitter simone#sweetbitter ari#sweetbitter sasha#sweetbitter oc#sweetbitter smut#sweetbitter will#sweetbitter patrick#sweetbitter peter#sweetbitter ozzy#sweetbitter quinn#sweetbitter prue#sweetbitter heather#sweetbitter howard#sweetbitter tess#sweetbitter scott#sweetbitter isaac#sweetbitter fic#sweetbitter fandom#sweetbitter fanfiction
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Has anybody ever drawn a girl on here???
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#wattpad#writing#fanfic#fanfiction#romance#original character#charmed#oc#paige matthews#prue halliwell#piper halliwell#phoebe halliwell
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Alistair and Prue
Alistair: "Retired" Military Sargent
Prue: Co-owner of Yoga/wellness studio with daughter Golden
Temporarily staying with their daughter, Golden and SIL Samar ,till their new house was ready. Which cant happen soon enough.
lord what did Nylah just witness post her pops leaving the computer
These 2 cant keep their hands off each other and have major PDA
and did i mention you cant take them anywhere... they literally got busy in Samuel and Diane bathroom during a family dinner
damn that post whoohoo grin
Thank god for their place being ready now.
#ts4#black simblr#black simmer#showusyoursims#ts4 screenshots#ts4 gameplay#sims4 gameplay#my oc#sim: prue#showusyourgameplay#ROJ my sims#ROJ Gameplay#ROJ The Bee Family
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OC HALLOWEEN CHALLENGE 2024
Day 1: Godly Parent
The Cast of my Disney Descendants "The Outsiders Series" and their Godly Parents
Petra Müller as the daughter of Artemis, Goddess of hunting, wild animals, and the moon
Willa Darling as the daughter of Athena, Goddess of wisdom and war
Greer Grimm as the daughter of Dionysus, God of wine, celebration, and ecstasy
Gunter "Tee" Wiley as the son of Hecate, Goddess of magic and witchcraft
Arminta "Minty" Liddell as the daughter of Hebe, Goddess of eternal youth
Tabitha "Tabby" Andrews as Zeus, King of the Gods and the god of the sky, lightning, and thunder
Falk White as Nike, Goddess of victory
Juniper "June" of Agrabah as Aphrodite, Goddess of love and beauty
Reese Hood as Nemesis, Goddess of revenge and retribution
Collette Potts as Harmonia, Goddess of harmony and concord
Prudence "Prue" Woods as Hephaestus, God of fire, blacksmith, and craftsmen
Rosalie Gardener as Demeter, Goddess of agricultur and harvest
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#ocappreciation#ocapp#ohc2024#fyeahdisneydescendantsocs#disney descendants oc#oc: petra müller#oc: willa darling#oc: greer grimm#oc: tee wiley#oc: minty liddell#oc: tabby andrews#oc: falk white#oc: june of agrabah#oc: reese hood#oc: collette potts#oc: prue woods#oc: rosalie gardener
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I need to draw like this again. Stat.
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