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luveline · 2 years

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𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐯𝐞 | 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

summary jealousy makes people do crazy things. when steve finds out you’re going on a date with eddie munson, he devises a plan involving one pair of binoculars, one robin, four adopted children and an important question. [7k]

warnings gn!reader, ditzy reader, protective steve, childhood friends to lovers, pining steve, mutual pining, fluff, love confessions, slight hurt/comfort, soft steve, steves pov, eddie fucking munson ♡ tw for toaster bathtub joke

𓆩❤︎𓆪

Steve knows you're outside not because you told him you'd be visiting him at work today, but because you're talking to yourself. You quieten as you pull open the door, a smile on your face that hasn't changed since he first met you in the third grade. Some kid had pushed you down and when he'd asked if you were okay you'd smiled just like that, like you hadn't been pushed at all.

"What are you talking about?" he asks lightly.

You stop in the middle of the store and blink. "What?"

He skirts around the front desk and wraps you up in a hug. You're still at first like you usually are, though you slowly relax under his touch and hug back.

"What were you saying? Before you came in?" he asks, rubbing your back with both arms.

"Um… I don't really remember."

Steve holds you at arm's length to assess your face. You're lying to him. He can tell from the way your top lip twitches towards your nose, almost pouting.

You drop your arms from his waist and take a step back. Steve has years of knowledge on your whims and whiles and is reluctant to let you move away from him just yet, his hand clasped loosely around your wrist.

You smile and your hands float at your sides like lily pads bobbing in the air. He decides not to pry, returning to his station behind the Family Video desk. You hop up onto the counter and watch him from over your shoulder.

"Where's Robin?" you ask.

"I'm starting to think you like her more than me."

You smile at him softly and he doesn't know what it means. It's alarming. Robin appears from the backroom before he can work himself up over it, a crate of tapes in her arms.

She groans as she puts them down on the counter. "I miss Scoops Ahoy."

"Cute uniforms," you mumble.

"It's not the uniforms I miss," Robin says, letting her forehead fall to the counter. "My arms hurt. I'm not cut out for manual labour. If Steve were a better man he'd do all the heavy lifting for me."

"Where's the equality in that?" Steve asks, looking to you to see if he's made you laugh.

He has. Your lips quirk up into a startled smile as a rush of breath escapes you, a lilting miracle of sound.

He realises then that he's doing something he's not allowed to do and decides to be a better man. "I'll do the rest, Robs."

Robin looks up, surprised at his charity. "You will?" she asks, not trusting his genuineness.

"Sure. Keep Y/N entertained while I'm gone."

Once he's securely in the backroom he starts to freak out. He's been harbouring a mess of feelings for you ever since he hit puberty but has discarded them time and time again. Your friendship is longstanding and special to him, even when closeness with you has been hard to obtain. Not because you're purposefully distant, but because you're a total dreamer.

Head in the clouds your entire life, Steve has wrangled through hoops to try and protect you from bullies, from bad friends, from your own distraction; you forget to eat, you're lucky you graduated because your attention span for anything that doesn't interest you is non-existent, and you hate parties so your circle is a closed loop consisting of just Steve.

Now you've both graduated there's a lot of time to be spent together.

Steve is suffering through it. His life feels like a constant game of look but don't touch.

That might be unfair. He's definitely very touchy.

You're giggling to yourself as he carries the second box of tapes in and heaves it down by the first. Robin's laughter is much more evil.

"What's funny?" he asks suspiciously.

"I'm giving Y/N tips."

"Tips?" he asks, so used to Robin's absurdity that he starts to unpack his second box, elbows brushing Robin's as she hums.

"Mm-hm." She taps her nails over a plastic case and leans towards him. "Boy tips."

"And what would you know about boys?" he asks her.

"I'm not stupid. Boys are like… frogs."

"Frogs," Steve repeats dryly.

"Slimey. Predictable. Easily disected."

"Green," you say seriously.

Steve chokes on a laugh and drops the tape in his hand back into the box of new arrivals to cover his mouth with a fist.

"Babe, what?" he asks.

You look at him and shake your head lightly. He knows he's not gonna get any answers from you, trying for nonchalance as he asks, "Boy tips? For who?"

"They have a date."

"You do?" Steve asks you. He almost snaps his neck. Robin coughs to cover a laugh.

A knife in his chest. Twisting. Steve's definitely been stabbed. He looks down to his sternum and doesn't find a wound.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asks, pretending that's why his lungs have exploded. He's gonna suffocate to death any second now.

"I didn't think you'd have any boy tips," you say, clearly surprised at his surprise.

Whatever. Steve takes a huge breath in through his nose and becomes your friend again, rather than a jealous idiot.

"Y/N," he says, "I don't know if you've noticed, but I am a boy."

"I've noticed."

"So I know what boys like."

"No, you know what you like," Robin says. "You don't know what Eddie Munson likes. You're different genres."

"You're going on a date with Eddie Munson?" he asks you, almost shouting. Not his smoothest moment.

"Friday," you say, in the sometimes infuriating way that you do, like you have no indication that he's shocked. And he's shocked.

"When did he ask you out?" Steve asks.

Robin smirks behind her hand. Steve would love it if she had, like, a miniscule amount of compassion. An atom's worth, for his struggle.

"I asked him," you say.

Steve needs to flee. He can't because he would look insanely obvious so he cracks on his customer service smile and tries to stop asking questions.

He fails. "You like Eddie Munson?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm going on a date."

An insane wave of jealousy sloshes around inside him. Or maybe the slurpee he'd had a half hour ago. Whatever it is, he's nauseous.

He's also confused (a common theme when it comes to you.) He'd had no clue you were dating, or looking to date, no clue this was a lane that was open. And you're so pretty, so magnetic, so disgustingly special and this Munson kid is gonna snap you right up if he has any sense at all.

Steve isn't proud of anything that he does next.

"I heard he's a drug dealer," he says.

Your eyes are wide. Not in horror, as he'd hoped, but puzzlement. "Is he?"

"For sure. The devil's lettuce, Mary Jane, marijuana, everything."

"I thought they were all the same," you say, perplexed, your voice like an ebbing wave.

They are all the same. He was hoping you didn't know that. "Right. What if he gets you hooked on something?"

Robin frowns at him. "Since when are you so judgemental? We've been high together. Like, fifty times."

He steps on her foot. Robin, unused to him fighting back so quickly, gasps in outrage and steps on his foot right back. What ensues is an undignified battle of shoes that has him throwing his arm out and hitting her in the stomach.

"What's your problem?" she asks, eyebrows pinched.

He holds his hands up in surrender. "Sorry! I think you broke my foot."

He flinches when he remembers you're there and watching, only you're not there and you're definitely not watching, having made your way to the two boxes of new movies on the counter. You're sorting through them slowly and singing something to yourself under your breath so quietly he can barely decipher the words. The loudest part is your inhales, familiar, small intakes of air.

"I told them boys like it when you slip them the tongue," Robin whispers smugly.

Steve steps on her foot again and gets promptly slapped in the arm, hard enough to ache.

Later, when Robin's left and the store's finally closing and you're waiting at the door for Steve to drive you home, he tries to slander Eddie again. He almost feels bad.

"You know he's still in high school, right? Isn't that a little young for you?" he asks.

He flicks up the collar of his jacket and switches off the neon lights. You hold the door open, leaning against it with your back arched, like a doll that's fallen down. He pokes the naked skin you've accidentally exposed, a taunting sliver of hip, as he walks past you.

"He's twenty."

Again, Steve knew that. He was just hoping you didn't.

"The whole still being in high-school thing doesn't bug you?" he asks as he locks the door.

You shift from foot to foot beside him, cold now that the sun has disappeared for the night. You shove your hands deep into your pockets and kick the floor.

"I don't know," you say.

He feels bad for trying to dissuade you when you sound like that, insecure.

Despite his selfish wants, he says, "No, I mean. It's totally fine. You're the same age."

"Right," you agree quickly.

"Right," he echoes.

The two of you climb into the BMW and the silence feels unnatural. Conversation between the two of you has always been easy. Now it's stilted.

He sighs, scrubbing a hand through his hair furiously and starting the car.

"You know… I've heard he's really nice," he says.

You perk up. "Yeah?"

"He's in a band, too. A rock band. You like that stuff. You'd be good together," he says, unconvincing even to himself.

Each word could be demonstrated as a plier held to his teeth, slowly pulling. It's agony to stick up for his competitor. No, he corrects himself, not a competitor, because you don't like him. Steve's alone in his pining.

"I don't know about all that," you whisper.

"You don't have to be nervous, okay? I'm sure he's a nice guy and that you'll have fun."

You don't seem very cheered up.

He unclenches his jaw and sneaks a look at you. You're picking the hemming of your long sleeve with a thoughtful look in place. Steve thinks, Fuck, they must really like him.

"Seriously, babe."

You drop your head against your shoulder. "Can I sleep at your place?"

He should say no. "Yeah, of course you can."

"I think there's a racoon living in my attic."

"I'll come take a look tomorrow."

"Thank you."

You tumble out of the car and up the gravel to Steve's house, unlocking the door with a practised ease before running up the stairs. Steve follows with little urgency behind you.

"Babe?" he asks, closing the door behind him.

"I need the bathroom," you call.

Steve nods and beelines for the kitchen, looking for something to make that you'll enjoy and that won't take a year off of your life expectancies. If Steve were by himself he'd skip dinner or order something greasy, but he thinks you should have a proper meal.

He's got a can of soup warming over the burner when you come back down, having switched your outfit for something comfy, clothes you keep in the bottom of his wardrobe for such occasions.

"Pee your pants?" he asks, grinning.

You hit your hip into his on purpose and hoist yourself onto the counter to watch him stir.

"Watch it! Can't you see I'm performing a culinary miracle?"

"It smells nice." Your face floods with happiness.

"It's your favourite one."

"They don't sell my favourite in Bradley's anymore."

"It was at the back of the cabinet. Might get food poisoning," he says.

He's lying through his teeth – he'd gone up to some fancy Indianapolis grocery store and bought a fuck load. He prays that your attention stays on him and not the cabinet behind your head where evidence of his affection hides in wait.

"Yum," you say.

"There's ciabatta in the bread bin. Do you want, like, the works?"

"Balsamic vinegar," you nod your head sagely. "Yes."

He feels a tendril of fondness curl around his heart.

Fed and watered you crawl into Steve's bed like you always do, smack dab in the middle, sheets pulled up to your nose. Your moaning nonsense to yourself about being greedy and evil demons that cause bloating.

"I told you to slow down," he murmurs as he climbs in beside you, the two of you smelling like spearmint toothpaste.

Your hands smell like soap as you bat at him uselessly. "Shut up, Steve."

He moves onto his back and sighs. "You have such an attitude problem."

"I do not."

He throws his hand out fast and squeezes your sensitive waist. You gasp and pull away, giggling as his hand chases you. He digs his fingers into your ribs until you're panting for air, your legs kicking him away from you.

"Stop, Steve. Steve, Steve, Stevie, please stop." Your words are garbled with laughter.

"I can't hear you."

"Stop!" you cry out. "Please."

He pulls his hand away and feels smug at how little effort it took to get you that badly. "I didn't know you could shout that loudly, babe."

"Only for you," you say, catching your breath.

Steve feels his cheeks go red. Physically feels the blood blossom under his skin. He clears his throat and turns away from you, flicking off the light fast so you can't see his embarrassment clear as day.

You calm your breathing and Steve calms his heart. After a few minutes there's a dead silence. Not even the sound of a passing car.

"It's so quiet," you say.

"It was."

Your hand at his back. He suppresses chills as your knuckles move over the dip of his spine and then over, your palm smoothing down his arm until you find his hand. Another one of your quirks when you're tired and dizzy with content, you search for his fingers and twine them with your own as you talk.

"Thanks for dinner. You're a better cook than you'd think, Steve. S'like being at Enzo's but with none of the tables and chairs. Or the music."

He rubs his thumb gently over the back of your hand where it rests on his thighs and chuckles. "I'll give the chef your compliments."

"Thank you."

Another stretch of silence, broken up only by the sound of your breathing. Steve's more familiar with your breathing than his own. He thinks of nights where he'd feigned sleep and watched the rise and fall of your chest through barely parted lashes.

With his back to you it's easy to pretend you're more than friends. He pulls your joined hands to his chest and worries your skin with the pad of his thumb, a thousand thoughts rattling around his brain.

"Y/N," Steve says suddenly, unsure if you're still awake.

"What?" you ask quietly.

"Don't listen to Robin, okay? Don't… don't try and tongue kiss Munson the first time."

You inhale weirdly. "I won't."

"Good." He moves your hand back to your chest and drops it gently. "Goodnight," he says.

You don't say anything back.

Dustin sits under the Family Video desk with his radio contraption that Steve doesn't understand, him and Robin having entered a surprisingly easy conversation. Less surprising upon discovering the topic: Steve's ineptitude, Steve's idiocy, Steve's hopelessness.

"I feel sorry for him," Dustin says conversationally.

"Really sorry for him."

"Because it's his third snub in as many years-"

"And that's not counting each Scoops Ahoy disaster-"

"Exactly. And, it's like, going on how many years of being friends?" Dustin asks.

"Twelve," Steve says, resigned to his fate and feeling very pathetic where he manually ticks through returns on the computer. He doesn't even look up.

"Twelve years to make a move and now he's too late," Dustin says.

"Well, never say never," Robin says, her voice high.

Steve frowns and looks through the screen for a moment before turning his gaze over his shoulder to where Robin lounges on the floor, legs crossed and a book between her thighs.

"What?" he asks.

"What?" she repeats.

They stare at each other. Steve's expression changes from depressed to incensed.

"Oh my god, you know something."

"I don't know anything."

They stare at each other more. Steve doesn't believe her even slightly. He knows Robin. They've been friends for an entire year by this point. Steve would even say that they're best friends. He knows when she's lying.

"'Never say never?'" he quotes.

Dustin has stopped messing with his technology to watch. His head moves one way and then the other like he's following a tennis ball, his brown curls bouncing around his ears.

"It's a common saying-" Robin defends.

"But why did you say it?"

Tense silence.

"You do know something," Dustin says. Excitement gives his face a boyish charm.

Robin closes the book between her thighs and smiles awkwardly. Steve feels his heart leap into his throat when she tilts her head to the side guiltily and sighs.

"Shit," she mutters.

Operation Stakeout is redundant, according to Mike.

"An operation and a stakeout are basically the same thing," he mutters.

"That's not true," Dustin says, know-it-all tone in play. "A stakeout is always an operation but operations aren't always stakeouts."

Lucas eats a handful of chips noisily. Max groans.

"It feels redundant," Robin says.

"It's about to feel jeopardised," Steve says scathingly, forcing her head back down where the six of them hide behind a trimmed hedge outside Enzo's.

"When's it my turn with the binoculars?" Robin asks.

"Never," Dustin says. There isn't a trace of sympathy in his voice.

"Sexism?" she wonders to herself.

Max snatches the binoculars from Dustin’s hand and brings them to her eyes, looking through the painted window of Hawkins best Italian restaurant for any sign of you and your date.

They must look like a group of idiots. Half the gang are in dark clothing where Mike, Robin and Max had all refused to bother. Dustin had brought a camouflage net and strewn it over their heads, though most of them had shrugged it off, holding it to their shoulders like a terrible blanket.

Steve waits impatiently for Max's report.

"There they are," Max says.

He can't himself as he springs up and searches for you. They'd all watched secretly as you'd arrived and met Munson outside. He scrubbed up well. It boiled Steve's blood. In a totally fun, carefree way because he's being very normal about this whole thing. You know, if you ignore Operation Stakeout.

"Where?"

He holds his hand out for the binoculars and Max drops them heavily into his palm. Steve almost blinds himself as he brings them to his eyes, squinting for a glance at you.

"Toward the left."

"They're ordering," he says.

"They're on a date," Mike says.

Lucas makes a sad sound and eats more chips. Steve feels a sharp wave of pity for him though he quickly forgets it in favour of the look on your face. You're smiling wide but insincerely.

"Y/N is not having a good time," he says happily. "Is it evil to feel relieved?"

"Yes," a few voices say.

Dustin shrugs. "Let's hope Eddie makes them cry. Or the other way around."

"Dude." There's a silent conversation that Steve isn't privy to then that ends with Lucas and Dustin shoving each other.

"Why are we expecting this to end badly?" Max asks. "Because I'm still not convinced."

Steve watches you reach for your drink and tries not to recant his explanation with any bias. Tries. "Y/N doesn't like Munson."

"We already knew that, to be fair," Robin says, still trying to defend you now that she'd possibly exposed your secret. Guilt is a new look on her.

"Right, but not liking Eddie and liking Steve are two different things," Max says.

"Well, why wouldn't you like Eddie?" Dustin says.

"If you like him so much why don't you marry him?" Steve asks, deadpan.

"Shut up."

"I know who I'd choose," Max says.

Steve waits for a follow up because he has no clue who Max would choose. When she doesn't answer he peels his gaze from your upturned mouth and finds that the rest of the group are giving Max the same curious look.

"What?" she asks furiously. "One is clearly more attractive."

"Which one, Maxine?" Steve asks.

"Eddie," Mike and Dustin say.

"Steve," Robin and Lucas say.

Max is saved from having to answer by the ensuing argument. They can both drive. Steve is wealthy - "Generationally!" - where Eddie's less so. Steve graduated - "Barely!" - and Eddie's in his third senior year.

"He's in a band," Robin says unhappily, like she's sad that Steve isn't measuring up.

"Have you heard them play? Steve's definitely winning," Lucas says.

"Steve doesn't know who Gollum is," Dustin points out. "He's, like, socially misplaced."

"Does Y/N?" Max asks.

The group ponders. Robin takes the binoculars from Steve's hands and aims them at you again. "Wait, did Eddie get the carbonara? That's a point for Steve."

"It's an Italian staple!" Dustin defends.

"You'd think a cult leader would order something a little more adventurous."

"Hellfire isn't a cult, Steve, don't be fucking offensive."

"Okay, watch your mouth, Henderson," Steve says testily.

His knees ache from hiding and his hands are frigid. It's dark enough for Lucas to switch on a torch as he offers Max his pringles. She wrinkles her nose in disgust and the poor guy looks dejected beyond words.

A disgruntled old lady complains behind them at having to walk around them. Mike complains louder. "This is pointless."

"It's not pointless," Steve says.

"Yes, it is."

"No, it isn't." He glares at Mike.

"It totally is! You're wasting our night to perv on someone who couldn't be less interested in you."

"I didn't ask you to come!" Steve shouts.

"I wanted to see you be wrong in person," he says.

Steve sighs because maybe he is wrong. He doesn't know what he believes anymore. He's working on the tiniest evidence that you like him, a slip of the tongue.

When you'd walked into Family Video a few days ago and asked Robin for 'boy tips', you'd said something suspicious. Steve doesn't think you know what you said. Robin thinks you're both idiots, though she thinks you're pathetic in the loveable way and Steve the pathetic way.

"Why Eddie?" Robin had asked you while he was hidden away in the backroom. "I didn't know you liked the rock and roll type. I was thinking, like, Steve's calibre. Homegrown boy next door who's a little misguided."

"Well, Steve's never gonna ask me out," you'd said.

"Thank god for that," Robin had joked awkwardly. Steve doesn't hold it against her.

When she'd relayed the conversation to him he'd been happy at first, because in most situations this would imply that you're waiting for it. That you want him to ask you out.

But you're not like most people, and you might've meant Steve in place of someone like Steve.

"I don't think he's wrong," Dustin says now.

"You're the same IQ," Mike says.

"You might be right, Wheeler," Steve huffs, holding his hands out for a turn. Robin passes them obligingly. "Y/N's so literal. They might've just been stating the obvious."

"Or maybe they thought Robin was implying they liked Steve and got defensive," Max adds.

"Or maybe it's exactly like it sounds and they have a crush on Steve," Lucas says. He wilts under Max's fierce scowl. "Or maybe they were being defensive."

"Defensive isn't really their style," Steve says, not sure what side he's on, sick with hope.

"What is their style?" Mike asks. "Delusion?"

"Shut the fuck up, man," Steve says.

"You're such an asshole sometimes," Max says.

They dissolve into bickering and Steve spies on you, watching through the binoculars with one eye pinched closed as you set down your cutlery. You're laughing.

Steve pulls the binoculars from his face and feels maybe every stage of grief as he hands them off to Dustin. "Mike's right, we're wasting the night here. If Y/N liked me, we wouldn't be camped outside Enzo's right now under the world's most threadbare throw blanket."

Mike clears his throat, and Steve knows he must have sounded pathetic when he, at odds with the cold indifference he usually sports, says, "I mean… People are complicated. El broke up with me last summer because my grandma died."

"That is not why," Max says. She sounds like she wants to be mad but can't manage it. She sounds about as happy as she has all year, so Steve decides maybe the night isn't totally wasted.

"Your grandma died?" Lucas asks.

"No."

"He just grabbed Y/N's hand," Dustin announces, one eye pressed to the binoculars.

His head is smushed against Lucas', who peers into the binoculars with his opposite eye and hums thoughtfully. "More of a caress than a grab."

Steve snatches the binoculars. "Give me that," he demands.

"You still haven't explained the spying," Max says.

Steve finds you in the restaurant. Your hand is extended across the table. You're twisting the rings around Eddie's fingers, saying something he doesn't have the talent to lip read.

"I thought that," he starts, morose, heart stomped on with every second you spend fawning over Munson's rock star hands, "if Y/N likes me, the date would be a total failure."

"Right, like halfway through the date Y/N was gonna have this amazing epiphany and come crashing through the doors, like a rom-com," Robin continues.

"That's stupid," Mike says.

Steve agrees with him. It's stupid to expect you to throw away a good chance at happiness and keep a candle burning for him instead when he's never showed any interest in you before. But, in his defense, he didn't know he was allowed.

"Whatever," he sighs. "I'm sick of thinking about it. Let's just go home."

There's an awkward silence then where everyone feels sorry for him and nobody knows what to say.

"Plenty of fi-" Lucas starts, voice lilted up in question until he's socked hard in the arm. He clears his throat. "Plenty of time left. On the clock. We can go get food?"

"Steve needs ice cream," Robin says cheerily. He scrubs his face until his eyes hurt as she continues. "He needs to eat through the heartbreak. Ice cream, pizza, moon cakes, cheese balls." She turns to him fully. "I'm really sorry your love life is so sad, but look on the bright side! You now have an excuse to watch Splash on repeat."

"Oh, goodie," he says.

He gets a round of sympathetic shoulder pats and then everyone starts to pack Dustin's spy equipment and the snacks away. There's a pounding headache between Steve's eyes and his back pops in three places as he stands. He's getting too old for shit like this. I need to go home and sleep for twelve hours, he decides. And have a self flagellating bubble bath. With a toaster.

"Shit, they're coming out."

They dive back behind the bush. Steve locks eyes with Robin. She holds her hand over her mouth as the door to Enzo's creaks open.

"What size are you?" Eddie's asking.

"I don't know. Do I have to wear the shirt?"

A handsome laugh. "No, you don't have to. It's just for club morale. Plus, it's pretty sick."

"It's not sick, it's cute."

"No, no." He's being so nice it makes Steve feel terrible for wishing bad things upon him. "Not bad sick. Good sick, like awesome."

"Right," you laugh.

Robin starts to lift her head. Steve shakes his vehemently, begging her not to. She does anyways, her eyes shifting up over the green hedge line. He tugs her shoulder urgently.

Robin starts to push against his face with her hands. It's increasingly difficult to fight her silently, especially when she smacks him straight in the soft part of his nose.

He winces and covers his face with both hands. God, are you there? He thinks urgently. It's me, Steve.

Robin gasps.

Five sets of eyes whip to her and Steve yanks her hard to the ground, covering her mouth with his hand. She licks his palm and Steve throws himself back, sprawled on the ground with his elbows stinging, his heart hammering because there's no way you didn't hear all that. He waits to be caught.

"I'll get it printed for you. Everyone has one. Like a uniform."

"Thanks for dinner," you say.

"You're welcome. I'll see you on Friday, yeah?"

"Yes. Thank you, Eddie."

Your voices stop. Steve lets himself collapse onto the sidewalk beneath, hair crushed under his neck. Your date must've gone pretty fucking well if you're going on another.

Robin's face above him. Her hair hangs down, blocking slices of her face from view.

"Don't sulk, Steve."

He glares at her. "You heard that, right? They're going on another date. Leave me here to die."

Robin's beaming. "Steve."

"It's too late. I should've- I don't know why I thought this was a good idea. I'm a loser."

"Could you stop feeling sorry for yourself for a second?" she asks.

"What's the point?"

"Steve," Robin laughs. "They didn't kiss." He swallows around the dryness in his mouth. "They didn't kiss," she repeats. "Eddie tried it, but…"

"Total head turn," Dustin says, the top of his head touching Robin's as he comes to stand over Steve, his shoes at Steve's shoulder.

"Doesn't mean anything. They're still going on another date," Steve says.

"Dummy," Max says, joining the two hovering above him.

Mike and Lucas join soon after. "You're definitely a loser-" Mike says.

"Dude."

"If you don't try," Mike finishes.

Steve looks up into the circle of their faces. They look super weird from this angle. Too happy. It's never a good thing when they're all smiling the way that they are. Hope in this family turns into stupid decisions.

"The head turn was on purpose?" he asks.

He's crushed by their hesitation.

"Well, it's Y/N," Robin sighs. She rolls her eyes at his expression. "Nah, I'm messing with you. It was definitely on purpose."

He covers his face with his hands and stares at his friend's through parted fingers. "Shit."

A ruckus of laughter and smiles as Robin offers a hand to pull him up off of the ground. "Alright, come on, dingus, we have work to do."

"Work?" he asks.

"T-minus six days and… twenty two hours until their second date," Dustin says, checking his watch. "Six days to make a move, Harrington. Can you do it?"

It only takes him three.

Saturday and Sunday are spent feeling sorry for himself and sick with worry that he can't make a move or that his move won't be reciprocated.

But then he sees you on Monday and can't really stand it anymore. You'd turned your head. You hadn't let Eddie kiss you.

Steve needs to know if you'll let him.

You're all in blue today with your eyebrows pinched up, looking sad. He knows from experience that you aren't sad at all, only thinking, sitting on the hood of his car with your legs pulled up. You're demure. You're probably an angel.

"How long have you been out here?" he asks, coming to a stop in front of you.

"I'm too afraid to come see you," you say. It's more honest than Steve had been expecting. Certainly more straightforward than you tend to be.

"You're seeing me now."

You look up into his face. The sun behind you, your face in shadow and your hair kissed by golden light, you open your hands over your thighs. Steve thinks of Lovers Lake, the Victoria flowers bobbing on the surface. Green, soft cups over dark water.

"I'm seeing you," you say.

You twist your fingers together and the lily pad turns to a water lily, your fingertips a tight bud.

You're nervous.

Steve crosses his arms over his chest and leans back slightly to take you in.

He lifts his chin at you. "How did your date go?" he asks.

"It was okay. Eddie's a nice guy. He's… interesting."

"Yeah?"

You hum. "Why are you asking me?"

"We're friends. I want to know if you had fun."

You shrug your shoulders and turn your haze to the hood of the BMW, scratching your nail over an imperfection he can't see.

Steve's unnerved to see you so still. He waits for your legs to kick or for your hands to fidget, to wear holes into the hem of your shirt.

"I don't think we're friends, Stevie," you say finally.

He actually feels mad. It shocks him, but he does, and he won't shy away from it. "Why did you ask Munson on a date?"

"He can drive. He's nice to girls. He's good looking." You stop scratching but don't look at him. Your ankle swings towards his car, stops before it hits the front bumper.

Your answers hurt his feelings, little pinpricks of annoyance? Jealousy? He doesn't know what he feels. He was hoping you'd say something reassuring.

He kicks himself quickly. You're not going to reassure him because you don't know he needs to be reassured. You don't know anything because he hasn't told you.

You mumble something too low for him to hear.

"What?" he asks gently. "I can't hear you."

"I asked him because I thought if-" You stop. Steve watches your hesitation turn to distress and steps forward to take your wringing hands into his.

"Don't do that," he says quietly.

You stop rubbing your wrists. "I'm trying to tell you."

"I know you are. Don't wind yourself up over it. Tell me slowly." He doesn't like this expression you're wearing. So unlike you. He wants to see your quiet face again, your features settled, your eyes bright. He bends at the waist to talk to you. "What did you think?"

"I thought if anybody in the world could make you jealous, it would be Eddie."

He works your clenched fingers open, rubbing his thumbs over the small creases in your skin. His heart thrums in his chest.

He smiles at you. "Now why do you wanna make me jealous?" he asks fondly, a hint of smugness creeping in.

You raise your eyes to his and squeeze his hands. "Steve," you say pleadingly. "Don't be cruel."

"About what?" he asks, his eyebrows pinched together in confusion.

"I know that I'm- I'm stupid, and distracted and-and I miss things, and-"

"Hey. That's not true."

You overflow.

"No, it is, it's true." You pull your hands out of his grip and cross them over your torso. Your eyes squint in efforts to stop the tears he can see gathering from spilling over, and your mouth twists up into a bitter smile. "Everyone says so. I- I don't know why I thought you would like me back."

"You like me?" he asks weakly.

You stop. "I thought you knew."

Steve's eyes flit in disbelief from your eyes to your lips, wondering if you've truly just said what you said.

Fine, whatever, he can be brave too. "If I tried to kiss you, would you let me?" he asks.

The upset wanes from your face and is replaced by a lighter kind of lovely. You pout. "Why would you ask me that?"

"Do you want me to kiss you?" he tries again.

"I don't know what the right answer is."

"I could…" Steve taps under your chin with his knuckle and lifts your face to his, eyes skipping between yours, the circle of your pupils dilated and shining. "I could never be cruel with you."

You wrap your hand around the crook of his elbow.

Understanding moves between you. He can pinpoint two realisations on your face as they happen. The first, that he isn't toying with you. That Steve had no idea how you felt, and that he hadn't known you were trying to make him jealous. The second, that you're about to be kissed.

"You were right," he says, his thumb sliding over the apple of your cheek.

"About what?" you ask, your eyes restless, clicking over each of his features in turn and getting caught on his lips.

He leans in, your mouths an inch apart. "Your date with Munson – I was jealous. But it's not about him. It's about you. You could've," he stops to laugh, bringing his second hand to the curve of your neck, "could've gone on a date with Keith and I would've been sick with it."

"Really?" you ask.

"Mm-hm," he hums lightly.

Your eyes close. Steve hesitates still, can't believe that he hasn't moved in, but he needs to say it.

"If I tried to kiss you, would you let me?" he asks again, voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Yeah, I'd let you."

His hands tremble with anticipation, a long time spent longing. He moves in, his ears pricked at the sound of your sweet inhale. A hitch, the same sound you make when you sleep beside him. The same sound you make when you're dreaming.

He spreads his hand over your thigh and kisses you.

Your lips are soft as a downy feather beneath his. You're shy, moving back as he moves forward, pliant under his guiding. He pets the juncture of your neck soothingly and pulls back fast, a short, chaste kiss. His lips burn.

"Again?" you ask.

He wades in carefully, worried to overwhelm you. You're like a wave cresting sand, falling back to push forward quickly. He's so elated to have his kiss returned that he sighs into you, palm spread wide over the dough of your thigh and squeezing carefully. He can feel your smile grow, your lips parting with it, the kiss inadvertently deepening.

You pull back. "I'm sorry."

His eyebrows furrow and he shakes his head. "For what?" he asks, rubbing your thigh.

"Boys don't like it when you slip them the tongue on the first kiss."

He blinks owlishly and has to step away from you to stop from laughing in your face, never at you, but laugh all the same. He smothers it with a cough and then doesn't bother, chuckling as he stands between your legs and throws his arms around you in a steel-armed hug.

You giggle and bring your forearms to the back of his head. Your wrist craned, you sift your fingertips through his hair, nails running over his scalp fleetingly.

"Right," he says. "Duh."

"I remembered," you say, sounding infinitely pleased with yourself.

He feels the heat of your body sink into his and wants to scream. The indescribable heat of your kiss plays over his chest, snaking tendrils. He feels weightless.

"The second kiss though," he says. Strictly informative. "They don't mind it, the second time."

He moves his head away from yours to meet your eyes. They're lit with mirth.

"Don't mind it, huh?" you ask knowingly.

His cheeks ache with a grin as he pulls you back in.

"You know, I saw you spying outside Enzo's," you say much later, your head tucked into Steve's chest.

He didn't know but he's not surprised. "Gonna cancel your date?" he asks.

"What date?"

"On Friday?"

"That isn't a date. I joined Hellfire Club."

Oh my god, he thinks. Eddie fucking Munson. "You're gonna have to kiss me again," he says morosely. He cheers up considerably quickly as you lift your chin, beaming.

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thank you for reading! | my masterlist

#steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington #steve harrington x you #steve harrington blurb #steve harrington one shot #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington drabble #stranger things fic #stranger things x reader #stranger things 4 #stranger things #stranger things fanfiction

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brooooswriting · 4 months

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Your fault pt. 2

Maria hill x reader, Natasha Romanoff x reader (past)

*knock knock knock* Maria groaned as she opened the door of her quarters, she had just come back from a very exhausting mission and was ready to go to bed. But the constant knocking was too annoying to be ignored forever.

“Y/n? What are you doing here?” She asked as soon as she saw you.

“I have to talk to you. You know how after the whole thing with Nat fury didnt let me back in until I went to therapy? So I went a couple of times while you were on the mission and then this woman has the audacity to tell me that I am suicidal and careless, that I wanted to end up dead on my last mission and that the person who made me feel like that was Nat” you hurried, making it hard for the brunette to understand anything.

“Wait- what did she say about you?” She asked, very unsure if she heard you right.

“Maria! That’s not important right now” you scolded her before continuing “she made me realize that Natasha is pure toxin for me. She also made me realize that I love you. It all made sense when she hinted at the fact that you’re the place I look for comfort. Because I do, you’re the first person I wanna see and the only person I always wanna talk to. I’m in love with you Maria” you told her, a smile on your face. The first real smile she had seen in months.

“I- why don’t you come in? I don’t think I can follow you right now” the door opened further for you to come in. You hurriedly followed her to the kitchen where she poured you a glass of water while you admired her.

“So what was that about you being suicidal?” She asked again as she pushed the glass towards you. Her eyes focusing on you.

“This is what you took in? Maria, I said I am in love with you and I mean it. I’ve been to 12 therapy sessions in the last 6 weeks and in every session all I wanted to talk about was you, how you saved me, how save I felt with you and then I realized it. I let Natasha treat me like shit for so long that I didn’t feel like you’d want me as soon as I realized that I do want you.”

“Y/n, are you sure about this? I don’t want to be a rebound and I don’t want to ruin our friendship” she said, her hand lightly grazing over yours that was placed on the counter. Her smile was a mixture of happiness sadness and uncertainty.

“Maria, I’ve never been surer about anything. You are the most amazing and beautiful person I have met and I wish I would have realized sooner. If you don’t feel the same, just say so and I’ll disappear and leave you alone with this topic. Our friendship can stay the same, I promise” everybody could have heard the sadness in your voice.

“I’ve been in love with you since our first mission but two weeks later you came in with Natasha holding hands. I didn’t wanna do anything if you were happy so I shut up. But now I’m so happy that I at least stayed close” she told you, leaning in carefully. Her eyes started to close as she noticed that you were also coming closer.

You were. At least until your hand suddenly stopped her, pushing her back lightly. “I - I thought” she immediately stumbled out making you smile lightly.

“You thought right but there’s something that I haven’t told you. I haven’t broken up with Natasha yet, I know what that sounds like but I was kinda scared, you know how toxic she can be”

“What?”

“I was scared and you weren’t here so I wouldn’t have had anywhere to go. Not anywhere I felt safe at least. And I don’t want to kiss you before I’m free” your hand carefully caressed her cheek as you explained, your heart feeling lighter as soon as she leaned into your touch.

“It’s okay. I’ll be there for you every second okay?” You nodded and fell into her embrace.

That night you decided to call it quits with the redhead, now that Maria was by your side.

“Natasha, we have to talk” you said as you walked into the kitchen, placing yourself on the other side of the table while Maria waited a couple of seconds before waking to the fridge.

“What about?” She was clearly uninterested in whatever you had to say and you had to hold back an eye roll.

“I think we should break up. No wait, I am breaking up with you. We just don’t fit together anymore and I don’t want to be treated like this anymore” you told her, your voice confident as you felt safe with the shield agent behind you.

“Yeah whatever” she said and walked out of the kitchen leaving you stunned.

“It’s over” you whispered to the woman as you sat on the counter next to where she was cutting some food.

“Finally. Now i can do this” she smiled as she pressed a light kiss to your lips. “And tomorrow I wanna take you out on a real date” she whispered against them before pulling away to plop some fruit into her mouth.

That night you fell asleep in one of Maria’s shield hoodies back in your own room after years and you haven’t felt as free as you did in forever.

Three weeks later

Natasha stood alone at Tony’s party watching Maria push you against a wall to make out with you. Her heart broke as she saw you smile against the brunettes lips. She’d never forgive herself for loosing you but it was too late now.

#reader insert #brooooswriting #natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #maria hill x y/n #maria hill x you #maria hill one shot #maria hill x reader #maria hill imagine

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alovesreading · 10 months

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Constant Repeat | Part 13

Summary: Having worked at Focus Creeps for a year, Ella knows that as a production assistant and part of the crew, there’s one important rule: don’t interact with the talent unless it’s needed. But once she meets Arctic Monkeys, and the recording of the music videos for their upcoming fourth studio album starts, the band seem to become her exception. Not only because they treat her more like a friend than just someone else they’re working with but when Alex continuously makes her blush with his flirting, so enthralled by her that he forgets he’s got a girlfriend, Ella finds herself growing closer to him. As videos are filmed, wrapped and edited, the friendship lines become blurry. Situations unfold, secrets are told and others are kept under lock and key, but how long can Alex and Ella endure being stuck in each other’s minds on constant repeat.

Word Count: 24.9k

Story Warnings: Throughout this series there will be suggestive talk, jealousy, cheating, alcohol and drug use, angst, smut.

A/N: Well hello... It's the one we've been waiting for and I'm actually fucking jumping in my spot as I write this. Cannot wait for you to read this, and yes the pictures in the moodboard are what you're thinking. Safe to say it’s gonna get a bit steamy, enjoy ;) xx

Masterlist

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Ella woke up slightly terrified yet excited that Saturday morning.

She hadn't gone on a first date since the one she went with her ex at the start of the previous year and after everything that had happened with him, the prospect of going on a date, even if it wasn't more than a last minute plan, was wracking her nerves.

The feeling had made her almost miss breakfast, her appetite almost gone until she started feeling faint and she realized that if she wanted to actually not have a miserable day then she'd have to eat.

She had gone downstairs to the hotel's restaurant in a zombie-like state, ordering herself some scrambled eggs and pancakes so the homely feeling of the food made her feel better. And it did.

When she got upstairs, she took a shower and lounged in bed, still in her robe and letting her hair air dry, until it was at least half past twelve. The date wasn't until four but she figured she'd slowly get ready so she'd not freak out about the date and bail out of it at the last minute.

Ella had been absentmindedly straightening her hair and curling the ends of it when her phone rang, and it was none other than Mrs. Healy.

"Good afternoon Miss Hayes, are you ready for today?" Flo greeted her with a chipper tone in her voice, Ella could practically see the beaming smile on the artist's face just from her voice.

Biting on her bottom lip, she let the phone rest on her lap as she continued with the next section of hair and admitted, "I'm actually nervous..."

Flo cooed at her, "Good but also don't be. He's an absolute dream."

The tiny piece of information only made Ella more curious about the person's identity, who she now knew was a male but that being the only hint she'd gotten had her somewhat obnoxiously asking, "Are you finally gonna tell me who it is?"

But all she got was another vague answer, "All you have to know is that he's fit and I know you'll get on with him perfectly well."

At least the reassurance that they would get on well was easing Ella's nerves a little. Not as much as she wished though, but that was because she knew herself and when she first met anyone, she got shy and was a bit awkward, so she was praying that she'd be able to get a bit of courage not to make a fool out of herself.

Thankfully Florence had stayed on the phone with Ella as she finished doing her hair and she'd actually video called her when was doing her makeup, making her laugh throughout it all and somehow making her forget about how tense she had been for a bit.

Matty had just come back from a meeting when Ella was showing Flo the dress she had gotten in Manchester for the date and, to Flo's dismay, he had almost slipped and told Ella who it was that she was seeing in merely an hour from then.

"Matthew!" Flo had exclaimed loudly before the name fell from his lips and he had quickly thrown his hand over his mouth with wide eyes.

His honest, "I'm so sorry." sounded muffled behind his hand and it only got an eye roll from his wife.

Ella was gutted that her only chance to find out had gone that way, telling Flo, "Why are you so fast?" with a sorrowful voice which had the British woman laughing.

Flo took her husband's close mishap as a sign to let the girl go, "You're gonna have to get faster Miss, it's quarter past three and it's a twenty five minute walk over there."

"Shit, right." Ella cursed under her breath, realizing she needed to get dressed already and leave as soon as she could so she wasn't late.

"You're gonna look stunning, hun." Flo reassured her since she seemed to start growing panicky, "I'm gonna leave you now so you can change but you have the best time Ellie, alright?"

Ella pursed her lips at the camera and clutched her chest, "Thanks Flo, love you."

Flo grinned sweetly at her American friend and reciprocated, "Love you too. And let me know how it goes, alright?"

"Will do, but I don't promise anything too interesting." Ella made sure to make that point clear, she didn't have much expectations for the date just so she wouldn't end up feeling defeated for it not meeting whatever she could imagine it to be if she allowed herself to.

But Florence was in heavy doubt of it not being interesting considering she knew who Ella was meeting with. So she offered Ella a gallic shrug, "Yeah, well... We shall see about that."

The artist looked as if she was holding back laughter so Ella narrowed her eyes at her and sternly inquired, "What?"

Which wasn't answered because Flo played dumb and simply said, "Okay byeee! Love you!" loudly before hanging up the phone.

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Ella walked the best she could in her high heeled chelsea boots which were not a great pick when mixed with how nervous she was and how far she'd had to walk. She had debated getting a taxi when she was walking through the hotel lobby but decided against it when she realized that if she did, she'd get there quicker and she wanted to stall as much as she could.

She wasn't even late yet, ten minutes left for the clocks to strike four in the afternoon and she was merely five minutes away. The whole walk, she had been practicing in her head whatever she could say to the guy she was meeting with, just to prevent embarrassing herself. If anything went wrong though, she had brought her camera with her and a few rolls were stuffed in her pocket so that she could at least take the opportunity to take pictures.

She had gone from any topics she could come up with about herself, deciding against being the one to mention her tragic love life and definitely not touch the subject of her lack of driving skills when it came to manual transmission—she had enough with the Monkeys teasing about it even after two years—, and picking a few questions that could be interesting to ask the guy.

But all the inquiries and words she had been rehearsing died in her throat when she rounded the corner on the end of the restaurant's street and she saw the tall guy smoking a cigarette, leaning on a lamppost right by the entrance of the establishment.

Ella thought of making a run back to the hotel, hesitating which way to go and how it would work with her long dress but his eyes fell on her before she could make up her mind and when he smiled sweetly at her, cigarette perched between his lips, she knew it was too late.

On Ella's face a shy smile broke and she gave him a little wave before approaching him, faking confidence as she got closer until he was only a few feet away so she said, "Oh hi, I wasn't expecting you."

Her face was burning and she knew he could see it because he smirked down at her, and cheekily asked, "Were you hoping for someone else?"

Looking up at him through her eyelashes, Ella smiled harder at his playfulness and in a rush of braveness she chose to play along, "Do you really want to know the answer?"

He took a drag of his cigarette and let the smoke out steadily as he shook his head, "I'm just hoping you remember my name."

And how could Ella forget, "Of course I remember you, George."

George hummed, taking one last drag as he took in her appearance and he grinned mischievously when seeing the dark satin and lace of her dress contrasting on her skin, her leather jacket making her look even more stunning and coincidentally matching the one he was wearing.

"Glad you haven't, Ella." The drummer replied with a wink, dropping the bud on the ground and stepping on it before taking something out of the pocket of his dark jeans, "Flo sent this for you."

An involuntary "Oh." fell from Ella's lips, entirely intrigued by what could be that friend had wanted to tell her that couldn't be said on the phone because George handed her a folded piece of paper that only said Ellie x on the front.

Ella carefully opened it, trying her best to avoid George seeing it—which was a bit of an issue since he was so tall he could've easily read if he looked down—and she instantly blushed harder when she read Get the nice kind of messy ;) x

A flashback of the moment at Glastonbury when she had been gawking at George and she had let slip how fit she found him came to the forefront of her mind and she couldn't help herself getting a little flustered at the mere thought of it.

In an attempt to try and play it cool, Ella folded the note and shoved it in one of the pocket's of her leather jacket, clearing her throat, adjusting the strap of her camera on her shoulder and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear like it was all fine.

But George could see her cheeks bright pink, the rush of color even going to the tips of her ears which she had just let show with her last action. "What did she say?" He had kept his promise that he wouldn't open the note when Florence gave it to him earlier that day, even though he had been really tempted too, especially when he realized Matty knew what it said for he was giggling when his wife handed it to him.

Ella didn't give him an answer though, only a little cough that acted as a coverup of her avoiding his gaze and a subtle shrug, "Just a little joke."

"Can you share?" He tried further, his hand coming to nudge her softly in the arm.

Not even that helped her answer change. She shook her head and said a shy, "Not really."

"I see how it is." George had narrowed his eyes at her and added, "S'alright, I'll remember that." which was a promise that had Ella biting her tongue.

"Shall we go inside?" The drummer said then, watching her struggling to come up with a response to his previous statement.

The new question was much easier to reply to, a soft "Yes." falling from her lips, breathlessly.

And he took her breath even more when he let her walk ahead, only to rest his hand on her lower back delicately and casually comment, "You look beautiful by the way. Really like that we're matching with the leather jackets."

The opportunity to not acknowledge the compliment was perfect because she felt like she was going to explode under George's attention. She giggled and nodded, "What a great coincidence huh?"

His answer being, "Hot coincidence." accompanied by a wink didn't make it easy for her though and she found that being on a date with George Daniel meant blushing every five minutes even if the chat was about mundane topics.

They had talked about their hometowns, to which George had found the opportunity to say how much he liked cowgirls and comment on how good she looked at Glastonbury with her boots. They had exchanged stories about their jobs, Ella asking all that came to her mind about producing music which she found fascinating that he was the one to produce all of his band's songs. They had told each other how they had ended up doing what they were doing currently, Ella cooing constantly when George told her how the guys became friends and how the band had come together, George being fascinated about her knowledge on films and everything to do with photography and cinematography.

Then he had asked her about her hand tattoo, smirking when he rubbed his thumb over it and asking if she had any more which ended up in them sharing the amount of ink they had on their bodies which George beat her to by an incredible amount. They both had ended up taking their jackets off and showing each other each piece they had on their skin.

Eventually, the chat had come back to the band and Ella had asked him whereabouts they had toured so far, her jaw dropping the more his list continued and she genuinely had a hard time wrapping her head around them being relatively new to the mainstream scene when they were already going to all those places.

She'd been so amazed at every place he'd mentioned that she'd ended up telling him it was her first time in England.

"Really? First time here?" He asked intrigued before taking a sip of his wine.

She nodded because she had a bit of food in her mouth and she waited until she swallowed to correct him, "Anywhere outside the States really."

George was quite surprised about that, "No way. Are you liking it here then?"

"Yeah, it's quite nice." Ella admitted with a soft smile, "Love how different it is from what I've grown up seeing."

He hummed, "Have you been anywhere else other than London and Glasto?"

And she nodded, her smile growing as she said, "Went to Sheffield and Manchester yesterday and the day before."

"Ohhh, big up Manc." He smirked, liking hearing that she'd visited the city he held dearest to his heart, but then he traced back to what Ella had said and with an eyebrow raised added, "Sheffield though... Did the lads take you?"

"Alex did, yeah." She mindlessly answered as she gathered some more food with her fork and took it in her mouth.

"Right, Turner." The drummer nodded, and before he could let the subject go he had to mention, "Thought you two were going out actually. Surprised me when Flo called me and asked if I wanted to go on a date with you."

"Oh no, we're not. But god, that's embarrassing." Ella winced at the information, both pieces of them.

George smirked playfully, "Dating Turner?"

Ella laughed in response to that, shaking her head before clearing up, "Flo asking you if you wanted to go out with me. You know you could've said no."

He frowned at her, like she had just said the most outrageous thing and he wholeheartedly asked, "But why would I?"

"Oh George, stop it." Ella warned him, pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes at him.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" George reached his hand out to touch hers, the one with her 'Pure Desire' tattoo again, and she almost shivered under it.

Ella let her fork down beside her plate and fanned herself with her hand as she said, "You're making me blush."

But that was nothing that would keep him quiet, because he honestly admitted, "Yeah and I quite enjoy doing it."

The rest of the date had been spent between good food, good wine, laughter, a picture she had taken of George, and chatter that had been really nice. Getting to know George had been like a breath of fresh air, that's why when they had left the restaurant, the drummer had offered to walk her back to her hotel and Ella hadn't even doubted to accept.

He had taken a few detours, taking her around to places that she hadn't seen from where he had hilarious and very wholesome stories of his childhood and teenage years when he would come around to London with the lads and other friends just mess about.

And Ella had been grateful for the anecdotes because she was making sure to capture each place in its unique beauty and she knew behind each shot she'd have the memory of what George had shared with her.

George watched her closely every time she took a picture, taking in all that she did every time she wanted to take a picture. She was so adorable to him, the way she lit up when she'd pressed the shutter and looked at him excitedly when she rolled the film.

The two had walked through a gorgeous park, one that was bustling with people. Some were running, others having picnics, some walking their dogs, some biking past everyone and some just leisurely taking a stroll like they were.

They had been approached by the cutest dog who had strayed away from beside their owner who was sitting on a bench and excitedly walked up to them.

Ella cooed as she crouched down, petting the husky's head and put on a funny baby voice to greet the dog. George had chuckled, crouching down right beside her and showered the dog with attention as well.

From the bench, they heard the owner apologize to which they replied that it was alright and complimenting him on how gorgeous his dog was.

They asked about it, which ended up being her and called Daisy, which had Ella and George cooing again.

She had asked the owner if she could take a picture of Daisy and he had nodded right away, telling her to please do so. Ella had the biggest smile on her face as she looked through the viewfinder and tried focusing the shot, George had helped her by waving his hand right on top of the camera so it looked like Daisy was staring into the lenses perfectly.

Before they could continue walking after managing to get a few pictures of Daisy, Ella asked the owner for an email address so she could send the pictures to him and she was so glad the man had one.

After saving it on her phone's notes app, Ella and George waved the man and Daisy goodbye. The dog wagging her tail around as she stayed sat beside her owner on the bench this time.

Ella blew the husky a kiss and said loudly, "Bye Daisy darling!"

That just made George's chest swell and in a lack of any more self control, he wrapped his arm around Ella's waist and pulled her into him, her chest hitting his chest and making them both stop.

"Oh hi." Ella giggled at the sudden action, her hands had subconsciously ended up on his chest after that.

But any other words died in her throat when he dipped his head and trapped her lips with his.

Ella hummed into the kiss, which was a dizzying combination between sweet and determined. His left arm stayed wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush into his chest but the other one came up so his hand cupped her jaw and kept her at the perfect angle for him to kiss her.

Her arms slowly moved up until they were wrapped around his shoulders and she let her fingers tangle in his hair. It was soft and slightly long which she really liked. His tongue brushed against her bottom lip, his fingers clutching her tighter and she let her mouth open so they could taste each other.

She had completely forgotten where they were until a cyclist rushed past them and rang their bell multiple times, startling them out of the kiss. Yes we are in the middle of the road but that was fucking rude, she thought. She had really enjoyed that kiss, and it showed in the way she looked up at George with rosy cheeks and something written on her face.

"I liked that." George cheekily stated, getting ahold of her hand and resuming their walk.

Ella hummed, trying not to giggle because of the feeling that was bubbling inside her. "Yeah, I liked that too."

She felt like a teenager. Blushing to herself while she walked hand in hand with the person she had a crush on, and it was so ridiculous but so relieving at the same time to feel that kind of pathetic elation instead of despair and heartache.

Their chatter resumed, only it was getting more and more flirty and she liked where it was going until they managed to get to the hotel she was staying at and she sighed sadly when they were a few feet away from the big glass doors.

"This is me." Ella mumbled, squeezing his hand in hers but he didn't let go.

He hummed as if hesitant of believing what she'd just said and instead he suggested, "Don't you wanna take another walk around the block?"

"George, my feet hurt." They had been hurting for a while but she hadn't said anything just to not ruin things.

The drummer came to a quick solution, "I'll carry you."

Which made her chuckle, "Sure you would." She genuinely didn't want the date to end so in a bit of a rushed decision, she bargained, "Don't you... Do you wanna come upstairs?"

He got a kick of excitement inside him but he wanted to play it cool, so he joked, "What, are you gonna take my picture?"

Ella held back a snort of laughter, and shrugged as if it was fine by her that he only wanted that. "If that's what you want." There was a little voice in her head that told her not to but there was another one that purely encouraged her to have fun.

"Yeah, that works." George casually said, like he wasn't praying that he got lucky to even get another kiss out of her.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

"Where'd you want me?" George turned to look at her as she dropped her camera on one of the bedside tables and shed her jacket off to perch on the back of a loveseat close to the door.

Ella took one of the new rolls out of her pocket and changed it for the one she'd almost fully used earlier that day. "Wherever you're comfortable." She indicated the drummer, focused on perfectly lining the roll before she could turn to him.

"Bed's quite comfy." She heard George say from behind her and when she looked up to see him, she found him lying on his side, head perched on his hand and a smirk on his face. "Paint me like one of your french girls." He teased, resting his other hand dramatically on his forehead.

The American girl giggled at his antics, "You're such an idiot." She shook her head as she came up to the bed, and tried looking at the scene through her lenses but she wasn't quite convinced by the shot.

George watched her struggle, stepping backwards and forwards, to the sides before sighing. He reminded her, "I'm not used to being the one to pose for the camera. You're gonna have to guide me."

"Okay." She thought about it as she bit on her thumb and once a vision came to her, she started instructing him, "Lean into your forearms, sideways so you fit in the bed." But she found what was bothering her and it was that his legs were half hanging off the bed.

"Why are you so tall, oh my god." Ella went over to the drummer and prompted him to go further into the bed, perched one of his sock-clad feet up on the bed and the other leg stayed stretched on the bed. "There, now look at me."

George looked at her with a blank face first to which she complained about him not smiling but when he smiled he started giggling and if there had been something she had learned about George quite early into her date was that his laugh was incredibly contagious so she found herself shaking with laughter as she tried to take his pictures and she had to call him out for it.

"Don't laugh! You're making me laugh!" Ella scorned him, struggling to sound serious between her giggles.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized halfheartedly, swallowing his laughter until he went back to a stoic face and he gave her the perfect soft smolder.

Ella hummed in satisfaction of that frame and then she moved onto instructing him to do the next pose, "Throw your head back a bit and close your eyes." He silently listened and did as she said which earned him a sweet, "Just like that." from her.

Her words made George give her a look though, one that had Ella lightly blushing which she hid behind her camera. "What?" She asked into the air, and warned him, "Don't look at me like that."

George chuckled to himself, wondering if she was that naive or if she was playing dumb but she took another picture of him and, purposely, he complained, "My leg's cramping." to then throw himself back on the bed, ending up completely splayed over the duvet and breaking the pose.

"George!" Ella scolded him, a bit of amusement sneaking through her words.

He groaned in response and without moving, told her to "Just take a picture like this."

Ella clicked her tongue and shook her head, "I can't even see your face."

"Come here so you can see it." He resolved easily for her, making her roll her eyes but in the end having to do just as he said because he really wasn't moving.

She tried getting a picture from above while standing beside the bed and she just couldn't. "That's an awkward angle, look at me." She tried to get him to turn to his side again but he closed his eyes and shook his head. "Need you on your side." She said explicitly this time but he didn't let up either.

Instead he suggested, "Why don't you just get up here?" He patted the bed, right next to his hip and she blushed just thinking about it. At her silence, he opened his eyes and turned his head to the side to encourage her with a "C'mon."

He offered his hand so she could use it as leverage to kneel on the bed on each side of his hips and hover above him. She struggled as she did so because she was growing nervous and therefore clumsy. "Fucking hell, George." She cursed under her breath, seeing him from above was an angle that she didn't know if she could handle.

"What?" George bit his bottom lip to not let a smirk break on his face.

Yet, not even that kept her from knowing that he knew just what he was doing but she wouldn't say anything, because she was enjoying this a lot more than she intended to. So she stuck to just replying, "Nothing." as she took yet another picture of him.

Remembering his tattoos, Ella bit her bottom lip for a few seconds before hesitatingly asking, "Why don't you take your jacket off?"

George let his hands rest right above her knees and squeezed her legs as he teased, "Is that code for something?"

She hoped her blush wasn't obvious so she could play off her nonchalant, "For 'I want to see your tattoos', yes."

It went right over his head though, because he kept smirking as he sarcastically replied, "Right, right."

She moved so he could take the piece of clothing off without her hovering over him but when he was done and laying on the bed again, he patted his right side so she could move her left leg there and have her hover over him properly again.

"How's that look?" He asked cheekily as his hands went to touch her legs again, the skin up to her mid thighs showing because her dress slit allowed it to open and rise up in the position she was in.

"Amazing." She breathlessly compliment, making him raise an eyebrow at her.

The shutter went off again and, as she rolled the film, he tested the waters, "Do you want to see them all?"

"Sure." The word came out so soft it could've gone with the wind, his hands leaving her thighs for a second to come grab the bottom of his shirt.

"Top's coming off next then, is that alright?" He asked for confirmation first and she nodded eagerly, her pupils dilating in anticipation.

He shed himself off his shirt in the constricted space he had, Ella was so spaced out that she hadn't moved but it wasn't a problem for George. If anything, his smirk grew at her inability to act and it got bigger when he threw it somewhere across the room and Ella was shamelessly gawking at his naked top half.

After a minute of Ella's eyes wandering everywhere, George brought her back to reality by letting his hands come over her thighs again. She trembled at the same time as the drummer said, "Ella?"

"Yeah?" She asked, slowly coming back to reality. Her brain had been completely taken over by the view of the taut muscles of his arms littered by colorful ink, a pair of symmetric 'broken' tattoos on both sides of his collarbones and his torso beautifully chiseled with a defined six pack.

"When are you taking the picture?" He reminded her trying not to smirk too hard not to put her off.

"Shit, sorry." She said under her breath and, quickly focusing, finally took a picture of him like that.

There was a heavy silence that hung over them, the trail of his fingers making her skin grow hot and her throat going dry at the growing need for anything at all. So Ella found herself surprised when he broke the silence to ask her, "Can I take your picture?"

"Mine?" She repeated like she'd heard wrong.

But George nodded entirely sure, and let her know, "You look really pretty from here."

In a feeble attempt not to have him do that, Ella reminded him, "You don't know how to."

"Matty had a film camera a few years ago, I know how to." George surprised her even further when he explained and just to try a bit harder, he pouted at her and said, almost begging, "Please?"

"Okay." She let herself accept, her mind too distraught by the view beneath her to even fight.

Once she handed him the camera, he lifted it up to his eyes and let out a chipper, "Smile." as an instruction, which she followed only just a bit shyly.

She was about to get the device back from him when he pulled it away from her grasp and pleaded, "Another one please?"

She sighed at the drummer's exaggerated pout, so it turned into a giggle and that was when the shutter went off. Her cheeks burned again when he complimented as he rolled the film, "Stunning."

Letting the camera rest beside them, George tried his luck and let his hands rub on the skin of her thighs a bit further up. She didn't refuse it, he could clearly see the growing hunger in her eyes as she looked down at him so he continued, letting his gaze trail down her body to drink in all of her but when he reached down to her legs was when he caught a slight glimpse of red ink on her left thigh that made him ask, "Do you have more tattoos?"

He didn't remember her mentioning any other tattoos than the ones she'd shown him at the restaurant. So when she nodded, he couldn't help but ask, "Where?"

"One, right here." Ella grabbed his right hand so he could touch over the fabric of her dress where the one on her rib was. Her eyes were looking right into his and his lips drew open further when she continued, "And this one here." lifting the fabric up to show her 'Divine Feminine' tattoo on her leg.

George let his right hand fall until it reached the one on her thigh, Ella still clutching the satin in her first so he could fully see it. He rubbed on the red ink on her skin as he stared at it, eliciting goosebumps to break on Ella's entire body.

He looked up and asked with a low voice about the only one he hadn't seen yet but she'd let him touch over her dress, "What's the other one?"

"A word." She vaguely said, as if he was encouraging him to continue asking about it.

"Which word?" His fingers were trailing further up, making her knees go completely weak. They had been hurting from hovering over him for so long but his touch had been the thing to finally have her sit on his lap.

And that was when she had felt him growing hard in his jeans.

His fingers had already been making her every thought go straight down to her core so Ella was driven by lust when she fully lifted the satin up and shed the dress off her body, leaving her only in her underwear and in full show for George.

It was involuntary, his hip jerking forward and pressing on Ella's center, his mouth agape at the sight and he grew even more breathless when Ella rolled her hips against his hardening cock.

"Fuck." He cursed under his breath, taking one quick look at the strange word on her rib before perching himself up on his left forearm to wrap his right hand around her neck and pull her in for a hungry kiss.

She leaned further into him, one arm wrapping around his shoulders and digging into his hair to pull on it as their lips moved with each other. Her fingers tugging on his hair made him groan into her mouth and, as payback, he tightened his fingers around her neck, eliciting a loud moan from her.

George pushed himself up with his left hand until he was sitting on the bed, his right arm wrapped around Ella's waist to keep her flush against him. Their tongues tasted each other and their breaths grew heavy when they started rolling their hips, meeting in the middle and creating a delicious friction that soon enough forced them to break the kiss only to gasp in pleasure into each other's mouths.

His fingers came to graze the ink on her left rib, her desperate side having her sink her hips down to roll against him and turned his, "What does it mean?" into a gorgeous moan. Their lips brushed as he asked and Ella responded to his sound with a mewl of her own and when that reached his ears, George forgot ever asking anything for he couldn't wait any longer to feel her lips on his again.

The kiss grew needy then. His hand went from her ribs down to knead the flesh of her ass, fingers harshly digging into her skin and encouraging her to move against him. Her clit was getting so stimulated from only being covered by the thin material of her lace thong against his jeans which meant she couldn't kiss him any longer.

A string of moans fell from her as she quickened her pace, getting louder as she went but her actions were interrupted when George clutched her tightly by her middle and swiftly turned them around so it was Ella resting on her back on the bed with him hovering right over her.

Her breath hitched in her throat at the sudden change of positions, her hand flying to cup his face and bring his lips back on hers and wrapping her legs around his waist to pull his hips into her core in a desperate attempt to have the friction back.

The feeling of his hard on coming down to rub harshly against her every time he bucked his hips forward was making her head spin. He started off by teasing her with the friction and leaving her hanging for a few seconds before going back in but when she started gasping into his mouth, he kept himself close to her and relentlessly rolled his hips on hers, hard cock pressing deliciously against her throbbing clit.

The pace grew faster, making it impossible for her to continue moving her lips with his so he took it as a sign to continue on with what he wanted to do first. Unfortunately, that meant his hips stopped moving and left her throbbing and clenching around nothing but he made it up to her with his lips all over her.

Wet kisses trailed down her neck, his lips taking their time to give every bit of her skin attention on the way down. Kissing, sucking, licking. His fingers ran down her sides until they clutch tightly on her hips, fingers pressing hard on the skin there and making her cry out in pleasure even louder.

Her breath was heavy by the time he stopped sucking bruises all over her chest and abdomen, her fingers tangled in his hair and tugged on it so he could come back up but instead his tongue ran flat from just above her belly button agonizingly slowly up until his nose bumped against the hem of her bra.

George looked up at her through his lashes, teeth coming to bite on the fabric and tugging them the slightest bit down so she knew what he wanted to do and Ella desperately nodded.

Without much of a proper attempt to take the piece of clothing off, he just tugged down the lace cups on it and let her tits spill out freely for him. He groaned from the pits of his chest, hips bucking forwards into the mattress harshly in search of some relief for himself.

But not letting any more seconds go by, George dove to suck one of her nipples into his mouth. Groaning around it, the vibrations of the noise causing white heat to run straight down to Ella's throbbing wet cunt.

He switched the sucking for flicking it with his tongue, blowing cold air and smirking as her nipple hardened at his actions, ending with a soft bite and tug that had Ella loudly saying his name in call for mercy.

She needed something, anything. She felt herself clenching around nothing and it was almost torturous. But her cries fell on deaf ears for he moved onto her other nipple and repeated his process. Ella was only ruining her underwear further, so wet she felt uncomfortably sticky with her thong still on.

"George, baby, please–" She pleaded in anguish when he started sucking bruises on her tits, biting them until she whimpered loudly under him.

"What do you need Ellie?" He asked sweetly, a stark contrast to his vicious attack on her chest.

"Anything. Just–" She tried to say, her words catching up in her throat as her desperation for release clouded her logic and made her sound stupid.

So she relied on grabbing one of his hands from her hips and guided it down to where she needed him most. The simple graze of one of his fingertips on her swollen clit eliciting a pathetic mewl out of her.

"Oh sweetheart," George tutted, "Made quite a mess, haven't you?" His pointer finger ran up and down her clothed core slowly and so faintly Ella didn't know if she was imagining it.

Applying a bit more pressure assured him to hear every one of Ella's needy sounds and feeling like she had waited enough, he left a light feather kiss over her center.

"Need help cleaning up this mess, yeah?" His words were sweet, like he was finally taking pity on her. The thought of him doing absolutely anything at that moment sounded so fucking good her hum in agreement sounded more like a whine, barely able to make eye contact with him in her hazy mind.

His long tongue ran flat over her underwear, wetting even more than it already was and he moaned at the taste of her soaking through it. His fingers tugged the fabric down her legs and threw it somewhere behind him in record time, and he found himself almost drooling at the sight of Ella completely exposed for him.

If Ella'd had any hint of inhibition left in her, she would've tried to close her legs under his attentive gaze but he was entranced and she'd had it with waiting any longer so she propped her legs wide open and squirmed in her place.

"George, please."

Her pleading was so sweet, so desperate, he couldn't deny her. So he dipped his head in between her legs and started lapping at her like a starved man. At the first proper taste he had moaned loudly, tongue running up and down her slit to gather as much of her as he could and enjoying every drop of her on his tongue.

"Are you not gonna continue taking my picture?" George interrupted his task to tauntingly ask, going back to using his tongue on her, this time flicking it up and down quickly on her clit and making her shiver.

Her words caught in her throat when he didn't relent his actions, "Right– F-fuck! Right now?"

Only allowing himself to stop for the amount of seconds it took him to say, "Yes baby, be a good girl and take my picture."

That 'good girl' had made Ella roll her eyes in utter pleasure. Her head turned quickly to see where he'd left the camera and brought it to her eyes to take a picture as fast as she could. Her thoughts were already becoming clouded by the growing heat in her lower belly.

His disheveled dirty blonde hair in between her legs, his arms underneath her legs and hands clutching her thighs in place was what she captured in that frame. The shutter went off letting George know she'd done as he'd said and he congratulated her by praising her with a proud, "Such a good girl." and a few kisses to her clit which made her jolt.

He went back down, trying to clean up the mess of slick and saliva that was dripping down her inner thighs and onto the duvet and a desperate Ella had started rocking her hips against his face, trying to steer him back to where she wanted him to be and, to her satisfaction, he followed the silent instruction by going back to her center and this time pointing his tongue and dipping it inside her.

Her legs instinctively closed around his head, eliciting a breathy laugh from him that hit her core as he continued tongue fucking her. His hands came to spread open her legs again, holding her limbs down on the bed strongly, not allowing her to move any longer.

The feeling of his wet tongue dipping in and out of her had her growing louder, begging and pleading with him not to stop, but he did.

In that moment, Ella swore she could cry as she'd felt herself nearing closer to the edge but just before she could pathetically let her frustrated tears roll down, his lips wrapped around her throbbing clit and he sucked on it applying the perfect amount of pleasure. Enough pressure for her to let out a string of moans of his name and then a bunch of "Yes! Fuck yes!", hands flying down to tangle her fingers in his hair and keep him in his place.

"I'm gonna cum!" She yelled out loud, eyes shut tightly since the pleasure impeded her from keeping them open, and when George started humming as he sucked her clit, she was done for.

Her legs trembled under his hold, toes curling and her fingers surely tugging his hair tighter than she was before. She blacked out as her orgasm hit her hard, the oxygen in her lungs leaving her entirely as her back arched off the bed and she came back when his incessant sucking became too much for her oversensitive self and she pulled him back off her.

He giggled, completely entranced by her fucked out state. Watching her cum had been an experience but god didn't she look beautiful with her chest heaving, bruises looming on her skin, a flush to her face and chest, a thin coat of sweat making her body and face shine.

But before he could give her any more attention, his gaze fell back to her cunt and it was glistening with arousal. She tasted so good to him, so he wasted no more time to lick her clean. Her legs trembled at the resumed contact of his tongue on her sensitive core, whimpers stubbornly leaving her as he went.

Her fingers had left his hair alone but her left hand cradled his head as he lapped up at everything she gave him and after a whole minute of him meticulously licking clean every inch of skin that had been wet with her arousal, he started a trail of kisses from her mound until he reached her belly button.

Flashing a smile up at her, George rested his chin on her lower stomach and she couldn't hold herself back from brushing his messy hair back almost adoringly, post orgasm haze making her extra appreciative of him and his skilled tongue work.

His fingers rubbed circles on the top of her thighs, "Feel good?" He asked before leaving more soft kisses on her lower stomach.

"Very." She answered with a smile, fingers brushing through his hair.

He hummed at the feeling of her touch, "Good to know, pretty."

Turning to see where she'd left it, Ella reached out to grab her discarded camera, melting into the duvet under George's gentle touch and his lips pressing on her skin leisurely. She went to lean on her forearms so that she could get a better look at him, and he looked up at her with a dizzying smirk that she managed to capture.

His lips tickled the skin of her lower stomach when he pointed out, "Didn't even have to tell you this time."

Putting the device back down on the bed, Ella shrugged, "You look good."

"Do I, now?" He teased, dropping his hands from her thighs and pressing them on the mattress so he could slowly push himself up and crawl his way up to hover over Ella again.

"You always do." Her words came laced with lust, his eyes darkening as he got closer and she just couldn't wait any longer to have him in more ways. "Come here." She instructed by wrapping a hand around his neck, fingers pressing on the sides of it until he groaned loudly in pleasure and when he let the sound leave his lips, she smirked and warned, "My turn."

Pulling him in by his neck meant that their tongues met instantly when they started the kiss, and when Ella tasted herself on his tongue, she moaned so loudly George groaned just as loud in response.

The kiss was all teeth clashing, spit dribbling down to their chins, noses bumping, deep exhales sounding loudly and trying to overpower the sounds of their swollen lips moving together.

It had been George the one to grow louder when Ella's hand dropped from his neck, down his naked torso to the button of his jeans, which she undid with quick fingers and pulled the zip down before she could palm him over the fabric of his boxers.

"F-fuck..." He let out when her nimble fingers squeezed him and stroked him up and down, he was so hard that her touch was making him shiver.

Ella could feel him so swollen under her hand, her mind already spinning about how big he was but she wanted to have him unravel under her so badly, she pushed any worries about his size to the back of her head.

His hips moved slowly, as if he was helping with her movements, clearly wanting to reach his high but she wanted to taste him and she wanted it now. So she left his cock alone to instruct him to, "Lay down, baby."

They switched positions, so George was laying on his back and Ella was kneeling between his legs. He panted as he watched Ella shamelessly gawk at him, her mouth going dry at the clear outline of his cock.

"Fucking hell, George." She cursed as she tugged on the top of his jeans so he could lift his hips up for her to take them off him.

He did as instructed and Ella just was too impatient to wait any more, she wanted to feel him heavy on her tongue already. His boxers came off quickly after his jeans, his hard cock springing up to touch right by his navel.

Ella gulped. He was thick, angry red tip already leaking from how aroused he was. Intimidating but so inviting. She dipped her head down to start kissing his hips, kisses that went from sweet to wet and messy the more he squirmed under her.

"Ella..." George pleaded, hand coming down to cradle her head. Not to push it towards where he wanted her but to have her look up at him and see just how fucking desperate he was for her.

Ella felt that look go down straight to her core, mewling at the feeling. "I know baby, I know." She said in a coo.

Her fingers wrapped around him, the pressure of them making George huff with his lips pressed together. He felt so heavy in her hand, veins popping for her to see how pained he was.

"You're so big." She trailed off, a bit of wander in her voice. She had no idea how he'd fit in her mouth, he was by far the biggest dick she had ever come across but she liked a challenge.

Her tongue licked a bold strip from base to tip, eyes rolling to the back of her head when she tasted the salty arousal that had already been leaking from him. He had cursed under his breath at the feeling, but the breathy words turned into a loud moan when she wrapped her lips around him and sank her mouth down onto him.

Barely able to fit half of him in her mouth until he hit the back of her throat, Ella pulled back to catch a breath, her hand taking over for a few seconds as she inhaled deeply and went back in. She gagged around him when she managed to get him deeper, George moaned loudly as she did so, trying his hardest not to buck his hips upwards.

His hand went back to hold her head but this time, his fingers tangled in her hair, only to pull her up so she could breathe. But she didn't want to have it easy, she wanted to see how much of him she could take and hear every one of his moans.

So she went against his hold, sinking her mouth further down and gagging around him again. Her hand stayed at the base of his cock, stroking the rest she couldn't get to, as she continued bobbing her head up and down on him.

George was a mess of groans and moans, gasping for air whenever she gagged and moaned around him, her throat tightening around him was driving him insane.

He lifted his head up slightly to look down at her, pulling her hair so she would come off him and meet his eyes. And George was met with a panting Ella, pink wet swollen lips, saliva dripping down her chin and neck, tears falling out of the corner of her eyes, hair disheveled but pupils dilated and a satisfied smirk at it all.

Her hand kept stroking him up and down, fingers applying the perfect amount of pressure and he moaned at the combination of her touch and his view of her, "Fuck, you're so perfect."

The praise only encouraged her more, for she leaned back down and licked a strip up his cock again, this time looking up at him through her lashes. An innocent look in her eyes as she lapped at the tip of his cock.

He exhaled in awe, "Look at you– Shit!" He cursed loudly when she sank slowly back down until again he reached her throat, his hips bucking upwards involuntarily and making her gag loudly.

She gasped out for air for a mere second before she did it again, until she managed to control her gagging a bit better and encouraged George to fuck her mouth with a simple squeeze to his hip.

"Oh fuck– Such a pretty filthy girl." He praised as he obeyed the silent instructions and rocked his hips forwards slowly and ever so slightly. "You like it when I fuck your throat?" His question was thrown out into the air in between groans.

She answered with a hum that vibrated around him and that was when he started feeling like he was losing control. His hips grew erratic and Ella noticed so she hummed and moaned around him even more, causing him to get closer to his high.

"Ellie m'gonna cum!" He warned her loudly, the wet squelching sounds of him going in and out of her mouth and their moans bounced off the walls.

And when her hand dropped from around the base of his cock to play with his balls, he was sent over the edge. He pushed his hips forwards and stilled as he came, dick twitching in her mouth and his cum coated the walls of her throat with a warmth she appreciated with another low moan.

His hips fell back on the bed but she didn't relent just yet, sucking him off for a little longer to take everything she could. But he pulled her off him by her hair when he couldn't take it anymore, cursing and calling out her name like he was scorning her.

"Fucking hell." He mumbled, still dizzy from his orgasm but completely entranced by the way she came off him with a whimper and a satisfied smirk.

She wiped the drool off her chin with the back of her hand and slowly crawled up until she was laying on her side right beside him, staring right into his eyes with hunger still flashing in hers.

"Feel good?" She asked just what he'd asked her but in a mocking manner.

It got her a chuckle in response before one of his big hands came to cup her jaw and crashed their lips together.

Kissing George had Ella dazed. His lips were soft but firm when moving along with hers, they were wet and swollen, warm exhales leaving his parted lips for her to swallow, tongue peeking through them to meet hers. He'd moaned so loud when he tasted himself on her tongue, fingers digging into her cheek and making her mewl in response.

Her skin grew hot the more they kissed. He didn't even let her get a proper breath whenever he pulled back for a brief second, because he was back on her mouth—lips smacking and tongues licking at each other.

Ella's hands had gone on a path from his face to his head, the back of his neck, his shoulders, and eventually to his back, fingers digging into it when he started nipping at her bottom lip, at the same time as his right hand dropped from her jaw down to pinch her nipples, eliciting gasps out of her.

"George..." She let out in a gasp when he had her nipple pinched and twisted between his thumb and index finger.

He was smirking right over her parted lips, amused at the way she shivered every time he went from one nipple to the other. Her nails clawed at his back when she felt the electric shocks that his touch gave her travel all the way down to her center, feeling herself growing wetter and that familiar knot in her lower stomach forming.

His lips slotted between hers again, distracting her from his missing touch from her tits and it going down to tease her cunt.

With his thumb, George started rubbing circles on her clit, making her pull back from the kiss with a loud gasp that turned into a cry of pleasure. She could feel herself throbbing already, and it got worse when he picked up his pace.

He wasn't going too fast but not slow either, the speed in which his thumb rubbed at her had her writhing her hips in response, subconsciously trying her best to get closer and closer to her high.

And Ella had felt herself start clenching around nothing when he slid a finger inside her. "George! Fuck!" His fingers were thick and long, curling inside her and making her see stars already, half lidded eyes catching him smirking at her and heavy breathing at her reaction.

"You like that?" He asked her teasingly, pecking her lips as her face scrunched up in pressure.

She hummed in response to him but he found that not good enough, so he added another finger, stretching her out easily and making her back arch as she moaned loudly. "Yes! Yes!" She encouraged, and when he curled his fingers again, knuckle deep inside her, she felt herself be completely overcome by pleasure and unable to grasp at her inhibitions, "Oh my– Fuck! Your fingers feel so good."

His fingers were slipping in and out of her easily, her hips erratically moving as he thrusted them inside her, "That's it, cum on them baby."

The praise had Ella completely fucked over, "George, I'm so– Fuckkkk!" She couldn't help but scream out when he pushed a third finger inside her, feeling completely stuffed with him.

It felt so good how much he was opening her up, and he was loving the way whenever he pulled his fingers back her walls pushing him off and having to slowly sink his fingers deep inside her again. "I know, I can feel you clenching hard around them." She was squeezing his fingers so tight, his throat went dry just thinking about her milking his cock, "Can't wait to fill you up and feel how tight you're around my cock baby."

She agreed, so drunk in pleasure she just wanted to feel even more of him, "I need you. George, I need–"

But he tutted, "You're cumming on my fingers first." She was about to cry out like a brat, about to beg for him to stuff her up but his words beat hers, "Come on baby, give it to me like the good girl you are."

His voice was low in her ear, so sultry and inviting she felt it deep in her core and she just couldn't say no. So she let go. Her toes curl as his fingers kept pumping in and out of her, hitting that spot perfectly for her to see stars as she came, white heat enveloping her and taking ahold of her body, "Fuck, fuck! Oh– George!"

"That's it, baby. So fucking stunning." He encouraged, watching his fingers continue to disappear inside her tightening cunt, her legs shaking and her hips moving clumsily to meet his hand.

She gushed all over him, slick drenching his hand and dripping down her cunt onto the duvet. He couldn't let it go to waste, so he pulled his fingers out and sucked them clean, moaning around them when he tasted her again. Soft and sweet. He wanted more.

Ella felt his fingers gathering her mess and she managed to peel her eyes open to watch him as he sucked it all off his fingers again.

Shamelessly, she just watched as he dipped down time and time again until he deemed his work of cleaning her up was done, the last one being offered out to her and Ella obeyed, wrapping her lips around his fingers and sinking her mouth on them to suck them clean. Her eyes stayed on his as she did so, moaning loudly around them while she batted her lashes at him.

The view made George's dick twitch. So he reached out behind her for the forgotten camera and when she was trying to catch her breath, eyes closed in bliss, he took a picture of her.

Her eyes snapped open at the sound of the shutter going off and she looked at him all startled like she needed an explanation. "You're so beautiful like this." He quickly justified, lifting the device back up to his eyes and adjusted the focus to take another one as he added, "All fucked out. Fucking gorgeous."

"Stop." She whined when the shutter went off again, hand coming up to grab at her lenses and force him to put it down, "I must look a mess."

His head shook, tongue swiping at his bottom lip with his eyes taking her in again, "You don't. You look hot." Skin glowing due to the thin layer of sweat their activities had caused, lips swollen and a hot pink color that matched the flush of her cheeks and chest, the gorgeous pattern of every bruise he'd sucked on her skin which were darkening more and more, hair disheveled and splayed over the pillows.

"I'm confiscating this." That was the brief ultimatum she gave him, grabbing the camera and turning the action on him instead.

She took just one picture of him and he allowed it, only to complain by saying, "You have enough of me." and taking the camera back.

She rolled her eyes, faking being annoyed and kissed him quickly before pushing herself up and off the bed, telling him, "Gonna go to the bathroom." making a beeline for her suitcase and getting herself a new pair of underwear first, adjusting the cups of her bra so they held her breasts again.

It wasn't longer than five minutes that she took, coming back to him wearing his boxers again and laying over the bedsheets—he'd discarded the duvet and left it a big crumpled knot on the floor by the foot of the bed—, a hand behind his head whilst the other was scrolling on his phone.

His position looked inviting, so she crawled on the bed and sat on his lap with a mischievous smile on her face. She reached out to get the camera he had placed on the bedside table at the same time as he dropped his phone there and his hands went up to hold her at her hips.

"Put your hands behind your head again." She instructed him softly, almost a mutter that sounded so shy, the corner of his lips tugged into a smirk.

She took a picture of him like that and another when he ran a hand through his hair but she stopped when his hands came back to grab at her skin, going from her waist until they softly came down to rest at her hips.

With a soft squeeze on her sides, he tilted his head to ask, "Am I allowed to smoke?" to which Ella nodded and got off him to open the balcony door and get him a cigarette and a lighter.

Getting back on top of him, she placed the cigarette between his lips but before she could give him the lighter, she grabbed the camera again just so she could capture the moment he lit it alive.

George looked so fucking hot lighting it up: cheeks hollowing ever so slightly, brows furrowing, long fingers that made the lighter look minuscule in his hand, lips pursed around the stick. She snapped away and captured the moment he blew out the smoke upwards, taking another drag and then blowing it in her direction.

The familiar scent of the tobacco and just how arousing she found it all, impulsed her to start moving her hips slowly on him. The sudden movement made his breath hitch in his throat, causing him to erupt in coughs when the smoke went up the wrong hole.

That's when she guided his hand to her mouth so he could place the cigarette in between her lips for her to take a drag. His mouth opened agape as she did so, the rolling of her hips only growing more intent and he started twitching and getting hard in his boxers.

He could feel her heat, the way she was wetting her underwear and starting to wet his own, the pulsing of her swollen clit. He could see how her nipples grew hard through the lace of her bra, and the way goosebumps rose in her skin as she went. Soft gasps that turned into hush whimpers that he wanted so badly to turn into those loud moans of hers that he was quite enjoying getting drunk on.

"Have you brought a condom?" She asked breathlessly, camera being once again forgotten somewhere on the bed for her to be able to rest her hands on his chest as leverage.

A flip switched inside George, the simple hint of him finally being able to sink himself deep in her making his blood rush down to his cock. "Yeah." He nodded eagerly and it was a relief when she quickly got off him so he could rush to get it, not without running out to the balcony so he could put out the cigarette on the ashtray outside and closing the balcony door behind him the second he stepped foot back into the room.

He had thought it was foolish of him to pocket a couple condoms before he left his flat earlier that day, fully scorning himself for being so ridiculous as to assume Ella would want to shag after their date but oh was he glad he had right then.

Condom in hand, George went back to the bed but not without shedding himself off his boxers first. Ella bit her bottom lip as she got her bra off to throw it on the floor behind her, seeing him wrap his hand around his length and pump it slowly as he watched her almost naked figure. Her hands went down to her hips so she could quickly tug down her underwear, eagerly taking it off and throwing it on the same spot on the floor she had dropped her bra.

Crawling up to the edge of the bed, she hummed as she watched him stroke himself up and down, her mouth watering for another taste of him. And when she got right in front of him, she dipped her head down until her mouth was right before his hardening cock and sticking her tongue out, she licked his head slowly.

He grew heavy on her tongue as she went, twitching in her mouth when she wrapped her lips around him again, his head thrown back at the feeling of her wet mouth enclosed around him and sucking him off patiently.

But he had to use an incredible amount of self restraint to pull her off him, a hand delicately coming around her neck to have her let go off his dick with a pop and pull her up to face him.

"I'm fucking you now."

George wasn't asking, he was simply informing her and that made her squirm under his gaze. Thighs pressing together and eyes drinking in the way lust made his behavior change. But Ella wanted a bit of control, even if it just was for him to ruin her.

"Can I ride you?" She asked innocently, puppy eyes that she prayed would get her a yes.

She took the way he pulled her in for a messy kiss as one.

In no time he was laying on his back with his head resting on the pillows, teeth ripping the condom wrapper open while Ella had her hand wrapped around him waiting for him to put the latex on. The anticipation grew and hung in the air like a heavy cloud as George rolled it down his length, sighing at the feeling of it around him.

She caught a glimpse of her camera through the corner of her eye and thought there wouldn't be a thing that was better than capturing his pure ecstasy in a picture so she grabbed it before she straddled him again.

Ella lifted the camera up to her eyes with one hand while the other got ahold of his cock to line him up, rubbing his head on her clit and making herself gasp at the feeling. She clenched around nothing as she did so, and she could feel herself drenched.

Even after he had stretched her out with his fingers, it was slightly challenging for her to take him when she started sinking into him. Her jaw dropped in a loud gasp when every inch of him started stretching her out, eyes watering at the feeling and trying to get her to shut them tightly but she did her best to not let her eyes close entirely so she could capture the way he groaned loudly with his head thrown back as she let her cunt swallow him.

Breath hitching in her throat, Ella sank down completely until she could feel him so deep it had a pathetic cry of pleasure slipping past her lips.

She drew her hips up and back down on him slowly, testing the waters on his size and what angle would be best for her to feel the best, and they both moaned loudly at the feeling. He was so big, he was filling her up in a way she'd never felt before so her walls were clenching hard around him which had his head spinning.

"Ella–" He breathed out, hands flying to her hips and clutching them tightly just to show how bad he was holding himself back from just thrusting up into her, or better yet just flipping them around and fucking her into the mattress.

"Fuck–, I know. I know." She said in a high pitch tone. One of her hands fell to rest flat on his chest and use as support, "I– oh, fuck..." She cursed as she rolled her hips forwards and then backwards this time, making her completely still at the insane sensory overdrive she was getting from it.

George knew she needed a second or two but she stayed frozen for longer than he could hold so he pleaded, "I need you to move baby, you're so tight."

"Just–" She tried to say, rolling her hips again and mewling loudly. George moaned back in response, his hands sliding down to her thighs as her head hung in pleasure.

Ella established a slow place, George's fingers digging into the flesh of her upper thighs grounded her into the moment and allowed her to take another picture. A picture that captured her legs on each sides of his toned chest, his fingers turning the skin under them white, his adam's apple bobbing as he gulped back a moan, the box tattoo on his thumb right next to the red ink of her 'Divine Feminine' tattoo on her thigh.

But after she pressed the shutter on that one, barely being able to clumsily roll the film, Ella just tossed the camera to the side mindlessly and used her new free hand to rest on his chest as well and the second hand of support helped her start moving her hips faster.

It was fucking delicious the way he kept hitting her g-spot from that angle, and when he started bucking his hips upwards, meeting her in the middle, she couldn't hold back the noises she let out. "George, fuck!" She cried out, clit feeling a bit of pressure every time she rolled down and he hit her pelvis.

His hands ran up from her thighs to mercilessly grab her ass, fingers harshly digging into her skin and stinging just in the best way. "Just like that baby. You feel so fucking good." He praised her with a groan, helping her sink down harder into him.

"You're so– Oh fuck–" She was cock drunk, her thoughts stupid and leaving her without even being able to finish a sentence.

"Tight little cunt, can barely fit inside you." George could feel himself meeting the hilt inside her every time, her cries growing in volume the faster the pace got. "You love it huh, being filled to the brim?"

"Yes, fuck! Yes, I love it, love your cock." She was dripping all over him, the noise of the wetness and their skin slapping every time they met bounced off the walls and, combined with their moans, made for a pornographic symphony.

"I know you can go faster. Can you do that for me baby?" He genuinely could feel himself not lasting any longer with how tight she was squeezing him.

"I can, I can." She promised almost desperately, wanting to be good for him. So she picked up her pace, her hands moving ever so slightly so she could straighten up a bit and when she did so she cursed out loud at the new angle, "Ah fuck!"

Her hips grew erratic, her knees helping now when she bounced up and down his cock ever so slightly, enough for her to incessantly gasp in a high pitch every time he hit that spot.

"Such a good girl for me." His hands stopped groping her ass to spank her, making her jolt forward with a loud gasp that turned into a mewl and a whine that tried to pass as a 'yes'. His dick twitched inside her at that reaction so he did it again and again, feeling her walls flutter around him with every hit, "You're squeezing me so tight baby, you gonna cum all over my cock?"

"Yeah, yes..." She gasped, and if she hadn't been so adamant on chasing her high, she would've noticed George quickly getting the camera and snapping a picture of her riding him. Hair a mess covering up her face but her mouth wide open in a moan, tits bouncing as she rode him, hands on his chest as support.

He'd just about managed to put the camera back down when he felt her squeezing him the tightest and that was when she came. "George! George! Ge–" She cried out, his name breaking down into a loud moan that tipped him over the edge along with her cunt milking him into the condom as she sloppily continued to ride him.

"Fuck! Ella!" He moaned loudly back, his hands going to her ass again to help her continue as he came, his dick twitching the more he spurt out into the condom, sweet relief making him see stars.

Unable to uphold herself any longer, she collapsed over him, chests heaving in sync as they came down from their highs. It was hard catching their breaths when their skin burned from the heat and stuck together from the sweat. And George knew she was rather uncomfortable from the way she groaned into him, her fingers lazily trying to brush the hair out of her face but huffing as it stuck to her sweaty forehead.

He brushed her hair back for her, fingers delicately grazing her face and earning a soft smile and a sigh from her. But then his hold went down to her hips so he could lift her up and off himself, to set her beside him, she whined at the loss of him.

Ella didn't even try to open her eyes, completely spent from their activities and snuggling into the pillows to find some comfort in the post orgasm haze.

George shed himself off the condom and tied it so he could throw it away, groaning as he pushed himself up and off the bed to make way to the bathroom.

He took about five minutes there and when he came back into the room, he smiled, finding a sleepy Ella struggling to keep her eyes open and smirking at him. He giggled as he walked up to bed and after taking her camera and placing it on one of the bedside tables, he carried her bridal style to take her to the bathroom.

Yes she was still on cloud nine but she had a bit of sense in her then so, after thanking him with a kiss, Ella told George she was alright from there and he could wait for her in bed.

She had realized what she'd said as she was washing her hands after peeing and she was cringing just thinking about him being gone once she went back into the room, but she found that he hadn't left and instead he had gone under the bedsheets and was waiting for her to cuddle up to him so they could get some rest.

Ella giggled when she got under the sheets and he hooked his arm around her waist to push her flush into him, her back pressed to his chest and he nuzzled into her neck from behind. Their legs tangled together and their breaths synced and slowed down as the minutes went by until they succumbed to their slumber.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

They got startled awake around ten in the morning when someone knocked on her door horrendously loud.

For a few seconds they stared at the door as if they were waiting for that person to knock it down and come into the room but then they announced who they were with a "Hello! Housekeeping!" and Ella sighed in relief.

Ella had to spring up from bed, calling out "Coming!" so that the staff member wouldn't come into the room, and after hastily grabbing her robe from the hanger and putting it on, she opened the door just enough to poke her head out and apologized.

"Sorry, can't come in yet." She said with an embarrassed flush on her cheeks.

But the lady outside her door waved her off and offered, "I can come back in around an hour or so."

The American nodded with a smile, "Sure, that'd be great. Thank you!" To that, the woman nodded and started walking up to the next door, so Ella closed the door and locked it again, her soul coming back to her body.

George laughed at her mortified expression which she scowled at him for but then she confidently shed herself off her robe and walked back to get in bed and she was met with a smirking George just taking in every inch of her body.

"Come here gorgeous." He invited her back into his arms and she didn't have to be told twice for her to go back being the little spoon for him. She'd had such good sleep being completely enveloped in him, heavy limbs acting like a weighted blanket and it was utter bliss.

But after seeing her naked again, skin littered with love bites he had left all over her, hair messy and tits perky and bouncing as she walked, George felt the need to show her a bit more of the appreciation he had shown her the day before.

His hand brushed her hair to the side so he could have access to the skin on the back of her neck. Goosebumps breaking on the skin there when he started pressing open mouthed kisses on it, fingers ghostly running down her back and stopping right on her lower back that had her back arching into him. Her ass grazed his dick every time, making it twitch and start to harden.

In search of friction, he pushed his hips forward and she reciprocated by pressing her ass against him. She couldn't help the passing thought of this being how it could've gone the morning after the wedding with Alex, if they wouldn't have freaked out and just let it happen. But all thoughts of the singer went out the window when George pressed himself against her again and had her mewling out loud at the feeling, "Hmm, George."

"Yes, baby?" His lips brushed against her skin, a shiver running down her spine and making her shudder, "You're so fucking beautiful, please let me make you feel good."

"Yeah..." Ella nodded quickly, it was a no-brainer. Her breath caught in her throat when she pushed his hips forwards again at the same time as she did and the tip of his cock grazed her entrance.

"Yes?" He moaned in her ear, hand coming around her front to play with her tits, "Can I make you cum again, sweetheart?"

She nodded eagerly, swallowing a moan as he pinched her nipple and when he cupped her whole tit with one hand, kneading it harshly, her "Please." came out in the form of a whine.

"Good girl. M'gonna make you feel so good baby, I promise." His hand continued playing with her tits as they kept grinding on each other, and when his cock was hard enough it had come up to rest heavily on his lower stomach, he let his fingers trail down until they hovered over her mound and he breathlessly asked, "D'you trust me?"

"Yeah, George..." She was basically pleading him to continue, hand coming to clutch his and guide his fingers down to her soaked cunt and when he felt just how wet she was, he groaned and pulled away.

"Wait." George instructed her, leaving her alone on the bed to get a condom. Ella heard the wrapper rip and him moaning as he put the condom on, stroking himself up and down a few times before he tugged the sheets off her and turned her from her side to her front so she was facedown and he could hover over her from behind.

His knees were on either side of her hips, forearms pressed on the mattress next to her shoulders and he kissed and sucked all over her back as he praised her for how gorgeous she was over and over. He kept bruising her up until Ella pushed her ass up and begged him to do something, the ache in her cunt too unbearable.

So George let go of the patch of skin he was bruising and did as she asked for, spreading her legs open as he knelt in between them and rubbed his tip up and down her slit.

"Don't tease, please." She cried into the mattress, her cunt fluttering around nothing and it was painful knowing just how good he felt inside her but he wasn't allowing her to feel it yet.

But then he just let himself slowly slip inside her and his jaw fell at her tightness in that angle, "Oh Ellie... Fuck–" He felt like he could barely fit in, but she was dripping with slick so it made it a bit easier for him to bottom out.

"George–" Ella choked out, head turning to the side to catch a glimpse of him. Her hands clawed at the sheets beside her head for dear life.

"I know. You're so tight." He cried out in pleasure, barely able to move an inch out of her because she was so snug it felt like she was pushing him out.

"Move baby, please." She begged again and he started going then, a slow pace at first that grew in speed rather quickly and had her cursing out loud, "Fuckkkkk!"

He gasped into her ear with every thrust, and it was soon that the sound of their skin slapping drowned the room along with their moans. "Gonna miss this tight little cunt so much." He said into her neck, sucking a bruise on the back of it before asking, "Gonna miss me too?"

"Ye– Yes! Oh!" She gasped when he hooked his left arm under her leg, pulling it upwards slowly and allowing her to stretch a bit more so she felt him deeper, "Gonna miss you so much!"

He chuckled smugly, "I know you will."

"Oh fuck!" She cursed as he hit her g-spot perfectly from that angle, his hips hitting her ass and reminding her of how sore the skin there was from the spanking he gave her the night before. "Yes, yes! Don't stop, please!"

"If you could only see yourself right now!" He cursed under his breath when he looked down to see himself disappear into her, over and over. If he kept looking at how he kept sliding in and out of her so easily, he would burst right then so he looked back up to her face and praised her once more, "Taking me so well baby."

"Harder, please." She asked for and stilling for just a second to get a better standing on his knees, George did as she asked, making her instantly get even louder when he hit that spot with more intensity, "Oh my– Fuck! Right there, yes!"

"Just like that, yeah?" His smirk grew on his face, feeling how it kept getting easier to slide inside her which meant she was fucking drenched and dripping all over him, her walls fluttering around him already making him see stars.

"Yes! Yes!" She chanted like a broken record, the coil in her lower stomach tightening by the second and threatening to snap at any moment, "I'm so close!"

His left arm lifted her leg even higher and then left it there to be able to bring his fingers down to rub at her clit and send her over the edge, "C'mon baby, cum for me sweetheart!" He encouraged her as he rubbed fast circles on her throbbing clit, which earned him choked out moans that turned into a throat ripping moan of, "F-fuckkkk! George!"

George felt her squeeze him so tightly as she came, making it so much harder for him to continue thrusting in and out of her which ended up with him stilling his hips as he came a few seconds after her with a loud, "Ah shit! Ella!"

His thrusts became sloppy and messy as she spasmed around him, whimpering as the aftershocks of her orgasm had her legs trembling under him and her white knuckle grip on the sheets faltered.

Letting his weight fall over Ella slightly, George sighed in complete bliss and he kissed the back of her head and her cheek multiple times to say, "Did so good for me sweetheart." He dropped a kiss on her lips for the first time that morning and praised her once more, "Pretty girl."

The way he spoke to her made Ella's stomach flutter, and he felt it when she clenched around him, "You like that huh?" He teasingly asked, to which she only mewled in response.

He pulled out, hearing her whine this time when she felt upsettingly empty again but her rubbed circles on her hips soothingly and asked, "Shall we go take a shower? Do you want me to help you up?"

Ella had barely managed to reply with a quiet, "Mhm..." when a loud ringing snapped them out of their bubble.

She didn't recognize the ringing so she figured it was George's. The drummer didn't do a thing to go and get it though, as he came to lay down beside her and shed himself off the condom they'd used.

He got up to discard it in the bathroom and just as he crossed the threshold of the room, he heard his phone start ringing again. He didn't listen to it, taking his time in the bathroom until he heard Ella call out for him.

A grunt left his lips when he came back to the room and picked up the phone and read his sister's name on the screen so he answered with a meek, "Y'alright?" to let her know he wasn't in the mood for constant ringing.

Ella heard pure silence surrounding them for a good half minute before George sighed a, "Fucks sake." The American opened her eyes to see him and moved onto her side to watch him as he spoke. "Right now? Really?" He asked, entirely unamused. "Yeah, really busy actually." He said sternly, looking at a naked Ella in front of him with wide eyes. That made Ella purse her lips not to laugh but what broke the giggles out of her was when he sighed loudly and muttered, "I hate you." to whoever it was. It was barely another half minute that he ended the call with an impatient, "Yeah, yeah. Sure. See ya'."

"What's wrong?" Ella asked curiously, her fingers playing with the ends of her hair.

George rolled his eyes at the situation, "My sister needs me for something. She says it's urgent but I doubt it." He shrugged then, ignoring the importance of whatever it was she needed him for, he had only been half listening really. "I can stay though, it wouldn't be the first time I ignore her."

That had Ella snorting in laughter, "Go, you idiot."

"But–" He tried to argue as he came to hover over her, head dipping to steal a kiss out of her which Ella broke after a few seconds by pushing his shoulders slightly so she could reassure him it was fine.

"It's okay. I had the best time with you, and that's all I wanted." Her hands came to the back of his head, fingers digging into the hair at the nape of his neck and scratched his scalp softly.

George clicked his tongue and he pouted to joke, "Knew you only wanted me for my body."

Ella cackled at his antics and told him to "Shut up." only to do it herself by pulling him into her so they could share one last kiss. It was sweet but it wasn't soft, their lips moving together with intent as if to prove they'd need to do it again because it was just too good.

But she had to stop it before it could turn into something more. She pulled on his hair so their lips separated with a smack and with the sweetest smile and looking at him with those gorgeous hazel green eyes of hers, she said, "Thank you George."

"I had the best time Ellie." He replied wholeheartedly then, agreeing with her previous point.

"Me too." She nodded softly to reiterate her point, hands coming back down to cup his jaw, thumbs rubbing circles on his skin.

One last short kiss was all they got in that bed before they both stood up and got dressed. Well, George did, in the same getup as the day before, while Ella put her robe back on and tied it around herself slowly as he finished getting his shoes on.

"I'll see you soon, yeah?" He said when they got to the door, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "When are you leaving again?"

"Friday."

He nodded, it was very soon but there was still time. "We have a week then." He winked right as he opened the door, stealing one last peck from her and leaving her with a stupid smile on her face that only got bigger when she closed the door behind her and she looked at the mess they had left the bed looking like.

And it got even bigger when she finally reached for her phone, which she had put on silent, for the first time since before the date and she found her most recent notification being a message from Florence which made her cackle.

When she opened that message conversation, she giggled loudly for she had messages from the day before and Flo hadn't taken the time that passed between the texts she sent lightly.

(13/07/2013 18:38) How did the date go? Hope he behaved for you x

(13/07/2013 18:52) No, I actually hope he didn't ;) xx

(13/07/2013 20:51) Okay, it's almost nine now... You better be ignoring me for the right reasons Miss Hayes x

(13/07/2013 23:46) I'm about to go to bed but I've driven Matty crazy tonight because I'm so intrigued about this. Answer woman! I'm going mad!!!!

(14/07/2013 08:22) Good fucking morning you lucky bitch! Still no response? You better tell me all about this later!!!! xx

(14/07/2013 09:35) Should I start getting worried?! If you don't answer in an hour, I'm texting him just to ask if he didn't fuck this whole thing massively x

That text had been sent almost an hour before, and Ella knew Flo was faithful to her promises so she typed an answer the quickest her fingers allowed her to.

(14/07/2013 10:18) Hello... Why does this text feel like a walk of shame? Hahah x I'm sorry for just now replying, I had my hands a bit full...

Ella laughed loudly when a minute later, when she had been choosing what to wear after taking a shower, Flo replied.

(14/07/2013 10:19) Eleanor Hayes!!!!!!!! Tell me every dirty little detail right now!!!!!

(14/07/2013 10:19) I'm gonna take a shower right now but I'll call you as soon as I'm out x

(14/07/2013 10:20) You're just now showering?! Did you go again this morning?!

(14/07/2013 10:21) Why do you want to spoil this story for yourself?

(14/07/2013 10:21) I'm actually so fucking jealous right now, it's an issue x

(14/07/2013 10:22) HAHAHA Give me five minutes and I'll call you as soon as I have dried my hair. Get your popcorn ready x

(14/07/2013 10:23) Will do you, lucky bitch! CAN'T WAIT!!!! xxxx

Ella took the quickest shower she could, just because she was actually dying to talk about it all with someone and who better than Flo.

So the second her hair had gone from wet to just damp under the hot blow of air of the hair dryer, she ran back to the room and ringed her up.

The call had been hilarious and had elongated to almost an hour because Flo asked for every little dirty detail and Ella had used the call as an opportunity to process what had happened so the artist had gotten things Ella wouldn't normally tell anyone.

But the end of it had been entirely mortifying because Ella had found out that Matty had been listening too when she was talking about what had taken place that morning. And just when Flo had been trying to tell her it was fine because Matty was George's best mate and he was her friend now too, Ella's phone started ringing with another incoming call from someone she'd tried not to think about yet.

"Erm, sorry Flo, Alex is ringing me." She apologized like she had too, her insides being coated by nervousness.

"Oh it's alright hun," Flo waved her off, and with a mischievous tone assured her, "We'll continue this later."

Ella's hands had started to sweat and she let a little nervous giggle before reminding Florence, "Next time warn me when your husband is there so I can keep a bit of dignity to myself."

Flo cackled at that but Matty was the one to reply with confidence, "No dignity lost here Ella, you're a fucking legend."

That answer made Ella snort in short laughter, "Thanks Matty, I doubt it." As soon as she let those words out, she felt Alex's call go to voicemail and here phone stopped vibrating in her hand, so she cursed, "Fuck, call went through. I'll go now." She sourly let them know, and Ella smiled softly when they assured her it was alright so with a sigh, she added, "Love you guys, bye!"

"Bye Ella!" She heard coming from the other side of the line and with that, she ended the call.

Her fingers hovered over her screen with doubt, debating whether or not to make the call back but Alex rang her up again, answering that for her.

"Hi Al, sorry, I was on the phone." She apologized first and foremost as soon as she picked up.

"S'alright." Alex reassured her, and he was about to ask how the previous day had gone because he had texted her a few times and he still hadn't gotten a response, when Ella interrupted him.

Her nerves made her sound breathless when the words came pouring out of her lips, "How are you? Did something happen?"

"No, I, erm..." He frowned a bit at her behavior but didn't really know if he should pry on anything yet, so he stuck to bringing up the topic of one of his texts, "Doesn't Ben and the crew arrive later today?"

"Oh, yes." One of her clammy hands came up to her forehead and she closed her eyes just to think of when that would be but her mind was a knot of thoughts. "I think I have Ben's itinerary here." She remembered in a lucky spark of logic so she took her laptop out of her suitcase and opened it quickly to find the ticket reservations somewhere on her desktop.

She hummed to herself as she looked for it and snapped her fingers when she found it, "Yes, they're landing around three."

"Are you going to get them?" Alex asked shyly, not really knowing what was the plan for the Focus Creeps crew when they got to London.

"No, they're actually staying here too so I'll meet them downstairs when they arrive."

Ella noticed how recoiled he was being when he softly inquired, "Do you think Ben would mind me intruding?"

"Absolutely not." She reassured him, though she had no idea why he'd want to come over to meet Ben when they had the shoot planned for the following day. But she got an idea as to how to make the day productive if he was to come over, "We could have a little meeting considering we're shooting two days in a row starting tomorrow. You know, run over the last few things and make sure everything's alright and meets your expectations."

The clicking of his tongue and his little scoff made her giggle, "Darling, it's you and Ben directing, I will definitely love it."

"You better boss." She said as she closed her laptop, putting it back in her suitcase.

"Shush." He said with a giggle managing its way out through his words. That wasn't why he had called her though, so he pushed with what he actually had been meaning to ask, "Have you got any plans for earlier today?"

In all honesty, Alex had spent the previous day wondering and wondering if everything was okay then. He hoped it was, and thinking back to the previous two days when they'd been in Sheffield and Manchester, it seemed like it. But he couldn't help but wonder, what if it isn't? So he had anxiously waited for the day to pass until it was late for him to text her and not interrupt her plans—eight in the evening had been decent enough for him—but he'd gotten no response and he'd tossed and turned all night overthinking.

He'd only managed to get some sleep around three in the morning and that was why he had woken up rather late and only been able to wait just another half hour after his eyes peeled open and he saw there was still no response, before calling her up.

His heart had sank with the worst feeling, his brain just telling him she was completely ignoring him but he was stubborn, so he decided to call again and thankfully she had picked up. He hadn't been more relieved to hear her voice before.

"Right now?" She asked, biting on her thumb and blushing when she looked up and was met with the mess her bed had been left as after George went away.

"Yeah."

She hesitated, not really remembering what it was that she was doing, a long "Ermmmmm," coming from her until her eyes fell on her camera which was propped up on her bedside table and it clicked, "Oh, just going to pick up my pictures I sent to develop. Might take the ones I took in Manchester and Sheffield to develop as well before I leave."

Alex tried his luck, carefully asking, "Mind if I intrude in those plans too?"

To his relief, she chuckled and replied with a relaxed, "'Course I don't." One that really contrasted the way her insides were churning at the fact of having to face him after what had happened merely an hour before. She turned her back to the bed, trying to will her memories of the day before and the morning out of the forefront of her mind.

Clearing her throat, she suggested, "Wanna get some breakfast first? Haven't eaten anything yet and I might faint if I go walking around London on an empty stomach."

"Absolutely." He smiled at the thought of going out for breakfast with her but in the back of his mind he wondered why she had yet to eat. Shrugging it off, he turned back to his room to get his sunglasses and a jacket so he could leave, "I'll be there in fifteen."

She hummed, slightly panicking about getting ready that quickly but not sounding it at all as she forced a smile that she knew he couldn't see, "Amazing. See you soon then, sweets."

"See ya' darling."

When Ella shed herself of the towel and saw her reflection in the mirror, she blushed instantly at the trace George had left on her. Love bites everywhere on her chest, neck, inner thighs and when she turned around she caught a few lingering around her back, along with the faint print of his hands on her ass. She started getting hot at the memory of it all, and she had to force herself to focus on the task of getting ready before Alex could arrive.

She'd ended up choosing a black turtleneck with long sleeves and some black jeans just to make sure nothing would peek through and cause any type of conversation that would end wrongly.

Not that she owed Alex anything, but she would rather avoid any arguments like the one at the pub if it had been sparked by him finding out she was messing about instead of spending time with them.

When Alex had arrived and knocked on the door of her hotel room, she'd been making sure if she'd gotten all the rolls she'd used with her. She was debating whether or not to take the roll she had in her camera as well as she tucked it back inside its case and placed a new roll inside her Minolta, when Alex knocked again and she just panicked, shoving her latest used roll inside her bag along with the rest.

"Coming!" She yelled as she grabbed her phone, wallet, cigarettes and lighter, the room keys and her leather jacket.

He had barely heard her but before he could knock again, the same housekeeping lady who had knocked the door earlier walked right by him and warned him, "She was busy."

Alex frowned quite confused, she had a brow raised at him and almost like a smirk on her face, but he didn't have much time to ask what the lady meant when Ella came out of her room, opening the door just enough for her to walk out and she froze when she saw the housekeeping lady right behind him.

"Hi sweets." Ella greeted him tensely, her eyes going warily from the lady to Alex as if she was a prey about to be pounced on.

Alex was still confused, his smile crooked as he greeted her back with a soft, "Hi darling." and not even sure if he should hug her when they had prying eyes over them.

But before they even tried to, the lady cleared her throat and asked, "May I come in now?"

"Oh yes, I– erm," Ella stuttered under Alex's intent gaze. He noticed the way her cheeks warmed and turned pink as she lowered her voice to apologize, "Sorry about the duvet, it's on the floor."

Ella didn't miss the way the lady looked from her to Alex and chuckled like she knew a secret, and nodded, "That's alright."

"Thanks!" Ella let out breathlessly, before grabbing Alex by the hand and pulled him to where the lifts were.

Before she went into Ella's hotel room though, the lady turned to look at the hold Ella had on Alex and shook her head. She'd seen George walking out of Ella's room earlier, and if the duvet was on the floor then she could imagine what had went on, but hearing Alex call her darling made the lady start making assumptions that made Ella look bad. She just laughed about it, turning the key in the lock so she could walk into the room and do her job.

Ella couldn't stay still while waiting for the lift and Alex was just dead silent, entirely confused about what had just happened. In his head, he was just hoping he was being too creative and driven entirely by jealousy when going on about his theories, silently praying it was anything but what he was thinking.

Entirely distracted by her own nerves and the lift doors opening in front of them, Ella didn't see the way Alex eyes her up and down for signs of anything that could prove what he was thinking of but he found nothing that could confirm his suspicions.

It wasn't like it was much he could see anyway, he frowned at how her clothes covered her almost entirely. Not even her neck on show with the turtleneck she had on.

He sighed when the doors opened again when they got down at the lobby and decided to just ignore it all so he could enjoy being in her presence like he had wished for all day yesterday. So he just intertwined their fingers as they walked through the lobby, giving the receptionist a quick smile and wave goodbye before leaving the hotel.

They missed the way the receptionist frowned, having seen that the guy Ella had brought in the day before had just walked out an hour before in the same clothes. The receptionist had laughed to herself and shook her head at what she imagined Ella had done, "Americans."

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Barely a few minutes had passed as they walked the busy London streets when Alex just couldn't bite his tongue any longer. The complete silence from her part the day before, her hesitation to answer when he asked about it, and what she'd said to the housekeeper. All of it was making his curiosity grow inside him until it became uncomfortable to keep it in any longer.

"How was yesterday? You had fun?" He started off easy, thinking that would be the best way to get anything out of her.

But all Alex got was a hurried and stuttery, "Oh, I'm– Yes, I did."

"What did you do?" The singer tried again, looking at her to try and see if she gave anything away with the look on her face.

But all he saw was her avoidant stare and her blushing cheeks, "Just, you know– Had lunch." She paused for a little bit until she eventually added the rest, "With a friend." almost with regret to have said it after a second of it slipping past her lips.

"Oh right." He nodded with a soft smile, confused as to why it was being so hard for her to say that. In another attempt to understand, or scratch that itch in his brain more like, he asked, "Where'd you go?"

She hummed as she thought about it, giving herself a bit more time to act put together, "This restaurant in Covent Garden. Think it was called Cora Pearl."

A surprised "Oh." came from him in response and just to give a chance to prove his theories wrong, he suggested, "Romantic, wasn't it?"

Ella stiffened and Alex noticed because he was still holding her hand. He frowned at her reaction and she giggled nervously, "What?"

"That place. It's a bit romantic innit?" From what he remembered, the last time he went to that restaurant, it had been a very cozy and romantic setting so it made him suspicious.

"No, not really. It was alright," She toned it down with a click of her tongue, only to shrug lazily as she added, "Food was good."

"Right, right." Alex let her have it that time, and switched topics to tell her, "I texted you yesterday."

Her hands had started getting sweaty and she hoped he wasn't noticing—he had—but she played it cool. "Did you?" She asked back, she'd barely glanced at her notifications that morning, the first one being from Flo and therefore the only one to grasp her eye so she'd fully put off checking the rest as she catched the artist up on what had happened.

"Yeah, but s'alright. Just wanted to know when Ben was coming." His fingers squeezed her hand softly as if to calm her clear nerves out and she sighed slightly before dropping his hand and reaching for her cigarettes and her lighter because she needed a smoke desperately.

"We have a bit of time until then, don't we?" Ella mumbled as she placed the cigarette between her lips and lit it up, taking a long drag and offering it to him. Alex took it from her and nodded, she watched as he took a drag and said, "Let's just go somewhere to eat, I'm starving."

Their shared cigarette had been stomped over on the asphalt when they stumbled into a cute little cafe five minutes later. It was small and cozy, the smell of coffee inviting and the look of the different flavored croissants and pastries made their mouths water.

Before Alex could continue asking about the previous day, like she knew he was dying to, Ella started asking him about the album release and tour. She'd kept him distracted by asking about the album rollout and which songs they had decided as singles along with 'R U Mine?', 'Do I Wanna Know?' and 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?'.

When he'd shown her the schedule they had so far for the tour, up until the end of the year, her heart sank at the sight of how after she left, she'd only have a couple chances to see him and it'd only be because they'd be having a gig in LA.

They'd left the cafe almost an hour later and made their way to the photolab. It was almost a half an hour walk but it had been spent smoking, talking and taking pictures.

Once they got to the photolab, Ella was greeted with two envelopes thick with pictures she'd printed out, a USB with all of her scans and the sleeves with her negatives inside.

"Oh thank you so much!" Ella said with a big grin on her face, she couldn't wait to see them all. "I have a few more I want to develop, if that's alright."

"Of course." The man behind the counter said, "Do you want them scanned as well? So I can keep the USB and put the new ones in there."

Ella nodded, "That'd be perfect, yeah." She let her bag slide down her shoulder to hang on the crook of her elbow and rummaged around to see the used rolls she'd brought. "Erm..." She let out as she tried remembering which one was the George one, not knowing if she really wanted to leave it or just develop it when they got back home.

"How many are there?" The man asked intrigued by the way she was frowning.

"Only four I think." She really was trying to remember which one was from the day before but she couldn't for the life of her remember, so she just sighed and took them out of her bag and left it on the counter, "Just these."

"We could have these ready for you Wednesday afternoon, maybe?"

Ella waved him off as if not to worry him about rushing, "I'll be here Thursday morning, no need to rush."

The man flashed her a smile, "Thanks doll." He went on to click a few things on his computer to get her order ready, printing a spreadsheet with what she wanted for her order and turned back to her, "Are you paying in advance again?"

"Yeah, much easier that way." She instinctively dove into her jacket pockets for her small card holder but she only fished out the note Flo had sent her with George the day before. Ella blushed, leaving it on the counter mindlessly under the gaze of the man in charge of the photolab, and went to look through her bag again.

Whilst she went around looking for her credit card, Alex's attention was completely caught by the folded piece of paper. His eyes magnetized to the Ellie x written on top of it, he had to fight the urge to grab it and read it.

Alex's trance was broken when she snatched the note off the counter, shoving it inside her bag quickly and then turning to the man to offer her credit card up to him.

The transaction was fast, and with a promise to send her an email once they had her pictures ready, Alex and Ella left the place. Her bag was heavy with the weight of the photos she'd printed but it lit up this feeling inside her that she loved. There was nothing like picking up your prints and scans and just admiring every frame up close.

Ella knew what she had in there though, Alice's pictures were definitely in there somewhere and she wouldn't take her chances pulling the pictures out in front of Alex. But the singer wanted to see the pictures, taking her to a park that was a bit over five minutes away from the photolab and sitting down with her to encourage her to show the prints.

She took one of the envelopes out, opening it slowly and peeking through to see if anything she didn't want Alex seeing was there but she was thankfully greeted with the first batch of film she'd take when she'd arrived.

"Awh, these are from Glastonbury!" She exclaimed and pouted, taking a handful out of the envelope for them to see.

The first one was of Bre and Matt dancing around in the backstage area, right next to the drinks tent that was up for the artists to grab. There was one of Flo and Matty with Adam, George and Ross around them, all of them cheering after the 1975's set had finished. One of all the girls together, drinks in hand and big smiles on their faces during the Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds set. A few of everyone lounging around the tour bus, sunglasses on to not show their tired hungover eyes.

"Look at Jamie's face." Ella pointed out before a loud cackle managed its way out of her lips. It was a picture of Miles in his Union Jack tracksuit, jumping in the air and Jamie just so happened to be behind him with a terrified look on his face.

Alex's giggles joined hers when he caught a glimpse of the picture, "What was Miles doing?"

She barely managed through a new wave of giggles, "Dunno but this one's hilarious."

They continued flipping through the handful of pictures, tucking them back inside the envelope once they had seen them all and taking another handful out to see.

It was when they were flipping through the pictures Ella had gotten at the London Eye that her phone pinged with a new message and had interrupted their appreciation for Ella's photography.

With quick fingers, she unlocked her phone and read what Ben had just sent her, telling Alex what it was with a simple, "They've landed."

"Ben?" Alex asked pointlessly, there was no one else coming other than the Focus Creeps crew.

She nodded, putting her phone back inside the pocket of her jacket and then placing the pictures they had been looking at back in the envelope, "He just texted me that they're at baggage claim. They're probably getting to the hotel in an hour, shall we head back?"

"Sure." Alex nodded, watching as she placed the envelope inside her bag.

He stood up from the bench and offered her a hand. She took it with a smile and, hand in hand, they walked back to the hotel.

It probably took them around thirty minutes to get back and since they calculated they still had enough time until the crew arrived, Ella thought it would be good to book a conference room for a small meeting.

She walked up to the reception desk and sweetly asked, "Hi, sorry could I get a conference room?" She'd seen they had them back when she had booked her room but, if she wasn't mistaken, there were only three in total.

The girl behind the desk smiled back, "Of course, can I have your name please?"

"Eleanor Hayes."

"For when would you like to book it?"

She fiddled with her fingers, looking up at the big clock perched in the lobby's wall. It was almost half past three and she reckoned her co-workers wouldn't arrive until four so she ended up settling for five. "Is there any available around five?"

"Yes, I have one available then." The girl clicked away on the desktop and wrote something down in a spreadsheet to her left.

Ella gave her a grateful grin, "Oh amazing."

The typing away filled in the few seconds of silence and then the receptionist looked back up at her to say, "Alright Miss Hayes, you can just come around by then and I'll walk you over to the room."

"Thank you so much, see you then." Ella left her with a double tap of the desk.

She heard a faint "You're welcome." behind her as she turned back to the lobby's lounge area, where Alex was occupying half of a two seater settee.

Once she settled beside him, Ella let her bag fall in between the both of them and looking down at the envelopes peeking through the top of it, she asked him, "D'you wanna keep looking at the pictures?"

Alex nodded, wanting to see how the pictures he had taken of Ella had turned out, so she pulled out the envelopes and was about to open one of them to inspect it when ruckus coming from the hotel doors made them look up and they were surprised by the crew carrying multiple suitcases into the place.

"Oh my god! Hi!" Ella sprung up from her seat, shoving the envelopes quickly inside the bag and leaving it forgotten there as she walked over to help the crew.

She'd gotten two of the cases that looked to be carrying their filming gear whilst Alex came around to help Tyler, their camera man, with a bag he was struggling with along with a suitcase he clumsily was managing to roll around.

When they properly came inside the hotel and into the lobby, the crew left the cases alone to greet their missing co-worker. "Ella! We missed you!" Ben said before hugging her tightly and swaying her side to side.

Ella cooed and chuckled, because she felt the same. Ben had gone from being her boss to her mentor and he had been so incredibly supportive when she had gotten promoted to a director, their relationship had turned into one that felt like they were siblings.

They had started working as a duo since Ella had officially been promoted and that was why they shared a PA now, but that meant their creative brains were in sync and they spent more time together, therefore their trust in each other grew so much they had become almost inseparable and it hit Ella how much she missed having him around when he walked through the door. "Awh missed you too Ben! How was the flight?"

Ben let go and huffed in exhaustion, "Too long."

"I know." She said sympathetically, looking around the rest of the crew with a pout before going over to each one of them to greet them.

"Alex, hi man!" Ben said to the singer enthusiastically.

"Ben, nice seeing you again." Alex said with a genuine smile and pulled him in for a brief strong embrace, waving at everyone behind him briefly.

"How are you? Glastonbury was brilliant!" The director hadn't missed the chance to compliment him because he had thoroughly enjoyed their set a lot, it had been stunning.

Alex waved him off like it wasn't needed but he still appreciated the comment, "Thanks mate. I'm alright, how are you?"

"Tired but we're here." Ben sighed, the heaviness of the long flight now weighing down on him. But when Ben looked up at Alex, he found the singer to have his eyes stuck on Ella who was hugging her PA last with a soft smile. Just to tease, Ben cleared his throat and said, "Hope Ella's been behaving."

Ella had heard that as she turned back to him and Alex, rolling her eyes to call him out, "Oh shut up Benjamin."

But Alex didn't find it hard to admit, "She has been, she's a gooden."

"She is." Ben agreed, a slight smirk on his face which earned him another roll of Ella's eyes. He chuckled before turning his attention back on his crew and suggested, "Right, let's check in everyone, yeah?"

"You sound like a teacher on a school trip Ben." Ella pointed out with a raised eyebrow, almost like she was scolding him for it.

Tyler made it worse for the director when he added fuel to the fire by pointing out, "He was worse at the airport."

To which Ella winced and shook her head, "Oh god." She sighed as if the information pained her but let them move onto the reception desk and check into their rooms. They all got their respective room keys and once everyone had them in hand, Ella stood in front of them all and informed them, "I got us a conference room at five so we can go over everything and have it all ready for tomorrow, just so we don't have to cut your well needed rest short and run around in case something goes wrong."

Ben smiled at her with narrowed eyes, "Always thinking ahead. That sounds great."

Ella looked smug at Ben's reaction, flipping her hair exaggeratedly to make a point of how she always was right. Ben shoved her playfully out of her smugness and it made her giggle. But she turned serious again when Lydia yawned loudly behind her hand, "I'll let y'all settle then? I'll text the chat when I'm back down here so we can go."

The crew nodded, completely satisfied with the idea of at least a short rest before the meeting took place and Ben was the one to eventually accept, "Sure, yeah." His gaze fell on Alex though, and he asked, "You leaving Alex?" just to know if he had to say bye before going up to their rooms.

But Alex shook his head no, brows slightly furrowed, "No, no. I'm gonna intrude on your meeting. Ella said it was alright."

The choice of words made Ben chuckle but he nodded in agreement, "More than alright, that way we can double check everything."

"Brilliant." Alex said, slightly relieved at yet another confirmation that it was alright that he stayed for the meeting.

Ben was a bit nosy, and eventually let his curiosity win when after a few beats of silence, he inquired, "Are you leaving and then coming back?"

Before the singer could answer, Ella let out that, "No, he's coming upstairs with me." and that answer was enough for her co-workers to grow curious.

"Right." Ben replied with a smirk growing on his face, and he repeated another "Right." as if the first one hadn't been given in the best tone. It wasn't needed, because it was written on his face how he was enjoying hearing that for it gave him something to taunt Ella about.

So the director nodded slowly and offered them a gallic shrug, "See you at five then." to then grab their stuff and start to walk up to the elevators.

"See ya'!" Alex said a bit loudly as they walked away, a giddiness bubbling up inside him when knowing this meant he could go upstairs with Ella sooner then.

Ella added to the short farewell with an enthusiastic, "Bye guys!"

Alex watched as the crew disappeared into the lifts and Ella went back to the lounge area. He turned to see her grabbing her bag and once she had it perched on her shoulder, she walked back to him.

With a "Let's go." and a pat on his back, she encouraged him to follow her upstairs. She'd slowly opened her door, peeking through the barely cracked open door to see if the room was no longer a mess of tangled sheets and thrown duvets and she was glad to see it all in place like that morning hadn't happened. Seeing the bed, even if it was tidy, made her cheeks heat up though.

She pursed her lips watching as Alex toed off his shoes by the door and went straight to lay down on the bed. Her mind played tricks on her that weren't doing more than quicken her heart beats and tinting the tips of her ears as red as her cheeks.

"You can turn on the TV if you want." She invited, giving him the remote after she'd gotten a cigarette out of the pocket of her now forgotten jacket she'd perched on the back of the settee in her room.

Opening the door to the balcony, she pointed out, "M'gonna go for a smoke." and once he nodded with a smile, she escaped to the small area.

Five minutes of mindlessly going through channels with shit programmes on was enough for Alex to get up from the bed and walk outside with her. He got a cigarette out from his pocket and lit it up, silently smoking beside her.

The newfound silence between them was giving them time to think. They'd had silence before, comfortable ones where they settled and somehow it felt like they could silently communicate through looks and lingering touches. But this one was strange, it was a silence that just emphasized the distance between them and how their eyes didn't meet to talk wordlessly anymore.

Alex looked at her as he took his first drag and she turned to him to give him a fleeting smile, turning back to watch the people walking the English streets and the cars driving past. Ella felt his gaze burning on the side of her head but she forced herself to pay it no mind, what could she do? She hated having to walk on eggshells around him but after realizing they had never been acting properly like just friends, she was trying to navigate what that meant for them from then on.

It was weird feeling how she just couldn't talk and talk to him like she usually did, scared she could say something that could give him the wrong impression or that could set him off like before. Yes, he had apologized and promised it wouldn't happen again but she didn't want something going wrong because of something she could've prevented.

"Are you alright?" Alex ended up asking her, noticing just how tense she was.

Ella was taken aback by the question, "Yeah, why?"

Alex shrugged, the corners of his lips tugged down in a soft pout that he ended up switching for pressed lips as he mustered the courage to say, "You're quiet."

"Oh, sorry." The smoke left her lips as she spoke, turning to look at him while leaning into the wall on her back, "Just thinking about the video and how I'm leaving on Friday."

"Don't remind me." He pouted before taking another drag of his cigarette. Having merely five days left with her was an actual cruel joke. "Is Breana leaving on the same flight?"

Ella nodded, "Yeah, eleven in the morning so we're gonna have to be early at Heathrow." At least she would have Bre with her on the way back to assure her of not going crazy on such a long flight. "Matt's taking us, by the way, so you don't have to drive us."

"But I'm coming with." Alex chatted back, eyebrows raised at her and offended at the fact she was even giving him an out.

"It's gonna be really early." She warned, not really wanting to bother him about waking up so early just to go to the airport.

But Alex would never not go, "Don't care." He stubbed out the remaining of his cigarette out on the ashtray that was placed over the coffee table and walked over to her.

Wrapping his fingers around her wrist, he pulled her off the wall for her to walk into his arms, which she did without a peep of complaint, melting in his hold like she was used to.

Alex's fingers clutched her tightly, keeping her close to his chest and Ella let her head rest in the crook of his neck, drowning in his scent and closing her eyes to relish in the feeling.

"Don't want you to leave." He admitted with nerves bubbling up inside of him. He just wanted to let his words run loose and slip past his lips easily but god was he scared of her not reciprocating.

Ella hummed, the noise making her chest vibrate against his, "Don't want to either." She admitted right back and those words were enough to spark something inside him.

Would it be selfish of him to just ask her to leave it all behind for him? Would that be what his confession end up meaning to her?

The fear of rejection turned into a fear of asking too much from her, enough to drive her away, and just because of how much he was overthinking that sudden train of thought, he bit his tongue and stayed silent.

Silence which ended up in Ella sighing at the lack of response and choosing to add, "But I have to." in the end.

Those words came like heavy bricks over his heart, a confirmation of his worries being valid and right. He couldn't do that to her. He couldn't just ask her to go with him because of his feelings, not when she had so much waiting back home for her.

How badly he wanted to be selfish, to have this go his way, but it would be cruel to even lay that down in front of her and put her in the difficult position of having to even make that decision—if it even was a possibility for that to be a debate within her because he was still struggling to wrap his head around the chances of her feeling the same way about him.

Why is everything so complicated? He hated how he just couldn't let the words slip without thinking of the consequences, but there was just too much to lose and he had to weigh down if it was even worth it to risk it.

Flo's words came back to him. The moment he had finally let out how he felt for Ella for the first time came back to him and how good it had felt to get that off his chest. He clutched her a bit tighter when that flashed in the forefront of his mind and he smiled to himself when he felt Ella wrap her arms around his waist.

He thought then, it wasn't that he felt like it was a weakness to let it out, no, it was just how who he was wouldn't allow him to give Ella what she deserved. Because in the best of outcomes, she reciprocated, but what could he give her if she was in California and he was traveling all over the globe with no rest until the end of the year. And he was sure the next year would be the same, a plane from one country to another, day in a tour bus touring all across continents and no stability to give her the time she deserved.

Alex wanted to pull his hair out. He had done distance before and it had only been so long until he moved all the way to New York for his then girlfriend. Would Ella drop everything to join him? Would Ella let go of her dream job to follow him around the world? Would Alex be able to ask that from her?

Ella felt him drop a kiss on top of her head and his lips stayed there for a minute, his breathing slowed and got heavy and eventually she had to look up at him because it felt like something in the air had shifted.

"Are you okay?" She was the one to ask this time, and he saw the soft furrow of her brows and her lips slightly pursed when she pulled back to see his face.

He nodded, but he looked full of sorrow so Ella had to make sure, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, why?"

She took a step back, going to stub out the burnt out cigarette she had been holding and when that was done she stood back in front of him. "You're quiet." She repeated his words to him with a hint of a smile, like she was trying to cheer him up.

He caught onto it, offering a tight lip smile as he shook his head. The knot in his throat started tightening and it was like she had noticed without him even giving a sign of getting upset, so she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly.

"I'm gonna miss you so much, sweets." She promised him with a whisper in his ear, goosebumps breaking on his skin as his arms wrapped around her waist. "But we have this week left so let's not get ahead of ourselves okay?"

"You're right." Alex nodded again, Ella squeezed him a bit tighter and after a few seconds she broke the embrace, pulling back and smirking at him.

"I told you I always am."

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

It had been almost five when Alex woke her up. She had fallen asleep with her head resting on his shoulder as they watched some British show on BBC, not long after they'd come back inside from the balcony. Ella apologized profusely when she'd gotten back into her senses, apologies which he didn't accept.

They had made their way down to the lobby after Ella got her laptop and a little journal, texting the crew's group chat with one hand to let them know she'd be waiting for them there.

Fortunately, the small group had made an appearance at the lobby not long after she'd sent the text and they had gone into the conference room they'd been assigned at merely a quarter past five.

Ella settled with Alex to her right and Ben to her left, across the table sat Lydia, the new PA, Tyler, the cameraman, Margaret, the sound recorder, and Cameron, the lighting specialist. It was a small crew but it would do, plus they were the ones to come all the way to London because they were the best they had, the heads of each of their departments back home.

Whilst she opened her laptop to pull up the list of things she needed done for this shoot, Ella felt a gaze burning on her and when she let her eyes up to see who it was, she found Lydia staring at her and then at Alex.

She didn't give it attention until she looked up again and she found Lydia still gawking at Alex shamelessly. Ella thought it might've been because she hadn't been properly introduced to the singer so she took the matter in her own hands.

Interrupting her clicking and typing on her laptop to do so, Ella startled Lydia out of her trance when she turned to Alex and said, "Alex, this is Lydia, our new PA."

Alex looked up at the new face and smiled softly, "Nice to meet you."

Lydia's face seemed to light up at the attention and Ella had to hold herself back from scowling. The new PA waved shyly at him and said, "Such a pleasure to meet you Alex. Big fan."

"Thank you." Alex said kindly, before dropping his gaze back to Ella's laptop screen.

"I'm sure you remember everyone else." Ella said before continuing, knowing everyone had met Alex already at the same time as Ella had so there was no need for new introductions.

And Alex confirmed that when he nodded, "I do. Great seeing you again."

Everyone reciprocated the kindness and once that was over, Ella smiled at everyone and asked, "Right, so let's dive right in then?" to which she got nods that gave her the green light to start going over every bullet point.

Firstly, she had noticed the gap in her checklist where it said Stylist/Hair and makeup and just to make sure that was covered before moving onto what was confirmed already, she turned to Alex to ask, "Is your stylist coming tomorrow?"

Alex hummed, "Yeah she is." They had let her know she was needed for the shoot since it had been arranged, but it probably slipped past someone's mind to confirm that.

"Is she also taking care of hair and makeup?" Ella asked for the full confirmation.

And to her relief, Alex replied positively, "She is."

"Oh perfect." It was relieving checking that off and having the list look complete, "Okay so we have Lamie Stewart, she did the casting with an agency here and we had the video sent over, she's brilliant you'll love her." The model had been so brilliant and professional, an absolute laugh when she'd gotten to do the video call with Ella and Ben and it had been very refreshing to have such an easy going person as their main talent.

Alex smiled and nodded softly, completely trusting Ella's judgment about the main girl for the video. And with that approval, Ella moved onto the main point, "Let's go over the video concept again." She drummed her fingers on the table before they opened up the journal she'd brought with her and flipped through the pages until it was opened on the video.

Her eyes went over the words written in the preface for the project swiftly and she cleared her throat to start reciting it back, "We're gonna have you drunk out of your mind walking out of the pub, texting 'Stephanie' for a booty call. And you're gonna be hallucinating she's getting, erm, fucked as you walk up to her house. But you end up in the wrong house just across her street."

Alex chuckled when she'd weirdly said the word fucked, amused by her shyness coming back in front of her co-workers. With a smirk, he nodded, "Yep. Just like we talked about back in May."

"Nothing you wanna add or take out of it?" She layed out the chance for him to do anything to it, just in case it would be needed to arrange something else before it was too late.

But he shook his head, nothing really coming to mind, "No, I trust your vision on it."

"Good." Ella smirked at him, entirely satisfied with his words, "Lydia could you please phone the pub for me to make sure they know we have the place booked out for tomorrow to shoot?"

"Yeah, sure." Lydia nodded gracefully as she pulled out her phone and looked through her own journal for the number of the place. But before she could actually dial the number, Ella asked for another task to be done, "And please give the agency a call as well so they can notify Lamie and the extras when and where the shoot will take place."

A nod of Lydia's head was enough for Ella to deem that done, so she turned to Alex, "The lads know when I want them there tomorrow right?"

Alex's honest, "I wouldn't trust them." made Ella sigh and nod in defeat.

"You're right." She replied, thinking maybe Jamie would be the only one to remember that, "I'll send them a text right now, then."

But Alex let his hand come over hers to ease her worry about it and took the task off her by offering, "I'll do it for you, don't worry."

A tight lip smile was what he got in exchange and a soft, "Thank you." since Lydia's phone had started ringing as she called the pub. "Tell them to be there at 5pm sharp." Ella whispered to Alex while she watched him start to type away on his phone.

"Ben, anything you wanna add?" She turned to the director, a bit shy after realizing she hadn't let him do a thing.

It wasn't like it bothered him though, because he smiled big at her and shook his head briefly, "No, you covered it all Ella. Good work."

She gave him a toothy smile and a quick "Thanks." before she fell silent when Lydia had started speaking on the phone, everyone looked at the new PA expectantly as they heard only one side of the call.

They watched as the call lasted a few minutes and she thanked them before ending the call, but before Lydia could debrief anything, she got a call from the agency.

About five minutes later, when the agency had let her go, she finally let them all know that, "Pub says we can head there around five and we have four hours to shoot and the agency is sending emails out and contacting everyone to confirm they're coming tomorrow and Tuesday if needed."

Ella frowned and hummed, thinking about how much four hours would give them, "Four hours, alright. We need to wrap everything at the pub first thing, the rest of the band will only be needed tomorrow then."

Whilst Ella continued thinking about which scenes to record first, Ben pointed out another checked item off the list that most definitely needed a double or triple check before the recording, "Make sure to double check the bikes, please."

"We're having bikes in there?" Alex's curiosity sparked, knowing Ella had come up with it back when they recorded the Suck It And See videos and having loved those clips.

"A little scene, yeah." Ella nodded, biting her bottom lip to hide the excited smile at the thought of her vision for it, so she timidly asked, "Is that alright?"

Any worry about it not being what Alex wanted was out the window when he gave her a big grin and a wink as he decided it was "Perfect."

A wink that only made her chuckle and quickly turn to look at Ben to inquire, "Okay so do we have all the gear we need?"

Ben's slow nods were accompanied by, "All we need and a bit more just in case." which completely settled her, knowing that the director had all that covered before they'd gotten there was another big breath of relief.

"Amazing." Ella muttered, glancing over the checklist again and finding it all talked about, "Well, perfect then, team. We shall have a good shoot tomorrow and the day after will be even better."

"Damn right." Ben agreed proudly, eliciting smiles from the rest of the crew. Ella let her laptop close and closed her journal, putting it over her closed electronic device and then looked at everyone else's tired expressions and pouted.

"Are y'all having lunch anytime soon?" She asked them, it was getting quite late and she was hungry so she could imagine the just arrived would be too.

"Yeah, definitely." Cameron answered, he was starving and tired after the flight but he would rather use the last of his energy to eat. "Any recommendations?"

Ella tilted her head to the side slightly as she tried to think but eventually settled for an easy and good answer for them, "The hotel restaurant is quite good actually."

Ben nodded, too exhausted to even think of making a decision of where to go to have a bite of food. "Think it'll be that today, we're too tired to go somewhere else." The last statement was one that everyone agreed on, Alex and Ella smiled sympathetically when they hummed and mumbled in agreement.

"Bless you, I'll come with you." Ella settled, having missed her familiar crew after a while away from home. But she didn't want Alex to feel left out so she offered, "Alex, wanna join?"

He hesitantly looked around the group as if to silently ask for permission to intrude but they were all neutral as they looked back at him so he used his words to ask, "If that's alright?"

Tyler clicked his tongue and smiled at him, "'Course man, the more the merrier." which got the same enthusiastic response from the rest of them so he gave in.

"Cheers mate." He thanked, and followed as they all rose from their seats.

Quickly going upstairs to leave her stuff in her room, Ella came back downstairs and walked into the restaurant to find them all sitting down at a big table. It didn't take them long to make a decision on what to eat, entirely driven by hunger and the need to just get back to their rooms as soon as they could.

And just as quick as they ordered their food, they ate it. With conversation in between bites, but regardless of it, they had only taken forty minutes to ask for the bill and get out of there.

"That was lovely." Margaret said kindly, after Alex had offered to pay for their meal and they had reluctantly agreed he could.

Ben agreed with a soft groan, "It was, but I'm exhausted now."

"Did you manage to get any sleep on the way here?" Alex seriously asked, Ben's undereye bags looked heavy and dark.

Cameron beat the director to an answer when he snorted in laughter, "Only think Tyler did, we were all pretty restless."

Tyler chuckled, a smug look on his face since he was the one who looked least like a zombie, "Knocked out most of it."

"Lucky Tyler." Ella shook her head in an attempt to taunt him and it got her a middle finger which made her laugh.

Soon enough, the waitress came back with Alex's card and receipt and they were all good to go. They slowly walked out and into the lobby and just as they got to the lifts, Alex turned to Ella and then Ben and decided he would go.

"I'll leave you guys to rest." He said softly, watching as everyone but Ella and Tyler looked at him through half lidded eyes, "See you lot tomorrow." He took his time to briefly hug everyone goodbye.

"Goodnight Alex." Ben said as he patted his back, letting go of him a few seconds later.

Alex wrapped his arms tightly around Ella then, and she did the same, savoring the feeling by closing her eyes, "Bye Alex."

"Goodnight darling." He dropped a kiss on her cheek before wishing her "Sweet dreams."

His words had a toothy smile breaking on her face and she just couldn't not say it back, so she pulled back and wished him, "Sweet dreams, Al. See you tomorrow." with a soft nose scrunch and a little squeeze of his shoulders.

That was enough for him to melt inside so he left feeling all warm and fuzzy, a grin stayed on his face as he walked away and turned to wave at them one last time in the middle of the lobby before he disappeared from their view as he went.

But then Ella was met with a bunch of intent looks, a few smirks and raised eyebrows. It was like she'd been caught red handed and she didn't like it.

"What?" She asked, annoyed at the silence and the unwavering looks on their faces, pressing aggressively on the button to call down the elevator.

"Nothing." Ben replied innocently, but his smirk grew bigger in contrast so Ella sighed exasperatedly.

"You know what? I didn't miss you, I take it back."

Ben took that as an opportunity to taunt her further though, so he teased, "Yeah, bet you're having the best time here aren't you?"

The crew laughed at the words and Ella let her mouth open and close as her confusion grew, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Ben said again and it made her roll her eyes harder.

The elevator's door opened and she was the first to go in, calling them out and scolding them with a stern "Y'all should go to bed." that made Tyler and Margaret snort out in laughter. Ella paid them no mind and asked, "Which floor are you on?"

"Fourth."

She was selfishly glad their taunting would be cut short by the fact that they weren't floor neighbors and she faked a pout as she said, "Awh, okay. I'm on the third."

The lift didn't take long to take them up to the third floor and when the door opened, she walked out quickly and wished them, "Goodnight guys!" with a blown kiss to follow with "Love y'all!"

The crew said, "Goodnight Ella!" in unison right as the door started closing and with a sigh she made way back to her hotel room.

It had been a very long day but at least she was glad that the two following days would be filled by her doing what she loved and it would serve as a great distraction to the looming ache of her homecoming approaching faster than she wanted it to.

Five more days was all she had, and she wasn't sure if she was even prepared for what they would bring.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

A/N: Ella's UK trip is coming to an end :'( How are we feeling about it? What do you think is gonna happen? Some of you actually guessed who the date was with and I fucking love that! Hope you enjoyed that, it was really fun writing it to be honest and I'm really excited to see your reactions. Thanks so so much from the bottom of my heart for reading and commenting and voting/liking, sending asks and messages about this story, it makes me so happy beyond words to see y'all enjoying it *cries* Love you lot and see you soon with the next one! x

Taglist: @imagine-that-100 @red---moon @kennedy-brooke @faveficz @indierockgirrl @ladydraculasthings @moonvr @unwantedlovergirl @eaglestar31 @nikisfwn @funniestpersoninnyc @andrearroe @justacaliforniandreamer @alexturnersgf69 @yourorganiccigarette

Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist! x

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siancore · 7 days

Note

Can you say something about Michonne’s friendships? Especially among the women? Especially post Rick’s disappearance? Her only true friends seem to be Daryl, Siddiq, and possibly Father Gabriel. Thank you for a wonderful Tumblr.

Hey. So sorry for my slow reply.

One of the things that I feel was lacking is friendships between Michonne and the other women on the show. I feel like they dropped the ball with Sasha and Michonne being close and sharing a friendship being the only two Black women in their group for a while. They dropped the ball on Carol and Michonne being close and bonding over the shared experience of losing a child. I liked the dynamic with Andrea. I liked how it turned out for them because it showed how different they were as people and survivors. In saying that, Andrea was not a good friend to Michonne. The notion of ‘We don’t leave people behind’ should relate to not ditching the friend who kept you alive and safe.

“You chose a warm bed over a friend,” will forever stay with me. Michonne deserved better.

I can’t really say too much about Michonne’s friendships after the bridge. I hated what happened with Jocelyn. That was so awful. Even after we as the audience found out what had happened to Michonne, we were still faced with the animosity she was receiving from her so-called friends because of how she chose to protect her community. Michonne’s friendship with Daryl has been constant and comforting for both of them. I enjoy their friendship and how they’ve been there for one another. I'd have liked to see more between Michonne and Aaron since their kids are friends. Plus Ross and Danai were friends before they worked together on TWD.

I just want Michonne to have it all, know what I mean? I guess it’s hard to have friendships when you’re a leader like Michonne is. Everyone looked to her to keep their community safe while judging her decisions at every turn.

Now, the most recent standout friendship for me is Michonne and Nat. He showed Michonne so much love and care and it was very beautiful to watch. He was a straight shooter with her, and always had what was best for her at the forefront of his mind. Their interactions and chemistry were a joy to watch, and I was just saying to another Richonne fan how much I loved their friendship. Aside from Carl and Michonne, Nat’s friendship with Michonne has been my favourite.

Thank you for asking!

P.S. I like how Michonne and Rick’s friendship came about because of how similar they are, and it just sort of developed from distrust because of trauma to bonding because of trauma and ended up being family without explicitly acknowledging it. Remember Sasha’s comment to Michonne about it all working out for her? Everyone else could see Richonne and the kids were a family unit even though they hadn’t moved past the ‘friendship’ stage of their relationship. That’s important, too. How friends are actually family. Okay, I’ll shut up now.

#michonne #richonne #Michonne and Nat

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puffpasstea · 1 year

Note

hiii I love all your writing! it really makes me feel some type of way 💖🥲 I was wondering if you would be willing to write something about y/n feeling like her friends are using her (to get to harry, $$$, or for clout) and Harry is comforting y/n. Or something like y/n feels left out at a Hollywood party with all of Harry’s friends?

im going thru a rough time with my friendships and kind of feeling lonely. no pressure though 💖 thank you for being a source of joy during this time 🥺🫶🏻

Hi babes! Thanks so much for your lovely message 🥰🥰 and I’m so sorry that you’re going through this. I’ve been where you are. It hurts no matter how you try to rationalize it. Please know that my inbox is always open if you need a friend, or just to vent. I hope this little one shot helps somehow. Let me know what you think! 💗

—

She plumped down on the barstool, tucked away in the shadowy corner of the room, letting her feet dangle and hover over the floor. Those heels were killing her. She glanced across the room, scanning the crowd of faces for Harry’s comforting eyes. He was standing in between Jeff and some really old guy in a suit, the grin on his face slowly growing until his dimples appeared. At this distance, she had no idea what he was actually saying, but she liked to imagine that he was telling a joke, judging by his face, that’s usually what he looks like when he’s laughing at his own joke before he’s even reached the punchline. She was glad to see that he was at least having fun. Because she’d be lying if she said that these kinds of events felt fun for her.

Tagging along to these parties increased her sad and admiration for Harry. It always made her proud to see him in “work mode.” This wasn’t even what he normally does for a living. Giant parties like these were usually hosted by the record label, designed to make really rich, really old people feels important enough and respected enough to convince them to invest their buckets of money into musicians’ tours. Someone needed to pay the insurance companies, purchase the bands’ equipment, pay the crew, and fund the millions of things -big and small- that went into carrying out an entire tour. Learning this gave her a better understanding of why, to make it in an industry like this, you need more than just a pretty voice and a little bit of hard work. But as proud as she was of Harry, she couldn’t help but feel like an outsider in moments like this.

Harry always wanted her to feel included, so he would keep his arm hooked into hers, introduce her to his team and investors, and whisper any background information into her ear to catch her up to speed. She loved witnessing first-hand how he was good at remembering a CEO’s 4-year-old daughter’s favorite cartoon, or how he complimented an ancient rich lady on her brooch. She found his ability to make everyone feel important to him weirdly attractive. But, when Harry and his friends would so quickly fall in and out of industry talk, making inside jokes or using technically lingo, she often found herself feeling weird. Like she was an anchor weighing him down. His constant need to keep an arm around her waist, or to explain a joke to her, or rephrase something in a way that she would understand, it made her wonder if he wouldn’t be more present in the moment if she wasn’t trailing behind him, so she found a quiet place to sit and admire him from a distance, hoping he’d be too engrossed in his friends’ conversations to notice her absence.

She pulled out her phone to check the time. It was almost midnight. She could pass the time by scrolling through her phone, but it would honestly just make her more miserable. Scrolling through Instagram posts of people that felt so far away would just hurt.

Perhaps this whole thing wouldn’t be on her mind if things in her own friendship were different. The truth was that some of her most important relationships have felt nonexistent lately. Which made her more conscious of how she related to people. Often even wondering if she had some invisible flaw that she’s failing to see, or if she was too stubborn to realize that she was unintentionally pushing people away. It felt like her relationship with Harry had altered the way that people saw her. Friends that she had had for quite sometime, and honestly thought would hold on to forever, were now gone without a real explanation. It was like they’d decided on her behalf that she no longer needed them. They began acting different around her, gradually growing colder and more indifferent. It was difficult to come to the realization that, if they would treat her this way, maybe they weren’t really friends in the first place. Maybe they only liked having her around to make them feel better about themselves and seeing her happy, successful, and in a relationship with someone like Harry was doing the exact opposite of making them feel good. So, they no longer had any use for her.

She felt a lump form in her throat. At least ending friendships in this way was better than the opposite. The people who’d never actually liked her, never treated her with any respect at all, and never bothered to hide their feelings about her suddenly “reconnecting” with her because they found out who her boyfriend is. How did things get so fucked up and why hadn’t she noticed until it was too late?

“There you are!” The feeling of Harry’s soft lips kissing her cheek yanked her out of her spiral. “How’re you, darlin’?” He smiled, grabbing the stool next to her and ordering a drink. He still had a smile on his face and seemed to be giggling to himself.

The look he was giving her forced her to smile back. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, it’s- it’s nothing Mitch was just telling a funny story over there.” Harry chuckled at the memory of the encounter. “Anyway, where’d you run off to? I looked behind me and you’d vanished.”

She waited for a moment, considering just telling him the truth but she didn’t want to burden him. He was clearly having a good time. And he’d earned it. He’d been working so hard lately; a night out with his favorite people is what he needs. Besides, she liked that Harry felt comfortable enough to introduce her to his friends and bring her to industry events. She didn’t want to make him feel bad about it.

“N-nowhere, I- my heels are just too much. Probably should’ve worn a different shoe tonight.”

Harry’s brows furrowed. “Oh, I’m so sorry, baby. Wanna go home?”

“Oh- no, no. Don’t worry about me. I’m good just staying right here. You go, have fun.”

Harry wasn’t having it. She should’ve expected it. He wasn’t the kind of person to just abandon her after she’d admitted to being in pain. Instead of going back out there, he brought the party over to her. Within minutes, Mitch, Sarah, Pauli, some assistants from the wardrobe department and a few drum techs were gathered around her previously private corner. They’d ordered some appetizers and sat around telling stories from past tours, making plans to visit the landmarks and hidden gems of certain cities they were touring, and recalling the time someone had intentionally re-tuned Mitch’s guitar and fucked up his string-matching.

For the whole night, Harry’s hands were on her thigh, glancing at her in between conversations and casually kissing the top of her head. She felt selfish for not having fun. After all he does for her, and after he’s forced everyone to hang out at the bar so she can be included. She still felt like an outsider looking in. What the hell was wrong with her?

The ride home was quiet. Harry asked her if she wanted to take her shoes off and stretch her legs but she’d just hummed a quiet “no,” looking out the window of the passengers seat to avoid his eyes.

She stood in the bathroom, getting ready for bed and trying to shake the feeling of intense isolation that had clung to her. She wished she could wipe it off the way she’d just wiped off her makeup. Maybe if she just went to bed and started fresh tomorrow?

Harry called her name “come over here and give me a cuddle alreadyyyy.”

She made her way to the bed where he’d been plopped, reading a book as he waited for her. The goofy smile on his face disappeared as soon as he saw her. “What’s the matter, baby?”

“N-nothing.” Her voice betrayed her, already breaking. It’s just that the softness of Harry’s voice and the concern in his eyes threw her off. The tears that she’d been pushing away all night were now stinging the corners of her eyes, threatening to spill over.

“Not nothing.” Harry asserted, reaching for the side of her hip and gesturing for her to come closer.

“It’s dumb. Please just forget it, Harry.” She pressed her palms to her eyes, wiping the tears away.

“It’s not dumb if it’s got you this upset, honey.”

“I- I just wish-“

Harry said nothing, his eyebrows shoot upward.

“I wish I wasn’t so lonely all the time.”

Harry felt his heart split in half at her words and the simplicity with which she’d said them. He wondered how long she’d felt this way. If the feeling just rolled off her tongue like that, it had to have been sitting in the pit of her stomach for a while.

“Lonely?” Was all he could say.

She just nodded, tears now unashamedly rolling down her face.

Harry was now replaying all the conversations that he’d had in the past few weeks where she seemed to jokingly suggest that she was fundamentally in likable, or that she was too rough around the edges for friends to want her around, or that she hated people so much that she hardly left the apartment anymore. How could he have been so blind? He knew her well enough to know that when she made self-deprecating jokes like this, it was usually because she believed them to be, at least partly, true.

“W-why?” He cleared his throat, hoping to sound more like an adult. “What’s made you feel so alone?”

She shrugged, finally pulling her hands away from her face and shifting nervously on top of the duvet. “Just don’t have any friends anymore, Harry.”

“What do you mean? You’ve got plenty of friends!”

“Name one.”

Harry wracked his brain. “Well there’s Je- okay, fine? What about Sa-“ he was stumped. Every name that came to his mind was a friend of his that had, by extension, gotten to know her through their relationship.

She could see the wheels turning in his head. “Exactly.” She huffed.

“Well, what about people at work? That nice lady, Melanie? You seem to get on really well. And, besides, you can share my friends!”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I don’t know people. But those superficial relationships only make me feel worse. They just remind me of the connections that I’ve lost. I don’t- Harry, I don’t wanna have perfectly mundane conversations about the weather, or what I did over the weekend. That’s not what I mean. I just- I miss the kind of connection where you could text someone your random and extremely niche take on a specific topic that only you care about. Or call someone cuz you’re bored and want company. Or make spur of the moment plans. Or vent to without worrying if they’re secretly judging you for talking too much. You know? The kinds of things that you can just build overnight.”

“Intimacy.” He said simply.

“Yeah…”

Harry said nothing. He pulled her into his side, letting her lay her head on his shoulder and blink her tears away as he squeezed her shoulder.

“I’ll be your friend!” He said suddenly breaking the heavy silence.

She laughed, the chuckled disrupting her sobs. “Thanks, but, I think I like what we are.”

“No, I mean, like, sometimes you date someone but you can’t really talk to them about stuff. You know? I’m saying you can talk to me.”

“I just- I don’t know why it’s so hard for me.”

“Baby, it’s not your fau-“

“Don’t! Don’t say it, okay?”

“But you know it’s true.”

“It makes me feel like a bad person to just say that they’re dumb for not wanting to stay friends. Somehow I’m the perfect Angel and everyone else is wrong for leaving me.”

Harry said nothing for a moment. He could tell she firmly believed that and convincing her wasn’t going to be simple. Plus, he didn’t want to interrupt her as she finally let things off her chest. After he was sure she was done speaking, he started again.

“I’m not saying you’re perfect. Nobody is. We all have our flaws. But people who really care about you wouldn’t give up on you when things get difficult. Friendships only work if both people are invested.”

“What if- What if I’m just not good at this? What if people leave me because I’m not a good friend?”

“Bullshit.”

“Harry! I’m serious.”

“So am I! You care, and you’re so kind. And you’re fun and gracious and-“

“Then why am I so alone??”

Harry kissed the side of her head gently.

“I get what you mean.”

“No you don’t. You’re surrounded by people who love you all day everyday.”

“Yeah, but that hasn’t always been the case. I felt really lost and alone for years before all this happened. You know? After the band and all?”

“Hmm”

“It was hard.”

She just nodded silently listening to, taking his words in, letting the sound of his voice comfort her.

“Just can’t change who you are to make people want to stick around. You’ll lose sight of what matters to you. Even though it hurts to let people go.”

“It does.”

“I know baby.” He nuzzled his nose into her neck. “But you’ll meet the right friends eventually. Ones who won’t take advantage, won’t be threatened by your light and love.”

“I hope I do. This is exhausting.”

“Let me help. Hmm?”

She finally turned to face him, locking her lips into his, causing him to hum into her mouth.

“You always do, Harry. Everyday.”

#harry styles one shot #harry styles #ask #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fluff #harry styles blurb #harry styles x fem!reader #harry styles x y/n

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likeadevils · 8 months

Note

i’m halfway through listening to 1989 in writing order and it’s so good! i always liked the original tracklisting, but i think i like this order better??? do you enjoy all the albums more in writing order or are there any you prefer the original tracklist of?

oooh good question. 1989 in chronological order is definitely the one that transforms the original album the most to me— it was my favorite album even before doing the timeline, but that stretch from wildest dreams to clean is just. god you can see her devolve into cynicism in every aspect of her life— in romance, in friendship, and in herself— and then choose hope anyway. it’s just. it’s so good. if i were her i would’ve had such a hard time not releasing it in order, it paints such a clear picture

i would say red is another one that really changed for me. it might be because i quite literally watched, listened to, or read every single interview she gave in 2011, so i really got in her head that year, but the 2011 songs— all to well through eyes open— are just. it’s another moment where you can see her become Herself. it’s a heartbreak in remission, as maisie would say. my biggest revelation was starlight— in order, it becomes a really important moment of growth for her, the first new interest after she had to burn her life down around her, and it’s like, yeah, that’s why vintage fashion became so synonymous with the red era, and why she started to lean so heavily on constant transformation in the face of pain. that being said, red’s track listing idea of ping-ponging you between opposite emotions is just genius, and going from treacherous -> ikywt is a stroke of genius

on the flip side, i think the original tracklist for fearless is near perfect— the way you slowly watch her self respect grow throughout the album is genius. breathe -> tell me why -> you’re not sorry is just. god what a trinity. in chronological order you do get an interesting back in forth from should’ve said no-> come in with the rain -> white horse -> the other side of the door -> you’re not sorry that i adore, but the rest of the album in order doesn’t do much for me.

none of the other albums are particularly noteworthy but brief thoughts—

rep’s two halves of the same story tracklist is another genius idea, but i also adore how king of my heart is the second song she wrote for that album, and it kinda connects i don’t want to live forever to the story of that relationship in an interesting way.

speak now has always been hard to tracklist for me? i get why taylor was kinda losing her mind about it in spring 2010, there’s a lot of good songs but it’s hard to connect them. that run from innocent -> haunted -> last kiss -> long live is just genius though.

there’s just way to many songs, and she was learning so much about the principals of songwriting, for me to evaluate debut in a similar way as the other ones (if i were taylor i would also procrastinate on picking vault tracks).

and then lover-midnights i haven’t done that big of a deep dive on, and also most of those albums were written in like, a 4 month period, so the things that make red and 1989 sing to me are gonna be a bit harder to pull out

#asks*#timeline*

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oldestenemy · 3 months

Text

a deviation in loyalties - final

Part 1 / Part 2 / whole series

“You don’t have to do any of this.”

“I owe you.” Duncan stops. They turn back, unable to keep the irritation out of their tone. “Duncan, I quite literally do not have time to explain right now—I want to introduce you to Velma and Qismah before I leave. But I need to get back to Mirage as soon as possible and—”

“—no, no, you’re not doing this to me again!” Duncan snaps, “Explain, now, or I’m going back to Wizard City and I’m going to hide out in Suzie’s house until I can face the others.”

They grit their teeth, squeeze their eyes shut for a moment.

Time is growing thin, the sands swirl ever back into place.

Raven’s voice is firmer than usual.

They ignore her.

Not this time.

He’s right.

He has earned that much of them.

If not more.

“Take your pick,” the wizard starts, “If you hadn’t shown up that night in the academy commons I might have bled out. If you hadn’t gone with the other Necromancers when I was trapped in Nidavellir none of us might have made it back alive. If you hadn’t managed to channel Shadow magic in Darkmoor I would still exist under the guilt I carried for Malistaire Drake. I owe you Duncan Grimwater, my life and beyond, regardless of whatever you think you deserve, I owe it to you.”

“I tried to kill you.”

The wizard laughs, it echoes through the Panopticon. “No—you didn’t. And if you were trying, you were doing a terrible job of it.”

“I don’t deserve anything.”

“Why not?” The wizard shoots back, “Because you made a mistake? Because people older and smarter and more manipulative than you pulled at the strings they knew would hurt the most? Would make you most sympathetic to their cause? Welcome to life as a savior of the spiral—it’s hell and high water more often than not.”

“But I—wanted to—”

“—You wanted to feel needed, and important, and like you were someone’s first choice.”

“Stop doing that—I don’t need you telling me what I already know, and I definitely don’t need you acting like you’re inside my head.”

“Clearly you do.”

It’s not friendship.

Whatever this is.

But it’s not actively eating away at them either.

It’s not the constant guilt of thinking they’ve damned someone else to their own existence.

It’s not friendship.

But maybe, with some work, it could be.

#wizard101 #wizard101 fic #wizzy fandom #wizard101 fanfiction #duncan grimwater #arc 3 #wizard101 fanfic #wizard101 fandom #w101

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autisticethanmorgan · 1 year

Text

How I would continue mbav in comic form

disney, teletoon, fresh tv, whoever the fuck owns the rights to this, please let me have them

LONG ASS POST WARNING

we are past the days of any further mbav television content, but you know what has a much lower production cost and would fill a specific niche? a comic/graphic novel continuation >:) Teen rating because pretty much anyone who was the target audience of mbav when it was airing is late teen or older and I want the characters actions to have more consequence, basically i want to injure my protagonists

I would pick up a month or two after the lucifractor explosion, establish the new status quo, we cant really do a continuation if they all died so Ill settle for injury and property damage, including putting out main man Ethan in a half magic/half head trauma induced coma! this is kind of a cheap story beat but i cant help it I love a coma and its a good opportunity for both sarah and benny to get a little bit darker and have some interesting character development, with the most important difference being that sarah basically gets through it and refuses to compromise her morals whereas benny is very lost without ethan being his moral compass and becomes more and more reckless with magic, eventually leading to him attempting a very risky spell to wake ethan up which does work but basically has sarah and his grandma like 'wtf is wrong with you'

meanwhile erica and rory are fucking around in the states bc this would be a very fun B plot for a while before they return, if youve read the comic crowded im thinking of that kind of vibe

so anyway ethan is back up and running now and everyone is kind of trying to get back to normal but its really hard and theres a lot of residual magic causing problems and making bennys magic more powerful, and its giving ethan basically constant migranes and really vague visions and horrifying dreams and all that good 'plauged with visions' stuff.

sarah and ethan have not gone on any more dates at this point so theyre not dating but they do have this kind of romantic aspect of their relationship and they basically havent talked about it since the explosion, kind of a silent understanding of like 'i love you and i dont really care that its platonic or romantic but i just understand whats happening in a way almost no one else can and Im here for you even if now just isnt the time for us'

benny is continuing to get more reckless and kind of vengeful with his magic use, testing his limits, using magic to get back and the people making snide comments in the halls, especially after ethan comes back to school, when your best friend is in a coma for two months you get kind of defensive about it I guess. If you’re not a bethan truther I’m sorry but Ethan can have two intense friendships that border on romantic, both of which are societally non conventional/acceptable. In fact he has to. It is so good narratively. but anyway at some point there is a particularly bad incident benny gets more vindictive than ever before and hurts this guy pretty badly till ethan is yelling at him to stop

at this point ethan and sarah and grandma are like 'uhhh benny is getting kinda intense' but they dont even know the half of it because secretly he learning magic that isnt in his book, researching on his own and making stuff up. the magic itself wants him to be getting stronger, its not like sentient but it does have kind of a self preservation instinct? like a power begets power type thing that magic users can very easily be driven mad by their own magic if theyre not careful or dont have another magic user telling them to touch grass.

i think benny can have unexamined mental repercussions due to his parents having either left him or died. as a treat. so when he get magic and suddenly he can control things he couldnt before yknow who can blame him for getting kind of lost, i personally would become insane. I havent really though about the specific of him devolving and mentally deteriorating. I dont want him to be too evil yknow? bc we will be letting him get redeemed latr bc im a sucker for that.

at this point erica and rory return from their wacky adventures bc this is no time for a silly b plot. and they are like huh benny got kind of weird and different and ethan is like haha no hes fine

he is not fine

he is actually sneaking out of town to meet another magic user who is basically like 'i will act like a father figure to gain your trust' and benny is like 'epic!' yknow because he. becuase. because he has no dad :D. he gets exposed to magic that grandma doesnt do and is both scared and impressed and this other magic user is like 'she doesnt want you to learn this >:| she doesnt want you to reach your fullest potential' and benny is like 'hmm idk about that' but they keep talking until this guy is like 'arent you tired of being nice?dont you just wanna go apeshit?' but benny is still like 'hmmm my really close boy best friend probably wouldnt like that' but its too late. its already in motion.

benny gets more evil. he is causing problems in whitechapel and does not seem to care. benny be like 'thought acquired: if i control everything and destroy the things i dont like then everything will be good and i can protect my friends forever. i see no moral problems with this' more development into evil, dont ask me the details i dont know.

bennys evil girl summer culminates in some kind of fight where ethan enters his mind bc yeah obviosly thats where this has been going, idk if ive just spent to long thinking about jean grey and scott summers but this is the most interesting thing ever. i want to see ethan walking through bennys memories end of life is strange style and realizing that all of his most important memories are of them together, times that theyve comforted or protected each other and it ends with a memory of from just before they met sarah. that memory fades out and ethan is standing on the street in front of his house, so he goes up to his room and benny is there but this time its really him and not just a memory version of him and benny is like 'i dont know how it got to be like this, this isnt what i wanted, how do i fix this?' and ethan is like 'i havent given up on you, you can still come back and we can try to make it right' and they hug and they come back to reality and benny basically breaks down sobbing yeah i <3 sad boys. he has a lot of regrets. ( i have written a lot of this scene bc i am insane and obsessed)

by the next morning hes left town. only leaving a note saying he needs to go away and clear the magic out of his head. hes reversed as much of the magic he did as he could, and left ethan with a spell leaving the words 'semper reveniam ad te' on his arm that will disappear when they see each other again or if benny dies.

#this is longer than the essay i was supposed to write tonight needed to be #mbav #my babysitter's a vampire #ethan morgan #benny weir #et al

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tired-truffle · 4 months

Text

The Art of Pointed Questions

A DamienxAmma Fic

Word Count: 2.6k

Part 1/1 - Complete

Based off the prompt from tumblr user @creativepromptsforwriting

P.S.: If you haven’t read this series but you like my other fics, i highly recommend reading Villains and Virtues by A.K. Caggiano, its literal gold 💯

Masterlist

“Have you ever had a friendship bracelet?”

The ridiculousness of that question echoed across the rocky walls surrounding their path as it wound through a small craig. It wasn’t the first absurd question that Amma had asked in their seemingly never-ending journey toward Faebarrow, but this one had to be one of the most egregious of them all.

Had Damien Maleficus Bloodthrone, Son of Zagadoth the Tempestuous, Ninth Lord of the Infernal Darkness and Abyssal Tyrant of the Sanguine Throne, ever had a friendship bracelet?

The better question would be if he’d had any friends at all, to which the answer would be a resounding no. He was evil, evil beings did not have such childish things as friends.

Damien didn’t justify the question with an answer, instead, he let out an exasperated sigh and debated using the talisman’s power to get her to stop talking - It seemed he was debating this almost every minute he let her have free reign of her own speech.

Kaz had scrambled off somewhere a half hour ago and had yet to come back, however Damien could sense his presence skulking behind them. He’d been keeping Amma busy chatting, though it had been more Amma chatting at him and Katz shooting back cruel names and annoyed looks. Even the imp couldn’t withstand this torture forever and had fled in a burst of rage. This had left Amma with a new target who was less eager than Kaz to leave Amma behind just to avoid her inane questions - he couldn’t leave the talisman unattended, could he? - hence his constant debate on ordering her to shut her mouth. He’d done worse to people for less heinous acts, surely this wasn’t unreasonable.

“I know you heard me, Damien, don’t pretend you’re too dark and broody for a friendship bracelet” Damien could hear the eye roll in her voice and he stifled back an irritated growl. “You were a kid at some point, right? Kids give each other friendship bracelets, half-demon or not. I bet you were just like all the other kids, playing with your toys and frolicking in the streets or whatever it is kids do in creepy villages.” Amma giggled, apparently, the image of a tiny Damien, pout on his face as he skipped around was too much for her to contain herself.

“I am evil, Amma. Evil people do not frolic, no matter their age.” Damien shot her a withering look. But like a fool, he’d fallen for her bait, and he watched as a wide smirk pulled at her round cheeks. Not wanting to admit to having been beaten, he said “Sanguinisui, do not talk until we reach our camp tonight.” Amma’s mouth clicked shut as her teeth clacked together, she’d been about to gloat and Damien had managed to catch her before she could, thank the hells.

She narrowed her eyes at him, clearly irritated, making his smug grin grow wider. She gestured to the surrounding forest before putting her hands to her throat and making a strangled sound, her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth comically. He supposed he couldn’t blame her after the last time they’d been attacked and she’d been unable to make a noise because of his orders. Somewhere behind them, Damien heard Kaz make a wretching sound.

Damien rolled his eyes before adding, “Sanguinisui, you may only ignore that last order if you are in danger.”

Satisfied that she wasn’t at imminent risk, Damien turned away from her, clicking his heels against his ‘horse’ to spurn it on faster. The last thing he needed was to look back at where she sat dejected and fuming, he didn’t want to feel any sort of pity for her, like how he’d feel pity for a weak little kitten caught out in the rain. He had other more important things on his mind, like getting his father out of the crystal, his main objective. He didn’t have the time to spare her any pity.

The peace and quiet that had accompanied his order had been truly blissful for about thirty seconds before Kaz took it upon himself to sit behind Damien - now that Amma couldn’t speak to him - and glare at her, making rude gestures along with some snide remarks. Amma had then taken it upon herself to pull stones out of the bottom of her boots and chuck them as hard as she could at Kaz’s impudent face. Unfortunately for Damien, said face was right behind his back, and Amma’s aim was by no means her best ability, and she ended up mostly pelting Damien with the pebbles. When one had the audacity to bounce off his head, the scathing glare he shot her way had been enough to make her rethink her actions. Perhaps throwing stones at the man who was in charge of all your actions and would soon be killing you, wasn’t the wisest course of action, unless you were trying to speed up that death.

By the time they made camp, Damien was in an even fouler mood than he had been after seeing Xavier, which was saying something since that lecherous blood mage never failed to make his blood boil. Damien spat out his usual commands to Amma, told Kaz to guard her, and trekked off into the woods to find them some dinner. Surely killing something would make him feel better.

Kaz took that as his opportunity to discipline Amma himself, ��How dare you anger Master Bloodthrone, he does not have time for your petty grievances, you are his captive.” and for good measure “Whore.”

Damien didn’t bother listening to Amma’s indignant response, he’d heard enough of their banter to know what she’d say, and he was sure it would only serve to piss him off further.

By the time he returned to camp an hour later, a small hare in hand and feeling much calmer after releasing his magic on some unsuspecting trees, he was feeling much more collected.

Amma had her back to him, facing the small fire she’d built and was hopelessly trying to start by spinning a stick in between her hands on top of another slightly larger stick.

“That won’t work,” Damien said in lieu of a greeting.

Amma yelped in surprise and spun around, having been so focused on her task that she hadn’t heard the crunch of dead leaves under his heavy boots when he’d walked up behind her.

Damien smirked, good, scaring unsuspecting innocent girls was something evil people did, evil like Damien.

“You don’t have to startle me, you know, I was only trying to help.” Amma dropped her sticks, pink creeping up her neck in embarrassment.

Damien shrugged and quickly lit the fire with his magic.

“Showoff,” Amma muttered under her breath, crossing her arms across her chest. Kaz cracked an eye from where he was resting on a rock, satisfied that Amma looked dejected, he closed his eyes again.

Amma turned away from the fire, picking at the long grass and small wildflowers that were bordering the little clearing they’d found. Damien quickly set to work preparing their dinner, and by the time it was cooked and devoured by all participants, it was time for bed.

Damien gave Amma her nightly commands, - sit, stay, play nice - and settled down to sleep, turning away from where she sat, staring off into the dark woods, fiddling with grass in her hands. If she didn’t want to sleep, that was on her, but she better not be cranky tomorrow. He didn’t know how he would cope with more irritation after today, he had his limits, and Amma being here was already pushing it. She’d already steered his evil plan of course, he now had to go to Faebarrow to get the amulet out of her so he didn’t have to kill her. It was out of pity of course, like that cat stuck in the rain, he wasn’t evil enough to push it under a carriage wheel, even if it would end its suffering.

And if his dreams were filled with horrible images of a lost blonde cat, shivering in the rain, no one had to know but him.

***

When Damien woke up, the first thing he noticed was that Amma was not where he’d left her sulking by the fire. The second was that said sulker was no longer looking so miserable and had moved to hover over the small sleeping form of their resident imp.

“Do I want to know what you’re doing?” Damien asked, rolling to his side and propping himself up on his elbow, swiping a hand down his face. It was much too early to be dealing with this, but the sooner he got whatever ridiculousness was going on out of the way, the better the rest of his day would be.

Amma whirled around, eyes widened in surprise and hands clasped guiltily in front of her chest, pulling Damien’s eyes to the ample cleavage her shirt did very little to cover. He quickly looked back up to her face, pleased to see she showed no indication that she’d seen his brief lapse of control of his gaze. “Have you finally smothered him in his sleep like he deserves?”

Amma squawked indignantly, “Of course not!”

Damien shrugged, sitting up and stretching his arms out from the little aches and pains he’d gained from their sleep on the hard, unforgiving ground.

“That’s too bad.”

“Damien!” Amma hissed, “Don’t be so mean to him, look how cute he is when he’s sleeping.”

Cute wouldn’t be how Damien would describe Kaz, his protruding lower jaw wide open, drooling into the rock he’d made into a pillow, his spindly body spread out haphazardly. In a way, he looked almost dead, if it weren’t for the rise and fall of his chest. Damien could see how he could look peaceful, but cute felt like a bit of a stretch. Damien had prepared a retort when a small band of green and white caught his eye, pulling his gaze toward the imp’s wrist. He rubbed his eyes to ensure he was seeing correctly, and when he looked again he saw that the small band was still there. It was made of thick grass interwoven with small white flowers into a delicate braid pattern and tied in a neat bow.

Damien looked between the bracelet and Amma, his eyebrow raised.

“I think it suits him.” Amma said, crossing her arms across her chest defensively, “And I’m very good at making friendship bracelets.”

Damien felt a headache coming on, he thought they’d left this conversation yesterday, “Imps don’t have friends.”

“They do now.”

Stubborn as ever, Amma refused to relent, and Damien no longer knew why he even bothered arguing about this. Kaz would wake up, tear off the offending item, and call her some rude names, to which she would insist he keep the bracelet and be unnecessarily kind to the hateful creature.

And Damien had to pee, something he had no plans of putting off for a pointless argument.

He stood up, brushing off his clothes as he popped the joints in his knees. As he looked down, feeling an unfamiliar object moving on his wrist with his movements, he felt anger build in his chest before he laid eyes on the object. He already knew what it was.

“We aren’t friends either,” Damien growled, eyes flashing as he looked at where Amma stood, a sly smile on her face. It was unnerving that she’d been able to get the bracelet on his wrist whilst he slept without him noticing, and he would have to add a new line to her commands about not touching him when he was unconcious. However, this grass and flower bracelet was somehow entirely black, blending in with his black sleeves.

“I even covered it in ashes so it would match your moody aesthetic.” Amma flicked her fingers at him and he felt an indignant jolt run through his chest. He wasn’t moody, though arguing that point would not help his case. Though he couldn’t help but feel that it was also strangely…. Thoughtful, that she would take into account his preference of colour, or lack thereof.

He grunted, unable to come up with a proper retort so early in the morning he turned quickly on his heels to march towards the forest.

“I’m not keeping it.” He called, not bothering to face her as he lifted his arm up and yanked the bracelet off so the bow came apart, ripping slightly as it did.

“No!” Amma’s disappointment was clear in her tone and Damien ignored the tug in his gut from some stupid emotion he didn’t bother putting a name to - likely pity, that was about all his evil heart was capable of in this situation, or so he told himself - and he continued his journey to find some quiet and private place to pee. It shouldn’t have been as difficult a task as it had been.

“Fine, be a miserable loner then!” She yelled after him.

“I’m evil, Amma, evil people don’t have friends, and they certainly don’t wear friendship bracelets.” Damien drawled, grinning to himself, “Right, Kaz?” He lifted his voice so the imp could hear him. If he hadn’t been evil he would have felt bad about sicking the imp on her, who at Damien’s call, realized what Amma had bestowed upon him, and was reacting just as he had expected.

Damien chuckled, revenge felt good, these were the consequences of her actions. Including him throwing that damned bracelet away and never looking back.

He twirled the bracelet between his fingers, the ash rubbing off as he did so. It was strange that she’d gone through so much effort to give him something she knew he wouldn’t like. The son of a Demon Lord wearing a friendship bracelet, how absolutely ludicrous. It would get him laughed out of Yvlcon, and he could only imagine what his father would say should he show up to free him from the crystal with an ash-covered, grass and flower braid around his wrist.

He went to toss it into a bush, but at the last second, he hesitated. He couldn’t name what had stopped him, but the image of Amma, eyes wide and glistening with tears over all her hard work going to waste, of him rejecting the gift… it made him seethe quietly, but at the same time, he found himself unable to let go of the bracelet.

Resisting the urge to stomp childishly, he shoved the bracelet into his pocket. With any luck he’d forget about it and it would become crumpled beyond repair, and at last, he could part with it, if it didn’t turn to dust first.

It would serve as a reminder that he didn’t need such things, that they weren’t for people like him. Bad people don’t deserve nice things. But if he kept it in his pocket, if he ruined such a nice gift, then maybe he could keep it, if only as a show of how evil he truly was, to hurt someone who had only tried to be kind.

He didn't have friends, nor would he ever, no matter how hard Amma tried, he was sure that he would be a ‘miserable loner’ for the rest of his life. It was his fate, no friendship bracelets would ever change that.

Damien shook himself, he should really be more concerned that that thought upset him, but as he listened to the sounds of Kaz and Amma bickering, he couldn’t help but feel a warmth light somewhere within the deep, dark recesses of his heart.

That damn girl and her damn kindness, surely it would be the death of him. He wasn’t sure what was worse, that his tombstone may read ‘Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne, Killed by Kindness” or that he wasn’t sure he would mind it, as long as it was Amma, with her bright smile and even brighter laugh, who did it.

A/N: I adore this series and it needs so much more hype!! Its literally the funniest and the cutest and had me giggling and kicking my feet???? Irl??? Wild.

Brb gonna go consume everything this author has ever written ✌️

#villains and virtues #damienxamma #damien maleficus bloodthorne #baroness Ammalie Avington #enemies to lovers #literally the best book series ever #tumblr prompt #throne in the dark #Kaz #drabble #silly #beginning of feelings #falling in love #a k caggiano

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shinobusupremecy · 2 years

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👋 heyo 👋 I want to say your content is amazing and you are one of my favorite shinobu writer, I'd also like to participate in the 500 followers event (congratulations on that btw) and the letters I'd like to choose are : g (gentle) ; i (i love you) ; j(jealousy) and q (quiz) hope you'll enjoy writing these and no rush take your time

~k.g

Shinobu x gn!reader FLUFF alphabet (G, I, J Q)

A/N: Ahh I am so happy that you like my content! It makes me happy I’m one of your favorites! I am glad you participated in this event, you’re the first one!

Not proofread, I apologize!

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Shinobu is very gentle, so so gentle. Her touch is so soothing and her voice is so comforting. Shinobu mostly got her gentleness from her sister and later further learned to be gentle when she had to take care of the butterfly girls and her sister. Shinobu loves to hold you and she always does so gently, it can feel like if Shinobu holds you too hard you will break. Whenever you need comfort Shinobu will cuddle you all while whispering comforting words to you. Shinobu thinks that by being gentle you will feel very loved and treated like a human and not some doll you can just drag around.

Emotionally she is not gentle with herself due to the constant state of anger she’s in and the self hate she feels but to you she is.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

It’s most likely that she will confess first but other than that she’s not so quick to say the L-word. Mostly because she really wants to think if she’s truly fallen in love or if it’s just a small crush.

Shinobu doesn’t date just for fun, she dates to marry. She will consider if you’re really the person she wants to spend the rest of her life with, if you’re really the one.

Just thinking of all that makes the wait long. What mostly holds her back though is the fear of getting rejected by you and ruining the friendship you two already have.

So if you’re not gonna confess first then you’ll have to wait for a good while.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

She gets jealous quite often but tries to ignore those feelings. To her, being jealous is immature so when she thinks she’s jealous she is in denial. But it’s clear when she’s jealous, the way she sometimes spy on you and the other person you’re talking to, when she comes forward and drags you away to help her with a task you know full well she’s capable of handling herself and how her voice becomes more passive agressive, depending on the person she’s talking to.

If you really wanna know why she’s jealous then that’s because she is insecure and can overthink alot. She might think you want someone that is stronger, have more time for you, isn’t so busy, maybe not so teasing? All those thoughts are partially the reason why she acts the way she acts.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Shinobu rememberes what she deems as important. What’s your favorite food, what do you like to do, your boundries, do you have any allergy, are you diagnozed with something? Do you take any medication? Stuff like that.

But of course Shinobu will remeber the more fun part like what’s your favorite color and animal.

#🦋eli writes #kny #kny x reader #kny x you #kny x y/n #demon slayer #demon slayer x reader #demon slayer x you #demon slayer x y/n #demon slayer shinobu #shinobu #shinobu kochou #shinobu kochō #shinobu x reader #shinobu x you #shinobu x y/n

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laudsimogen · 1 year

Text

This Hunger, It Isn't You (Ch. 16)

Read on AO3

“Absolutely not.”

Imogen scowled and crossed her arms. “And why not?”

“Because—” Laudna sputtered. “It’s dangerous! You don’t have anything to defend yourself with, and you could die, and if something happens to me and I can’t get you back to the campfire—”

Laudna suddenly looked genuinely anxious, and Imogen softened. “Hey,” she said. “It’ll be all right. I can help, even just as a distraction. But if something does happen to you, I wanna be there. I can’t stand the thought of sittin’ at the campfire while you’re out here fighting other killers and not knowin’ whether you’re okay.”

Laudna sighed. “I suppose I would be a hypocrite if I said no, then.”

“I’ll be fine.” Imogen nudged her with her shoulder. “Anyway, I already know who you should try and fight. I got intel you need,” she joked.

“Oh?”

“The Hag.” The thought of walking into the Hag’s territory again did give Imogen a bout of nerves, but it would be all right with Laudna. “She’s much smaller than you, she doesn’t have any crazy weapons, and she’s got those traps all over the place. We can get the drop on her if we trigger one; she’ll just be expecting a survivor. She should be pretty easy.”

Laudna nodded. “That’s a good plan,” she said. “Are you sure you want to come? She hurt you so badly last time…”

“I’m sure.” Imogen smiled at her. “I’ll be safe with you.”

“I hope you haven’t placed too much faith in me,” Laudna said, but she offered her hand, and Imogen eagerly took it. “Oh, I hope this isn’t a mistake.”

“We don’t have to do it,” Imogen said. “We can find somethin’ else to try if you don’t feel good about this.”

“I don’t, but I still think it’s our best shot at weakening the Entity,” Laudna said. “But if it doesn’t go well, I just…I want you to know how important you are to me, Imogen. I’ve never met someone like you, and your friendship means so much to me. So, thank you.”

Heat rose to Imogen’s face. “You don’t gotta thank me for that, Laud. The feeling is mutual.”

Laudna smiled bashfully and squeezed Imogen’s hand. “Well, shall we go kick some Hag ass, then?”

Imogen laughed. “We can certainly try,” she said.

But the closer they got to the swamp, the bigger the pit of anxiety in Imogen’s chest grew. She had no doubt Laudna would beat the Hag in a fight, but that wasn’t what she was afraid of. What if they were underestimating the Entity’s power? What if it destroyed Laudna the moment she won the fight?

Laudna was right; this was probably the best and possibly the only way to create change in this awful, unending place. But the thought of losing her in the process scared Imogen more than the prospect of staying here forever. Of course she wanted out, of course she wanted a release from the constant cycle of pain and death, and of course she wanted to see the sun and hear the birds again, but what else did she have out there? She didn’t have friends. Her father was probably relieved that she was gone.

So, to be back there without the friends she’d made here—without Laudna—would be pointless. And to be stuck here without her would be even worse.

She’d cross that bridge if she came to it. For now, Imogen just tried to focus on the matter at hand. There were telltale signs of the Hag’s traps if one paid close enough attention. She kept her eye out for one with Laudna behind her as they walked the edge of the swamp and stopped when she spotted a hazy ring through the long grasses near a tree.

“There,” Imogen said. “I’ll step on it, and you get ready to grab her. She’ll probably be so focused on me she won’t even notice you.”

Laudna nodded and shifted into her form of dread. It was fascinating to watch, the way she grew and stretched and darkened until she looked like the thing children feared lived under their beds. It was so hard to even imagine being afraid of her, though, not with her huge, kind eyes and gentle demeanor. She reminded Imogen of a massive, shy puppy.

“All right,” Imogen said. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Laudna replied, and Imogen stepped into the trap.

The Hag appeared as quickly as Imogen expected, and she immediately ducked out of the way. It was over before she could even really process what happened; by the time she turned around, Laudna already had the Hag pinned to the ground, fingers embedded in the woody skin of her neck. Then, with a single swift motion, she grasped the Hag’s head and tore it off around the breaks she’d already created in the thing’s spine.

Everything was silent and still for a moment as thick, viscous blood oozed from the Hag’s body. “Fuck,” Laudna said, “That was easier than I expected. She was fucking brittle.”

Imogen paused. “What now?”

Laudna couldn’t reply before the ground began to shake and a shrill shrieking sound rang through the air.

“Shit.” Imogen grabbed Laudna’s hand and pulled her away. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

They ran back into Laudna’s woods as the rumbling grew stronger. When Imogen glanced behind them, it was as if the swamp was crumbling into nothing. Pieces of it fell away into the darkest blackness Imogen had ever seen: the ground, the trees, even the sky. It was as if the entire landscape was being swallowed until nothing remained, and a void lay in its place. Then, slowly, the lands around them shifted to fill the gap, the swamp now replaced by taller, bare woods with the faintest glimpse of twinkling colored lights in the distance. Imogen recognized them.

“That’s where the Clown lives,” she said as the dust settled. “Did we just…destroy part of the Fog?”

Laudna stared out at the new area. “I think we did.”

Imogen tried to wrap her head around what this might mean for them. If the killers were tied to their land, they could probably wipe out half of the Fog, if not more.

“Laudna—”

Imogen tried to step toward Laudna, but a row of black spines burst from the ground between them—the same barrier the Entity used to keep killers out of the campfire and the exit gates.

“Oh, fuck.” Laudna tried to skirt around the barrier to no avail; the spines followed along with her faster than she could get around them.

“You’ve got to be kiddin’ me.” Imogen took one of the spines and pulled, but it was stronger than she expected. “So, that got your attention, huh?” she called up to the sky. “Why don’t you tell us how you really feel?”

“Don’t tempt it,” Laudna hissed. “I’ve seen it skewer survivors on those things.”

Imogen groaned. “Okay. Well, it didn’t kill us, so that’s good news. Maybe it really can’t.”

“Until we get another trial,” Laudna said. “Which means we don’t have time to be messing around with its tricks.”

Imogen tested the barrier again, but it held strong. “Maybe it’ll go away eventually, like the ones that keep us from goin’ through windows and shit in the trials sometimes.”

“Or maybe it’s permanent,” Laudna murmured. “There isn’t time to test it. I need to go, Imogen. Get rid of as many of the other killers as I can, and try to weaken the Entity before my next trial.”

Imogen gripped the spines in her hands, her nails digging into her palms around them. She knew there wasn’t much she could do to protect Laudna anyway, but she was terrified of what some of the more capable killers might do to her, especially now that the Entity would be on high alert and might be able to influence the way any subsequent fights would go. But it was their only hope of weakening the Entity before it had another opportunity to hurt Laudna, and Imogen knew that if she stood down, it would be a matter of when rather than if it destroyed Laudna.

Imogen took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll wait here. Maybe try the Trapper next, or the Legion. Just keep an eye out for those bear traps, and some people are pretty sure the Legion is actually more than one killer. Don’t let them sneak up on you.”

“All right,” Laudna said. “Maybe…maybe you should go back to the campfire. If I die, and these woods disappear like that…I don’t know what would happen to you.”

“You won’t die,” Imogen said. Of course, there was no way to know that, but maybe if she said it out loud it would be true. “Just be careful, okay? I don’t wanna lose you.”

“I will.” Laudna paused. Imogen could barely see her through the thick wall of spines, but she looked so worried. “You be careful, too.”

“I will,” Imogen said, though she couldn’t imagine what could endanger her more than what Laudna was about to do. If agreeing to be careful would help Laudna feel better, then she would. “Good luck, Laud. I’ll be right here; I’m not goin’ anywhere.”

#critical role #imodna #imogen temult #laudna #my writing #this hunger it isn't you #these girls ARE the drama

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alovesreading · 1 year

Text

Constant Repeat | Part 2

Word Count: 15.5k

Story Warnings: Throughout this series there will be suggestive talk, jealousy, cheating, alcohol and drug use, angst, smut.

A/N: Hello!! I'm still pinching myself over the fact that I'm posting this story now lol, it doesn't quite feel real you're all getting to read it now. I remember so clearly how giddy I was writing this chapter back in April 2022 and reading it back again makes me so nostalgic for some reason. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy! x

Masterlist

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One thing she wasn’t expecting to hear from Aaron today was that they would be filming another music video. But it wasn’t the fact that it was a music video, it was whose music video they were filming.

Arctic Monkeys were back. And Focus Creeps were producing their new music video. Again.

After filming ‘Brick by Brick’, she had started listening to them religiously, and that was a fact she would keep quiet now that she knew she was going to see the band again. Their latest single, ‘Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair’, was so good—she listened to it at least twice on any drive she made.

Another list was handed over by Aaron, this time with days of anticipation and not as long as the first one. She’d just need to make some calls to a couple of models to see who could make it to the shoot and just make sure the costume design department was ready to work with the model once they managed to get her.

Their job shouldn’t be too hard as all the girls that were written down as an option had similar measurements, if anything they’d just have to do a little cinching at the waist or shorten the sleeves of the black bodysuit she’d have to wear.

After multiple calls, they finally had a model. Scarlett would be their hellcat and she’d be coming in for fittings later in the day. With that news and everything else checked out, she made her way over to Aaron’s office.

“We have our girl: Scarlett Kapella. She’ll be coming by at eleven for her fittings and the makeup rehearsal, everything else I’ve checked out twice and if anything comes up I’ll just let you or Ben know.” The director received the now crossed out and annotated list with a nod and a smile.

“Great, after the fittings and all that, please have the costume design department bring me the pictures to show the clients.” Aaron tapped his hands on the table and then put the list to the side.

With a smile she said, “Of course, I'll call Margaret to let her know.”

“Thanks Ella.” Aaron said and continued to do whatever he was doing on his computer.

With a nod she left the office, making her way to her desk and gave Margaret, the costume designer department manager, a quick call about Aaron’s wishes after the fittings.

As Ella went through her emails, she found herself pondering how this time would be, surely she didn’t really know what the plan for the video was other than the model being filmed at the venue they were playing at and catching some of the gig on camera, but she kept wondering what it would be like to hang around them for a second time.

Thinking back to when they were filming their music video always brought a smile to her face because it had been just one of those experiences that get stuck in your mind. And that memory was just as stuck in her mind as they way she had felt talking to them, even if it had been brief, they were so friendly that they’d made her feel incredibly at ease from the very second they spoke to her.

Not to mention the way she had felt under Alex’s gaze and attention. It was weird really, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it and she felt the slightest bit pathetic when she got nervous thinking about seeing Alex again.

Realizing she had been typing an email reply that made absolutely no sense, she forced herself to focus on work and leave the questions for another day, specifically for the day the band was supposed to be in town. You can focus for three more days, right?

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Three torturous days had passed, through which Ella had to force herself to focus on work every minute of the day, only really allowing herself to think about the future encounter during her lunch break.

She had once been staring too long at the wall while eating her favorite chicken salad, thinking and thinking, that she didn’t hear the constant questioning of her coworkers.

“Earth to Ella?” Tyler’s hands were waving in front of her eyes.

It took her six blinks to come back from reality, she swallowed the bite of chicken she had in her mouth and cleared her throat, “What? Sorry, I was just… erm…” another six consecutive blinks, “I was just thinking about the upcoming music video we have to film.” She dug her fork back into her plate to get another bite.

“Oh yeah, well that’s going to be fun, we get to see a concert for free.” Diana, the head of their makeup team, said.

Ella let a hum in agreement, holding back from talking with her mouth full.

“It’s going to be a long day though.” Tyler replied, and rubbed his face with his hands, “I need a nap just from thinking about it.”

She chuckled, “Same.” and sighed thinking about the endless ways that day could unfold.

But now all that was in her head was how tired she was. It had been an early call to work to start shooting as soon as possible and, of course, she had had to wake up at five in the morning to be in the office ready to leave by six.

Once again, they would capture them around LA so Ben had suggested going on a hike next to the beach, that way they could get them in different scenery and they could capture their surroundings to fulfill the California aesthetic they were looking for.

So there they were, being hit by the early morning wind. This time she had brought a jacket, not that it made much difference though, she had her hold tight on her clipboard, having to press it hard to her chest to avoid the papers on it flying everywhere. She was grateful for her decision to put her hair up in a ponytail before leaving the van.

They had parked right beside the blue vintage convertible the band had arrived in. All of them were smoking and chatting. Matt and Jamie were facing them, Nick and Alex with their backs to the van. When Aaron and Ben approached them to say hello, they started tossing the buds to the floor, putting them out quickly before shaking hands with the two Americans.

Ella took Alex’s smile and Matt’s nod as a queue to get closer and wave at them, “Hi guys, good morning.” She smiled and covered her face from the rising sun hitting her face.

They all returned her greeting and she felt warm inside from how nice they were to her, even if she was well aware it was bare minimum.

Ben then decided to get things started out, “Okay guys, long day ahead. Are you ready?”

Four yeah’s were heard and with that Aaron turned to get the whole crew ready. Today they were using four video cameras and she felt bad for the cameramen, their arms would be giving out by the end of the day.

The stylist made her way towards the band, only Jamie asking for a hair touch up after the wind had messed it up on the drive and he couldn’t get it just right with his fingers.

Ella made her way to the crew where a short speech from Aaron was being heard, and right when it finished they all scrambled to get their things ready. She made sure to ask everyone if they needed anything else, and when she got full confirmation that they didn’t, she made her way back to Ben.

“I think having you guys walk around, catching some of the scenery and eventually you posing in front of the landscape would be good.” He waved his hands around pointing to the areas he was thinking of having them, to make sure the lads were following his vision, “We would get most of the footage for the video later at the venue so just enjoy the walk and we’ll capture it all.” A smile came to his face as a silent ‘is that alright and understood?’

The four British men agreed, and with that Aaron came over with the cameramen ready to film. Them all taking different positions: three taking different angles on the band and the other one recording the beach and the rest of the place they were at.

“You guys ready? Cameras ready? … Action!”

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“You’re as bad in the barely cold as I remember.” Alex said, approaching Ella with a playful smile minutes into the break everyone had just decided to take.

An hour had gone by of them recording the band walking around the coast, making their way to the beach and then coming back up to the hiking trail. Up there the wind was strong and, even though the sun had already come up and she was wearing a jean jacket, she was still shivering slightly.

She chuckled and turned to him, hugging herself a little bit tighter, “So easy for you to say, Mr. England.”

He fully laughed this time, her smile getting bigger after the sound left his lips, “Fair enough, Ms. California.”

At that she looked at him, a slight smirk on her face and shook her head, “Ms. Tennessee actually.”

Pulling his cigarettes out of his pocket, Alex nodded, “Doesn’t it snow there though?” He genuinely asked, putting a cigarette between his lips and offered the pack up to her.

He was surprised when Ella took one out, of course he was going to offer one but he didn’t take her for a smoker. “It does, but after living in LA for almost two years, you get used to it being always sunny, warm and rainless.” As soon as she finished her sentence, she quickly put it between her lips, craving the warmth the nicotine would bring her.

Alex lit up both of their cigarettes, enjoying the way she looked when she slightly bent down towards the flame and looked up into his eyes, a faint hollow of her cheeks to take a long drag. Fucking hell, he cursed in his mind.

He took a drag himself while staring at her now very exposed throat from the way she was looking up to the sky and blowing the smoke upwards. She was so effortlessly stunning, completely enthralling.

Aware of the answer he was supposed to give to her statement, he cleared his throat and continued the conversation, “Two years huh? What was that change like?”

“Quite harsh I’d say but nothing ventured, nothing gained right?” Ella held her cigarette between her fingers, smiling at him, knowing damn well she was starting the thing she always does, that only leads up to oversharing to people she just met. Maybe this time she wouldn’t be met with an awkward smile and an apology from a girl wanting to leave the club’s bathroom.

“Right,” Alex matched her smile, “You look like you really like your job though, so I’d say the risk was worth it.”

“It really was,” She started sharing with a smile on her face, “Thinking back to all those first months I was homesick and wanted to go back home to my family…” She filled her lungs with smoke once more before continuing, “I just wish I could tell my past self, everything would get better eventually.”

He nodded, understanding perfectly the feeling of wanting to be back home more than anything else even while doing something to fulfill your dreams, “Homesickness is hard.” He agreed, “After the novelty of touring wore off, it was quite hard for me to leave.” A cloud of smoke made its way past his lips, “Time and having my mates with me helped the feeling pass.”

A low hum came from her, both of their smokes halfway done. She was lost in her head for a few seconds and then she lightly chuckled.

Alex let out a chuckle as well, face showing how intrigued he was in her thoughts, “What?” He tilted his head, smiling at her with a soft questioning frown.

Ella shook her head, “Nothing.” She replied but the little laugh that slipped out betrayed her and she felt the need to explain her amusement then, “It’s just I could picture you all cuddling and crying to each other in a tour bus, quite endearing I’d say.”

With his lips pressed and a slight raise of his eyebrows, he answered that with a vague “I will neither confirm nor deny that scenario.” and with that she exploded in laughter. The sound was so contagious he joined her, chuckling loudly himself.

“Oh God.” Ella said, taking a deep breath to recover from the laughter. She took a last drag of her cigarette, putting it out on the ground, “Thanks for that one, I really needed it.” She tilted her head looking at him with a sincere smile.

Alex turned to look at her and reciprocated the grin, “The laugh or the smoke?” He mimicked her and got rid of the cig too.

“Both.” She replied, her smile stuck on her face.

“You’re welcome.” He noted how he really liked the way her smile reached her eyes.

From afar they heard Jamie calling out the singer's name and instinctively they both turned to where the call came from, only Ella looked back ahead right after, blushing from being caught around Alex. It wasn’t a bad thing per se but she’d rather not be caught by several people talking to him when she was there to do her job and she knew that it would be seen as the opposite of her being professional.

“Excuse me.” Alex said quietly, starting to walk past her.

“It’s alright.” Ella assured shyly, barely audible since her words lost volume when he touched her arm when leaving. Not only just a touch, he had given her arm a little squeeze, as if promising he’d be back.

And she was selfishly hoping he would live up to his silent word because she was starting to really enjoy his company.

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Time hadn’t been on their side, neither the crew or the band.

When they resumed the filming, she was beside the directors watching the musicians pose and move around but after fifty more minutes they decided they had gotten enough footage at the place and to move onto the venue. There the model and costume design crew would be arriving in approximately an hour and a half, giving them enough time to pack, make the drive and settle down at the new place.

So without having a chance to speak again during the hike, Ella followed the crew and got back inside the van.

Ben went over to the left side of the van, and asked for them to open the window. Tyler was informed he had to film the guys drive back, taking advantage of how cool the vintage car would look in the video driving down the west coast highway.

She was beside Tyler the whole drive, watching how the takes were looking like—pretty fucking cool, she’d say if she was asked. With fifteen more minutes of footage, Tyler was given the confirmation that he could stop.

The rest of the drive was quiet and calm, she was glad she could find relaxation in the middle of an already long day.

After a forty five minute drive, they had parked in the first sublevel parking lot. Everyone carried something back up to the room they had been instructed they could use, which turned out to be a ten minute walk in a maze of hallways. She’d make sure not to leave without someone else beside her or else she knew she would get lost.

It took the whole crew about five minutes to settle around the room, and they still had time to rest before the model and other members of the crew arrived so they occupied the sofas and chairs that were there.

She decided to go to the bathroom and freshen up, taking some girls from the crew with her. When they came back, she recognized Alex and Matt talking outside a door all the way down the hall.

“Hey, Ella!” Alex greeted her, waving her over with his left hand, right hand holding a beer.

Blushing slightly, Ella looked at her coworkers telling them she was going over to him and they nodded as if to say it was fine by them.

For fucks sake, was all that went through her head. She was really afraid of people getting the idea that she’d broken the first and most important rule in a production company just from the way he’d called her over. But at the same time she couldn’t help but think maybe it was fine, maybe she was just overthinking it.

Putting some hair behind her ear she made her way to them, “Hey, how is it going?” She asked quite shyly from seeing the room the musicians had been in, full of people she’d never seen before.

“Do you want a beer?” This time Matt asked, holding up his half-empty bottle to show it to her, as if that would help her make her decision.

She thought about it for a hot second, then decided she could use one to relax for a bit, “Sure, thanks.”

Going into the room to get her a bottle, the drummer left Ella by the door standing opposite to Alex.

“Are you guys tired of us following you around with cameras yet?” Playfulness coated Ella’s features as she slightly leaned against the doorframe.

With the bottle stopping midway to his lips, Alex replied in the same playful manner, “I think we have another hour in ourselves before we reach that point.”

She chuckled at that, her eyes wondering over the amount of people inside the room, everyone chatting, sharing drinks and laughing with each other. She thought of how fun it would be to be part of this industry and go on tour, be surrounded by friends and have your job not really feel like one. After all, these people, who she could only think were part of the tour production crew, were drinking a few hours before the show. How she wished she could have a beer while checking emails, or maybe some mimosas.

After Alex swallowed the drink he had taken, he continued, “No but actually, we liked working with Aaron and Ben, that’s why we’re doing the rest of this record’s music videos with you lot.”

She couldn’t help her eyes going wide at that, Aaron and Ben never mentioning it to her, this news made her feel a lot and she couldn’t really point out what everything that she felt meant. So of course a curious “Oh really?” was what came from her.

Alex nodded, “Yeah, or did you really want us out of your hair?”

Ella laughed, shaking her head, “Of course not, shooting music videos is my favorite part of the job. It’s a plus that you’re all so lovely to work with.” He didn’t miss the way her cheeks slightly blushed, smirking at her words.

“Well I hope we are your favorites.” The singer used the bottle in his hands to point at her, giving her a quick wink.

She felt her cheeks burning up from that so she turned her gaze to the inside of the room for him not to see, “I’ll consider it when Matt comes back with that beer he promised me” She pushed herself off the doorframe, her back vaguely aching from resting there.

And as if summoned, the drummer made his way back to the two of them. “Sorry Nick distracted me for a second there.” He apologized and handed Ella a beer bottle.

“Thank you.” She felt the condensation dripping through her fingers as she clutched it.

Alex noticed her bottle still had the cap on and was about to offer to open it for her, when she used the ring on her middle finger to take it off in one swift movement. She put the cap in her back pocket to throw it away later and took a swig of the drink, cold going down her throat.

“Nice trick.” Matt complimented, fairly impressed as well.

Ella looked confused for a second until she realized what he meant, “Oh yeah, people love it when I do that.” She lightly laughed, “Not that impressive really, it’s easier than it looks.” She cleared her throat lightly and started conversation with Matt, “So Alex just told me you’re recording more videos with us…” Another swig of her beer was the cue for them to continue with the conversation.

“Ah that’d be true, yes. It would be the next date we are back here during this tour. August, I reckon.” He turned to Alex to make sure his timeline was correct, to which his best mate nodded.

Ella nodded, a smile forming on her face, “Oh that’s great, California is stunning in August. Are you going to keep the American vibes going for the rest of the videos?”

Helders turned to Alex again, realizing that what Ella had said was true, “We have been doing that, haven’t we?”

Alex nodded, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down after he took the last gulp of his beer, “I guess we’re embracing the fact that this one has an american west coast feeling to it, us recording it here must have played a part on it.”

She hummed against her bottle, hiding the fact that she was really looking forward to that new album, “Does it have a name yet?” curiosity got the best of her and she just couldn’t hold back from keeping that question inside.

“Suck it and See'', replied Matt, an amused expression on his face when he saw Ella frowning immediately after the words reached her ears.

She took a few seconds to find a meaning for it in her head, but never would she say out loud what the first thing that came to her mind was. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Her frown only loosened up a bit.

Matt chuckled at her reaction, “It’s kind of like ‘bite the bullet’, although… not really, it’s more like ‘take the risk’”.

Alex and Ella exchanged looks then, the ghost of their conversation back at the hiking trail passing through both their minds. So she smiled and he smiled back at her. She couldn’t believe how comfortable she could feel with a person she’d barely met but it made her feel warm inside and she really quite liked it.

With a tight lip smile she nodded, “Huh, I really like that. It’s a great name.” Her eyes went from Matt to Alex’s figure for a quick second.

“Thanks Ella.” Matt smiled at her, not missing her fleeting glance to the singer standing beside him. “So, what about you? How long have you been working with Ben and Aaron?”

She hesitated for a second before starting to talk, “A little bit over a year now, but I’ve been a PA for two years, I just worked in another company before.” Ella felt so weird talking about her normal slightly boring job to the critically acclaimed musicians, but they were looking at her waiting for her to continue so she cleared her throat and felt her cheeks start to burn.

“Guys I’m not that interesting, I check emails most of the time at work and oversee people filming commercials, I’d rather hear about your tour stories.” Alex chuckled at that, shaking his head, “C’mon, I know there’s some good stories.” She insisted, trying to get the conversation’s topic back to them.

Matt took advantage of the moment to embarrass his friend, “Well there’s always the time when this dickhead decided to have a smoke backstage right under a smoke detector, in a room we were not allowed to smoke. We almost got kicked out of the venue for it.”

Alex shook his head at the story, not even trying to defend himself because he knew he should’ve listened to the sign that said no smoking right at the entrance of the room.

Ella snorted, her hand flying to cover her mouth, “Oh my god Alex,” She said between chuckles, “Didn’t you see it?”

“Not really,” replied the singer with a slight grin on his face.

Matt was quick to counter attack his statement, “But he did see the massive no smoking sign outside the room”, his eyebrows raised.

Her eyes filled with humor looked at Alex and she shook her head, biting her lip to not laugh again but a smile creeping through, “You’re just full of bright ideas aren’t you?” Her rhetorical question was heavily sarcastic.

Alex shrugged then and smirked, “People would say so yeah”.

With the bottle resting on his lips, Matt chuckled, “Dickhead” and took a sip of his drink.

With his mind set on getting payback, Alex started, “Well, Ella I think you’d love to hear about the first time we went to a club in America and Matt went over to flirt with this bird who turned around and thought he worked there so she gave him her empty glass and asked him for another vodka cranberry.”

Ella burst out laughing, head thrown back as she did. Alex liked learning that this meant she was genuinely laughing, she seemed to always show what she felt very clearly through her body language.

“Oh no Matt,” her voice filled with humored sympathy and her hand over her heart.

The drummer shook his head, “That’s what I get for trying to dress nice I suppose.”

A big smirk tugged at the corner of her lips and she just needed to ask, “What were you wearing?”

Matt mumbled his answer, “Black trousers, a white button up and a black tie”, downing the rest of the beer he had left to avoid her glance.

Alex couldn’t help but laugh out loud remembering the moment once again and Ella did the same just imagining the situation in her head. Matt tried to keep his composure but ended up laughing with them.

“Oh nooooo,” She elongated her words trying to get some air back to her lungs, “Wait… what did you do afterwards?”

“I just nodded and turned around.” Another round of laughter came from Alex and Ella, “What was I supposed to do?!”

Alex turned to her and kept adding to the story, “He came back, put her glass down on our table and started taking his tie off.” the words struggling out of his mouth between giggles.

When Ella kept laughing Matt threw his arms up, trying to keep his argument strong, “Once again, what was I supposed to do?!”

The singer let his head hang as he continued laughing and then he took a deep breath, “I dunno mate but I’ll never let you forget that one.” He grinned with satisfaction at his best mate who looked only the slightest bit amused.

She was fanning her face, red now after so much laughter, “I’m sorry Matt but that’s so sad, it’s hilarious.”

Matt turned to look at her and gave her a fake smile, “I’m glad my misfortunes amuse you.”

The shaggy haired man turned to her then, “So, what do you have for us Ella?”

With confusion so clear on her face she looked at both guys who looked at her expectantly, “What do you mean?” Was she meant to bring them something? Did she forget about something in the list? Oh no, I should’ve had a little debrief with Ben or Aaron before leaving our room, she thought, starting to slightly panic.

Panic that was cut off by Alex saying, “It’s your turn to tell us a story.” like it was obvious.

She was relieved but only for a mere second before she started to stress again, “Oh no, you don’t really wanna know” She stated, hoping they would just suddenly change their minds and agree that indeed they didn’t want to know.

But to her dismay, they both nodded with big grins as if already holding back the laughter her story was going to bring.

An embarrassing enough story came to her mind, and she dreaded telling it but she knew they’d eat this one up so she wouldn’t have to tell her most embarrassing one.

“Ugh fine.” Ella sighed, “When I first started in Focus Creeps, I would always try to volunteer to help in anything I could, from helping the makeup department practice on me during my lunch break, get everyone lunch when they were all to busy to think about eating, and even drive a vintage car to a place thirty minutes from the office.” One of her hands was around her empty bottle, tapping her fingers on the glass and the other was waving around the air as she talked.

Well here goes nothing. “A vintage car…which of course was manual,” She paused for a few seconds, Matt and Alex already looking amused expecting just what she was going to continue to say, “And I don’t know how to drive stick.” Another sigh left her lips.

Matt saw her hesitating, “Okay, go on.” He chuckled when she rolled her eyes and sighed heavily.

“Okay, I’m just going to say that I didn't know what car it was. Ben just asked if someone could drive the rental to the studio we were filming at and I said I could.” She explained herself and her two person audience snickered at that. “Anyway, when we got outside and I saw the transmission, it was too late to back down. I just remember thinking, how hard can this be right?”

“Oh Ellie.” Alex managed between small giggles that were coming prematurely to the punchline since he could imagine how the story would end and she just shook her head remembering the embarrassment. Yet, her stomach fluttered at hearing her nickname come from him.

“Ben was going to be on calls, that’s why he asked for someone to drive in the first place, but that’s also the only reason why he didn’t notice me struggling to turn on the car and start driving into the road. When we hit our first red light, two minutes into the drive, I had started feeling confident.” Her hands following her story, then went to rub her forehead cringing at the next part, “But when the light changed, the car wouldn’t move and I didn’t know what to do. I kept stepping on the clutch and then the brake and I just tried everything and it wouldn’t move.” Her eyes were closed now and her cheeks red.

Alex and Matt were fully cackling now, just picturing her panic and it all being in front of one of her bosses.

She looked back at them, flustered but continued, “The car turned off at one point and people kept honking at me so Ben said ‘can I call you in a bit?’ to whoever he was talking to and then turned to me super confused and said ‘why don’t you go?’” A light chuckle came from her at the end of her sentence. “I gave up then, and I just told him ‘so… I don’t know how to drive stick’ but since the honking from everyone was so loud he didn’t hear me at first so I had to say it louder. We ended up having to switch sides and he basically talked me through what I was supposed to do.”

Matt shook his head with a pitiful look on his face, “Well, that was nice of him.”

“Yeah well, we didn’t talk about it for the next few days until one day he sent me an email with just a link to a YouTube video on how to drive a manual car.” Ella’s face was red now and the musicians were still laughing.

Alex couldn’t help but ask, “Alright but the million dollar question is, can you drive manual now?”

Covering her face, Ella shook her head, “As much as I did then.” Her voice was barely audible with her hands hiding her face.

And with that laughter filled the hallway, she uncovered her face and joined them, glad the story time was over and dealt with. She could see Alex’s eyes creasing in the corners, his teeth showing in a perfect smile. He’s so pretty, she thought.

Ella did a curtsy jokingly, “I hope that story satisfied you both.”

The men nodded, Matt smirking at her, “Oh very much, yes.”

“I hate you two.” She tried to sound serious but she just snorted immediately after seeing their faces that didn’t buy her statement one bit. She cleared her throat and tried to dismiss the fact that she had let that sound out again in front of them, “Well let’s forget about that… uhm, big show tonight?”

“We shall never forget that actually,“ Alex said first and foremost, ending in her rolling her eyes playfully, “And maybe? It should be a couple thousand I think.”

Her eyes went wide, “A couple thousand? And that’s ‘maybe’ a big show?” Ella made air signs to emphasize the maybe. “How big are you guys that a couple thousand isn’t a lot to you?”

Matt took over then and completely blew her mind, “Well, we’ve done Glastonbury four years ago, and that was about a hundred thousand people.”

In complete shock she had to ask, “Wait, you’re joking right?” And when they shook their heads she gasped, “A hundred thousand people?! That’s insane! How do you even manage to keep cool and play for that many people?”

Alex’s face lit up with pride and nostalgia, “It was insane, and we were definitely shitting ourselves but that was our biggest moment so we just took it as it went.”

She was so impressed and blown away, she had definitely underrated how big they were but they seemed so cool about it at the same time.

Just when Ella was about to ask a bit more about their experience her phone pinged on her back pocket and when she took it out, she saw a text from Diana.

Diana: Model’s here and getting ready, can you tell Aaron for me please?

Putting the phone back in its place, she looked at her new… friends? acquaintances? and sighed, “Thank you so much for that guys but duty calls. Sorry.”

“S’Alright” Alex gave her a tight lip smile and then timidly suggested, “You can always come back and hang out here when you’re done.” He scratched the back of his neck, avoiding Matt’s not at all subtle glance.

Ella blushed slightly, “Oh- uhm, sure, yes.” was all she managed to say back. She didn’t expect him or well, them, to want to spend even more time with her after this.

She was about to turn around when she looked down at the bottle on her hand, “Where is the tra-”

“I’ll get it for you, don’t worry.” Alex interrupted her, taking it from her hand.

“Oh thanks,” Ella cleared her throat and hoped to god her cheeks weren’t as bright as she was thinking they were from just feeling them burning up. She needed to get a grip and stop blushing like a schoolgirl around the man. “See you later.”

With that she turned and made her way to the door on the other side of the hallway. Her black pants were tight on her and Alex was quite hypnotized by the sight.

Matt followed the trail of his eyes and smirked, “Alexa would get on with her quite nicely, don’t you think?”

Alex turned quickly at the mention of his girlfriend and then rolled his eyes at his friend’s antics, “Piss off, Helders.”

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

It had been an hour since Ella left the musicians. She had gotten the message to her bosses and the whole crew had started getting everything ready for filming. Alongside Ben and Aaron she had gone to where Scarlett, the model, was getting ready and after fifteen minutes of the directors explaining what it was she had to do, they had gone back out to see which hallways and routes they were going to take for filming.

Clipboard on her hand, Ella kept writing stuff down that was going to be relayed to the editing team and minor things they should ask the band later to see if they needed reshoots or if the ideas were fine with them. After all, they still had tomorrow to film with them so there was time in case more footage was needed.

After almost twenty minutes they had finally started rolling. Scarlett strutting down the venue's backstage maze in her high heels and tight bodysuit. She’s an actual goddess, was all that went through Ella’s head since the model had come out of the dressing room.

The woman was so effortlessly seductive, flirting with the camera with just her eyes. She wished she had that confidence or even just that talent—because it surely had to be considered a talent to act like her.

The most flirty Ella could ever get was after a few shots of tequila and at least some thirty minutes on the dancefloor, a little liquid courage and the confidence that dancing brought her were her fuel to get with anyone on nights out. But of course most of the time it was hard: the guys mostly turned out to be assholes and the girls were so pretty, they intimidated her.

Needless to say she was feeling jealous, but in a good way, of how Scarlett made it seem so easy to be sexy and teasing—even more so considering how she was doing that to a camera, with a bunch of people behind as an audience. Wow.

She was entranced, the top of her pen resting between her slightly parted lips. Her eyes followed the model’s every move, so intently, that she didn’t notice a door opening a few feet behind the girl.

And out of it walked no one other than Alex Turner.

Scarlett, professional as ever, only turned for a second to see who had interrupted the shot and then went back to keeping her act going. Ella, trying to be professional, held back from doing more than tilting her chin up acknowledging his presence. Alex, definitely not professional, grinned at her and didn’t let his plan of spending more time with the PA be ruined by the fact that she was busy and wouldn’t take him up to going for a smoke with him outside.

So, seeing how the model turned to the camera and started playing with her hair, he mimicked the actions hoping it would make Ella laugh. Scarlett started to slide down the wall, playing with her hair; actions Alex mirrored and made everyone chuckle, even the model when she saw what he was doing in just the same enticing way. He was looking at Ella though, how she was covering her mouth but her grin was so obviously plastered on her face.

And as the hellcat kept going, he did too, with his eyes stuck on Ella and a big smirk playing on his lips. Even though that show only lasted for a minute, Ella couldn’t wash away the feeling of his burning gaze on her.

Ben had cut the scene, laughing at Alex’s actions. “Come here man, let me show you some shots we’ve got.” he waved the singer over, and obeying he walked up to the directors.

Walking past Ella he brushed his hand on her elbow and said a hey quite faintly. Warmth. That’s what she felt when he did those little things and she hated how she couldn’t fight it, very aware of how lame she was looking to herself and to anyone who noticed the way she blushed whenever he did or said something to her. Get a grip Ella, c’mon you can be professional.

For ten minutes Ben and Aaron had Alex slightly hunched over the camera’s monitor, pointing out the different angles and footage they had managed to take so far. They all laughed watching what he had just pulled a few minutes ago, Ella’s grin growing as she watched the footage from a few meters behind them.

“Does that look good?” Aaron asked him when the last clip came to a stop.

Nodding, Alex gave him the green light, “Yeah, it looks great mate.” He itched his chin and decided to share an idea he had come up with, “I was thinking maybe she could come side stage while we’re on, just having her dance along to some songs.”

Ben liked the idea, immediately agreeing with it, “Oh that would work very well in the video.”

Aaron then decided to joke around with him, “Have you considered being a director if the rockstar gig doesn't pay off?”

He laughed softly, stealing a quick glance at Ella who was grinning at him already. “Well I hadn't until now.”

After a wave of laughter from the crew, the directors ordered everyone to take a break. The filming would resume when the band was going on stage, meaning they had around forty to fifty minutes until then.

Before everyone could leave though, Alex made an invitation, “Ben, everyone is welcome to join us in our room. We have drinks and our tour crew is there as well so you can meet everyone and chat.”

Ben clapped the singer's shoulder, “Thanks dude, we’ll take you up on it. We can even record a little bit there, just you all hanging out backstage if that’s alright with the band and your crew.”

He gave the director a nod, “Of course, yeah. See you all there.” He turned around and left, not missing a chance to give Ella one final look, her eyes were on him and they shared a silent promise of seeing each other in a bit.

Of course it all was an excuse to chat with her again whilst they still had time. The band had already gone through soundcheck and the crew had set lighting and the stage up, so everything was ready for the show to start at its time and go smoothly.

He surely was getting tired of having to get filmed but he would bite his tongue for a little longer if it meant he could spend more time with the pretty girl. And yes, he had a girlfriend, but there was nothing wrong with being aware of another girl being pretty right? It’s not like he was going to kiss her or take her back to his hotel room, he was just going to share drinks and conversation with her. Friendly talk, just that.

Ten minutes later, they were being joined by the Focus Creeps crew. Introductions were thrown everywhere, especially from Ella who on her way to get a drink was making sure she had said hello to everyone.

Alex found that endearing but he couldn’t help growing impatient. He had been subtly looking around the room for her a handful of times now. Matt on the other side of the room noticed, and elbowed Jamie who was right beside him. The guitarist frowned at his friend, confused about the sudden aggression. The frown loosening when he saw him nod in Alex’s way, both of them watched him very obviously search for her and chuckled.

“He has been doing that all day, hasn’t he?” Jamie asked Matt.

Nodding, the drummer confirmed, “Yep. I’ve been giving him reminders of Alexa’s existence though, just so he doesn’t forget.” Both laughed into their red cups that were filled with beer.

After what felt much more than the five minutes she had taken, Alex saw her making her way to him. She beamed at him and he smirked at her, raising his cup to her.

She stopped right beside him, they were standing right in one of the corners of the room. “Well hello.”

“Hey Ella,” He greeted and took a sip of his bourbon, “What are you having?”

She showed him her cup, “Saw some red wine on the table and couldn’t resist.” Her faint smile breaking as she took a sip.

“You know… earlier you surprised me, I didn’t take you for a smoker.” He said, his eyebrows raised.

She frowned in curiosity, “Really?” He shrugged, nodding and she continued teasingly, “Well you’d be surprised with the things you could find out.”

He smirked at her flirting, “Like what? Got any secret talents?”

“Secret talent? You’ve got too much faith in me, I literally just told you I don’t even know how to drive stick.” Ella couldn’t help but cackle out loud.

It wasn’t only remembering the story that made him laugh, but how contagious her laughter was. His eyes were crinkled at the edges from his big grin, and she took a mental picture of it.

They continued to laugh, feeding off each other’s giggles and it was loud enough to catch the attention of a few people, including the rest of the band. Jamie pulled Matt with him and waved at Nick to join them on their quest to interrupt Alex’s interaction.

“Hey Ellie.” Matt greeted her as he threw his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side.

Ella blushed under the touch, not because of it making her feel something, but because she had been caught in a corner giggling and drinking with Alex. Of course the aforementioned didn’t know that was the reason behind her cheeks burning, so he was silently fuming at his friend's closeness with the girl, thinking she was blushing from their proximity. “Hi Matt.” She slightly leaned towards his side as a way to reciprocate his hug.

Alex needed a way to break the contact since it seemed Helders wasn’t thinking of getting his arm off of her, so he turned to his other two band mates.

“Ellie, this is Jamie and Nick.” He was relieved to see how she took a step forward to shake hands with the two of them, leaving Matt’s arm to fall back by his side.

She gave a shy smile and corrected the singer, “Ella, nice to meet you guys again.”

They reciprocated her grin and greeting, and she went back to standing in the middle of Alex and Matt. Their group now forming a small circle in the corner.

She was afraid of things becoming awkward now with everyone there but what Nick said next made her face drop. “Ella, you know, I can teach you how to drive manual. It isn't that hard.”

His offer was genuine, it was obvious from his facial expression but she turned to Alex and Matt with a look of betrayal, “I'm never telling you two anything ever again.” She took a swig of her drink as if that would make her embarrassment disappear.

All of them laughed, Matt being fast with his excuse. “Oh c'mon, it was too funny not to share.”

Alex immediately added, “We are kind people Ellie. Did you expect us to be selfish and keep that to ourselves?” She just rolled her eyes at their arguments, not annoyed but very embarrassed.

“I hate that I don’t even have anything to embarrass you back with, because they definitely already know the stories you told me.”

“Which ones?” Nick asked curious to know if they had told her something actually embarrassing.

She sighed, “The american girl who thought Matt worked at the club,” They all chuckle at the memory, Matt mumbling a quiet ‘for fucks sake’ at the mention of it, “and Alex smoking right under a smoke detector in a room he wasn’t allowed to smoke.”

“Oh yeah, the twat almost got us kicked out of the venue.” Jamie pointed at Alex accusingly.

He quickly talked back, “Jamie, do you wanna get thrown under the bus as well?” to which the guitarist shook his head frowning at him, thinking what on earth he could have on him. “Then shut up before I tell her about the ice cream shop bathroom.”

Jamie blushed then. “Don't you dare, Turner.” His threat seemed very serious which only made Ella more eager to find out.

She pouted at Alex, “No, I wanna hear it now.” She elongated the last word like it would get her some pity and they’d tell her but Jamie shook his head once more looking at Alex like he was going to knee him in the balls if he dared open his mouth. “It's only fair since you heard my nightmare of a story, without my permission may I add.” She pointed out.

Alex turned to Jamie and raised his eyebrows in support of her argument. Jamie let out a heavy sigh of defeat, “Fair enough, go ahead.”

Filled with satisfaction for winning the debate, Alex started talking, “So you see, we had just landed in London after a small tour around the States, and from the airport on the way home we went to an ice cream shop and sat down there to eat. Jamie here got some coconut ice cream, wasn’t it, Cook?” He teasingly asked his friend.

Jamie had an unamused face, he just rolled his eyes and replied, “Yes, it was.”

“Well after finishing… his ice cream,” The lads, except for Jamie, laughed at the way the singer had worded that and Ella was so confused. Alex just continued after a chuckle left his lips, “He went to the bathroom to wash his hands, he says, but he hadn’t noticed how he had spilled ice cream on himself, in a very particular area that didn’t make it look like just an accidental ice cream spill.”

The silence that Alex left by the end of it was long enough for her to connect the dots and cover her mouth with her right hand, hiding her hanging jaw behind it. “Jamie, no.” She said feeling the humiliation of the anecdote building up.

The singer resumed his narration, “Mind you, the ice cream was white so the stain was pretty much very realistic. He had also taken a while in the bathroom for some reason and when he came out he was sporting the biggest smile.”

“Oh my god, that’s mortifying.” Ella was shaking her head in disbelief.

Jamie took over then, “Well it got worse when someone recognized us and we took pictures with them. This dickhead here,” He pointed towards Matt, “Said ‘Did you have a special phone call with your girlfriend or summat? Couldn’t you wait until you got home?’ pointing to my crotch in front of the lad. The poor kid looked at me wide eyed, said thank you and left quickly. I was dead confused and then I saw it.”

“You took that long to realize?” She questioned the man.

“Yeah well, my mates are actually the worst so they didn't tell me.” He shrugged, face still very serious. Ella hoped he wasn’t mad.

Matt clapped his shoulder, “We’re the best of mates Jamie, what d’you mean?”

She saw how Jamie wasn’t the slightest bit amused so she turned the conversation into another direction. “Okay Nick, looks like it’s your turn.”

Poor Nick shook his head earnestly, “Oh no, Ella.”

“Please? You’re the only one left.” She insisted with the best puppy eyes she could make.

“Fine, but just because you didn't have a say in these two sharing yours.” He agreed and she stood straighter in excitement.

The bassist took some time to browse through his memories, “It probably has to be me losing my wallets all the time, so I gave up and never got a proper wallet again. And so conveniently in one interview, they asked us all to show what we had in our wallets and the only thing I had in my pockets was a mini harmonica.”

She was expecting something as bad as Jamie’s, “But that's not even embarrassing, that’s just cute and funny.”

Matt quickly cut in the exchange to play with her, “Ellie, are you flirting with O’Malley?”

She looked at the drummer and frowned, “No Matt, shut up, I’m just saying that’s cute and funny because it is!”

He kept going, nudging her hip with his. “Oh no, that sounds to me like you're definitely chatting him up.”

Ella couldn’t help the blush that reached her cheeks, making her roll her eyes and look at the ground for a few seconds.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

“You’re annoying” she sighed, shaking her head.

“Yeah he is, but you get used to it.” Nick said to comfort her, his eyes friendly on her. He decided to bring the attention back to him so she wouldn’t feel overwhelmed by Matt’s teasing. “Wait– no. Actually, it’s probably that time I broke a huge ice sculpture at a posh event we went to.”

She gasped, “You’re joking…”

“I wish I was. It was so loud, it was impossible to just walk out and act like nothing had happened.”

She giggled then, “The cleaning people must've wanted to kill you.”

Nick’s eyes were big, remembering how distraught he was at the time. “Oh I'm sure they were. Everyone was giving me nasty looks for the rest of the night.”

Ella tried not to laugh, feeling bad for Nick who seemed to be the nicest guy she’d ever met. “I’m sorry but that’s so embarrassing.” She broke in a fit of giggles then, unable to hold it any longer.

They all started laughing with her, Nick smiling brightly at her. “It really was.” He added, feeling glad she enjoyed the brief story.

After that, it was clear she had grown more comfortable around the musicians, the conversation flowed with ease and laughter could be heard from their group every so often. They would take turns to bring everyone refills, Matt bringing the whole bottle of red wine to her at one point, telling her she should just take it seeing how fast she was going through her cups.

She refilled her cup three times in the span of fifteen minutes, the drummer teasing her about it some more. He took the cup from her hand after she finished with her third serving and started a game of building a pyramid of red cups with every cup she’d finish. Of course, everyone joined and started lining up their cups as well making it a game that now involved everyone in the room.

Tyler had started recording a few minutes ago, catching the fast growth of the stack of plastic on the table. One that ended up being punched and destroyed by its same creator.

It was a lovely time, she was enjoying herself in their presence. But, as time does when you’re having a good time, soon the crew started to scramble out of the room, and five minutes later the band was being called over to head to the stage.

She was suddenly feeling the generous amount of red she had drunk, so a slightly slurred “Break a leg guys!” was what she said before they parted ways.

“Thanks Ellie!” They all said to her. Alex left last, giving her wrist a little squeeze and a soft smile before following his best mates’ path.

She took advantage of the minutes she had while everyone from her crew went to get their stuff, to start drinking water and sobering up. A trip to the bathroom also helped her get her act together.

Twenty minutes later, they had started filming once more. Now the model was making her way from backstage to the side of the stage where the Monkeys were performing. In the background Ella could hear the quick start of ‘Pretty Visitors’, and as they went up the stairs, they felt the vibrations of the bass on their chests.

Scarlett was swiftly moving her hips, twirling on her place and looking back at the camera with those eyes of hers. They took various shots of it, and as that was done she recognized in an instant the starting chords of ‘Teddy Picker’.

She subtly scooted closer to the stage, a few feet away from the production. She looked over the band, seeing how Alex had his guitar clutched in his hands, the way his hips moved as his lips grazed the microphone with every word he sang.

The lyrics of the song came out of her naturally, she kept her voice low, to not get the attention of her bosses—not that they could hear her easily because of the crowd being so loud but she wanted to be careful still.

The filming took quite some time, Ben saying something about wanting to have the model dancing to different rhythms so that later the editing team would choose the clips that better matched the song the video was about.

When the encore came, the band came over and said a quick hello to everyone before going downstairs into the backstage area. She assumed they were gonna take this time to use the restrooms. A few minutes later, she confirmed her theory was correct and as they came back to the side of the stage, Alex approached the directors.

“We’re going to do the song now. Sorry about the late notice, we just decided it.” His voice sounded apologetic.

Aaron was quick to settle him, “It’s alright, it actually will be even better for the music video. I’m gonna send a camera to film the crowd and another one to film you from below, if that’s alright with you?”

“Sure mate, that sounds good.” Alex replied quickly before nodding and leaving to go back on stage with the rest of the guys.

Just like that, they were back on. Screams were drowning the venue, and they only got louder when Alex told them they were going to perform a new one from the album.

With one camera on them, another one on the crowd and the other two back with the directors, they went back to filming Scarlett swaying her hips to the music once more. Ella tried her best to keep some focus on her job but she was entranced by the performance and the way the band caught their audience with such ease.

The song came to an end, the people hollering was all that could be heard for a good twenty seconds. Aaron and Ben decided to wrap up the section of the video, meaning Scarlett was good to go, so Ella went over to her to thank her and send her back with Diana and the rest of the costume and makeup department.

When she was done with that, Ben sent her over to the cameramen that were in front of the stage still recording. “Make sure they record until the concert is done, stay with them. It shouldn’t be that long until then.” She just nodded, quickly following the instructions but her speed was mostly motivated by the fact that she could at least see the last of the show.

As she got to the front of the right side of the crowd, she could hear Alex singing the first verse of ‘The View From the Afternoon’. She looked up at him, smiling and singing back the lines to him. He found her and grinned, his gaze going back to his fingers on his guitar and back to her in a matter of seconds. He almost pointed at her, but realized how that would look and he didn’t want any bullshit being talked about him in the press.

He was enjoying the fact that she knew the song and so confidently was singing along with the crowd. Alex became more surprised when she also knew ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’, their last song, but he certainly would forever keep the image of her swaying hips to the song in his mind.

Once the show finished, she went over to the two cameramen and walked back into the backstage zone with them on her side. They spent the short trip back to their room talking about how crazy that was, how many people were there and how good the band was.

In the room, the crew gathered everything and some people started going over to their van with their equipment in hand. The directors and Ella went over to the band’s room to say goodbye.

“Guys, it was a pleasure seeing you today.” Ben said, shaking hands and clapping shoulders with the British men.

“We’ll see you tomorrow. Final day!” Continued Aaron, with far more energy than one would have after such a long day of work.

The bandmates said goodbye to both and then it was Ella’s turn to bid farewell. “Thank you so much for today guys. We had the best time.” She said as she went hugging each member.

They hugged her back, reciprocating her words. When she reached Alex, who was the last to embrace her, he said, “I’ll walk back with you.”

She let go and nodded, “Okay.”

He followed her as she made her way to retrieve her things and some equipment that was left, helping her with a case filled with camera chargers.

They were silent as they made their way through the hallway maze, only when they came out to the parking lot did Ella speak up, her voice glazed with nervousness. “I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow Ellie.” Alex gave her one last hug and she got the case from his hands.

He watched her as she walked over to the van and before she got in, she gave him a little wave and a shy smile to which he responded with a toothy grin.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

Just like last time, the crew made the drive to the studio. Traffic had come down by the time they left the office so the trip was smooth and pretty calm.

The van’s atmosphere contrasted the nerves she was feeling, making her skin feel goosebumps when thinking of the day ahead.

She was glad the guys had taken her into the group so easily, making her comfortable and building enough trust to joke around with each other. What made her uneasy though was someone’s comment the night before: just before leaving the office, someone from costume design had teased her about how close she seemed with the band, and even though she knew they hadn’t meant it in a bad way, her stomach was in a knot and she couldn’t do much but shrug and brush it off.

“We were just chatting, they’re very nice.” Was what she said before saying goodbye to everyone and quickly making her way to her car.

That night she had taken longer doing her skin care routine, getting distracted by her thoughts and staring into her reflection for far longer than she realized.

Ella came back to reality when they parked outside the building, seeing the four guys sharing conversation while Jamie and Alex smoked.

Today the crew was smaller, only two cameras were going to be used and it was just four more people coming along the directors and Ella. The small group came out in little time, the band ending their chat in order to greet them.

“Ben, Aaron.” Alex said acknowledging the directors coming towards him, shaking their hands once they reached him. “Good morning everyone.” He waved at the rest of the crew behind the men.

A chorus of ‘good morning’ and ‘hello’ was heard then. Ella showed a shy grin which ended up in a full smile when the rest of the band looked at her and smiled at her presence.

“So, today’s a walk around Hollywood type of shoot right?” Ben asked Aaron for confirmation, Ella checking her clipboard and nodding at the same time as the director. “Well then, I think we could walk around these blocks, just catching you in the streets walking and we’ll see where the day takes us.”

The band nodded, somewhat tired of being recorded doing the most random things but what could they do. It was what came with the job. Their dream job.

And so they started making their way around the streets of Hollywood, California.

The sun hit them heavenly. Alex was wearing the leather jacket she had seen he had perched on the night before, with his usual sunglasses he had worn since they first met. Matt was also wearing sunglasses, while Jamie and Nick were facing the sunshine without any eyewear.

Their outfits were so simple but they wore them in such a way that just made them all look incredibly handsome. Anyone that laid eyes on them would be stuck in a trance for minutes just watching them do something as simple as cross the street.

Just like Ella was, completely and utterly enraptured by their presence. She tripped on a crack in the pavement and that was what brought her back to reality. She went red and only hoped no one had noticed.

Fifteen minutes they had been walking down Hollywood Boulevard, when Matt pointed excitedly at a building just a couple feet away from them. Arcade read the sign, in massive white letters. “Let’s go there, I’m sure we can film inside.”

Jamie sighed, just wanting to be done with the music video and rest. “Do we have to?”

Matt insisted, “C’mon mate, it’ll be fun.” Ella found it funny how much he sounded like a child trying to convince his parents to take him somewhere.

Ben then aided the drummer’s argument, “We can get the rest of the footage there while you all play, and we can have lunch as well.”

His suggestion had Nick and Alex shrugging, Matt nodded frantically and Jamie just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Sure, let’s go.” Finally replied the guitarist, making Matt walk a bit faster, now leading the whole group into the establishment.

They found a table beside the bar where they settled down, placing a bunch of equipment on top of the table. The guys were quick to order beer bottles for each other, convincing the production team to order some drinks as well to cool down.

Their beverages arrived not that long after, the band only taking a couple sips before deciding to stand up and go over to the game machines.

Matt patted Ben on the shoulder, “Mate we’re gonna go off to play, that alright?”

“Yes, of course, don’t worry about us.” Ben assured them but giving it a second thought, he continued, “Actually,” he turned to his left side, reaching over a camcorder placed on top of the table and then directed his words towards Ella who was sitting in front of him, “Why don’t you go with them and record them playing? You know your way around working with cameras so it shouldn’t be a problem. Plus you seem to get on with them quite well.” He placed the device on her hands which she had hesitantly put forward.

Fuck! Ella yelled in her mind. To her this could only mean one thing: Ben had noticed how close she had gotten to the musicians and if he had then Aaron had noticed as well. Her freak out lasted a few seconds before she saw things in a new light since she realized her boss hadn’t made a big deal out of it or signaled it becoming an issue that got her in trouble at work. He had noticed, she guessed, but he hadn’t said a thing and maybe that meant it was alright. And if that was alright with the heads of the production company, then it should be alright with her.

Her internal debate felt like it went on for minutes but it had only been the longest five seconds she’d ever experienced. “Oh– sure, yes.” She stood up, taking the camera in one hand and her beer bottle on the other.

Matt nodded at her and started walking towards the guys who were waiting for him a few feet away from the table.

“Ellie! Are you joining us?” Asked Nick, glad to see her hanging out with them again. He found her a nice girl and very fun company.

She lifted the camera up, “It’s my job to torment you all now.” A smirk on her face to tease them, she could clearly see how bad they wanted the filming process to be over.

“Good that you’re getting this all on tape ‘cause yous are getting smoked today.” Matt cheekily said, claiming victory early.

She raised one of her eyebrows, “You think too highly of yourself, Helders.”

The drummer was quick to deny her statement, “No, I’m just aware of my skills.”

“I’d say your ego is going to be your worst enemy today, actually.” She taunted him.

He huffed trying to prove his point, and walked to the first machine that caught his attention, “Okay then, we shall start with this one.” He made his way to the boxing machine.

Nick grabbed Matt’s bottle from his hand so he could punch the bag, and said, “Ten quid Ella beats Helders on this one.”

“Thanks for the faith Nick.” Ella winked at him jokingly and Alex caught her expression, and whilst he found her even more attractive when she did it, he was the littlest bit disappointed it hadn’t been directed to him.

As if he was in the middle of a boxing match, Matt was on guard and moving his feet imitating a boxer’s moves. The camcorder in her hands was rolling, capturing the moment. “Ready?!” his question flying in the air a second before throwing a right hook to the tiny bag.

The red numbers automatically went up all the way until they hit 857. Matt turned around with a massive grin on his face, “Your turn now, Ellie.” He made a gesture for her to approach the game.

She turned to Alex and handed him her bottle, “Hold this for me please,” handing Jamie the camera right after. She made her way to the machine, and jumped a little on her spot letting her arms loose for a little to relax before getting on guard.

“Let’s go Ellie!” loudly cheered Nick, Jamie to his left had the camera in hand focused on her.

With that encouragement she threw a punch to the bag, the numbers climbing fast and reaching the 840s. They were all looking intently as they kept going up making it to 850, going up one more before it stopped.

Matt hollered loudly and anyone could think he had won the lottery not an arcade game against a friend—but hey, that’s men with their pride when it comes to games. He proceeded to take his beer from Nick's hand and down what he had left in celebration.

She clapped her hands, “Well done, Helders.”

“Glad to see you aren’t a sore loser, Ella.” he replied, throwing his arm around her shoulders.

She gave into his action, appreciating the friendly contact and leaning into him as they walked. “I would love to say the same about you but I have the feeling that would be a lie.” she teased, elbowing him on the ribs softly.

Alex walked up to Ella and gave her her drink back, hoping she would take it and leave Matt’s side. His best friend was getting more comfortable around the girl than he’d like to see, and for once Matt had the advantage of actually being single to do anything he’d like.

Fucking hell.

To his relief, Ella grabbed her glass back after giving him a small thank you and then walked to Jamie to retrieve the recording device.

Nick started walking ahead for a few seconds before he stopped and turned to the PA. “How about we race with our favorite driver?” He joked and everyone laughed, even her.

She faked hurt, a hand over her heart, “And here you were becoming my favorite.” She sniffled to seem more dramatic but chuckled right after.

Jamie and Matt went first against each other, leaving their glasses on top of the machines. Curses and insults were thrown all throughout the course of the race, making the laughter of the group loud and continuous. Ella hoped the footage wasn’t too shaky and it could be used in the video.

Just as the last lap was coming to its end, Jamie threw Matt off the road and won the race. The drummer went back on the road to finish the course, and once that was done, he shoved his friend, “You cheating bastard!” Jamie just kept laughing, getting off the seat.

Matt rolled his eyes, completely annoyed, and then said, “Right. Al, Ella, your turn now.”

Alex took a seat on the machine to the right, “Thank God this one isn’t manual right Ellie?” He teased, turning to see her with a smirk on his face.

The three other guys laughed hard at the comment and she looked at him fake offended, “Ha-ha, so funny Alex.” Ella rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen, a couple clicks later their race started.

Silence overcame the group as they watched how Ella had left Alex behind and got a good advantage, which he never at one point managed to overcome.

Nick chuckled into his bottle, “Fucking hell, Alex you do know winning means being first not fifth, right?”

“Shut up.” The singer muttered before going back into silence to focus on the game.

Not even a minute later she had won first place by far, turning to Alex with an amused face, taking a sip of her drink and then faking a yawn to tease him. He turned to her when she made the noise, crossing the finish line at the same time.

“Damn, finally. You were taking your sweet time.” She got up and left him there, sat and humbled.

The guys were doing the worst job at trying to stop their laughter from leaving their chests, it only took Alex taking a glance from Ella to the game’s screen and back for them all to explode.

She waved at them, walking away, “Let’s go before he starts crying.” The lads quickly joined her as she continued walking into the arcade.

Alex caught up with them, coming to walk beside her. “If you had raced Matt, he would’ve definitely cried.”

The mentioned turned around quickly to refute the statement his friend had made, “If she had raced me, she would’ve lost.”

“Sure, whatever you say mate.” Alex replied and then turned to Ella. They looked into each other's eyes and shared a good quiet laugh.

The group kept walking further into the place, stumbling into the basketball hoops. Matt, of course, stopped there and turned to challenge Ella once more.

“How about this one Ellie? You against me.” The brit proposed very confidently.

She only shrugged downplaying her excitement, “Sure, why not?” She gave Alex the camera this time and placed her almost empty bottle on the table behind them.

Matt stood in front of the machine on the right, “Ready to lose Ella?”

She cackled, cracking her knuckles, “You’d be surprised.”

Nick felt like something was going to happen so he said, “Again, ten quid Ella beats Matt.” and Alex accepted the bet, recording his hand shake with the bassist. Ella glared at him and shook her head.

Matt scoffed at his friends, “Mate you’re gonna lose all your money if you keep placing shit bets.”

Ignoring Matt’s comment, she turned around and said, “I won't let you down Nick, I promise.”

With that promise, they started the game. Ella wasn’t missing any hoops and when Matt realized he just yelled, “What the actual fuck?!”

Ella laughed and kept going, the time running out and when it briefly buzzed as they only had twenty seconds left, she felt the drummer leave his place to start blocking her shots. “Matthew! Move!” She said loudly in between laughs, trying to make more points but she could only manage three more as the man in front of her wouldn’t let her.

The buzzer loudly went off and the points on the board showed how poorly Matt had performed.

He turned shocked to look at her, “Did you even miss one?!”

She threw her hair over her shoulder, smiling proudly. “Of course not, I was the best shot at my middle and high school team, that would’ve been an insult to my younger self.”

The loser crossed his arms, “That's cheating then, you’re basically a professional.”

A loud cackle left her and shaking her head, Ella walked over to his side. “Oh c’mon Helders, you aren’t pulling excuses now, are you?” She nudged him with her hip and he smiled down at her playfully.

He shrugged, pressing his lips together to try and not smile at her teasing, “I'm just saying it's an unfair advantage.”

“Sure, sure.” She rolled her eyes before they both started laughing, Nick and Jamie joining.

Alex was still holding the camera in his hand, but looking at the floor, silently fuming at how close Matt and Ella looked. Growing jealous over how much she smiled from their banter or how she seemed to make contact with him out of her own will.

He of course knew he had no right to be jealous, he was in a relationship and they were barely even friends, but he couldn’t not feel unsettled by it. There was no denying he found her attractive, and if he was single maybe he would’ve tried to chat her up but he wasn’t, so he had to bite his tongue and deal with it. Well, put it away, more like.

Ella went towards Alex and got the camcorder from him, “Thanks Al.” She said and gave him a tight lip smile.

He was confused as to why she seemed easily flirty with Matt or Nick but not with him. And maybe she didn’t even notice that she was doing it but he thought maybe that meant she didn’t even see him that way. Yet all she did around him was go shy and blush and that was enough to confuse him.

What he didn’t know—because how could he know if he had just met her once before—, was that she could never flirt when she wanted to with whom she wanted to. Yes, she could seem flirty with Nick and Matt but she actually wanted to flirt with Alex, because she found him very attractive and there was something about him that just drew her in, but she couldn’t do it for the life of her. She just blushed and was a mess with words, she didn’t know what she should say to impress him or keep him in conversation, enough for him to be the slightest interested in her.

They didn’t know better. She was hoping with time, she could learn to read him and he was wishing for the same thing, not wanting to really let the pretty girl be a thing of the past anytime soon.

As they made their way back to the table they passed a Street Fighter machine and they all took turns going against each other. Alex and Matt went three times to settle a tie—which Alex ended up winning and Matt whining about.

When Jamie dared Ella to play, she accepted but had absolutely no clue what to do. The game started and she just kept pressing buttons randomly, moving the joystick everywhere. The group was a mess of laughter and she was obviously losing in the most pathetic way but she was enjoying herself so she didn’t mind making herself look like an idiot.

Jamie was laughing harder than she had ever heard him do, “You’re wank at this!”

“I know.” Ella managed between chuckles, her eyes watering and her stomach hurting from the laughter.

Once she lost, and they all caught their breaths again, they made their way back to where the crew was sitting.

The group settled around in the empty seats, Ella giving the camera back to the directors, who thanked her. Menus were now on the table, so they got tempted into ordering some lunch at the place.

Twenty minutes of chatter later, with their hot plates now in front of them, they all shared the appetizers.

In the middle of the conversation, Nick turned to the directors and Ella who was sitting beside them. “You should all come around the show later tonight.”

Ben swallowed his food and gave him a sad smile, “We would love to but we have a call to do and things to arrange for next week's projects.” He explained pointing to himself and Aaron.

Jamie turned to her then, “What about you Ella?” and Alex telepathically thanked his friend, because he had been wanting to ask her about it for almost an hour.

Covering her mouth with her hand as she swallowed, she nodded. “I’m free tonight so sure I’ll be there.”

“Great, it starts at 8 but come over earlier so you can hang out before we go on.” The guitarist told her with a soft smile.

She nodded, excitement bubbling up in her belly, and she tried not to let it shine through her face as the conversation around the table continued.

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She tried, she really tried getting there in time but traffic had ruined her plans. Despite leaving her house at six, she had only gotten to the venue a little over twenty minutes before the show was set to start.

Finding a parking spot had been a nightmare, and getting into the venue had given her a slight headache. That’s why she made her way through the now familiar venue, with a lit cigarette between her fingers—checking of course if there were any signs that prohibited it before going in.

When she reached the hallway their room was at, she could hear the chatter bouncing on the walls.

She took a long drag of her cigarette and reached the door, letting the smoke out of her lungs through the side of her mouth before saying, “Hi everyone.” Her tone was weaker than usual because she was there all alone, and not for work. She was there as a friend, or that’s what she’d like to consider herself to them now.

“Ella!” shouted Nick, throwing his hands up in the air.

She stepped into the room, waving at the people around, hugging the band members one by one—Jamie leaving for a quick few seconds to get her a cup of wine.

The guitarist gave her the red plastic cup, now half filled with liquid, “We don’t have red today but I hope you like rosé.”

She nodded, “I do, thanks Jamie.”

Alex tested his theories then, pulling Matt’s trick. “I almost thought you weren’t coming.” His leather clad arm came around her shoulders and pulled her into his side.

Ella took a gulp of her drink, hiding her burning cheeks and wide eyes behind the cup. “Oh yeah, uhm, sorry.” She cleared her throat before explaining, “I got stuck in traffic and getting a parking space was a nightmare, there’s still so many people outside.”

Nick looked at Alex, frowning slightly as if to demand an explanation for his behavior. The singer noticed his mate’s glare but decided to clearly ignore him, his arm still around Ella and not planning to move anytime soon.

But it seemed like tonight it wouldn’t be his friends reminding him of his girlfriend that cut his time short with Ella, a few beats of time later, people started scurrying out of the room and to the stairs that led to the stage.

“Let’s go lads, you’re on in ten.” yelled someone from outside the room, their steps echoing as they left.

Alex sighed and took his arm off her, “You can watch us from the side stage if you don’t want to get in the crowd.” His suggestion came accompanied by a soft smile.

She nodded, still dazed by his long contact with her. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a few.”

They started to leave the room, drinks in hand. “Enjoy the show!” said Nick before making his way through the doorway and out of her sight.

Ella downed the rest of her wine, being cheeky and pouring herself another glass before going to the bathroom to calm down. Her burnt out cigarette being tossed into the trash.

Her reflection stared back at her flushed. The kind of flushed that she couldn’t get from just a single serving of alcohol. Ugh, Ella snap out of it! She said to herself, annoyed at how easy it was for him to get a reaction out of her. Her face only grew redder thinking about how the other guys must’ve definitely also noticed it.

Opening the tab, she let the cold water wet her hands and then patted them on her cheeks, hoping it would bring down the color on her face. She shook her hands in the air when she noticed there weren't any paper towels in the dispenser. With a deep breath and a final look at herself in the mirror, she grabbed her cup and left.

The side of the stage was a place she knew she’d love to spend her time permanently on, even though she was afraid of tripping with the amount of wires and tape that were on the floor and the speakers bursting her eardrums. She loved it.

She was dancing and singing to every song, going harder to ‘Teddy Picker’, which Alex and Jamie noticed. Jamie stepped backwards and danced with her while playing the chords swiftly.

And as the gig went by, Alex kept stealing glances over to the side at her and how she knew every line to every song. Was she a fan before we met? He was impressed by how good she had been at keeping her cool when they met her then, if that was the case. He would look for answers after they were done.

When they reached the encore and the lads got off stage, Ella went over to them, “You guys are amazing! Holy shit!”

Matt chuckled, “Thanks.” he said out of breath before chugging down a new beer bottle.

“I’m gonna go down to the side when you guys get back on. I wanna see this madness up close.” She was excited, the crowd was amazing and she wanted to be a part of it.

Alex nodded, “Just be careful with the stairs over there.”

She smiled at him and turned to make her way to the side of the crowd, in front of the barrier. Everyone was chanting for them to come back and give them another song, herself joining to the demands.

The four of them came back on stage waving, and the screams were deafening. How can they even scream that loud? Her throat was hurting just from hearing them.

“Alright Los Angeles, we’ve got three more for you. Are you ready?” Alex asked into the microphone, brushing his hair back with his right hand, the left one holding the neck of his guitar.

The crowd didn’t miss the opportunity to rip their vocal chords once more and they started playing ‘The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala’.

There was no doubt every scream that filled the room was excused, Alex’s presence was immaculate with the stage light hitting him just right. And when he looked at her and sang ‘Makes me wanna blow the candles out, just to see if you glow in the dark’, she swore she melted. He had winked at her right after, a big smile breaking on her face and she joined the chorus singing ‘Shalala’s.

Ella’s trance was broken by an arm behind her tapping her shoulder, she looked behind her and saw someone waving a big piece of paper folded to her, signaling for her to throw it on stage. She grabbed it and did her best to throw it at Alex who was currently singing. Lucky for her and the owner of the sign, he noticed and crouched down to get it.

He unfolded it and laughed into the mic, turning it around and holding it over his head for the crowd to see, while he kept singing the verses.

Helders = God

She burst out laughing, the crowd screaming at the words on the paper. He put it down after a few seconds and, when the song was over, turned to show it to his bandmates. Matt loved the praise, so he laughed into his mic and said “Cheers”.

The setlist was the same, as she realized the last two songs were just like the ones she had managed to see the night before. She enjoyed them, nevertheless, absorbing the energy from the room and dreading the fact that the concert was approaching its end.

Alex said goodbye to the crowd when ‘Fluorescent Adolescent’ was done, thanking them for coming tonight. Matt threw his sticks to the crowd, for which Ella definitely saw people fighting over. Nick and Jamie waving goodbye after setting their instruments in their stands.

She made her way back into the backstage area with a giant grin and still feeling the bass vibrating on her chest. “If that was that crazy, I can’t even begin to imagine how Glastonbury was.”

They were all sweaty—Matt having gone straight to their greenroom to take a shower—standing in the middle of the hallway waiting for her to catch up to go to their room.

“Glastonbury was mad, but tonight was pretty good.” Jamie said before lighting up a cigarette.

Alex took his chance then to interrogate her, “So Ellie, I couldn’t help but notice how you knew all the lyrics to the songs…”

Ella rolled her eyes at him, blushing slightly but this time because she had been caught. “Well, after filming ‘Brick by Brick’ I started listening to your music. You aren’t that bad, I guess.” She smirked and shrugged, downplaying it.

He shook his head, puffing his chest out to say, “We are very far from bad, actually.”

She nodded and then sarcastically added, “And from humble too.”

Nick and Jamie laughed at the witty remark, Alex sticking to shaking his head and looking down to hide his grin.

“Smart-arse.” The singer said after picking his head up.

When they got back into the room, she went over to the trash to throw away her cup. Looking at the time on her phone and she found herself sad knowing she had to leave soon, she turned to them with a pout on her face, “Pains me to say this, but I gotta get going.”

“Awh, Ellie.” Nick pouted as well and went over to hug her.

She hugged him back, “Sorry guys, but I hope to see you soon.” She patted Nicks back twice before turning over to Jamie who had his arms out waiting for her embrace. “Thank you for having me tonight.”

“It’s no problem, we really appreciate you coming.” Jamie replied while rubbing circles on her back.

She started to walk over to Alex who was still standing near the door to hug him goodbye but he was quick to say, “I’ll walk you to your car.”

She waved her hand dismissing his idea, he didn’t have to go out of his way to do that, “No, don’t worry–”

But he insisted, “Yes, c’mon. I’ll go with you.” to which she gave him a playful roll of her eyes and a smile.

“Alright then.” She turned to wave back at the boys again, “Say bye to Matt for me?”

Both of them nodded and waved back at her, watching her and Alex disappear through the door.

Alex and Ella were walking in silence for a few seconds, their shoes thumping against the floor but she broke it very soon after she found herself thinking back to the gig and the songs she was growing obsessed with, “I’m actually really excited for Suck it and See.” She put some hair behind her ear, looking at him.

“Do you wanna get a copy and some merch?” He asked suddenly, she got confused at the offer.

Frowning all she could mutter was, “Huh?”

He just laughed at her reaction, “I can get you on the PR list so you can get it delivered when it comes out.”

Ella’s eyes lit up, an excited grin breaking on her face, “Oh my God, would you really?”

“Of course, it’s really no big deal. We’re mates now, gotta get the mates perks right?” Alex said, pulling his cigarette pack from his pocket.

“Oh I would love that, thank you.” she nodded as she accepted. Mates, that’s what we were, mates, and she was fine with it.

He lit up the stick between his lips and blew some smoke out, “It’s no problem, really.”

She kind of wished the walk could’ve been longer, but they reached her car faster than she expected. It was time to say goodbye and she didn’t really know how to act. She wasn’t going to see him until the next music video which still had no proper date, just an approximation of it being in August—two months from then.

“Well,” Ella started, fumbling with the keys in her hands, “Until the next music video I guess?”

Alex nodded, taking the cigarette out of his lips to talk, “Until the next music video.”

She unlocked her car, opening the door slightly and turned before getting inside to give him a brief hug, “See you soon then, Al.”

Her scent engulfed him as soon as she opened her car and even more when she wrapped her arms around him. He reciprocated the embrace and the contact was making him get stuck on his thoughts, taking a good five seconds before replying, “See you soon Ellie.”

She smiled as she let go of him, getting inside her car and closing the door. She ignited the engine of her car and started backing up, waving at him before changing gears and stepping on the gas, leaving him behind, with half a cigarette left to smoke and somehow her perfume overpowering the burning tobacco.

He was sure he would think of her for far longer than acceptable, and he would be counting down the days until the next music video was set to be done.

✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧

A/N: What did you think about this one then? I hope you liked seeing their dynamics grow, they are all so much fun to write! From now on chapters are coming every other week, so part 3 will be posted on the 24th! This is just so we can have plenty of Constant Repeat to last us a while and I can finish the series without rushing it, hope you understand x Thank you so much for reading again, I truly appreciate it. See you soon!!!!!

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