#and obviously if someone shows me something I like then yeah that’s awesome. like Erik has always introduced me to music I love. but that’s

[burkymakar]

Erik Johnson Imagine: send her my love

Rating: T (for nonsense)

Requested: yes

Summary: You overhear EJ gush about your relationship. 

BLM Resources

You’ve never been so bored in your entire life.

With all the hockey suddenly back, you’ve been passing the time watching all the games, especially the ones your boyfriend Erik Johnson plays. But that’s still like ten waking hours without him.

If Erik were here, you’d be watching movies, biking together, trying crazy recipes, or having sex. Since quarantine started, you’d probably tried twenty new positions, and maybe invented three.

Since he’s gone, you’ve been passing the time by texting him, but you don’t want to distract him from the Playoffs. So you text the other Wives and Girlfriends.

During the season, you could have hung out with them in person, but you were all afraid of catching COVID. So you instead text, FaceTime or even Zoom. There was a crazy Zoom session for Aleks Zadorova to announce her pregnancy, and it was mostly squealing over the sonograms and suggesting baby names.

(And also apologizing for your boyfriend’s “best sperm on team” comment.)

You’re FaceTiming Mel, who’s showing you Linnea stand on her own.

“She’s getting so big!” You say as Linnea falls backwards onto a perfectly placed pillow. “What a cutie.”

“I know,” Mel says, beaming with maternal pride. “She almost started walking the other day, but I didn’t want Gabe to not see it, so I grabbed my phone to film. She immediately fell and cried.”

“Aww, poor thing,” You coo.

“So she hasn’t tried again, but I almost want her to wait until he comes back.” She sighs. “I miss those idiots.”

“Me too.” You sigh. “But Erik called me last night and read to me.” If and when he could, he tried to read to you from the book he was reading. During quarantine, he’d been trying to read more. Right now, he was reading history, so the book now was Unsolved Mysteries of American History.

Mel grins, “He’s such a dork for you. Will I be hearing wedding bells soon?” She shimmies her shoulders.

You make a face at her, “We’re in no rush. Obviously, I’d love it, but I’m willing to wait. This whole year’s been crazy, and I’d rather he focus on the team.”

“Don’t be so altruistic, you could propose to him.”

“He’d just propose again after me, and upstage me. He’s so much more chaotic than I am.”

“And that’s saying something.”

You go to retort but a phone call bursts on your screen, and it turns out to be your boyfriend. You perk up, “Mel, I’m sorry babe, but that’s Erik. Gotta go.”

“Talk to you later!”

You answer the new call. “Hey Erik!”

You weren’t expecting him to ring you, since the boys apparently had plans to hang out on the rooftop deck. Each team apparently could claim it, but it was the Avs turn tonight. You know the boys take their together-time seriously, especially as they gear up for the next round of the Playoffs.

You pause as your hear rustling, but no immediate answer.

“Erik? Hon?”

You wait. Frowning, you go to hang up but finally hear someone speak.

“She’s adorable, Colesy,” It’s definitely Erik, but it’s muffled. “Thank God she looks nothing like you.”

“Except for the bald spot,” Nathan MacKinnon says, even more muffled. You put the phone on speaker, and blare the volume.

“Shut up!” You think that’s Ian Cole over the laughter of everyone. “But yeah, thankfully she takes after her mother.”

“It’s awesome, man,” Gabe Landeskog says. “Daughters are the best. I love being a Girl Dad.”

“God, all you guys, dropping like flies,” Nate says. “Having babies and shit.”

“Disgusting!” J.T. Compher’s dry voice rings through, and you muffle a laugh as the players laugh outright. 

You go to speak again, but stop. This might be a butt dial.

Even though you know it’s wrong, you decide to keep listening. So often, you’ve wondered what the guys talk about when they’re together.

“Before you know it, it will be you,” Gabe says sagely.

“Not likely, Cap,” André Burakovsky says back.

“That you know of,” Nazem Kadri chirps.

You laugh at the raucous laughter, trying to hide it behind your palm. You’re glad the guys are having fun. You know Erik wasn’t worried about team chemistry cooped up in a hotel for months on end, but you kinda were. You and your boyfriend had even gotten testy with each other over the course of the stay at home order, but you emerged stronger each time. 

“I’ll let you all carry that,” André says. “I’m happy to be the hold out.”

“EJ’s probably next, so I wouldn’t worry,” Nate says.

“Fuck you,” Erik says with a laugh.

“Oh come on,” Gabe says. “You and Y/N have been together for years. And you’re gonna sit there and lie to my face and say you haven’t thought about it?”

“Give me some fucking credit, of course I’ve thought about it. But, you knowing, timing-”

“He just doesn’t have the balls to do anything,” Sam Girard snorts. “Eej has a ring for months now, but still has no proposed.”

You choke on nothing as all the guys whoop and holler.

Erik’s going to propose. A big smile breaks on your face, and you bite back a squeal. Holy shit.

“Congratulations, man,” You hear Gabe say. 

“That’s awesome,” Nate agrees, and you can’t help but smile at the 180 he seems to have taken. 

“No congratulate him, he’s not done shit!” Nikita Zadorov says, causing the boys to laugh.

“Fuck off,” Erik says, without heat. “I bought it back in February, and I was going to do it at the end of the season, but then the pause and the world ended. So I’m going to do it when we come back with the Cup.”

The boys whistle at that.

“Why didn’t you bite the bullet and propose at your house?” Nazem asks.

“That’s not romantic, get real, Naz. There were days when, like, neither of us showered. That’s no way to propose.”

“Gross,” J.T. adds.

“Do you have the ring? Can we see it?” Gabe changes the subject.

“Yeah, I didn’t want Y/N to find it while we were gone.”

You hear rustling and you almost panic that you’re about to lose the connection or, worse, get caught, but then thankfully nothing happens to the line.

“Holy shit, dude, you keep it in your wallet?” Andre asks.

“Yeah?”

“Makes sense, this is the guy who kept his Olympic medal in his pocket,” Nate says.

“When you win an Olympic medal, you can do what you want with it,” Your boyfriend (fiancé??) says primly. “Okay, here it is.”

The guys appropriately voice their approval, commenting on him “being extra” with it to their lack of surprise.

You’re dying to see it. You wonder what Erik went with. You guys stopped at Hurdle’s jewelry in Boulder once when your necklace broke, and you remembered him asking you about rings.

He has a bad habit of buying you jewelry, including the necklace that unfortunately broke, so you refused to get your hopes up that this was a sign of an impending proposal. At the time, back before the 2019-2020 season started, he hadn’t made any marriage noises.  But he’d been making plans to propose to you.

“So how you gonna ask?” Nikita asks.

“Um, probably when I get back from the quarantine period.” He says this hesitantly.

“That’s it?” J.T. says. “Dude…”

“What?”

“Y/N deserves better than that, come on,” Gabe says. “You need something romantic, personal.”

“Big deal,” Nikita agrees.

“Fireworks!” Sam adds. “Chocolate.”

“Chocolate?”

You hear them start to plan (something about either a hot air balloon or a balloon animal?) when you hang up.

You want to be surprised.

Note: Thanks for reading, and thanks to the anon for the request! Please let me know if you guys want a part two with the actual proposal

#colorado avalanche imagine #erik johnson imagine #nhl imagine #mywriting

[uglyirishboss]

20-Volt MAX Lithium-Ion 7-1/4 in. Cordless Miter Saw - DCS361M1

Today, I'm so is an action. You guys we're going over something long awaited. What is it Eric very long? Wait. It'S a new drill, yeah, it's a pretty cool job as a hammer yeah. It wants to be know. You guys today we're going over their new cordless aw. It'S been rumored, it's been around they've been in Europe. Other brands make them. You know they're all in there, but for actually two watt, which is one of the king of miter, saw in my opinion, you got. The DWS 780 grid saw a great saw. Great. All around construction site saw, you know, true, solid, build, you know and a lot of construction guys like that saw, and they want to stick with that brand and a lot of construction guys have 20 volt mm-hmm. So they come out with this 20 boys and seven and a quarter yep seven and a quarter 20 volts on now. First thing, you're saying and a lot of people that I talk to forget that that's right, yeah we're going to the default the wall to vent. It'S not useless. I'M gon na tell you right now. This is gon na handle 90 % of all your cuts. Yes, especially because other way for the two, it's six yeah. Well, that's your framer! You know, if you're doing a frame of your frame of the house that you're doing six by sixes it'll cut a six by six yeah, but you got Turner earning, but that and portability guys even for the regular homeowner. Just to have this, you don't have to unwrap it power I mean weighs like 30-something pounds. What does it weigh? Ah, let me look that up there, for you 31 pounds so, and they really put two handles in the side, so you can carry it like this. I know when I did a flooring job recently at Paul's house and we took the DWS 780. Third, oh my god, that's insane! It was just hard heavy big and we just didn't need that big capacity saw no, that would've been perfect for us yeah. All we were doing was cutting flooring and a little bit of trim. Now I know what other people are saying: oh the battery's not gon na last. You guys you're gon na get up to over a hundred and 275 cuts through three and a quarter pine baseboard. 183 cuts by regular pine 2x4. So you know you could always have a battery on charger. You always have an extra few batteries. Ajanta thing already three cuts out of just two by fours I mean that's, that's good yeah! It'S pretty good! It'S about five volt battery! Um, I don't you know what Eric I don't know won't spoil it down. I want to say it came to the fore. I was a little bit shocked. I wanted to say, came with a four oh reader way. It doesn't just says 20 volt back DC. Look up DC b2 or it's okay, yeah! That'S, alright! We'Re good either way. You know, you're gon na need more than one battery for this most likely, but it does come with a battery and it does come with a charge. Doesn'T it you can get mad as a bear or you can get them with the battery charger? So you can get the kit, which is the m1 or you can get the bear tool? Gotcha. Okay, um! You guys just shoot a form with dEWALT's big bad D. Degree or 780 even has the expirience laser system on it. Um laser system, it's not as good as the XPS. I don't think yeah, which is weird cuz they're, both a light they're both got that nice line right when you pull it down to the wood. You see it I mean yeah. Obviously, though, if you're a bright light, it's I don't care I've, never seen a laser, don't yeah bright way, didn't work right, but the reason I I'm not like saying wow, it's awesome, because the XPS is awesome because you don't have to adjust it. It'S just a shadow where that shadow is, is your exact cut? It'S just. You can't really see it till you're, almost right on the work yeah, you know and, like Eric said, daylight conditions. You know you probably want to use it inside what else we got on this thing. Eric it's got me. It'S got your to everything that you'd see in a regular saw. It'S got the bevel card. It'S got all my me, giggles bevel single yeah, that's true! So it's got that it's got the miter cuts with the details so who tighten this oh come on. I didn't tighten that yeah. You did on tighten it right there. So there you got your Bible, you guys! You got your slide as far as the slide goes. I would say, and what is it look like it's 49 degrees for the bevel? 45? No clothes, hair 11:45. No, it doesn't here's what those it's 45 and the slide feels pretty quality quality. It'S got a nice wide. It feels good, you know, comes with your standard dust collection bag, but you can go ahead and plug it into a dust management system personally these bags suck, but you do need them because if we were cutting right now be shooting all over this TV. So you do need something I think the Bell was like 49 or something now it's 45, it's centered on it. 45. I don't know you're right Eric's right, I'm sorry! It is 49. You are right. Yeah! I cannot see. Oh no show up. I did screw up. Well, you better go to tool guide, um! You guys right here, you got your positive detents. You know fine they're, common ones, twenty-two and a half, and all that yep twenty-two and a half 25 45, and it goes a little more than 449 okay. So I don't know man I I like, because you know what I don't, especially if you're just gon na cut a piece here there too I mean yes, you can do a lot of cuts that go same with the pine and all that. Well, there's a lot of times where it's just sitting over there. We want oh quick cut. You can just pop it right on the back of your truck pop it on the ground sawhorse, but you're gon na move around yeah. But here's what I tell everybody - everybody man, you know small cut - think of when you're using your 73 cartridge. So how many times you've been like man. I wish this thing had a miter. I wish I could make straight cuts or perfect angles with this. Without you know, jigging something up here, it is mm-hmm. You know thank you for the 7 3/4, like you said, 7, 3/4. Yes, seven and a quarter. Oh they say free quarters. Yeah. I just flip flip flip man. We should well. Don'T worry, you guys will edit and redo all that, so we come off as professionals. You know know if you want professionals go elsewhere, but professionals do you love us? Why? Because we're a couple of crazy ass guys stay alive. What'S that woody? What is love? Those guys are come: oh yeah, oh geez overnight that bad now, crazy, guys, uh Barbara Bach right on the front, got your tool here to change your blade. You know, I can't really say enough, you guys do your warranty and I know everybody thinks I'm with the Walt fan. I am a dwarf and I do like to walk and I really think this is a good stop. I love this thing. I did you know what the price suit is 399 euros. It is it 399 or 48. I seen him at Home Depot, I want to say they might even be $ 2.99. What are they at Home Depot check it out? I was checking Amazon well, no Home Depot's got better prices in Amazon for big black yeah, but they got free shipping on let's 390 nice free shipping, but you guys can get it at home people they have stacks of them if you're looking for any minor. This is the one to get. I mean yeah, 12-inch, minors are nice. You can cut a lot more bigger material with a cam but they're heavier they're bulkier I mean yeah. You don't need them that much unless you're building a house or something huge you know. So definitely you guys take a look at this thing. Let us know what you think, I'm gon na go out on a limb. I mean I'm not going out on a limb. I'M just telling you this is, if I only had to have one miter saw forever it'd be this I'd borrow 12 from Erik or someone else yeah I mean it is a lot of the stuff you cut in our 2x4 or 2x6 is stuff like that. I, for the most part you know, yeah I mean my under starts: take up space dude, okay, especially with stands where it understands yeah. I mean look at storing this thing, yeah compared to just storing your own and that one folds up nicely, but still I mean, even if you have it on your bench, it takes up a lot of room yeah. This is nice because you know what you can do. You can throw this right underneath your bench when you're not using it. It'S not, and you know once it's on top of your bed. Jug add I want it sort of 12-inch, take it down and up so yeah. I mean I really like this stuff. The wall is not sponsor of ours. Well, you know not yet not yet, but if you like our view, though we're getting, I mean, like I said you guys, I love it. I think it's cool. So how do you feel about it? It'S alright! No! I really like that. Guy'S cool, that's cool. I was a little skeptical when we first kind of saw and heard about it, but actually got a lot of use out of it here doing different things and it's I got ta say it's nice and for the capacity it's powerful enough, whatever you can fit in It it's gon na cut, you know you can just grab it by the handle. Go walking around granted, don't bang it into the side of your truck yeah. It may cause a scratch. Why you guys? Don'T forget click on the bottom. We got patreon. We need your guy's help, so you keep these tour of yours going and not depend on the big corporation. So much and then we want to thank you. Oh we'll take your sponsors yeah, but if you guys are become comp, why can't the top? If you guys are a big corporation and you want to throw a few million at us, you know we're more than happy to take yeah. You know. What'S so rubber dog crap from China, yeah no kidding yeah, you guys were just in a mood today, but some people do think that. But we give our honest opinions here. I'M told an actually, but we do have our favorite brands. They may not be good opinions but their opinion, so they don't get opinions yeah two guys who like tools like mess around stuff and consumers, we're consumers just like you and that's about the crew, the crews about all of us. So thank you. Guys! Click up! Subscribe! Click like tell us what you feel down below what you think of this or other saws we're just like hearing your feedback engage across the tools in Action Network cuz. You are part of the crew, my partner, I did a part of me again. Oh, does he do that yeah member Barnaby he's all with his daughter who was an action remember for more exciting tool. Action brought a tools in action; dot-com

[x-men-x-imagines]

Imagine #14 Charles Xavier (Request)

Requested by @kkkkkennedyyyyy: Hello! So I came across your blog and being the slut I am for Xmen would like to request an imagine. If it is not too much to ask can I request a Charles Xavier one where he is jealous of your relationship with another xmen (maybe Erik Lehnsherr, or Alex Summers) and then the ending can be all fluffy and stuff... Also can it be through the reader's perspective? You are awesome. Thank you!

Not my gif

Words: 1934

Warnings: fem!reader, typos, swearing

A/N: So, I feel like I was half asleep writing this, I hope it’s readable! Enjoy! xoxo

„That’s it for today.“, you ended your lesson and then added: „And don’t forget your assignments, some of you can’t afford a bad score right now.“ Collective moaning accompanied the familiar sound of talking and laughing students gradually leaving your classroom to start their free afternoon. Some of them seemed to be in quite a hurry, you realized and grinned at Peter’s back that was just disappearing around the corner. He knew that you had referred to his grades before. And you knew that his essay wouldn’t be anywhere close to well done, probably not even close to ‘you tried’. Oh, what were you gonna do about that kid, you thought to yourself. Such a smart guy and so absolutely not interested in using his brain for anything else than pranks and music.

You were so lost in thoughts that you didn’t notice the figure sneaking up next to you and when you heard Erik’s voice, you almost jumped. And you might have let out a suppressed scream before turning to your best friend and hitting him with your notebook. “Jesus Christ!”, you hissed. “Just me.”, he replied and you rolled your eyes. “Your kid…”, you gestured vaguely towards the door, “is going to fail my class, if he doesn’t get off his ass soon. Tell him that. You can quote me.”

“Hey, he’s an adult, he can do what he wants. It’s not like he respects me particularly.”, Erik justified himself, as he sat down on your desk. You liked it when he did that, because that way, you were taller than him. You always had to look up at everyone. Well, except for the professor, you reminded yourself. But that didn’t count.

“Of course he respects you. Everyone does, you know that. Those who don’t respect you, have come to fear you.”

“So that’s what you think of me!”, he placed one hand on his chest and looked up at you with a pained expression. You hit him again. “You know what I mean.” “I do. Coffee?” And with that, he handed you a cup of black coffee. “I love you!”, you sighed, taking a deep gulp. Your coffee addiction would be the death of you. At least that’s what the professor always said. He was desperately fighting for the return of teatime into everyone’s daily routine. You grinned subconsciously.

“I know. Speaking of, any luck with our little fiery problem?”, Erik responded, putting down his mug on the table next to him. You sighed. He was referring to some difficulties regarding your mutation that had recently developed and that you were desperately trying to get in control of. Turns out, being able to control your fire in day-to-day life didn’t mean anything. A few weeks ago, you had managed to set one of the professor’s cars on fire. You weren’t even sitting in it, on the contrary. You had been in a meeting – a particularly boring meeting – and had simply lost yourself in one very specific fantasy, starring Professor Xavier, his office desk and some other utensils that you weren’t going to think about any closer, when suddenly, the car outside the window had caught on fire.

Everyone had realized that you had lost control, but only Erik you had told the reason why. And since then, the only thing he would talk to you about was this particular problem of yours. He seemed to find this whole situation very funny.

“There is no problem, as long as I don’t…”, you felt yourself blush like a teenager and took another sip from your coffee. “Indulge in any explicit fantasies about our dear friend Charles.”, Erik smirked. “Your dear friend.”, you corrected him. “I hardly know him.” “But you would like to change that.”

Before you could reply, there was a knock on the door that you hadn’t realized, had fallen shut. “Yes?”, you called and Erik turned to face the professor, who was just entering the room in his chair.

“Ah, excuse me, am I interrupting something?”, he asked politely. “No, perfect timing, Charles, I was just about to braid y/n’s hair. Afterwards I can do yours, if you want.”, Erik said, getting up from the table. He was in such a weird mood today, you thought, furrowing your brows and looking at him closely. Was he planning something? God, you hoped not.

“No, thank you, old friend. I promised Raven that I would let her do my hair later.”, Charles responded, placing one hand on his bare head. “I was actually going to ask y/n, if she wanted to get a coffee. Or tea. But given that you are obviously already cared for…”

“No, professor, wait!”, you interrupted, as he turned to leave. You felt your cheeks go red. “Uhm, you know about my addiction, I could need another coffee.” You smiled and hoped that it didn’t look too shaky.

“But y/n!”, Erik called indignantly. “Are you trying to replace me? Am I not the one to bring you coffee?” You shot him a glare, but he seemed to be having the time of his life. God, weren’t you all adults? On the other hand, weren’t you the one blushing at the thought of getting a coffee with your boss?

You turned to face the professor again. “How about I come to your office in a few? I have to grade some papers first.” That was a lie and you were hoping, that he wasn’t just now reading your mind. But he simply smiled and nodded. “Perfect. See you then.” And with that he left, conscientiously closing the door behind him.

“What the fuck is going on with you?”, you hissed at Erik. He simply shrugged and grinned. “So, you want me to braid your hair?”

 You hesitated, your fingers inches away from the professor’s door. So, were you supposed to knock? Probably, couldn’t hurt to be polite. It could hurt, however, to be an awkward fucking moron, you said to yourself. How does one manage to make a simple conversation this uncomfortable? Maybe that was a part of your mutation, you had always been bad at talking to people you liked. But most of the time, those people hadn’t been way out of your league. But whatever, you couldn’t chicken out now.

“Come in.”, you heard the professor’s voice and slowly opened the door. “Ah, y/n. How nice to see you.” He smiled and you couldn’t help but smile back. “Black?” You looked at him blankly. “The coffee?” “Oh, yeah, sure, black.” Moron, you cursed internally.

“Please, have a seat.” You sat down on the sofa in front of the impressive windows and looked at the garden, that was being coloured in a bright orange by the setting sun. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”, you heard the professor’s voice next to you and nodded. “It is. Thanks for hiring me, this school is the best thing that could have happened to me.”

You had only been here for about two months and before that, there had been nothing in your life that you would have described as positive in any way. Looking back now, it all felt like a bad dream. You had never imagined being alone to be such a torture. And only now you saw, how much of a blessing it was, being surrounded by people like you.

“And I’m sure, you are the best thing that could have happened to us.” You turned your head to look at the professor, but he was watching the trees sway in the gentle autumn breeze. “Thank you, Professor.”, you smiled, picking up your – fifth or sixth today – coffee from the table.

“Please, call me Charles.” Again, you felt yourself blush and hoped that it wouldn’t show in the dimmed light. He had told you that before. “It’s nice to see, that you’re happy here. The students as well as the other teachers all seem to be very excited about your presence here, too. And as I can see, you have already bonded with some of them.” His voice sounded vague and you weren’t sure how to reply.

“Well, yes, they are all very welcoming. I mean, you have seen the way Erik practically showers me in coffee.”, you said, trying to loosen up the tension, you hadn’t even noticed before. “You seem to have come very close to him in these past weeks. He usually is a lot less open.”

“Really?” You had realized that Erik tended to be a little grumpy at times, but you had never found it particularly conspicuous. “I have never seen him act like this around anyone. It’s nice to see that he has finally found someone, he can be happy with.” Something told you, that Charles wasn’t completely honest with you. Maybe it was the tone in his voice, or maybe the way he talked about you and Erik like you were married…

“Oh, no no no. No, we aren’t… I mean, he is a friend. Just a friend, we aren’t dating or anything, we’re…”

Something changed in the professor’s expression and he finally looked at you, his eyes shimmering in an odd tone of green as they met with the reflecting sunset. “You are not a couple?”, he sounded almost too surprised and you couldn’t help but laugh. “No, god. I’ll tell him that you thought that, he will find it hilarious.”

“Oh, I think he already knows.”, Charles replied and furrowed his brows, though not without smiling. “That bastard.”, he murmured. You stopped and shook your head in surprise. “Uhm… is… is everything okay with you two, professor?”

“Y/n, would you please call me Charles?” You nodded, still waiting for his reply. “And here I was wondering about his behaviour, but now it makes sense, of course.”

“With all due respect, Prof- Charles, none of what you’re saying makes any sense to me.” You felt the professor’s eyes on you and thought that he looked a little like he was trying to bring himself to jump off a cliff. And you could tell the exact moment he decided to just roll with it. He leaned forward and, in a movement that almost made your heart stop, reached for your hand.

“Of course you can’t tell that Erik has been acting weirdly, because he has been ever since you got here. Though today has been particularly conspicuous. I thought it was, because he had found an interest in you. Which might actually be the case, I don’t know just yet. But it’s not the reason that he’s been acting like this. No, he is trying to mess with my head.”

You furrowed your brows, lowering your gaze to your hand in Charles’ and trying to focus on anything else than your raging heart. For god’s sake, you were a grown woman, where the hell had you lost your chill? But just like that, it made click and you suddenly understood, what the professor was trying to say. Even though it didn’t make any sense to you.

“You mean, Erik was trying to…”

“Make me jealous, love.”, Charles added. “And did it work?”, you heard your own voice. “Are you jealous?”

You heard a chuckle and just as you raised your eyes to look at the professor, he leaned forward and placed a soft, short kiss onto your suddenly very sensitive lips. You didn’t move, didn’t even open your eyes, but your body felt like dancing, like flying. “Not anymore.”, you heard a whisper right next to your ear, before his lips met yours again in another soft, but not at all short kiss.

#xmen #xmen imagine #charles xavier imagine #charles xavier x reader #charles xavier

[sambaguy]

Samba Guy Goes On A Date

I have an iPhone 6 Plus and go to Coachella every year. I’m thinking about starting a blog and have been really into standup lately. I have a favorite microbrewery because I like my beer really hoppy, whatever that means. I have a fun Twitter feed and interesting theories about what could happen on House of Cards. Clearly, I am no slouch in the ladies department. I mean, I am funny, cultured, well dressed and well read, and any girl would take pride in dating a guy who is so keenly cool. And I have a ton of platonic female friends in my friend group. But, alas, the last few months have been what people in comedies would probably call a dry spell. Hard as it is to believe, I haven’t been with a girl in a long time.

I was devastated when my ex and I stopped seeing each other, except for the fact that when we stopped seeing each other, we couldn’t stop seeing each other, because we followed each other on Twitter and Instagram and were friends on Facebook. So I saw her all the time, her grinning profile picture shadowing my feed. “Unfollow her!” my roommates would roar. “You’re never going to get over her unless you unfollow her on all that stuff.” But I couldn’t. There was something so enthralling about being able to track her social life. Was she seeing someone else? I had to know. Besides, unfollowing her was too dramatic. Remaining friends on social media, however, showed I was unfazed, cool, chill and whatever. But I wasn’t any of those things. I’d find myself scrolling through her tweets and Instagram posts at 2 a.m., drunk. Her Instagram always included photos of other men. Men who, I could only assume, were better than me, knew more about album releases than I did, and had better takes to offer off-handedly during important cultural events, like the Billboard Awards (BTW, props to whoever booed Kanye and Kendal and Kylie, like seriousy it’s about time and LMAO at the censoring). Finally sensing the craziness of all this, I clicked “unfollow” and then “unfriend.” With this tiny act of defiance, I was finally free. “This is closure,” I told myself. “This is moving on.”

So it’s time to get back out there. I’ve been trying. Whenever I’m out with my friends at concerts or even just breweries, I try to talk to as many as possible. I don’t get a lot of positive responses—it’s surprisingly harder than you’d think to find a girl who shares my taste in music and opinions about shows (they need to at least be as caught up as I am because I tend to let the spoilers fly, especially when I’ve had a few beers and am excited by the prospect of someone of the fairer sex actually liking Game of Thrones or whatever show is being discussed at the moment). So many girls only listen to pop and not even critically, like they just don’t even know what they’re listening to. I guess that’s what I’m really looking for, at the end of the day, a girl that really knows her stuff. Like a needle in a haystack I’m afraid. But every once in a blue moon there’s that spark. And it’s truly magical.

I felt that spark last weekend when my friends and I were at a St. Vincent concert. It was there that I met Ellen, the girl who is going to be my date tonight and who, if I play my cards right, might even be my girlfriend. But I’m getting ahead of myself. So there I am with my roommates and we’re all standing around the bar. St. Vincent hasn’t started yet and they’re playing Girlpool over the speakers as the between-set music. It sounds pretty good and it takes me only about 45 seconds to recognize it. I turn to my friend Erik and point a finger at the ceiling, the universal sign for “You listening to this? This is good” (if that’s not in the ASL alphabet, they’re doing it wrong). Erik nods and leans closer to me.

“Trust me,” I tell him. “You’ll see this artist on the Coachella lineup in two years.”

Just then, a girl who was standing against the bar turns to us. She’s attractive and wearing a dark blue top with some pretty big jewelry around her neck.

“You know Girlpool?” she says to me, but kind of looking at the whole group. Clearly, there is a lot of mutual impressed-ness happening between all of us. But she was talking to me.

“Oh, yeah,” I tell her. I’m playing it cool now. “They’re pretty great.” She smiles at me and moves closer, now addressing me only and not so much the group. Already I’m feeling like something could happen here.

“They’re amazing,” she says. “Probably the most heartening band I’ve heard in a long, long time. It’s such special music.” She looks away for a second. “I can’t believe you like them, or even know about them.” Laughing.

“Yeah,” I say. “You’ll see this artist on the Coachella lineup in two years.”

“I already have my ticket,” she says and laughs.

“Really?” I’m instantly jarred back into reality. “When did they announce the lineup? Is presale available already?”

She looks confused for a second and then laughs again.

“You’re funny,” she says. I’m racking my brain for any recent Coachella news I remember seeing. Tickets cannot be available yet. That’s not possible. That’s almost a year from now. I fight the urge to take out my phone and check right now.

“I’m Ellen,” she says, sticking out her hand.

“Tom,” I say, startled.

“Tom,” she murmurs. “Nice to meet you.” I am at a total loss. I can’t focus on anything now. I take a sip of my beer to buy me some time. Ellen is still looking at me.

“You like these guys?” I say, motioning with my pint glass around the venue, indicating St. Vincent.

“Who? St. Vincent? Yeah, totally, she’s amazing, she’s such a badass.” I notice my friends have sort of dispersed into the crowd.

“So badass,” I say, taking another sip of beer and nodding. Just then, St. Vincent comes out on stage and it’s gets loud in here. We are jostled by everyone around us moving closer to the front. I feel, somehow, rooted to the spot, connected to Ellen. I don’t know what to do next. A group of girls come up to Ellen and engulf her. She looks at me and waves and disappears into the crowd. I’m by myself now and don’t see my friends anywhere.

When St. Vincent (pretty good) is over I’m still waiting on the outskirts of the crowd. I can’t believe that’s how it’s going to end with the Potential Girl of My Dreams. I craned my neck to look for her the entire time but couldn’t really see her and didn’t want to be totally creepy and track her down in the audience. My friends come back.

“Where were you, dude?” Aaron says. “We were like four feet back from the stage. So awesome.”

“I know,” I say. I look around one more time for Ellen as we all make our way out into the warm night and then to Erik’s Forester.

“Tom!” I hear a high voice behind me. I turn and see Ellen walking away from her friend group toward me. Under a street lamp I can see her better. She has brown hair and bangs and a round face.

“Hey,” I say, sort of breaking away from my friends as well. “There you are. You totally…vanished.”

“My friends wanted me with them since I basically dragged them here,” she says, laughing. Then, seeing my grave face, she adds, “Sorry though.”

“No problem.” I shake my head. Silence. “Do you want to have dinner with me?” I say quickly. “We could…talk more about…Girlpool,” I add, in what I hope sounds like an appealingly suggestive way.

“Yeah, of course, yeah,” she says. “Yeah.” She takes out her phone and hands it to me. “Put yourself in there.”

I do and then she texts me so I have her number. I add a new contact: Ellen. I look at the name on my phone and smile and then I look at the girl in front of me and it falters.

“Text me,” she says. “I have to go.”

“I will,” I say. In the backseat of Erik’s Forester, my thigh squished up against Derek’s, craft-beer-drunk and riding home, I tweet an innocuous Drake lyric.

                                                             * * *

That was last weekend. I texted her two days later and after some clutch icebreakers (“Hi it’s Samba Guy, the Girlpool guy from the St. Vincent show last weekend”) we made a plan to meet at a ramen place she knew about this coming Friday, A.K.A. tonight. I’m getting ready, putting on my brand new shoes, which arrived just in time, and––most importantly––taking an extra large dose of serum. I can’t think of anything worse than transforming in front of Ellen’s face on our very first date (not that I intend to ever let her see that happen ever). I pick out a pretty nice looking sweater that’s still casual enough for a first date but looks like I obviously put effort into my appearance. I borrow Erik’s Forester and I’m out the door. I play Run The Jewels to get me pumped up and then when I’m a block away from Ellen’s building I switch it to Girlpool to really set the mood. I pull head first into a huge spot (I’m a pretty bad parallel parker and I’m stressed enough as it is!) that’s luckily vacant and jump out of the car. I send her a text saying I’m outside. Twenty minutes later Ellen comes out onto the sidewalk wearing jeans and a green shirt with an interesting neck area and big necklace.

“Hey,” she says. “Sorry I wasn’t ready, and my friend’s were like freaking out.”

“Not a problem,” I say. I passed the twenty minutes catching up on some Stereogum: there’s a new Run the Jewels parody thing that big-name artists are getting involved with called “Meow the Jewels.” They’ve raised a bunch of money for it already on Kickstarter. It’s absurd, but that’s the point. It’s like a joke turned reality. “You look great.”

We drive to the ramen place. Ellen either doesn’t notice or doesn’t comment on Girlpool playing at a good volume in the car. I ask if she’s seen the Mad Men finale yet. She says she still needs to watch the last few seasons first. I smile to myself. There’s a strong smoky almost medicinal smell I can’t place coming off of her clothes. “That’s cool,” I say. “It was really good.” She’s on her phone for the rest of the car ride.

Inside the ramen place it’s packed and noisy and a stressed-out looking middle aged woman is seating people and taking down names for the waitlist. I tell Ellen I’ll go put our name in. It’s about a twenty-five minute wait. I come back to where Ellen is standing by the glass wall and stand next to her. “Twenty-five minutes, she said,” I say. “Want to wait?”

“Where else would we go?” All around us, seated and standing, are other couples. I don’t see anyone I recognize but I feel nervous and exposed. I have no idea what to say to Ellen. I wish dinner was over and I was at home.

“I don’t know,” I say. “We could wait outside?”

“Sure,” she says. We step outside, me keeping the door open as she walks out in front of me. Another couple comes in as I’m still holding the door. The girl knows Ellen.

“Hiiiii,” she says to Ellen. “What are you doing here? I can’t believe this, hi.”

“Heyyyyyyyy,” Ellen says. “How are you! What’s up, have you been here before?”

“Yeah, we come here like a lot,” the girl says, motioning to the guy, who is now talking the middle aged hostess. “It’s amazing.” I smile at her and look straight ahead. Ellen makes no mention of me. I’m still holding the door open. The girl is still sort of standing in the walkway, Ellen is on the sidewalk.

“What’re you doing later,” the girl asks.

“No idea,” Ellen says. “Why? Are you guys gonna be around?”

“Yeah girl,” she says. “It’s likely. Text me later.” She goes inside and walks to a table where the guy is already sitting, his jacket around the back of the chair, looking at his phone. He puts it down when the girl sits down. Ellen sees this happen. It occurs to me they take reservations.

“You should have made reservations,” Ellen says to me. “It is a Friday.”

Twenty minutes later we’re sitting at a small table in the humid back corner of the restaurant. The glass wall against our table is fogged with condensation. Ellen draws boobs in it. And then adds a shaft, turning it into a dick and balls.

“I’m glad we could do this,” I’m saying. “It’s great to see you again.”

“Yeah,” she says. “I didn’t think you’d text me.” I don’t know what this means. I try to change course.

“You listened to Girlpool lately?” I ask. Ellen looks at me for a moment, placing something.

“Not really,” she says finally, excruciatingly. Another pause. She seems to decide something else. “So what’d you do?”

“I work at a start-up,” I say. “It’s called Winyl, it like pairs drinks with the perfect music.”

Imperceptible interest registers on Ellen’s face. I continue: “Like what’s the best song to play while drinking this IPA, that kind of thing…”

“So what would you pair with this right now?” she says, pointing at her ice water.

“Well I’m not sure, I mean, the app uses like an algorithm. You either input the drink, or you let it listen to the music. It can pair it both ways.”

“Can I see your phone?” she asks abruptly. I hesitate. “I want to try it in here.”

“Oh, it’s not done yet. Like it’s not an app yet. I’m sort of helping out on a freelance basis.” Another long pause. I look up at her. I realize her eyes are green and not blue (the glow of her phone had thrown off their true color) and say, “Do you have Snapchat?”

“No,” she says. “I’m old-school.”

“Oh,” I say. “I respect that.” And then: “There’s a new Run the Jewels parody thing that big-name artists are getting involved with called ‘Meow the Jewels,’” I tell her. “They’ve raised a bunch of money for it already on Kickstarter. It’s absurd, but that’s the point. It’s like a joke turned reality.”

“That’s rad,” she says. “That’s actually rad.” I smile at her and she looks right at me. It feels as if all the most exciting parts of a new relationship have combined with all the ease and familiarity of an old friend. The effect is something like spiked hot chocolate: warm, comforting, intoxicating.

“Do you know who Lord Huron is?” she says. I feel her foot nudge mine.

                                                             * * *

After dinner, I’m feeling sick from the ramen and my face and head is sweaty. I pay the check and we get up slowly and walk outside, emerging into the cool and actually very pleasant night. A dog is barking somewhere and the sun is just setting over San Francisco. We’re walking to the car now and I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I’m much more comfortable now, but now that we’re back in motion, in a new and uncertain environment, I don’t know what the next step is supposed to be. I decide to say nothing and just see what happens. In the Forester we sit for a moment. I almost speak––wonder aloud what we should do––when Ellen asks, “Have you seen the new Game of Thrones yet? I still need to watch it. We could do that. I don’t want this night to end yet. My roommates have HBOGo.”

“I actually haven’t,” I lie. “That sounds awesome.” Ellen actually looks excited. I smile at her and start the car. She plugs her iPhone into the tape adapter and “I Love You, Honeybear” by Father John Misty starts playing. How sexy is that?

– Samba Guy, May 18, 2015

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