#but all of the restaurants and antique shops we visited have been gone for years | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kpop---scenarios · 4 years

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Come To Me

Pairing: Chanyeol x Reader / Demon! Kai x Reader

Warning: Smut, Choking

Word Count: 3.1k

Summary: You and Chanyeol were happy for the most part, atleast until you meet a demon named Kai who can make all your desires come true.

"I thought we were drinking." You pout as your friend, Jisoo drags you into a small antique shop. "We will, I just want to look in here first." She smiles, abandoning you as soon as she enters the store, leaving you to wander around by yourself.

Letting out an annoyed breath, you slowly walk around the store, casually looking at the random antiques displayed around the store. You hadn't planned on buying anything by alcohol today, until you spotted something that caught your eye. Jisoo was the one who was into buying things from different time periods, but there was something about this small statute that had drawn you to it.

"It's said to unleash your wildest fantasies." You hear from behind you. Turning your head you see the little old shop keeper standing there, a smile on her face as she looks at the sculpture. "You must be very careful with what you wish for." She says.

"This? This will give me my wildest fantasies?" You laugh. You didn't really believe in all that, but for some odd reason you, you liked it.

"How much?" You ask, pulling out your wallet.

A few hours later you arrive home from lunch with Jisoo, completely forgetting about your earlier purchase. You had shoved it in your purse after you bought it and was distracted by the half from margarita's the restaurant had on.

It wasn't until you were laying in bed, tossing and turning that you remembered it. You scrambled from your bed, going over to your purse to dig through it, finding the finely wrapped artifact still there. You unwrap it, looking it over and scoffing. You knew it wouldn't unleash your wildest fantasies, but wouldn't that be something if it actually did.

"What are my wildest fantasies?" You mumble to yourself. Almost instantly a smile spreads across your face. "Unbelievable sex drive. Cumming so easily, a sex goddess." You giggle. "Oh, Maybe a sex demon could come into my life." You laugh, thinking to your boyfriend, Chanyeol and how not risky he is in bed. You loved him, but fuck you needed more spice. He was gentle and loving with you, and you loved him for it but damn, sometimes a girl just needed to get railed.

Rolling your eyes, you toss the artifact to the edge of your bed, allowing it to fall to the floor before you drifted off into a deep sleep.

"Oh fuck." You moan, grabbing your breasts and squeezing. "Just like that." You cry, arching your back. "Yes."

Your eyes shoot open, sitting straight up in bed, your pussy throbbing as you relive your dream. You weren't sure who the man in your dream was, but fuck you wanted more. You look to the other side of your bed and see Chanyeol sleeping peacefully. He usually got home later than you, spending time in the studio, letting his music flow. You were just happy he made it home safe.

You quietly crawled out of bed, creeping your way into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. You take a sip of your water, closing your eyes as you feel hot breath on your neck, sending shivers down your spine.

"Chanyeol." You breathe.

"Not quite." You hear the voice chuckle, turning around to see the man from your dream, standing in front of you.

"Who are you?" You gasp.

"I'm here to make your deepest and darkest desires come true." He smirks.

"You're from the.. the thing?" You ask, not really sure what to believe.

He nods his head.

"I'm dreaming. That's what this is, this is a dream." You decide, turning away from the extremely handsome man.

"No, what had you moaning before was a dream. This is real life." He purrs.

You turn back to look at him, your mouth slightly parted.

"What?" You whisper.

He walks towards you, his tongue lightly licking his lips.

"You wanna get pounded like the slut you are, am I right? Have your pussy railed so hard you can't walk." He murmurs, backing you into the wall, his body pressing against yours. "A sex demon to make you a sex goddess, mhm?" He says, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. "Just say yes, and it can all be yours."

"I don't even know who you are." You stutter, your body shuddering.

His hand trails over the curve of your breast, down your stomach, stopping just above your heat, your pussy throbbing for more.

"Kai." He moans.

Without thinking, without processing anything, the words just slipped from your mouth.

"Yes."

The man kneeled down in front of you, bringing his hands up to your panties and ripping them to shreds, tossing them away. He spreads your legs before he dives in, licking up your cunt with the flat of his tongue. Your knees begin to buckle. He brings his hand to your stomach, pressing you into the wall to keep your balance. He spreads your lips with his other hand as his lips wrap around your clit, sucking hard.

You bring your hand up to your breasts, cupping them, pinching your nipples as you try to stifle your moans.

"Fuck." You cry out, your orgasm wasting no time to coarse through your body. Your knees give out as Kai continues to lick up your juices.

He stands up, grabbing your hand to pull you towards the counter. He bends you over, spreading your legs as he unbuckles his belt, releasing his cock. Lining himself up with you, he pushes himself in, stretching out your pussy.

"Fuck." He hisses, his hand grabbing a chunk of your hair as he pushes himself in deeper. "So fucking tight." He moans.

Kai pulls himself out of you slowly before harshly thrusting back in, the sound of skin hitting takes over the kitchen. He places a kiss on your exposed neck as your body is flush against him while he pounds his cock into you.

"Such a good girl." He moans, yanking your hair harder.

"Please." You cry out in a whisper.

"Rub your clit." He spits, letting your hair go, pushing you down against the counter again. You move your hand between your legs, rubbing your clit ferociously, longing for another orgasm.

As it approaches, Kai whispers in your ear, "Cum."

As soon as that word left his mouth, your orgasm washed over you, sending the feeling through your whole body, making you shudder. You tighten yourself around him, making him grunt as he releases himself into you, his hot cum seeping down your leg as he pulls out of you.

A chuckle escapes his lips as he turns you around. "Every night, at 3am, meet me here." He growls in your ear before he's gone.

A little confused on what happened, you go to the bathroom to clean yourself up before you crawl back into bed, cuddling up against the man you love.

The next morning, Chanyeol rolled over as he usually did, gliding his hands over your body. Your bipples were perky and sensitive, your clit throbbing, desperately needing to be touched. He lifted your shirt, placing his mouth round your nipple, and sucking. Your back arches immediately as your orgasm suddenly bursts through your body.

"What was that?" He asks, pulling his cock out.

"I.. I don't know." You breathe. You knew it had to do with last night, it just had too.

Chanyeol slid his cock inside of you, making you cum again, by barely doing anything.

By the time he had finished making love to you, you needed a nap from cumming so much.

Over the next few weeks you were slowly but surely becoming increasingly more obsessed with Kai. Every Time he visited you, something became more heightened, and you longed for him. The feeling of his hot touch lingering on your skin, his lips pressed against you, his cock inside of you. Nothing compared to it anymore.

Every time you slept with Chanyeol, you weren't into it, it wasn't what you craved. You needed to be choked, gagged, fucked hard and he was too soft, you needed the roughness of Kai. No matter how many times you spoke to Chanyeol about it, he was turned off, he didn't like it.

"You okay babe?" Chanyeol asks one night as the two of you watch a show.

"I'm fine, why?" You reply, your stomach in knots. A part of you absolutely felt guilty for doing what you were doing. You loved Chanyeol, you had been together for the last four years but sometimes things change, people change, their needs change but you didn't have it in your heart to hurt him. You couldn't be the one to end it, not after everything the two of you had been through.

"Well I'm going to go to bed." He says, patting your leg. "I love you." He finishes, looking you in the eyes.

"You too." You smile, blowing a kiss to him. You did, but you couldn't say it, not anymore.

You stayed awake every night until 3am, when you hoped Kai would show up. Sometimes he would but sometimes he wouldn't show up and you hadn't seen him in two weeks. You were desperate for him.

Just before 3am, you strip yourself of your clothes, and stand at the sink, waiting for him.

"I've missed you" Kai's voice whispers in your ear, his body pressing against your back, while you're standing at the kitchen sink, wearing nothing.

"I missed you too." You say, leaning yourself into him. He wraps his arms around you, bringing his hand up to cup your bare breast, rolling your nipple in between his fingers.

"My most favorite outfit you own." He chuckles, moving his hand down from your breast, to your stomach, and in between your legs. "Spread." He demands. He takes his other arm, wrapping his around your neck, giving it a small squeeze as his hot fingers begin rubbing your clit.

"Nice wet pussy." He groans, slowly rubbing you. You can feel his cock harden against your back.

"Fuck me, please." You groan, grinding yourself against his growing erection.

"Are you a little needy, baby?" He asks, pushing you down, against the counter before unzipping his pants, allowing his cock to spring free.

"Oh god, yes I am." You cry.

He lines himself up with you, he slowly pushed himself inside of you, stretching out your walls more than anyone had before. "Fuck." You hiss, gripping the counter tightly.

"Such a good little slut." He growls, fingertips digging into your hips.

"Just for you." You moan, arching your back. He reaches one hand between your legs, rubbing your clit as he fucks you, hard.

He leans his head forward, resting his lips on your neck, lightly biting and kissing, making your orgasm approach quicker.

You hear a stir from the bedroom, you know Chanyeol will be out there any second, the adrenaline making you cum faster, the possibility of being caught in such a rush.

"Say my name." He demands, his thrusts quiet, but hard.

"Kai." You moan, his hands holding onto you tightly as he cums, spilling his hot cum inside you, filling you completely.

"That's right baby." He moans, kissing your neck gently before disappearing.

You catch your breath just in time as Chanyeol shuffles into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.

"You okay babe?" He asks.

"Just getting a drink." You say quietly, relief flooding over you.

"Come back to bed." He sighs, turning around to head back. You follow him, silently while the cum of Kai runs down your leg.

You could see as time went on that Chanyeol was becoming more and more suspicious about your behavior. You were calling into work more often, sleeping a ton more and distant from him.

"Are you going to work today?" Chanyeol asks as he puts his suit on, not looking at you.

"No, I wasn't scheduled today." You yawn, rolling over in bed.

"Well i'll see you later then. I love you, Ayn." He sighs, walking out of the room, knowing you won't respond to him.

Later that afternoon when you woke up, it was just after lunch time. Your stomach was growling so much that you felt overly nauseous. You had thought that maybe you were just hungry and needed to eat. You reluctantly rolled from your bed, shuffling to the kitchen to find something to eat.

Yawning with your eyes closed as you walk into the kitchen, you didn't notice the figure sitting on the counter, waiting for you.

"Hi baby." He whispers, startling you.

"Oh my god." You jump, your hand over your heart. "You scared me." You say, containing your breathing. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the afternoon?"

"I'm well aware of what time it is." He smiles. "I need you." He whispers, his voice in a deep purr.

"Oh? Do you?"

Within a second, he slams you against the wall, his hand gripping your chin as he pushes his leg between yours, spreading them. "Yeah, I do." He grunts, ripping your nighty from your body, leaving you naked. "So badly." He moans, bending down, to take a nipple in his mouth, sucking harshly. You bend your legs, resting yourself on his leg, your clit throbbing.

"I know you want to do it, baby." He whispers, looking down at his leg. "Go ahead."

You bite your lip as he flexes his thigh. You move your hips, rubbing clit on his hard muscle.

"Fuck." You pant, your hands holding onto the front of his suit tightly as you rub your clit faster on his leg.

"That's it baby."

The moment your orgasm is about to peak, Kai effortlessly lifts you from his leg, and places you on the counter. He kneels down, placing his face in between your thighs, flicking your clit with his tongue. Your hands find his hair, grabbing a chunk as you wrap your legs around his head, bringing him in closer.

Kai's lips wrap around your clit, his hands forcing your legs open. You tighten your grip on his head, grinding yourself on his face.

"Oh fuck.. oh yes." You cry out, your legs shaking as your orgasm takes over, washing through your body. "Oh my god." You pant, as Kai removes his head from between your legs, lickinh his lips.

He looks at you, his eyes black, his cock hard. He unzips his pants, his eyes never leaving yours. He lets his cock spring free, your pussy throbs as you look at it, needing him to stretch you out and pound himself into you.

He picks you up from the counter, laying you down softly on the kitchen table, your legs dangling over the edge. He places himself in-between your legs. Without warning he thrusts himself inside of you, not giving you time to adjust to his size. You wrap your legs around his waist as he pulls you up against him, wrapping your arms around his neck.

Kai walks the two of you over to the wall, pushing your body against it. He thrusts himself in and out of you, gently caressing your face and breasts before something in him changes. His hand leaves your face, and wraps around your neck, squeezing tightly as he forces his cock further and further inside of you.

"This is what you want, isn't it?" He spits. "You love when I fuck you like a little slut."

"Y-yes." You croak.

He pulls himself out of you, letting you slide down to the floor. He quickly turns you around, pressing your front to the wall as he inserts himself back inside you. He places your hands on the wall above your head before he grabs a chunk of your hair, forcing your head back as he continues to fuck you.

Your head still back against him, he reaches up, grabbing your throat again and giving it a good squeeze before he moves down to your breasts, pinching each nipple.

"Oh my god Kai, fuck, yes." You cry out, loudly. So loudly that you didn't hear the lock of your apartment door click.

"Good girl." Kai grunts, his hand reaching in front of you to rub your clit.

"Cum." He demands.

Within seconds, and you being pressed against the wall, you came hard, along with Kai, who pumps his cum inside of you.

"I'll see you soon, baby." He whispers in your ea, giving you a small kiss before he disappears.

You wander back into your room, falling into bed now exhausted after this afternoon's festivities.

What feels like 5 seconds later, you're woken up by the feeling of kisses on your cheek. You open your eyes and see Chanyeol hovering over you, a desperate look in his eyes.

"Hi." You whisper.

"Hi." He replies, his voice deeper.

"I need you." He says, your mind goes back to Kai and this afternoon a smile appears on your face.

"Fuck me hard." You moan, moving the blanket, and spreading your legs. You were nauseous but oh so horny. You closed your eyes, imagining it was Kai who was pushing himself inside of you at the moment.

You can hear Chanyeol grunting as he folds your legs far over your head, his cock pounding into you. He lets your legs go, bringing his body to hover over yours, his face now buried in your neck sucking and biting.

"Oh Kai." You whisper, not loud enough for him to hear, you thought.

Immediately he sits up, and wraps his hand around your throat, choking you hard, as he rams his cock super hard into you, his other hand on your clit flicking it like a button. You open your eyes just as you're about to cum and you see Kai standing there, his arms crossed as he smirks

"Fuck, Kai." You moan as you cum hard, like a geyser.

Chanyeol keeps going, with no intentions of slowing down until he cums. As he continues to ram himself into you, you begin seeing black dots and as you tightens around him once more and he finally cums, his body drapes over you, as you both heavily.

"Whose Kai?" He asks, pulling himself out of you, and getting off the bed.

"I.. um.. I.." you stutter, unsure of how to answer.

"I knew it. I knew you were fucking around. I'm done." Chanyeol spits, quickly getting dressed before beginning to pack a bag.

"I'm sorry.. please.." you beg.

"Fuck you." He spits, taking his bag and leaving the apartment you once shared.

You sit, and lay back on the bed, leaning yourself against Kai who had now appeared again.

"It's okay baby." He purrs, rubbing your stomach. "I'm all the two of you will ever need."

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of-wrens-and-whirlwinds-blog · 4 years

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Tea, Books, and Mutations

Commission for the great @lindstrom2020 !! A crossover of Good Omens and X-Men (I chose post-Dark Phoenix). Bonding duos! I hope you like it! Commission info is here!

Erik was just trying to order some pizza, and Charles had already struck up a conversation with a man at the table next to them. The man kept glancing pointedly at Charles’ book, but Charles ignored him, though the slight, bastardly curl at the corner of his mouth told Erik that he knew exactly what was bothering the man.

“Charles, what do you want on your pizza?” Erik finally snapped, making the server jump.

Charles looked at him and gave him a sunny smile. “The usual,” he replied.

Erik rolled his eyes, thought back to the pizza they’d had a month ago, and gave the server that order. The boy nodded and scurried away.

“Surely you shouldn’t eat with a book open,” huffed the man Charles had been talking to, finally coming to the reason for his glares and snide comments.

“Oh, I won’t be,” Charles replied cheerfully. “It’s just that this one takes too long ordering.”

“Bullshit,” Erik snorted, making the man jump and look at him in alarm. “You’re the one with rotating favorites.”

“And you’re the one who can never decide what cheese to order,” Charles teased gently. “Mr. Fell, my husband, Erik. Erik, this charming man is Mr. Fell. He runs a bookshop!”

Ah. That would be why Charles had been drawn into conversation. “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fell,” he said, remembering his manners but only because Charles would be annoyed if he didn’t. Mr. Fell looked like if someone had taken Charles and slid him all the way to the “professor” end of Charles’ aesthetic scale: short, round, white hair, impish blue eyes, and clothes that were more fit for a hundred years ago. He certainly looked like someone with a job involving books, although Erik would’ve thought more librarian than bookshop.

“The pleasure is mine, I’m sure,” Mr. Fell replied.

Mr. Fell’s food arrived; some sort of fancy one with green bits and tiny sliced tomatoes. All three of them said polite things to end the conversation, and Mr. Fell began eating while Erik asked Charles wearily, “Where to after this?”

“I’m not sure,” Charles answered thoughtfully, tracing the title on the cover of his book with his fingertip. “Maybe wander Soho? It’s been decades and I’d like to see how it’s changed.”

Erik’s mouth twisted. He knew it was a terrible idea to be confined to “tourist” areas when Charles had visited London twice a year during most of his school career, but he didn’t like these neighborhoods with tiny streets, tiny sidewalks, and people who didn’t like moving out of Charles’ way. He’d already threatened a man who kicked Charles’ chair and yelled at Charles for running over his foot.

“It will be fine, Erik,” Charles told him, smiling again, but softer.

Erik grunted, but allowed himself to be swayed.

The food was actually very good, and they finished their meal in relative silence. Well. Audibly silent.

Why was that man so angry at you?

He noticed how my book is a first edition and I had it out at a restaurant. He seems the fussy type. I wonder what his bookshop looks like.

Judging by his appearance, I’d say absolutely spotless and annoyingly alphabetical.

Looks can be deceiving, my love. The mental sense of Charles laughing, of gentle fingers running over his mind and leaving warmth in their wake. Maybe it’s charmingly cluttered.

Your idea of charming is “absolute chaos”.

You still love me, though.

Erik sent Charles a bit of his own warmth and the sense of laughter.

They finished eating quickly and left with a final polite goodbye to Mr. Fell, who was blandly polite back—until he noticed Charles’ chair, and he went from polite to surprised. Thankfully, he said nothing, and they left without awkwardness.

“How did he not notice?” Erik grumbled, holding the door for Charles.

Charles shrugged. “He was upset about the book. At least he didn’t say anything.”

“True.” Erik ran the backs of his fingers gently down Charles’ cheek, and Charles smiled up at him.

Soho wasn’t as crowded as Erik feared, although there were a few moments where Erik had to glare at people to make them move. Charles looked around in excitement, pointing out places he remembered from his school years, and complaining about how they couldn’t go in his favorite antiques shop because the aisles were so narrow.

“Some day,” Erik promised him, and Charles just gave him a sad half-smile and said nothing.

They reached a corner, and Charles exclaimed in delight. “A.Z. Fell! Oh, this place is a delight! Hardly ever open, but I’ve memorized the hours—it should be open right now!”

“How the fuck did you memorize that?” Erik asked, baffled as he stared at the sign. Charles laughed.

“It was an interesting puzzle. I had to, this shop is a landmark and also so wonderful. Help me up the steps?”

Erik nodded, opening the unlocked door and floating Charles’ chair up the steps with a single slight wave of his hand. Then he followed Charles in.

“He has new books in!” Charles exclaimed, and immediately went to an overflowing table and picked up what looked like a first edition of something strange and obscure that Charles would definitely covet and read until it fell apart. Erik looked around, frowning. This place was a disaster, and there was no way Charles could maneuver through these dangerous stacks. Still, Erik could try. The sight of books on the floor made him twitch, but he grit his teeth and only moved things when Charles needed him to.

“Oh. You again.”

Erik and Charles looked over in surprise, to see Mr. Fell standing in a doorway further into the shop, looking both resigned and annoyed. His tone had been the same.

“Hello Mr. Fell,” Charles said cheerfully. “This is a lovely shop, I must say.”

Mr. Fell blinked, apparently surprised. “Ah, thank you,” he said. Then he frowned at the book Charles had just picked up to look over.

“I’m not looking to buy,” Charles told him quickly, startling Erik. He knew that hungry look in Charles’ eye; he wanted these books. “I just missed this place.”

Mr. Fell smiled and said nothing else, but he did hover possessively as Charles and Erik went around, picking up books to look at and talk about, softly. Charles always put books back exactly where he found them, and never lifted more than three off a stack; Erik copied him, baffled. Charles was the type to search through entire cases and pull out one book on each shelf to read or buy. It came with being rich. But, well… there wasn’t really room for a library on Genosha yet.

One day.

“Hey, angel!” said a loud voice, making Erik jump and spin; a person with half their head buzzed to perhaps two inches and the rest of their red hair long and curly, huge dark sunglasses, and a black dress with black heeled boots, had just walked through the door, and was staring back with a tight mouth and eyebrows drawn down. “Who’re you?” the person demanded bluntly.

“Customers,” Erik replied shortly, and turned away.

“Oh!” Charles gasped softly, and reached out to gently wiggle a copy of Once and Future King free of a shelf, holding it reverently in his hands. It looked very old and like it was going to fall apart any second. Charles held it very gently. “A real third printing,” he murmured in awe. “I’ve been looking for one of these for years.”

“Charles, it’s almost destroyed,” Erik sighed. “You can’t take it on a plane.”

“Of course not!” Charles said, appalled, as he looked up at Erik. “This is far too precious to bring back to Genosha, at least until there’s proper moisture control. But isn’t it beautiful?”

Erik looked at the book. It really probably should’ve been recycled a few decades ago. “Uh. Yes.”

“You just don’t appreciate old books.” Charles stroked the cover, sighed, and carefully put it back. “It’s safe here, that’s what matters.”

Erik glanced over at Mr. Fell and the newcomer, warily; Mr. Fell looked pleased, and the newcomer exasperated. “How long are we staying here?” he muttered to Charles. He didn’t like how those two were staring.

“I don’t know,” Charles murmured back, eyes wandering among the shelves. “Can’t you feel the history?”

“I can feel that the nails in these shelves are rusted to almost nothing,” Erik replied, eyeing a shelf warily. It should be cracking, or at least sagging badly; but it was straight and perfect and pristine. In fact… the whole shop was perfect. He looked around again, frowning. Yes… under the dust and books, every inch of this place looked in good repair. But there was rust everywhere, and that chair’s springs were almost gone and yet it still looked plump and comfortable, and honestly what the fuck was with the infuriating layout of these books? It was almost like Mr. Fell wanted customers to trip and break things.

“Erik.”

There was a warning note in Charles’ tone. Erik’s mouth tightened, but instead of bothering with moving books, he just lifted Charles’ chair and moved him over to the next clear space.

A gasp from behind them. “Oh!” Mr. Fell said, “You’re a mutant!”

Erik couldn’t help a smirk. “Yes,” he said bluntly.

“No wonder you got in, those steps haven’t changed in—a while,” the other person said. Mr. Fell hissed something and the other person scowled. Erik looked at Charles, who had his politest smile on, but Erik could tell immediately that he had heard something unflattering if not downright rude and it had soured his mood.

“Shall we just go?” Erik asked Charles softly.

“No, it’s fine,” Charles replied, and turned back to the books.

“What’s your mutation, anyway?” the other person asked, sidling towards Erik. Mr. Fell wrung his hands and scowled, but Erik didn’t really care, so he answered.

“Magnetic field manipulation.”

“Huh.” The person cocked their head and shoved their hands in previously-unnoticed pockets in their skirt. “Wouldn’t have pegged you for a telekinetic.”

“It’s not telekinesis,” Erik replied, exasperated already. Honestly, you’d think people would realize by now. “Magnetism isn’t just moving things. I could snap every bone in your—”

“Erik!” Charles barked. “Enough!”

But while Mr. Fell looked alarmed, the other person was beginning to grin. “Oh, I like you,” they declared, and stuck out their hand to shake. “Crowley.”

Erik frowned, but shook the offered hand. “Lehnsherr,” he replied.

“Oh dear,” Mr. Fell muttered.

“Indeed,” Charles said wearily.

Erik had no idea how it happened, but somehow he ended up discussing the differences between different mutations with Crowley, while Mr. Fell swooped in to make sure Charles didn’t knock over his precious books. Erik was dimly aware of them making small talk, but he was caught up in explaining the less-obvious applications of complete control over magnetism, versus the limitations of plain telekinesis. Crowley was very intrigued, and told Erik that they, themselves were not a mutant, but they had had cause to work with a few, and they had once been nanny to a boy with the power to make illusions and hallucinations. It had been fun raising the little hellspawn, they said fondly, but it had been hard to figure out what, exactly, the limits of his power were. Nowadays he was about twenty and probably still giving his parents nightmares, though of less insubstantial means.

“Good for him,” Erik said firmly. He had the suspicion from the way Crowley talked that the parents had been rather distant. Well, if they were upset over their son’s choices, they should’ve tried to be better parents and learn about him as he grew.

Crowley’s grin was delighted.

“Buy?” Mr. Fell’s incredulous voice said, catching Erik and Crowley’s attention. They turned, surprised.

“Yes,” Charles replied calmly with a smile. “I have some very well-preserved books, but no one is reading them and I hate letting them get dusty. I can have my associate back in New York bring them over next week. And you take such good care of your collection, I’m sure they’ll be safe with you.”

Mr. Fell’s surprise became something like glee. “I would be delighted to help,” he said. “If you would like, I can bring out my list of inventory, and we’ll see if I already have duplicates.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you!”

And so they went to the back, chatting about the merits and pitfalls of collecting only old books. Erik distinctly heard a wistful tone as Charles spoke of missing his own library back home, and felt a stab of sadness. He knew Charles liked Genosha, he often said so, and they were growing all the time; but he also knew that Charles missed his old home, and teaching.

One day.

“Well, that’s a first,” Crowley said, shaking Erik out of his thoughts. He looked at Crowley, and saw a tiny, pleased smile on their face. “Your husband must’ve offered something good for Az—Fell to show him the inventory.”

“How did you know he’s my husband?” Erik asked, surprised.

Crowley raised one eyebrow and their smile grew. “It’s obvious, innit? And your necklaces match.”

That was hardly an obvious sign of marriage, but… it was true. Erik had made two tiny chess piece pendants, a knight and a king, and painted them both white. He wore the knight, and Charles wore the king. Charles had also scrounged up his parents’ wedding bands, and those were on their necklaces, too. Weddings in Genosha were more “moving in together and saying you’re married” than official registries and ceremonies. At the moment, at least.

“What’s your relationship with Mr. Fell?” Erik asked, feeling a little homesick. “You seem to know each other well.”

Crowley shrugged, smile softening. “We’re still figuring it out. Feels like we’ve been together over a thousand years, but our… families are all assholes. So it’s only been about nine years since we started something for real.”

Erik nodded, a little confused but not willing to admit it. Ah, well. “Does he actually sell any books? Charles was very excited to see that literally nothing’s changed.”

Crowley laughed. “Oh, he doesn’t sell anything. He’s run people off with broken tea pots when they’ve been insistent. Browsing is fine, as long as you don’t damage anything, but buying? Out of the question.”

Erik snorted, thinking of Charles and his coveted collection of teacups that no one was allowed to use. “Bet on how many cups of tea they’ll have before I can drag Charles back to the hotel.”

“Fifty quid. But if Fell breaks out the wine, neither of you are leaving for the night.”

Aziraphale was so delighted that this “customer” was actually prepared to give him books that he allowed himself to be drawn into conversation about favorite authors, judging by the amount of queer erotica on his shelves. And then he was even more delighted when Charles revealed himself to be remarkably well-read, and to have similar taste in fiction, and to prefer his tea without sugar or milk.

“So how long have you been married?” he asked curiously, when Charles made a fondly exasperated comment on his husband not understanding the importance of old literature.

Charles smiled. “Oh, about five years,” he said cheerfully. “It wasn’t really official until then. We’ve been off and on since the sixties, though.”

“The sixties!” Aziraphale exclaimed, then realized how rude he must have sounded. “I—I am very sorry, it’s just that...”

Charles smiled wider, rueful now. “It’s the face, isn’t it? I have a theory it’s the strength of our mutations; certainly my sister never aged because of hers, and a few of my students were the same.” His smile faltered, his eyes becoming shadowed—and then he brightened again. “I apologize. But yes, I’ve been speaking to my friend, who is a biological chemist, and we’re discussing how to best research the effects of mutations on aging.”

“That would be a quite interesting study,” Aziraphale commented, hoping to draw Charles away from whatever sad thoughts had taken him. “I would love to read it. Ah… may I ask, what is your mutation?”

“Telepathy,” Charles replied.

Aziraphale gasped in unfeigned delight. “Oh! I’ve always wanted to meet a telepath! Please, how does that work? Oh, bother, I’m sorry, I’m not myself today, I don’t mean to be rude.”

Charles laughed. “It’s alright. It’s been a while since I’ve met someone who’s wanted to know. I’m a geneticist with a psychology degree, so I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I know what it does.”

It was a merry time, talking about mutations and science and books and the strange power-surge in mutations around the globe around nine years ago that everyone mysteriously forgot after the ruckus at Tadfield (if Charles noticed Aziraphale’s nervous sweating, he was certainly kind enough to ignore it). They finished two pots of tea, and it was only when Charles turned to ask Erik his opinion on something that Aziraphale noticed that Erik and Crowley were in the doorway, leaning on opposite sides in the exact same position. It was quite funny, especially since they were both wearing sunglasses and had rather soft expressions on their faces.

“Come sit, both of you,” Aziraphale offered.

Erik shook his head. “We have dinner reservations,” he said.

“It’s a fresh pot of tea, though,” Charles objected.

“You’re going to hurt yourself with all that caffeine,” Erik retorted.

“Did you forget we’ve got a table at the Ritz tonight, angel?” Crowley drawled, with a bit of a smirk. Aziraphale glared at them. They did not have a table, but knowing Crowley, one probably just conveniently opened up. “It’s been a while since you’ve stayed open this long, too.”

Aziraphale pursed his lips and frowned. His automatic response was to refuse to go anywhere when he had a good conversationalist trapped here, but he had the feeling Charles would not appreciate being held up. So he sighed regretfully and told Crowley, “Not until we finish our tea.”

Charles smiled, Crowley stuck their tongue out at Aziraphale, and Erik scowled.

It was dinnertime by the time the tea was gone, and Aziraphale and Crowley saw Charles and Erik out, with much more pleasant goodbyes than at the pizzeria.

“What nice young men,” Aziraphale commented when the door was closed.

“I dunno, the tall one’s a bit of an ass,” Crowley replied, smirking.

“Ah yes, like you?” Aziraphale retorted snidely.

“Actually, yes. And according to him, his husband is a bastard under all the sweet.” Crowley outright grinned at Aziraphale’s confusion. “You’re a tamer of assholes, angel.”

“Well, according to Charles, Erik has a good heart under his bitterness and bastardy, so that’s you in a nutshell,” Aziraphale said, and smiled smugly as Crowley immediately began to bluster and splutter. “Oh, do be quiet, dear. You’ll scare the children.”

“What children?!”

#Good Omens #X-Men #Cherik #Ineffable spouses #crossover #this got... very long #commission

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mor-beck-more-problems · 3 years

Text

The Best Little Pit-Stops in Texas || Morgan & Deirdre

TIMING: Current

PARTIES: @deathduty & @mor-beck-more-problems

SUMMARY: Morgan shows Deirdre her old haunts in Houston. You really can’t go home again, but sometimes you leave good behind.

CONTAINS: Houston vibes, softness

When the El Real Mexican Restaurant built itself out of an old two screen movie house, they’d kept the neon marquis intact, equal parts nostalgia and kitsch. In college, when Morgan was wringing out a day’s worth of food from $10 tacos al carbon and endless chips, she had enjoyed making a point of admiring the puns and jokes posted under the neon lights: We’re jalapeno these spicy tostadas! We’re nacho kidding, $5 margs when you order new loaded nachos! When Morgan brought Deirdre there on their second night in town, it read: In Queso You Didn’t Know: Closing Dec 26. We’ll cilantro you again someday. Guess you really couldn’t go home again. “And here I thought it was packed because it’s a local institution,” she mumbled.

They parked across the street between a Half Price Books and a Jack in the Box. Houston was still twilight blue at six o’clock, and she could see the shift changes at the local eateries: aprons going up, textbooks and phones coming out. In the other parking lots in sight and on the eating patios of other restaurants, clubbers strolling for a bite to coat their stomachs before hitting the streets and rainbow flags dangling limp and content from shop windows. Morgan slid into Deirdre’s side as they picked their way along the crawling traffic. She had envied those young people so much, almost in tears with how badly she wanted to be a part of them. She would never know what it was like to be that young and alive and free. But with the woman she loved pressed close, she felt a piece of what she had been aching for. It wasn’t their stuff, or even their numbers, though she did miss knowing that she had enough people who cared about her to fill a room. It was something else, something like the love they grew between each other, but not quite. “I would bring girls out here and get them to buy me entrees I could take home to refrigerate. Even if nothing came of it besides a kiss or an hour fumbling around, it was nice to have a hot dinner I wouldn’t have to cook later. And we were pretty safe out here. Girls didn’t get the same kinds of looks as guys, and this part of town is designated as the gayborhood. As long as you weren’t walking alone and looking obvious, it was fine for me. I’d cover the cheap drinks, obviously. Sometimes with magic counterfeit money but--” she put her finger to her lips. “And if things were going really bad, I could pretend to be really riveted by whatever they were screening up on the wall.” Morgan pointed, in case the projection was getting lost in the organized chaos of evening rush. “Besides having the best tacos for your buck, it was a good spot my dad liked to take me to. Not when it was like this, but when the place first opened and the lunch special had everything even cheaper and we could pass by all the fancy shopping centers on the way home. We can too, it’s really close to the hotel, actually. This time of year everything is decked out in the most incredible lights. It’s like something out of a movie. Anyways--” she smiled thin, not sure what she was trying to get at with all this local geography discourse, “It’s only fair I bring my actual best girl here, while it still exists.” She did feel a little hollow, knowing this would be the only time they were going to be here. None of her childhood homes were still standing, and the apartments she had lived in weren’t worth driving to as far as she could reckon. What else was left of the place she’d been bound to for most of her life but these transient commercial spaces? Morgan frowned as they were seated and the chip bowl was put in front of them. Despite not feeling the November warmth, she had been too preoccupied with her family drama to brood over her life being over completely. Here or anywhere else. What was she planning on doing here besides playing tour guide to her old shadows? Morgan reached for Deirdre’s hand, trying to get a read for how she felt about being here. “How are you doing…?” She asked.

Deirdre’s eyes raked over a labyrinth of people. She didn’t like crowds, usually; noisy, chaotic things. It was a sea to get lost in, a force to feel small under. But there was one tiny delight in that. She could watch the humans flutter about their lives; she would know them, their fear, and happiness and anger, and they would never notice her. All her life, she had been stuck as the observer. Though it was not a role she chose, it was one that suited her. For all the charm that rolled naturally off her tongue, there sat her own fears and insecurities, inscrutable to the fellow watcher. Things changed when she met Morgan, and she wasn’t so much a shell floating through the lives around her as she was someone living for once. “I’ve never really been to a Mexican restaurant before,” she explained on the walk there, “I’ve never really been anywhere, I suppose.” And she hoped that in the quiet of her voice, Morgan would realize just how much she’d given her. It was in that way, that despite the loss that rattled in her chest, she could summon warm smiles and enthusiastic bouts of affection. Her life began with Morgan, after all. She would not let her girlfriend’s end with old, bitter memories. For every reminder of them she could find, she held Morgan closer, kissed her longer, gripped her tighter.

The restaurant’s closing date, announced brightly with a joke in neon lights, wasn’t something she could love away.

She pressed herself firmly to Morgan. It was one part imminent closing, another part restaurant. They never visited any after Morgan’s death; Morgan couldn’t taste anything and Deirdre never ate much to begin with. And though days of stealing fries off Morgan’s plate were replaced with longer walks and frequent picnics, Deirdre wasn’t so oblivious that she didn’t know what this meant for them. What it meant for Morgan now, entering a restaurant she loved, and couldn’t enjoy fully before it would be gone forever. Though Deirdre was caught up in the spectacle of the crowd and the interior, her mind wouldn’t drift from what must have been plaguing her love. The lights above were warm-tinted, strung delicately across the old ceiling, just one scream away from littering the heads of everyone below. “Well, now I’m offended I’m not the only girl you bought drinks for with counterfeit money,” Deirdre feigned a huff, chuckling as her eyes followed where Morgan was pointing. Sure enough there was a movie playing, one she couldn’t recognize or hear, but she was mesmerized by the moving shapes beyond her anyways. Action she didn’t know the plot to, logic she had yet to unravel. There was something odd about stumbling into a movie halfway, played as a backdrop, that she couldn’t put her finger on. By the time they got their table, she still hadn’t quite figured it out. Morgan cut across the table, hand against hers, and Deirdre snapped from her daze. “How am I…” She breathed, incredulous. Then she softened, turning her hand so their fingers could intertwine. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that…?” She smiled gently. “This place is special to you, uneventful dates for free dinner aside...or perhaps, even with those. A place you came to with your father. And it’s…” Deirdre glanced around, then back at the entrance. “I could buy it back, from whoever they sold it to. I could make them keep it open. I’ve tried it before…” She turned back to Morgan. “That old antique store in my town. The place I saved up my allowance for, the place between all the pubs and houses? I tried to---well, it doesn’t matter now, I suppose. It closed. But I could save this place, if you wanted that.”

Morgan heard the quiet notes in Deirdre’s voice, a shy admittance she didn’t know how to read. Would it be better if they had some perfunctory appetizers and left? Was she overwhelmed, or unhappy? Morgan pressed Deirdre’s knuckles to her lips and scooted her chair close so they met nearly side to side in the corner. “I’m...a lot of things, but mostly fine.” She hadn’t been thinking about what it would be like to be here when she called ahead for a table, only that it was already by the Menil Art museum and the Rothko Chapel she’d shown Deirdre earlier and that whenever she thought of the Montrose area, all cramped and flourishing and safe, she always tasted the char of perfectly seasoned chicken fajita meat and the sour tang of tequila on her tongue. From here. It had seemed essential, and she’d never had a bad time there, even when she and her dad guiltily brought Ruth along for their early lunches a few times. Why wouldn’t she make room for something that had always been reliable and good? But now they were here, and Deirdre didn’t like crowds, and Morgan didn’t get anything out of the tortilla chips except crunchiness and pointy ends poking the roof of her mouth. The inside was just like she’d remembered. Rainbows of margaritas, salsas, and November ‘winter wear’ spilled all through the open eating space. The usual cowboy movies and Bonanza specials had been traded in for Christmas-y movies, even though it wasn’t even Thanksgiving yet. Morgan recognized Jimmy Stuart in The Shop Around the Corner at once. He was one of Ruth’s favorites, and this was one of the few films they had been able to agree on. It should have felt like she was falling back into old, comforting steps.

But all the workers would be out of work after Christmas. The red and green paper garland would be thrown away or sold. The building would become something else. Everyone eating here would funnel into other places, some to boring franchises, some to mom and pop places still surviving under the radar. And all the energy Morgan had shed in this place on dates and lunches and lonely comfort outings would be cut loose and aimless, a ghost of their own. And Morgan couldn’t taste anything or smell the full potency of the steaming skillets passing by or even tell how much hotter it was inside. She didn’t know who she felt more sorry for, the El Real or herself.

“You didn’t answer my question, babe,” she said gently. “If this wasn’t such a great idea in practice, there’s plenty of other places we can go and ways we can spend our evening. Or if I can do something-- I’m just checking in, and I don’t want all of this to be about me.” If not out of kindness, then for this: the more she lingered on herself, the more she felt like a ghost herself.

She softened at Deridre’s half-told story, releasing what little determined resolve she’d been holding onto. “You don’t have to do that,” she murmured. “That would be...I mean what would we even do with the place, except give it back to the old owners, I guess…” Which was a thought that did make her happy for a moment, enough that she couldn’t hide it. “I could never ask that, and it’s not like we’d get to enjoy it often…” But that wasn’t the point. The point was to let Morgan get to keep something, some place that had mattered to her. Even the schools she’d gone to were no longer standing as they once were. Was keeping it something she wanted? “Tell me more about that place of yours. I want to know, even if I can never see it. Especially because I can’t see it.”

“I’m worried about you, my love.” Deirdre replied easily, sighing with relief as Morgan scooted next to her. As soon as she could, she took Morgan’s hands in hers, firm and steady. “We haven’t really been to any restaurants since…” As her sentence trailed away, she offered a small smile, her brows furrowed with worry. “Maybe I’m just thinking about it too much. Tell me if I am, but I know how much you’ve lost in your life, and how hard things are now and I just...worry, I guess.” And it was frustrating, that they had to be seated in two separate chairs, half-blocked by a table. Al’s had booths, at least. And pie. “I’m okay. More than okay, really. I get to spend time with you, in your home, and all the places you love. I get to fill and color my understanding of you, and that’s magical to me. Knowing you always is. I’ll be okay, no matter where we go or what we do. But if I can do something for you, Morgan….” Her eyes drifted to the movie again; the action had shifted, new actors showed their faces. She knew less than she did before, and the strange, unnamed feeling crept back into her stomach. She slumped and turned back. “This doesn’t have to be about you, if you don’t want that. You know I like you…” Deirdre grinend and nudged her. “And you know I like hearing about you, but if you just want to eat some tacos and have fun, we can do that.”

In a show of good faith, Deirdre reached across and plucked a chip from the table. And then she ate it, slowly, as if it might bite her. There were a lot of things she had never tried before, and she was embarrassed that tortilla chips existed somewhere on that list. Not drenched in nacho toppings, at least. Though nachos themselves were something she only just tried this year. “These don’t taste like potato crisps, I suppose.” She swallowed, trying to dust the salt from her fingers. “We could give it to someone who wants to run it,” she offered, debating on another chip. “We could talk to the owners, talk to other people. And it isn’t really about visiting it…” Deirdre turned her attention away from the so-called “endless” chips, which seemed like they really did have an end to her, several, in fact, and looked to her girlfriend. She knew that she understood, and so she didn’t elaborate on metaphors and symbolism. “If you want that,” she whispered, “change is inevitable, I know. But sometimes you can keep something just as you knew it, just as you loved it. There’s nothing wrong with wanting that.” The story of her little store, a world of its own mysticism, was one of less hope. “It’s not interesting,” she began, “I-I told you about the old books I bought, haven’t I? The ones my mother burned. I got them from there. It was...well, I wasn’t allowed out, much or at all. But this store wasn’t so far from the farm, and yet not too close either. And the few times I had errands, I had just enough time to spare to duck inside and get lost among the trinkets. The owner never complained about seeing me there, or letting me stay.” She knew some kids who were yelled at for accused stealing, more that turned up their noses at the dust and smell. But the old man never paid her much attention, and that, she figured, was a kindness. “I never visited it much when I started highschool, but I passed it one day and noticed a sign and...I-I thought it was money problems. I stole some cash from the family--they never noticed it was gone anyway--and left it inside for the owner.” Deirdre shook her head, “he just used it to retire. Now there’s a bookstore there. It’s not a...thrilling story. Or one I like.”

Morgan bowed her head. She couldn’t bring herself to lie to Deirdre, and she wasn’t ready to say, no, I’m sad, because restaurants make me sad now, because there’s nothing for me in them and I feel awful goading you into ordering enough to make the effort of going out feel worth it. But Deirdre already knew. Maybe it was just common sense or maybe it was some deeper sense she had discovered from spending so much time with her, but Morgan was certain even hiding her face wasn’t going to fool Deirdre for a second. “Since I stopped being able to taste anything I used to, yeah,” she mumbled. Was she spoiling the evening? Was there a version of them that was already laughing and cuddling and making the most out of the tortilla chips? Watching Deirdre try one for herself almost made Morgan cry. She was trying, even with what she was carrying from the past month and a half, she was trying for her. Couldn’t Morgan try a little more too?

“You might...be right,” she admitted. “I wasn’t really thinking practically when I got the idea. And I’ve missed this place ever since I left so maybe I wasn’t even really thinking at all with my new normal brain. I’ve wanted you to see it for yourself way before I… I could’ve been more thoughtful, more careful about this.” A waiter passed by balancing three cast iron fajita skillets on his tray and Morgan imagined her mother’s disappointed face behind her, shaking her head. You know better.

She kept her fingers locked in Deirdre’s as she told her story. She didn’t speak much about her teenage years, Morgan only knew the story of the boy and his dog, her first kill, and that she took her vows at fifteen and only after was she allowed to go back to school. It seemed to Morgan like those years didn’t really exist, but had been corded and knotted around steps and demands and expectations, and Deirdre herself was tucked away somewhere, too numb and hurt to come out. But of course it wasn’t that simple. Of course she had summoned the will to be kind for someone else as long as it was a secret. She had tried, even then. “Oh, my love,” Morgan whispered. “It was still kind and worthwhile, you know that, right? You know--”

Their waiter appeared, holding his pad awkwardly, clearly torn between interrupting a moment and having to do his job. Morgan flashed him a perfunctory smile and ordered a white chocolate pina colada, the shrimp street tacos, and 2 tamales a la carte, rattling off some alterations that would make it safer for Deirdre. Then she asked for the check to be brought as soon as he had the time, even if that happened to be before the food was ready.

When he was gone, Morgan slid her arms around her girlfriend. “I’m coming up with a plan and I want to know what you think,” she said into her shoulder. “You tell me what else is bothering you, because I know there’s something. And we talk it out or we put it aside, and you tell me what you think about how everything tastes, and we don’t even have to finish if you don’t want to. And then…” She hesitated. “I know nothing is ever going to be the same for either of us, we can’t get those places or those feelings back all the way. But there is a place I had that was like yours. One that we can actually share equally. It’s a little more of a drive, but I want to show you, and be a part of it with you, if you’re still up to it. But you tell me what’s making you sad or worry besides me first. I’m just gonna wonder anyway. How does that sound?”

“No, it’s not like that--” Deirdre groaned in annoyance at the space between them. Swiftly, she pushed their chairs together, wooden bottoms clashing and finger pinched between them. She hissed in pain, drawing her purple fingertip to her mouth as her other hand settled for resting on Morgan’s thigh. “It’s not like that,” Deirdre repeated. “I don’t care about practical thinking or--Fates, Morgan, I was just worried about you. Of course I want to visit all the places you love, even if we can’t enjoy them together just the same as we would have some months ago. I’ve just been worried about you.” She swallowed thickly, fraught with concern. Was she thinking about it too much? Maybe it hadn’t even crossed Morgan’s mind until she brought it up. But, no, she knew her girlfriend well enough, she hoped. And how could she ignore small frowns or wilted sentences? Wasn’t this whole town just one big reminder of everything Morgan had lost? Was she okay with playing the tour guide, or did she muster the energy to walk just because Deirdre wanted to see everything? Or was it her mother; the meeting still stuck in her mind? Deirdre swallowed, and remembered that she didn’t need to be the silent thinker anymore, tasked with finding her own answers, she could ask. But the story of the stupid antique store lodged in her throat, her questions jammed under. “Probably not. He didn’t care as much about that store as I did, and he didn’t recognize me when I asked. It was a pointless endeavor and I spent months sick with guilt and worry about the money.” It would have been better if she left it, and slowly, the thought occurred to her about her questions too. Maybe Morgan didn’t want to talk about it or---

How long had that server been standing there? Deirdre shifted in her seat, she hadn’t even looked at the menu. It was by miracle, or the power of how well they knew each other, that Morgan ordered for her. Better, because she both didn’t know how to pronounce anything and didn’t know what she would be mispronouncing in the first place. As she’d learned recently, it wasn’t just acceptable to ask for the best thing on the menu, accompanied by their most expensive drinks. As he left, her eyes fell back on to the movie--in a new place, someone was crying now. Deirdre reached across and popped another chip into her mouth, shocked again by the crunch. She considered Morgan’s plan as she tried to chew respectably. “If you’d like me there, I’d love to go,” she turned to her girlfriend with a small smile, “but it’s not like that. Not for me. It doesn’t matter that I can’t steal the food off your plate while you’re gone to the toilet, or that we don’t do breakfast at Al’s anymore. That doesn’t---I miss it, in a way. But not like that. Not like you’re saying it. It’s not gone for me, it’s not lost. Time spent with you, my love, is always the most precious thing to me. It’s never so much mattered where or what we were doing, as long as you were happy, and I’m with you.” Her attention shifted back to the damned movie, and she frowned as she searched for the words to explain it better. “It’s worse for you, because you know what’s missing. Like a...movie met halfway. There’s dialogue and story and characters and I only know half of it. I’ll only ever know half of it. And the people…” She glanced around the crowd, caught in their own worlds, as humans so often were. “...don’t really care about the movie on the wall. Which is a shame, I bet they’d really get it if they watched it all the way through.” Deirdre sighed, slumped against her chair. “There is something on my mind, but it’s about you. And we don’t have to talk about you if that’s not what you want; if it’s too hard. We don’t have to do that. And it’s not like you’re making me sad, nothing like that at all. It’s just how badly I wish I could...fix it all for you.” She sniffled, suddenly aware that her eyes had begun to water and leak and she turned away to blink it gone. “Sometimes, I love you so much I cry about it, I guess.” Her laugh was shaky, and her humor weak. “Sorry, I’ll just, uh---”

“No, it was. It was still kind. It says nothing about you that it didn’t take, and everything about him, the part that’s wonderful is that you tried…” Morgan whispered, her words coming all out in a rush, slipping in before the subject closed. She fixated on Deirdre, letting everything else fade. The world released itself from her so fast, like it was always waiting to. She followed her gaze and listened to the crunch of more tortilla chips (so addictive, no matter what mood you were in), completely absorbed. Deirdre wasn’t far off and Morgan didn’t know if she was pained or relieved that the wrinkle knot on her forehead was because of her and not some cursed memory or dreadful epiphany. She was sniffing and blinking back tears of her own by the time Deirdre was doing the same. She untangled herself so she could wipe her cheek and the corner of her eyes.

“We don’t have to pretend. It’s okay,” she said softly. “And you’re right. It’s...I used to be in the movie. I was part of the story and everything was loud and close and intense, or, at least that’s how I understood it was supposed to be. Because I didn’t let myself act like anything more than a second string player in my own life because I was so cured and afraid. But even second string people get to have coffee and look at their special someone for a coat because they’re cold, and I’m just...not a part of that anymore. And that’s been true for the last—almost seven months now? But I was getting used to that in White Crest and I at least have people I’m a part of. Well, a couple, maybe—” Her mouth pulled into a grimace as she thought of Remmy and Nell. She pushed them away, this was hard enough already. “But everyone I used to have here died. The places I lived in are gone. Hell, my first elementary school is Costco now! I barely had an existence here, and yet that sad hopeful life seems so far and so much better than whatever it is I’m doing here right now. But it’s not just that. That would be easy. I could just tell you I made a stupid, terrible mistake and I want to go home. But I can’t, because I really do want you to have this. I don’t have a lot of anything, but what I do have feels special, because it’s mine, and I love you, of course I want to give you whatever I can offer. And you have been so deprived and shut away from the world, and look at you now, in the fourth largest city in America!”

The waiter returned with the drink and the food, and flourished out the check. Morgan caught it before it met the table and slid in her card, urging the young man to wrap things up.

“And you’re finally having tacos! Real Tex-mex tacos! And Christmas tamales, I don’t even know why they’re a December tradition, but they are! People look forward to getting bags of these like they look forward to those red Starbucks cups. You’re not just having everyday Houston nonsense, but something seasonal and special too. And I want you to be a part of it and I want to make it good. I didn’t really get to find out where all the good things are in the world when I was alive, but I know these places, I know when my lonely, miserable life was just a little better for having something hot and nice, and being surrounded by tables so crowded or just the right kind of sparse that I could trick myself into feeling like I belonged somewhere for an hour. I just—” She cut herself off and waited for her body to still, for her voice to loosen up again. She wouldn’t pretend to be okay when she wasn’t, but she wouldn’t make them a point of interest in a busy restaurant either. She waited, tears coming loose from her eyes. She waited some more, taking Deirdre’s hand into her lap. At last, with all the control she could muster, she confessed, “I don’t know how to explain the way I want to share all of my good here with you. I want you to be in the movie too, and I want to know where it’s the same and where it’s different, so it all becomes new. I feel like you understand what it’s like to be stuck on the outside, in the audience, a beat behind everyone else. And I want to show you something more and better than that. We deserve that, especially with how much shit is following us back home, if there’s anything left in me that can work my will into the world, I will show you that we can have more than watching from the fringes. And I need to be able to work my will somehow. I was born a witch and I need to know what I want counts for something and what I want is that. But I can’t share something I’m not a part of. And as horrible and selfish as it is, I hate feeling left behind. It shouldn’t even be possible, to be left behind in your own hometown, in a place you love. But I am dead to at least half of my tiny slice of world here, and that’s just what’s still standing. And I hate it. I’m finally brave enough to embrace everything there was around me and now it’s...it’s something I can only get through a screen and I hate it.” She paused again. Waited again. “But there might be something we can save, and share, and someone who would appreciate it. And when you were telling me that story, I just thought, if I can’t be alive or make this as good as I wanted, maybe I can at least save something with you. Something I can almost be a part of.” Her voice lilted up, watery with hope. “I like the idea that doing something outrageous and kind is something that we could do together.” She sniffled and smiled through her tears. “I don’t mean to be such a baby. We can talk about what’s on your mind, whatever you want to tell me or ask me. But you um, you should tell me if you like how anything tastes.”

Deirdre’s brows knit together with concern, brown eyes glistening at the mercy of new tears. She listened, and she nodded, and she opened and shut her mouth like a fish out of water as she tried to find the magic words to send the pain away. How was it, that for as powerful as a declaration of love was, the words ‘I love you’ could be so meager? Love was all she had, and yet, not enough. Her food had arrived, and their check taken care of, but Deirdre’s attention did not stir. She held Morgan’s hand tight, pressed the back of her knuckles to her cheek to take care of any tears, and paid no mind to her own crying. She shifted her fingers and cupped Morgan’s cheek; suddenly, the bustling world around them dissolved in her senses. She didn’t say she loved her, she didn’t want to interrupt, but she spoke it clearly with her body—from the warm gaze of her eyes right down to her legs, twitching to entangle with Morgan. “Houston is the fourth largest city in America?” She said eventually, lamely. And embarrassed by her inability to find the magic words, the restaurant rushed back into feeling and she turned to her food. She needed two hands to eat, just another way this restaurant foiled her; first the chairs, now the fork and knife. She took up the respective utensils in her hands and started cutting into the yellow rectangle on her plate. “I love you,” she looked back at Morgan as she swayed her food, “so much. A lot. The most. More than I know how to say, more than I can fathom. More than you can. Just—“ She sighed with helplessness, giving up on the food. “So, so, much. It means everything to me that you’re here, that you try, that you want to.” She dropped down the fork and knife, and wrapped her arms around Morgan, where they much preferred to be. “I wish I could do more for you.” Deirdre buried her face into her neck. “I wish I could go back in time and pluck you away from all that terribleness. I wish I could fix it now, with just the right words. I wish I could do more than love you. And I know that means a lot already, I know because your love means the world to me, but I just wish there was more I could do for you. I could feel it, when you were showing me around. It was like only a part of you was there, and the other was some place too far to reach—a place I can’t go. And all that time I just kept wishing I could do more, and none of that is your fault, and I promise I don’t blame you in the slightest, but by Death, I just wish so badly.” She sniffled. “You gave me life, Morgan.” And lifted her head up to meet her girlfriend’s eyes. “A real one. A good one. One I’m proud of, one I look forward to, one I can tell people about. And you’re right, I’m not in the audience anymore, I haven’t been for some time now—long before we ever landed here, and even right now. And I owe it all to you, my love. The world is so alive to me, for once. And it means something to me now. And that’s you, you did that.” She breathed with happiness, fluttering a wet laugh. “Is it bad that I almost wish it was half-dead to me too? I don’t want to be any place you’re not, even the world of feeling.”

Loss was inevitable. Deirdre knew Morgan’s life didn’t have to be ruled by it, but it would be stained. An immortal, she would lose everything all over again, all the time. And Deirdre was pained to think about it, as if her own heart had been thrust out. “I’m sorry,” she swallowed, “about everything. I love you. I want everything to be better for you, and this feeling isn’t new. When you were alive and cursed I wanted it so badly I...Fates, even if you were normal, whatever that means, I’d worry about splinters. Curse all the wood, it attacks my girlfriend, doesn’t it know she hurts?” She laughed shakily, pressing her forehead to Morgan’s. “You make everything good, my love. Always. I know your life has been unkind to you, and I don’t know how to make it all better, but we’ll figure it out together. One day at a time. Whatever we can do today that’s good, we can give whatever you want. Do whatever. I love you.” And so she kissed her, fierce and desperate and stopped only when she remembered where they were. Chased by another quick kiss, she turned back to her food and resumed her sawing.

“I know I say it all the time, but just being with you is perfect for me; more than, even. I’m so thankful that you want to share this with me, and I’m so excited for it, but just in case you don’t feel like it...or if you’ve felt like you’re doing a bad job or something...I just wanted to make sure you know the truth: I love you. Any moment with you is good and perfect, and everything I could want and more. All of this has been amazing, every second. That’s that. And, actually, if you won’t think me too dramatic to say it, there was something on my mind—“ Deirdre frowned, interrupting herself. “Why is this so hard to cut?” Bite finally freed, she stabbed it with her fork, astonished at the strangely tough exterior. “I suppose I should taste this first.”

Morgan melted into all of Deirdre’s words and touches so readily she had to stop herself from mewling out loud and climbing into her girlfriend’s lap so they could be as close as she wanted. “I don’t want you to miss out on anything, I want to feel things with you and be...alive. Somehow, just a little more. I don’t want to be where you’re not either, I just don’t know how,” she whispered, clinging to Deirdre as much as she could. If she squeezed enough, she could get the right sense of Deirdre’s back and shoulders, she could press back enough to feel her forehead. “But I am so happy that you are here, and your world is alive. I can’t tell you how much I’ve been wanting that for you, my love. It doesn’t feel like it’s as much as you deserve, I want you to have more, I am so happy that you have this.” She had just hoped that they would be able to inhabit that world together. When Deirdre kissed her she returned with even more fire and longing. She could at least pull and suck and pinch hard enough to be brought a little closer to life. “I love you too, with all I am,” she whispered, feeling lightheaded as they parted.

She was so entranced by Deirdre’s face, the gentleness in her eyes, the devotion in her smile. There was no doubting her sincerity, not after the year they’d had and the honesty they nurtured between each other, but it still seemed like a strange violation of universal order that this love in all its tender, articulate wonder could be hers. So entranced, in fact, that she didn’t realize that Deirdre was about to put the tamale into her mouth, corn husk and all, until she asked. “Oh!” Morgan startled herself out of her crying. “Babe, no, let me help.” She took the fork and prised off the shredded husk and popped the piece into her mouth. The texture was soft and familiar, even hot, still, despite how long they’d spent talking and crying and gathering interested stares. Morgan unwrapped the rest of the tamale from the husk and laid it out. “The husk is just part of how it’s cooked and served. You don’t eat it, babe. Although you could re-wrap the tamale in it and inch it down as you eat, but that’s more trouble than what it’s worth.” She leaned over and kissed the corner of Deirdre’s mouth, right where she smiled. “But when you try the shrimp tacos, I’m gonna have to insist that you eat them with your hands the way the good mother of earth intended.”

She watched as Morgan unwrapped the food, staring at the revealed insides. That would make more sense, she figured, and chewed the piece Morgan offered her. The flavour was new, but the texture was nice, pie-like, even. “I’ve never had food that required stripping first. It seems like a—“ Deirdre was going to call it a hassle. But then she chewed. Wordlessly, she cut another bite off and brought it to her mouth. She chewed, and swallowed, and went in for another again. “This is good,” she breathed. She hadn’t been expecting bad food, but she hadn’t really been hoping for much at all. She swallowed another bite, eventually putting down her utensils—as if they got in the way of her explanation. “No, this is really good. I—“ Her eyes drifted to the tacos; Morgan had made those a few times, and so she was no real stranger to them. But she had always tried to eat them with a fork and knife. It was how her family had raised her to eat; her mother didn’t like using her hands to eat, she said it was barbarian, like the humans. There was some superiority woven into using a knife to cut into toast, instead of doing what was logical and grabbing it with her hands. But that was her mother, of course. And she wasn’t here. “Right. With my hands. Like how you’re supposed to eat it.” But she’d only just gotten used to eating pizza with her hands. Deirdre contorted her hand awkwardly above the plate, alternating between various claw shapes as she tried to guess at what would be the best way to pick one up without spilling everything inside. “The only thing I’ve really eaten with my hands is fruit, and then only because I plucked it off branches, and it’d be odd to bring a fork outside. But meals, real meals, were always a fork thing. My family enjoys their etiquette.” Which, though she had explained to Morgan once before in less words, she felt like it might absolve her from embarrassment at her display of confusion at the taco. “Which was weird—“ she gave up and turned to the drink instead. “Because all other fae I knew were a lot more wild in their dining habits; they lived in the forest. It’s like my family wanted to be better than everyone, even their own community.” The piña colada was good, naturally. And bolstered by its sweet flavour, she finally picked up a taco and bit into it. “This is also good.” By the time she finished it, her smile had doubled in size.

“What I was trying to say…” Deirdre began, eager to get the words out before the food distracted her again, and it was very distracting food. “...was that I don’t want to be something else for you to lose. I know I can’t help it in some regards but...as long as you want me, Morgan. I imagine I can do that. Even if that’s more than 500 years, I could find a way to stay. If you wanted me to.” And no longer able to ignore the call of tacos and tamales, she dug back into the food.

Morgan dabbed at her eyes as Deirdre went on, occasionally shooting a wave or a thumbs up at a spectator from the surrounding tables. The attention always made them self conscious, and by the time Deirdre had her first proper bite of a taco, the world had rendered them invisible once again.

She itched to take her banshee into her arms and kiss her greasy fingers and carry her off to bed, but the surprising joy in Deirdre’s smile stopped her. Deirdre’s smile was always a little mischievous, whether it was tender or impish, there was a little curve in the corner that hid just how wide it might stretch, like a delicious secret. Even when Morgan made her laugh by surprise, that curve stayed coiled up. But now Deirdre’s smile spread like it had an appetite of its own. Looking at Deirdre enjoy her plate was like seeing her face new. “I guess this means we’ll have to make our own table rules and split the difference,” Morgan said. “I wouldn’t mind picking fruit with you sometime. You must know all the best spots back home.”

Morgan couldn’t help but reach for her banshee as she gave her reassurances. Even more than five hundred years. Even as long as Morgan might last on the face of the earth, Deirdre would wait until they might be together. When Deirdre paused to wipe her mouth between bites, Morgan took her face between her hands instead and kissed her, firm and steady as a promise. “I won’t hold you to that, if only because there’s a chance I’ll never stop wanting you, however many years I last. But thank you.” Kissed her again. “Thank you, my love. Now come with me. I know just the place I want to save with you.”

The bookstore was an hour away from midtown. Morgan cruised through the eight lane freeway with ease, slipping off and taking the quieter back roads when she sensed traffic getting heavy without distress or comment. The night sky blazed orange with light. Even when they’d left the construction zones and the sentinel lines of streetlights on 290, every grocery store, shopping center, and movie-plex had its own cluster of lamps blasting away the shadows. The commercial strip Morgan took them to was small, with no lights save for the ones inside and two flickering orange poles from the city. The names of the shops were all painted on the windows and awning, personal and to the point: Kelly’s Tea Room, Macey Family Fitness, Acre Wood Hunting Supply. The one Morgan parked in front of was named Twice Told Tales.

Like any good second hand bookstore, the charm of Twice Told Tales was in the mess. Wooden shelves, clumsily constructed, bowed and slumped against the walls, their over-stuffed shelves dribbling paperbacks out the middle. They looked like sleeping old men whose shirts had come loose. Toys from the children’s section at the back corner littered the floor: plush dolls and generic blocks from the dollar store, mostly, with the occasional donated Disney princess or superhero action figure, fists raised, ready to light up as soon as you stepped on them. There was an old fashioned bell rigged to the door, chiming happily as they entered. Morgan laced her fingers through Deirdre’s hand and started weaving through the shelves on her old route, fiction first, then fantasy and science fiction, then romance, then the children’s corner, and back up through science, math, and then art and art history. There was no one else shopping and the woman who ran the store was nowhere to be seen, probably doing office work in the back, but Morgan kept her voice hushed all the same, as if she might shatter the place if she spoke too loudly.

“See, my family had this idea to conserve the energy we put out into the world as a family as much as possible. I thought it was because they valued being intentional with your actions, a lot, but it was probably just a way of trying to minimize the curse. Like, how much can you suffer if you don’t have that much going for or against you, right? The answer turned out to be ‘still a lot’, but they tried. And, anyway, the part that affected me was no buying books new. Or many books in the first place. Fortunately inter-library loans are a thing so I wasn’t completely deprived or anything, but getting to have a book I got to love and keep for as long as possible was a…stars, ‘treat’ doesn’t cover how excited I was. Yes, it was a special occasion, only a few times in the year. Birthday and Yule, and maybe one more time if I could prove and argue that I had been really, really good and had earned it and swore up and down not to let it become too much of a distraction.” Morgan sighed, her eyes reflecting the streetlamps like tiny stars full of wishes. “One of the books was Anne of Green Gables, I remember it because the copy was leather bound and there was this incredible, full color illustration of Avonlea inside and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I’d bring the book to bed with me just to look at the picture and imagine being there. Literally falling asleep with my head on the cover. And I got that one, and any other books from that period of time here and… Frankie!” A young looking tabby, about Moira’s size, leapt down from its roost on a shelf and presented itself for them. Meowing so calmly, it seemed to be offering customer service. “It’s not the same Frankie I knew, obviously, but the lady here just keeps adopting tabby’s and naming them the same.” She looked up at Deirdre, giving her hand a squeeze. Was she really here with her? Did she feel how special this place was? Did she like it?

“I’d like it if you never stopped wanting me, I hope you won’t. Because there’s a good chance I won’t stop wanting you either.” Deirdre smiled softly. The food was done, delicious to the late bite, and she welcomed the Houston night air into her lungs. She didn’t know where they were going, she never really did. But it wouldn’t have mattered if she knew the place by heart or in casual passing, her excitement bubbled and overflowed like milk in a pot. Her version of simmering down was trying to read road signs as they blurred past. Morgan drove like she was going home, even in White Crest there was still some double-checking of street names, trying to decide if it was a left or right turn. She peeled off the giant freeway into an exit Deirdre hadn’t even noticed, though she had occupied herself with softly commenting every odd observation—some witty, some nonsensical, some common sense. She wasn’t so much talking to Morgan as she was letting her brain run loose. Beyond them, her pot continued to boil.

For all that she imagined of the place, their destination was better. Their destination was always better. Her eyes danced over every book spine, every dusty shelf. She almost wanted to tell Morgan to walk slower, she needed to commit it all to memory first. She needed to think about where Morgan stood before, what books she touched, and if they were still here for her to run her fingers over. In her awe and excitement, she hadn’t even remembered the name of the establishment. They should go back out, and come back in, let her revel in the chime of the door. How many times did it jingle for Morgan? Could she know? The store was cramped, every inch filled with something. She thought of the massive freeway, and tried to figure how many of these stores could fit in there. Then she listened. She looked to Morgan, and then back around the store. Between the shelves, did a younger Morgan skip with excitement through the sections? Did she look up, brows furrowed in concentration as she tried to pick out the perfect book—the best book. If she only got just one, it had to be good, didn’t it? But how could she pick, faced with options that literally fell off the shelves for her. Deirdre imagined Ruth in the corner, impatiently tapping her foot. Or maybe it was Hector, as excited as his daughter. Did he pick titles off the shelves that he thought his daughter would like? Did he marvel at how something so simple, so inconsequential, sparked such innocent excitement in her? Did he feel guilty? Deirdre turned back to Morgan, just quick enough to catch the expression on her face. Guilt, she decided. He could have made a world where she made that face all the time. Deirdre felt herself wanting to herself, she couldn’t imagine anyone feeling any different. What monsters those creatures must be, that would ever deny Morgan this.

Frankie interrupted them, which was all the better for Deirdre, who knew her eyes were watering. She laughed shakily, turning her head to hide a sniffle. “You’re so happy,” she sniffled again, trying to cover this one up with a cough as she met Morgan’s eyes. “It’s the most beautiful sight.” She greeted it with a kiss, as if thanking her lips for smiling. And another kiss to her temple; for her eyes, which glittered with brilliance. And then another, to her lips again, simply because she enjoyed kissing Morgan and wanted one more. She reached out slowly to the orange cat with a soft smile, letting it sniff her fingers. “I like Frankie,” she proclaimed, the cat hadn’t done anything in particular to earn such praise, but Deirdre had long since forgotten that she wasn’t supposed to like animals. Whatever happened in White Crest, whoever she was there, whatever she was under the thumb of rules, it was as if that woman’s skin had been lifted off her shoulders. She felt free, happy. “So I have Anne of the Green Gables to thank for the fact you’ve read the same old books I have.” Though Morgan had read more, obviously. “How did you pick books out?” She asked finally, pulling one off the shelf for herself, knowing she’d never be able to stuff that thing back in. She flipped through its slightly worn pages; someone had dog-eared a passage, and Deirdre stopped to look at it, wanting to know what someone thought was special there. “There’s so many books,” she continued, “how did you pick? Was it the prettiest cover? Did you read a couple of pages tucked away in the corner?” Show me, she was asking, in much more words. She wanted to know. She wanted the place where Morgan was happy, and the only problem she had was picking a good book, she wanted that world to be the one they knew best—like a full-color illustration of Avonlea. She wanted the gentle strokes, the soft greens, the wide fields and the old-fashioned house that always looked warm and cozy. She wanted to say they could have that. “My mother always thought second-hand books were tacky. Like the humans didn’t even care enough to keep them in the first place. The books I got from that antique store were all previously owned, just like everything else in there. That, itself, was a story. When it was replaced with a bookstore, even if I spent my time there, I never wanted to take a book home.” For various reasons, some that included an angry mother, hateful of personal possessions, others that could be summed up by the dog-eared corner that she pointed to. “People do care, don’t they?”

Morgan wiped Deirdre’s cheek and took her hands once again. “I am unspeakably, dangerously happy,” she said. Laughter bounced on the edge of her lips as she kissed her back. “It’s this place. And maybe a little bit you. Or a lot a bit you.” Frankie padded over to them and brushed against Deirdre’s legs, giving them a polite meow of inquiry again. Morgan scratched the cat’s ears and let it get a sniff of her, beaming as it purred and asked the same as Deirdre. “Frankie likes you too, I think. There’s something about bookstore cats, they just know how to develop an excellent sense of character. Maybe it’s the place.This is a room where things that are lost or unwanted go to belong together and find new homes. It feels nice because anything can have a space here, even people, just by turning up. I think people who don’t get that are just missing out. People do care, yeah…” Her voice trailed off in a whisper, awed and thrilled by the wonder bubbling up in Deirdre. The emptiness and the drab fluorescent lights and the cheap peeling tile under their feet transformed themselves just by being reflected in her face.

Morgan came back to herself with a sheepish grin. “If I can tear you away from your new best friend Frankie, I’d like to show you how I picked out my books….” She reeled her tight into her side and laid their hands against one another, hers on top, guiding it toward the spines. She walked them back to the front of her path, in generic fiction and literature, and hopped onto her toes to steal another kiss. “So, it may be shallow, but I did, to a certain extent, look at their covers. But I also--don’t laugh--tried to feel them. Their textures, their softness, but also their energy. I’d look, and I’d brush my fingers along the spines, up and down and zig-zagging to make sure I got the ones turned sideways too.” She guided Deirdre’s hand as she spoke, teaching her fingertips how to glide over the different shapes and sizes. “I knew I had something promising when my eyes and my hands aligned. Like when you look at someone you love, when you spark inside. If the energy is right, it feels like that, but quiet, it’s just a possibility of that, there’s something inside that wants to become a part of you, but you don’t know if you want it back yet. So then, and only then, I’d pick it out and read a few pages.” She looked at the shelves around them and the steady path of Deirdre’s fingers, and back to her love again. “What feels good to you, Deirdre?”

Deirdre put her book down, she felt guilty for not slipping it back in its place for a moment before her worries—big and small—were swept away by Morgan. “Oh, my love,” she laughed, kneeling down to give Frankie better attention. She was rewarded with the cat weaving between her legs. “You said that about the shelter cats too.” She glanced up, beaming. “And those strays that followed us around that one day. And, just about any animal we come across together.” It occurred to her then that Morgan had never really been speaking to the wisdom of the animals, but of Deirdre’s character. She flushed, and continued to dote on the taby. “But maybe it’s this place. I like this place.” It smelt questionable, like dust and books and something kind of like mold—maybe a byproduct of the Houston humidity. It looked like it’d been robbed; upturned, downturned, spread out like a sloppy storage room. The walls, shelves and floor were as worn as the books. And yet, charming. It wasn’t carelessness that led this store to its current state. It was worn by touch and love, claimed by time, plagued by too many treasures to fit between its shelves. It did need a little saving, a little fixing up, then it’d be just right.

“Mm, I don’t know. Frankie and I are getting along so great.” Her lips curled with mischief, easily awash with eagerness at Morgan’s offer. Even she couldn’t keep up her teasing under the promise to be shown—led—into Morgan’s world. “Okay,” she brushed herself off and stood up. “Show me.” Deirdre smiled and listened. “I’m no witch though. The only energies I feel are death, and I’m not so sure I want to pick a haunted book…” Now, one with a bone stuck between the pages would be nice, but human bookstores usually didn’t offer that. Though she didn’t think it would work for her, she followed Morgan’s steps. She imagined herself as the little girl, beyond excited to have something of her own. What would she pick? Her fingers brushed over the spines of dozens of books; soft, smooth, wrinkled. Some with indented titles, carved into their covers. Others with the embossed kind, some with glitter. All of them wanted attention from her, not unlike the threads of death she could feel at a cemetery. The glory of stories was that she could tug on any one, and be led into something new and exciting—a different world. Books and visions had that in common. So, she waited, she ran her fingers carefully along more books, considering each one. What feels good to you, Deirdre? She paused, fingers pressed to the spine of a humble book. Its title was not long or flashy, not indented or embossed. The book was not thick, though not so small it got lost sandwiched between larger company. What stood out to her most was where her fingers had landed: they obscured the rest of the title, leaving only a red M. There was only ever one thing that felt good to her, every time, without fail. The book was unassuming, but Deirdre grinned as though she found treasure. She pulled the book from its place, flipping it over in her hands so she could look at the cover. From there, she knew she’d chosen the right one. “She looks like you,” Deirdre commented, tilting the book to show Morgan the little girl on the cover. She had brown hair, a blue dress and stack of books, sitting as though she knew more about the world than she ought to—possessed of great, Morgan-esque quality. “Matilda,” Deirdre read. “This one feels good.” Good felt like Morgan, after all.

Morgan squeezed Deirdre as she picked out her treasure and melted with delight just looking at it. “She looks like you,” Morgan said. “Straight hair, dark eyes, and so rapturous and intense in her expression. It’s kinda like your face right now.” She brushed her fingers over Deirdre’s features as she spoke, caressing each corresponding piece of evidence to her argument. Confident she’d made her point, she jumped up to kiss her girlfriend’s cheek again. “Matilda had to hide her books from her parents too, you know. They didn’t appreciate how kind or thoughtful she was, so she--” Morgan caught herself, biting her lip. “If you don’t know the story yet, I won’t steal the satisfaction of the ending from you. But it’s good. My copy was a lot more heavily used than this one, practically falling apart, but it was one of my favorite books growing up. I actually committed myself to learning levitation spells because I wanted to be just like her. And you know--” she brushed her hands over the book cover. “I can feel the good vibes from this book too, even like this. Come on.” She rushed them to the counter and rang the service bell, fighting back delighted giggles. “Hello! Mrs. Benson!”

The woman who came out the back was decidedly not Mrs. Benson. She was around Morgan’s age, with a suburban mom bob and clear frame glasses. “Can I help you?”

“O-oh.” Morgan’s smile fractured and she thanked the universe for her lack of blood flow. “I just um...we’re ready to check out, if that’s okay. I’m sorry I yelled I just, I used to come here a lot. I didn’t know Mrs. Benson super well, and I guess she had to retire eventually, but she was a really nice old lady and I was just hoping to say hi or something.”

The woman’s face broke into a laugh. “Morgan the Gorgon! I’m sorry, that’s so inappropriate of me, but it’s you, right? It’s me, Shelley! We had Chem together!”

While Morgan remembered that name being chanted at her as she was chased down the stairwell and pelted with cans and paper balls, she didn’t remember Shelley, exactly. Was she and academic rival? Had she been someone Morgan had tried to impress with tarot readings and custom crystals? The high school girls blurred together, and the innocence of that time mingled with the pain, like indigestion flaring up in your throat after swallowing a cheesecake. “Hey!” She said. “How--wild! Seeing you here! What made you pick up the torch for this old place?”

“Well, my mother, bless her heart, doesn’t have a head for business, but the last thing Memaw wanted was for the only used book place out here to get bought up or disappear. Lucky for me, I managed to learn a thing or two from her before she passed.”

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Morgan murmured.

Shelley scoffed. “She’s smiling down from heaven at us. I mean look at us. Look at you! That’s a high fallutent city girl if I ever saw one. Both of you!” She reached out to take Deirdre’s hand and shake it, reintroducing herself as if the last minute didn’t count on account of not being personable enough. “Memaw would be so pleased,” she went on. “You were her favorite of all the regular kids.” Shelley nodded towards an exposed wooden post filled with polaroids and printed pictures of smiling children through the ages. Only two had managed to get frames on them, one that was clearly a younger shelley, posing with her grandmother, and one that made Morgan gasp: unmistakably her. She clutched Deirdre’s arm tight. The girl in the picture was so cringingly embarrassed, not just at the occasion (The Best Reader of the Year award, which amounted to a cheaply printed certificate from Office Max and a free book) but at her own happiness. The promise of a free book, a gift that had been earned in the structure of rules and work had filled her with so much excitement. It was as certain as a spell. Better, even, because she hadn’t even needed to believe, she just had to max out her library card reading more than the other kids and report everything to Mrs. Benson. It didn’t occur to her until she saw the apathetic faces in the gathering that this wasn’t a very enviable achievement. But by then it was too late, and however much she tried to stay aloof as the other eleven and twelve year olds, she failed, miserably. “That’s me,” she whispered. “Deirdre, it’s me.”

“Simpler times, huh?”

Morgan nodded, her attention still stuck on the picture. The attempts to make a slightly oversize shirt look cool, the sweatshirt tied around her waist, the permanent stains on her thrift store jeans. It was all so wrong and brought her so much trouble then, but from here, she just looked like a child. A girl still growing, twisting herself crooked trying to get something right.

“Would you like this gift wrapped or anything, ladies?” Shelley asked.

“But that sounds like you,” Deirdre argued with a soft whine. She eyed the cover again, unable to see anyone but Morgan, with her books, underappreciated for all the intelligence and kindness that existed within her. But Deirdre’s argument leapt out of her in a yelp before it had formed, swept away by Morgan. She laughed her surprise, placing the book on the counter. Though she’d been reading more with Morgan around, she had never felt excited to read a book she picked out since she was a child. She ran her fingers along the fraying edges and thumbed the pages. In a different world, she might have been embarrassed to be reading a children’s book. In this one, she was thrilled. Deirdre bounced on her heels, grinning as she waited.

Her smile gave way to one more tense, more confused. No one told her what a Memaw was, but she managed to put it together herself. She shook Shelley’s hand, momentarily considering snapping a finger for her revisiting of a clearly tasteless nickname, and introduced herself quickly. “Deirdre,” she managed, before Shelley was off to the next thing. Her eyes followed Morgan’s, and Deirdre nearly forgave her for mentioning the gorgon thing. “It’s you,” she whispered back, reaching up to pluck the picture off its nail. Matilda was fine in her cartoon form with her long hair and book pile, but this was the real Morgan. Deirdre’s grin grew back. “Can we get a copy of this?” She asked, interrupting Shelley. “Or keep it, I suppose.” She turned to Morgan, asking silently for her opinion. “It’d be nice if Morgan could be up on that wall forever, reigning over all the other children. But original photos have a particular charm.” She continued to smile at her girlfriend, held close to her. “What do you think?” She whispered, exhibiting great restraint in simply squeezing her arm instead of kissing her like she wanted. There was another question, about how much exactly Shelley should know about their relationship, or if Deirdre should make it a point that she came out of this interaction thinking they were just really good friends. “Don’t worry about gift wrapping it,” she finally addressed Shelley’s question, leaning across the counter. “I did want to ask something about, hm, donations.” Her eyes trailed over the peeling tile, the chipping paint, the books overflowing into disorganized stacks. Then it settled on the emptiness; book stores were not the most popular visit during the night, but she could almost reason it wasn’t the most popular visit full stop. “For the store.” She offered Shelley a bright, winning smile. “If Morgan wanted to put something forth, in her name. She could do that, couldn’t she?”

“If you want it it’s yours!” Shelley said. “All the kids in those pictures are old like us or moved away. Not much to appreciate. And I’m running out of room for the new kids…” Shelley went on longer, explaining who these children were and how often they came and what her ideas were for posting their pictures, but Morgan didn’t hear. She picked up the framed photograph, fingers brushing over her frizzy hair and her sloppy oversize shirt tucked into her stiff jeans. She didn’t wear grunge well, but at least the 90’s were kind to her Goodwill wardrobe.

“Thank you, Shelley,” she said. She tucked herself close to Deirdre, leaning her head on her arm as she broached the subject of donations. “We would,” Morgan tacked on. “It could be anonymous, of course, but what my girlfriend is trying to say is that we would like to give you something toward keeping this place open for another generation or two, and maybe even a facelift, or a more advantageous location?”

Shelley’s eyes widened at the mention of girlfriend, but Morgan forgave her when she didn’t comment. Shelley gestured to a donation jar, admirably half full but not exactly promising for the long term. “We’re always accepting donations at Twice Told Tales. Check is fine, if you, uh, ladies are feeling extra generous.”

“Perfect!” Morgan said. “But what would it take, do you think? Would sixty thousand help you guys out? Or a hundred thousand?”

Shelley blanched, trying to figure out if Morgan was being serious. “Are you...Well, it would certainly go a long way, a very...if mean, if you’re serious, then...I could check the books and give you a more comprehensive estimate, but I couldn’t possibly…”

“We’ll start with the book--” Morgan fished seven dollars out of her wallet and handed it to the woman. “Keep the change. And I’ll set you up with a hundred thousand now, and you can email me about what’s best for the store.” Morgan happily wrote out a check and stuffed it into the jar. “And, well,” Morgan looked hesitantly at Deirdre, trying to ask for her approval in advance, “If you don’t mind, babe, I’d like a plaque or something, with both our names on it. You can call us donors or patrons, I don’t really care, but I want people who come in here to think of Deirdre too when they think of this place.” She stuffed the check in the jar. “Can we make it a deal? A little extra funding for the store in exchange for its continued upkeep and care, along with a little recognition?” Her eyes flitted to Deirdre again, adding emphasis on the deal. They could make this different. They could make this one good thing stick, and for once, a legacy didn’t have to be something shrouded in pain and suffering.

“We?” Deirdre blinked, eyeing Morgan. She didn’t correct her, or argue, but in her silence she asked if that was okay, if Morgan was sure. This place was special to her, and it would be kept alive through her kindness. Deirdre thought herself an accessory, at best. But when Morgan didn’t correct herself, Deirdre stood up straighter and nodded. “We would,” she repeated, and pressed a kiss to Morgan’s temple as she so desired. If Shelley had any real issue with it, she certainly couldn’t after their hefty donations—and maybe that was a justice of its own sort. “Think of…” her voice caught, and she looked at Morgan for the second time with confusion. “A-a plaque would be nice,” she swallowed. Nervous not because she disagreed, but because the generosity of it, the thoughtfulness, had made her heart warm in a way that always startled her. “If that’s good to you, Shelley.” She smiled, “it sounds perfect to me.” All she had on her was a few hundred she planned on paying for the food with, and so she simply stuffed that into the jar, careful to avoid the cheque. Her gaze fluttered to the different places their plaque could lay; on the wall where the picture once was, by the door, in the corner where people would wander to read. They would know this place was special, if they didn’t get that already. They would know two women cared deeply about it. This place was good already, it didn’t need their money for that. But it would be better because of them, and it wouldn’t face financial struggle in a way so many other businesses fell victim. They could leave good in their wake. “You know, Shelley the smelly—” Deirdre grinned; and maybe some petty revenge too. “Did they ever call you that in highschool? Terrible name, really. Anyways, I know you have a lot of great ideas for this store. So why don’t you figure out how much they all cost and we’d be glad to finance them. The next time you visit your grandmother, will you put some extra flowers in for us too? Tell her we said thank you? I know she’s already been able to rest easy with her store in such good hands.” Her gaze raked one last time over the tiles, the walls, the shelves and the messy books; whenever they returned, there was no telling what this place would look like. Her heart throbbed for the scenery to be lost, but not all loss was bad. Some of it was merely change—like the tides of life and death.

Deirdre pulled closer to Morgan. They could save something, they could make it good, and she kissed her girlfriend, free. She repeated, “do we have a deal, Shelley?”

Shelly nodded, stammering out her agreement. She was so stunned, the dig at her name didn’t even phase her. “Yes, that’s, sounds great. Deal!” She didn’t have any sense for the magic threads wrapping around her words or the delight that burned through Morgan as the agreement was sealed.

“You’re a good woman, Shelley,” Morgan said. “Thank you for letting us help. You take care now, alright?” Her voice drawled softly as she picked up the old parlance of her childhood. She spared Shelley one more smile, more than a little satisfied with her own magnanimousness. She left on Deirdre’s arm, keeping her cool sense of superiority until they got back to the car. When they were safely inside, Morgan took Deirdre’s face in her hands and kissed her hard. “I love you. Thank you for doing that with me. I know it’s just one little store, but it’s part of my home now it’s a little bit mine and a little bit yours too. Something good is ours. Not the worst way to end the night, right? How do you feel…?”

“Thank you for sharing it with me,” Deirdre breathed as they parted. “You didn’t have to, but I’m so glad you did. It’s a special place, it really is.” She reached for Morgan’s hands, eager to take them in her own, tight in her grip. “I feel happy,” she confessed, unafraid of what it meant. To them, happiness was a dangerous thing, even as often as they felt it. They knew how easily it could be taken from them, how the robbing of it could come disguised as righteousness. But there, right then, Deirdre was happy despite it all. If Ruth was somewhere, scowling at her daughter for such flagrant displays of selfish delight, Deirdre hoped she could see how much they didn’t care. “Thank you,” she repeated, “for everything, for all of tonight. For bringing me to the restaurant, for showing me this store...for letting me come along for this trip, even. I’ve loved seeing your home, Morgan.” She grinned, reluctant to part but aware that at some point, they really had to get back to their hotel. Not for rest, but because there was love she simply couldn’t share stuffed at the front of their rental. “Fates, I’d be fine if you had more planned, but I’d really like to take you back to the hotel…” She leaned across and kissed Morgan earnestly, in a way she thought might make Shelley blush if they were still inside. Parted, she grinned with a tease. “...to do some chaste reading.” She waved their new-old copy of Matilda around. “And to make love to you, either-or.” Deirdre leaned back into her seat, gripping Morgan’s hand. Whatever laid beyond them, and back home in White Crest, they’d done good here. And with luck, they could do good elsewhere. A legacy that was more than loss and pain was suddenly something Deirdre wanted, and something else she felt like she could have. She had Morgan to thank for that, she had Morgan to thank for a lot of things. “I love you,” she smiled; for now, those three words would have to carry the weight of it.

#the best little pit-stops in texas #wr deirdre #wr chatzy #wr deirdre chatzy #wickedswriting

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dopescotlandwarrior · 4 years

Text

The Dancer-Chapter One

Also on AO3 A special thanks to @ Statell for all your help

Chapter One

Claire spun on the balls of her bare feet, over and over, feeling the veils slide across her sweaty face. Breathing rhythmically to avoid panting so her stomach remained quiet and smooth. She powered through the remaining spins to the gasps of the students watching. Coming out of her spins her body slowed to a half-beat. Pulling the veil up to her face, she looked at the students with an invitation for sultry romance making every female uncomfortable. Claire’s hips twitched independently to the music as she entered the last part of the dance. Body undulating, chest pressing against the skimpy fabric covering her nipples. Ten spins with the veils trailing around her and she dropped to the ground and stopped.

The class of women cheered for her and Claire stood to bow. She ran to the backroom to wipe the stinging sweat out of her eyes before dropping eyewash in each. The instructor gave a hug from behind and congratulated her on her performance.

“That was absolutely wonderful Claire! It is so impressive what you have learned! I am very confident in recommending you to one of my clients if you are ready.”

Claire stared at the woman with wide eyes. This is unexpected, she thought, it must be too soon for an actual job belly dancing. She looked dubiously at the instructor.

“You are ready darling. Think about it and let me know. One of the clients has an opening three nights a week. It’s a good place to start if you want it.” She hugged Claire again and left her to dress.

Piling the veils and costume into her bag, Claire emerged from the studio with a clean washed face, beige pantsuit, and sensible shoes. She was late returning from lunch due to her final performance and her head was getting crowded with rival emotions. Exhilaration that she finally finished the last level offered by the studio and sadness she was leaving after six years.

Claire unlocked the door to her book store and ran inside. It was a character flaw to be late to work and she would chastise herself for the rest of the afternoon. She smiled at incoming customers taking a double-take at the man behind them.

He had been to the shop twice before. He was handsome and tall, hard not to notice. He had asked her for a novel, newly added to the New York Times bestseller list. She apologized and offered to order it for him. There just wasn’t room to stock every bestseller in her little shop and she wasn’t likely to displace her lovely antique collections for the latest steamy, here today, gone tomorrow, fiction. He approached the front register.

“I ordered a book last week,” he said smiling. Has it come in yet? My name is Jamie Fraser.”

She let her gaze fall on the most incredible blue eyes that held his smile with a tinge of mischief. His order was already there but Claire turned too quickly knocking over a display of cards next to the register. A very unladylike sound came out of her as she bent to pick them all up. Piling them on the counter she ran to the back for the man’s order.

Claire could feel her humiliation spread across her cheeks as she took a deep breath.

“Jesus H Roosevelt Christ,” was uttered under her breath. Why did she always lose it when a good-looking man talked to her. She felt hopelessly unnerved by him and tried to steady her mind.

“Sorry about the mess I just caused.”

The man had put the cards back into the display and smiled at his accomplishment. Claire felt the shaking that started in her calves, slowly work its way up and lunged for the register before she was quaking with anxiety. Handing the bag to the man she tried to smile and thanked him for the help. She turned and walked quickly to the back room before he could ask her for anything else.

Hearing the bell on the shop door, she exhaled a long-held breath and felt her tension ease immediately. Maybe her doctor was right about therapy. She hated the idea but life was getting intolerable for her, except when she danced. Claire checked the tiny mirror on the wall and went back to cleaning shelves.

The following week she met with the owner of a Greek restaurant who was looking for a belly dancer to entertain customers while they dined. He looked at her beige clothing and pinned up hair and she could see the doubt in his eyes.

“You come highly recommended by the studio and I don’t want to hurt feelings, but I can’t see a good fit here.”

Claire stood up straight and looked him in the eye before responding.

“I look different when I dance.”

She nervously pushed her hair behind her ears and tried to smile.

“Okay. Let’s give the pretty girl a chance,” he said. “You dance at noon tomorrow and I will watch. Then we talk some more, okay?”

Claire shook his hand gratefully and smiled her thanks before running out of the restaurant. She was thrilled to have the chance to dance in front of people and started thinking about which costume to wear as she reached for her phone.

“Geillis! I have an audition tomorrow at the new Greek restaurant, to dance!”

Geillis was her bestie and had Claire’s best interest at heart. She hadn’t seen her dance because the studio didn’t allow the public to watch the classes. She was doubtful her friend could muster the sex appeal to arouse anyone under eighty years old, but she pushed herself to be excited and encouraging.

“Well, look at you, a professional dancer now! Need any help getting ready? I can bring dinner in a bucket tonight.”

“Yes! Please do. I have a new costume I want to wear, and the skirt is too long. You can help me cut it. It won’t take any time at all. You are a lifesaver Geillis.”

In Geillis’s mind, she saw a floor-length prairie skirt the pilgrims sported and wondered if this was a good idea. She saw Claire’s belly dancing as a misguided attempt to break out of her frumpiness. An avenue to a more exciting life as seen in a movie perhaps. Geillis rolled her eyes at the doomed evening ahead.

Claire pushed away from the table. “Oh my God, I am probably too stuffed with chicken to fit into my costume Geillis, but it sure was tasty.” Claire stood to remove the paper plates and bucket.

“Get yer costume on and let’s get this over with, aye?”

Claire was too excited to catch the tone of her friend's sentence and ran to the bedroom pulling on a bright blue skirt and attached pantie with three layers of transparent silk. She pulled the hip scarf around her with three lines of metal charms making the most beautiful sound when bumping into each other. Next was the bra top that fit tightly, hugging her skin right below her breasts. It too was adorned with metal baubles. Claire held the skirt up as she walked into the living room and to her gaping friend.

“What’s wrong with you Geillis.”

Geillis stared at Claire’s stomach and the panties that were dangerously low and v-shaped showing her long torso, taught, sinewy, and devoid of fat. When she walked, her thighs would peek out from the veils in the skirt, muscular, thin, and shapely.

“Jesus Christ, Claire. I’m lookin at a different person right now. I canna get over ye look so different. It’s remarkable.”

Claire gave her a shimmy with her shoulders followed by hips twitching making the baubles bounce.

“I wear a wig and lots of makeup when I dance so I don’t look like this at all. When we finish the skirt, I have to practice and make sure the length is right. I’ll show you some moves if you like.”

The two women talked about the skirt length and Geillis pinned the front panel allowing Claire to take it off. Geillis was shocked at the change in her friend when she put on that costume. Like doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde she thought and giggled to herself. Geillis decided she would risk the wrath of her employer to see Claire dance tomorrow and had no idea what to expect.

When the two women first met, Claire was already a student of belly dancing and it was mentioned in passing on several occasions, like a hobby. Geillis was instantly taken with Claire, her nerdy personality was endearing, not to mention ego-boosting because Geillis had no social awkwardness. Taking Claire under her wing, they became best friends. No amount of encouragement and exposure to the Edinburgh social scene seemed to make any difference in Claire. Geillis was defeated at trying to change her friend and gave up, to just enjoy Claire as she was. Tonight showed Claire in stark contrast to the mousy bookseller.

“There, that’s the last panel. Go put in on, with… all the rest of the costume. I think ye promised me a sample dance.”

Claire dashed back to her bedroom. This time she wore the wig and her black curls tumbled to her waist. She called to Geillis to turn out all but one side table lamp and push play on her recorder.

Claire pressed her back into the door jam and raised her arms above her head crossing her wrists like she was tied up. Her fabulous abs undulated and she pushed away from the door twirling in circles with the layers of her skirt flying around her. She shimmied into body rolls followed by numerous spins, her hips bounced to the music and Geiliis was transfixed. Claire could move her body like she had never seen.

Later, Claire said goodbye to Geillis, who was clearly impressed and dropped into bed. It was ten-thirty, a half-hour past her bedtime, and she fell asleep totally pissed off with herself.

The next morning, she shoved her costume into a gym bag and turned the front door key of the bookshop at exactly eight o’clock sharp. The day was looking promising and Claire could not wait until noon when she would dance for her new job.

Across town, Jamie Fraser sat at the head of a long conference table where the board was meeting for a final review of their shared endeavor. Each person had a report in front of them and asked Jamie questions about the owner of the local bookstore.

“Dinna fash, she is mostly antique books and collections. Not likely to clash with our inventory. I have visited three times and she doesna even stock the best sellers. No threat to us gentlemen.

Claire entered the restaurant from a back door that led right into the dressing room. She hung her costume and started getting ready. The eyelashes were a challenge with her shaking hands, but they eventually found purchase just above her own lashes.

The doubtful owner knocked and entered, looking for her. He regretted offering this audition. His restaurant was too new to bear up to ridicule and he wanted to back out any way possible. When his eyes landed on Claire, he was relieved. Apparently, the studio sent another student for him, and this one definitely looked the part.

“Hello pretty lady, I am Omar, this is my restaurant.”

Claire looked at him thinking he must be daft since they met yesterday. She smiled and approached him.

“We met yesterday sir and you offered me a test dance, I think you called it.”

“We did? Oh! Is that you in there? Pardon me for being an old man with a terrible memory. You look very different.”

“Are we still on for a dance then?”

“Yes, yes. Are you ready my dear?”

The diners did not notice that a woman stood in the dark doorway of a room adjoining the dining room until a spotlight lit her up, bouncing off the metal charms at her breast and hips. The music started and Claire treated the diners to her amazing hips that bounced independently of each other and hard lifts that made the baubles dance. Her performance was ten minutes long and many forks were suspended in the air as the diners watched her, paralyzed.

As Claire twirled around the room, she caught sight of Geillis at a corner table. She danced to her and smiled as her veils floated behind her. Returning to the center of the room she popped her chest and twitched her hips until everyone was dizzy from watching. She dropped into a bow and ran to the dressing room hearing applause and whistles. Grabbing a towel out of her gym bag she sat down to breathe before she passed out.

The owner came bursting into the room with a happy smile. He could not stop singing her praise and offered her three nights a week, two dances thirty minutes apart for one hundred dollars a night. He stuck out his hand to shake on the deal and she took it.

“You are a chameleon, like, like, a phone booth to change your clothes and then you can fly!”

It took Claire a minute or two to understand the reference to superman and she laughed and shook her head. Once alone, Claire pulled the lashes off her eyelids and wiped off the red lipstick. She looked into the mirror and saw Geillis behind her.

“Well, what did you think?”

“Claire, you know I adore ye, but yer the luckiest little shit on the planet. Did ye see how many gorgeous men were watchin ye? Shakin yer moneymaker like that I can see ye married and livin in grand style before long.” She smiled at Claire like this was a good thing.

“I didn’t spend six years of my life learning to dance so I could find someone to marry. Get back to work before you get fired, and Geillis, thank you for coming.”

Claire was stacking orders under the front register and popped up when she heard the doorbell tinkling. The shaking started immediately as the handsome man approached her smiling. He stuck out his hand.

“It is time we met formally, my name is James Fraser.”

Claire mumbled her name as she shook his hand, wishing she could look into his eyes for the rest of the afternoon.

Jamie looked around the shop, “I have been here a few times. Not spying, just gathering information about our competition.” He was clearly nervous and licked his lips several times looking at the floor. “Listen, Miss Beauchamp, I have to tell ye I am opening a new concept bookstore right down the street. My hope is we will both prosper by referring customers to each other while holding the other in the highest regard.”

The blood drained from Claire’s face and she pulled her hand away abruptly. She watched Fraser look around like he expected the roof to cave in on him and felt her anger boil up inside her.

“What customers are you hoping I refer to your new store, mister Fraser?”

“Well, ye dinna stock the best sellers so ye can send those customers our way. Any interest in antique collections we will send to you,” he smiled like he saw the value in his statement.

“I don’t stock bestsellers because they are here today and gone tomorrow but the orders for those books are thirty-seven percent of my revenue. If they can walk down the street and buy the book from you how many orders do you think I will get?”

Claire was getting heated and tried to calm her heart rate. She wanted the decibels of her argument to pierce this wicked man so he would know he was her enemy.

“Edinburgh doesn’t need another bookstore mister Fraser and I cannot see this store surviving the competition you are suggesting.”

Fraser looked at her with compassion and then lowered his eyes. He hated this part of the business, delivering the news a death blow was coming. He had done this to countless mom and pop bookstores as his company ate up market share all over Scotland, Ireland, and England. It wasn’t pleasant, but he would emerge from this visit relieved this dreadful task was over while the shop owner was just coming to terms with the bomb he just dropped.

Jamie oversaw the opening of new stores, so he was accustomed to breaking hearts, both young and old. In the days leading up to this type of meeting he would lose his appetite, pace the floor at night trying to sleep and work up a head of anxiety that could choke out a horse. But he always did it, and when the shop door closed behind him, he was free of guilt and responsibility for ruining a business, breaking a heart, and stealing a livelihood. When that door closed behind him, most people were never thought of again.

Sometimes he would like the owner so much it was near impossible to deliver the news. Claire Beauchamp was such a person because she was young and pretty with a telling face. Although she didn’t mean to do it, she opened her soul to Jamie on the few occasions he visited her. The right person in your life will set you free, he thought, and you will replace that anxiety with happiness.

Jamie walked away from Claire’s shop feeling like the biggest asshole in the world and wondered why each step away from her wasn’t helping. C’mon Claire, he thought, dinna wallow in yer grief, get busy findin a new job, somethin that will make ye happy, please lass.

Claire stood rigid behind the register all afternoon. She made feeble attempts to clean shelves and re-arrange displays, only to return to this catatonic state of staring out the window. Her store was empty most of the time and today that was a blessing. She locked the front door at exactly six o’clock that evening and walked home wondering how long it would take to lose her shop.

Geillis came that evening with a bottle of whisky and tried to cheer up her friend. As the whisky worked its way through her bloodstream and brain, Mister James Fraser became public enemy number one. She cursed him over and over and prayed for the day she would hold his fate in her hands.

As the days became weeks, Claire wrote countless letters to Fraser, begging him to reconsider. They were all answered the same, a bouquet of flowers with a note that said: “I’m sorry.”

As Claire’s business plummeted, she found relief and escape in her dancing. She gave in to the joyful release and the patrons who watched her loved it. Omar was so thrilled with her performance he quickly moved her into the top spot, six to seven o’clock, the dinner rush, five nights per week. She was often called to do special performances during lunch and her growing bank account could not be overlooked.

Jamie kept an eye on Claire’s bookstore with growing concern. She should have started her going-out-of-business sale by now. He wondered where the money was coming from to keep the lights on. When her shop stayed open for the third month, Jamie took matters into his own hands and contacted her landlord. The man sang Claire’s praises and could not say enough about her dedication to the community through reading programs for kids and book clubs for the classics. Jamie felt like shit hearing this and cleared his throat to stop the extolment before it crippled him.

When the man learned he was speaking to the bastard that stole her business he slammed the phone down almost breaking Jamie’s eardrum. The landlord heard enough to know Claire was in financial trouble. She was using what money she had saved over the years to keep the shop open. It was a doomed cause and the landlord was heartsick for her. Being a compassionate man, he refused to renew Claire’s lease citing structural issues with the buildings that were forcing him to sell.

When the Store-Wide sale sign went up, Jamie Fraser exhaled in relief. Maybe now he could move on with his life and start feeling like a winner again. It was time to break the spell on the Edinburgh store and throw a party for the executives and top earners. If it were possible for a building to be depressed it would explain the overall lack of joy he felt every minute he was at work. It would explain their first-quarter earnings, it would explain the lack of motivation in his staff. Something better change and he felt like it started with him.

Claire was despondent when the store closed. She lingered inside the last night saying goodbye to the authors and classic collections she had cared for and sold for many years. Geillis pulled her home and helped her get ready for her show that night. They didn’t talk much, Claire didn’t have it in her.

“Are ye wearin the new black outfit with the silver veils tonight?”

“Yes, the restaurant is hosting a big party tonight. Tips should be pretty good from what I hear.”

She tried to smile and reassure Geillis she was fine, but her hollow eyes told a different story. Geillis remained upbeat and stayed to help her dress for the big performance.

“Jesus, Claire! You dinna have to move yer hips or anything else with that costume on. How do ye keep the panties on when they ride so low? Looks like they are gonna fall off any minute!”

“Glue and they are not called panties Geillis, they’re called pants. The bra top was adorned with crystals that reflected light when she moved and the silver adornments on her hip scarf bounced in a crazy way. Claire was warming up while two other dancers went before her. She peeked out to gauge the crowd and when she got to the end of a long table, she uttered a strangled sound and ran from the door.

“Holy shit, Geillis, I can’t go out there, I can’t!”

“Why not, ye look great?”

Claire was clearly in a panic, pacing the room and holding her head. What the hell was he doing here? How could she stay hidden from him?”

“Geillis! That asshole Jamie Fraser is out there, and I can’t let him see me. Run to my house and bring back the silver headpiece that wraps around my face. Go! Hurry and I owe you my life!”

Right on cue, Claire emerged from the dark dressing room door and joined the other dancers in a sultry threesome that ended with Claire alone in the middle of the room. She lifted her covered face and moved her arms like she was beckoning the guests at the table. she danced close to the diners stopping along the way to do mesmerizing hip lifts, drops, and shimmies. When she got to Jamie, she moved her sinewy body with undulations, rapid hip lifts and turns.

Jamie could not look away from the dancer in front of him, one foot in front of him. Her body movements stole his sanity as she dropped her upper body backward until her head was inches from his shoulder. She gave him the full measure of her talent, before popping up to complete her dance. When she stopped with the music, she took a bow and waited an agonizing thirty seconds of silence before the table erupted with applause and whistles. Several people were on their feet, including James Fraser. Some of the men begged to see her face as she ran to the darkness of the dressing room door.

Bursting through the door into the dressing room she grabbed a towel and covered her face with it. Geillis looked at her in horror wondering what she could say to help. Claire’s body convulsed into the towel held firm against her face. She sank to her knees and Geillis ran to help her up. Claire’s arms gently pushed her away and the towel was lowered as she continued to laugh, out of control, like a woman possessed, she laughed.

Claire could hardly breathe, and she clawed at the headdress that was blocking the quantities of air she needed. She finally ripped it, and the wig off throwing them on the couch while she wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to stem the laughing.

“Oh! Oh my God, Geillis. I’ve never had so much fun. That dizzy bastard had a log in his pants and didn’t breathe the whole time I was in front of him. Too bad he didn’t just die right then and there!”

Geillis was quite unsettled with Claire’s level of hatred toward this man and thought Claire needed a new perspective before she lost her mind.

“Claire, it’s not healthy to hate someone that much, ye will never be able to quench yer need for revenge. I think ye need some help with this, truly. C’mon, let’s get you ready for the next show, then home to bed.”

When the spotlight hit Claire for her next dance, she was in bright pink harem pants and a bra top that was covered in baubles. She lifted her arms above her head and spun in circles while she shimmied her hips. When she saw Jamie Fraser sitting at a corner table she moved her arms, pulling him to her, enticing him to take her, as her athletic body promised a once in a lifetime experience of pleasure and carnal love. He watched every move, he heard what the dance promised him. He thought she was beautiful, exotic, and embodied the sexual experience. Claire wore the headdress again that wrapped around her face showing only her eyes. She used them against Jamie like weapons. When the music stopped, she turned her back on him and bowed to the other patrons, shunning him like he wasn’t there.

Jamie raised his arm to the owner and handed over his business card and a one-hundred-dollar bill on which he had written his number. He was finding it hard to breathe suddenly and left quickly.

Claire was giggling at the tips and cards that came in from the owner. She estimated two- hundred dollars in tips tonight plus her pay. Three hundred dollars for thirty minutes of dancing. A month ago it was all she had for the month and that included groceries.

Geillis walked out of the building with a scrubbed Claire in a baseball cap, looking like a bookworm again. The women talked and joked, poking each other with elbows and laughing hysterically. They both carried garment bags and gym bags with all of Claire’s costumes and props. They embraced and separated, neither aware of the eyes that watched the door. Engines were started and the women drove away, leaving Jamie well hidden in the shadows of the parking lot.

He watched closely as patrons emptied out of the restaurant. Where was she, he wondered? He recognized the owner come out as a car pulled right up to the door. Jamie saw two women rush into the back seat, the owner in front, and then they were gone. The restaurant was closed for the night. Jamie concluded the dancer was the owner’s daughter, so he had a bit more information about the woman who stole his soul tonight. The fact he was now stalking her was completely lost on him.

Ordinarily, Jamie Fraser was a gentleman with a strict moral code and impeccable manners. The upbringing from his parents and his Hollywood handsome looks made women trust him and forget their own name when he charmed them. The dancer would fall, straight into his lap, no matter who her father was. Of that he was sure.

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mydearestreaderfanfics · 4 years

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In Your Arms (Lance x Reader)

Warnings: swearing, pining, angst (with a happy ending)

Word Count: 4,474

Prompt/Request: could you do a lance/ female reader with the prompt/senario "We've been best friends since pre-K, and now we're in college but things seem off, and I'm sad because I've crushed on you for years, oh damn you like me too?" kinda thing?? Best friends to lovers (while being pining idiots) is my jam

Summary: Lance and the reader have been best friends for longer than either can remember, but pining may just cause a rift in their friendship.

Author's Note: I've included a song for this anon, too. The song is the In Your Arms by the artist Kina Grannis. I hope you enjoy!

Author: Mod Alex

I shoved open my best friend’s bedroom door, not even bothering to knock, I hadn’t needed to in a long time. My cheeks felt like they were going to rip from how wide I was smiling. “Guess what?”

Lance looked up from his laptop, a simple smile on his lips. “What?”

I held up the plain white envelope I’d been hiding behind my back up until now. “This is what!” I was practically hopping in place. He set his laptop to the side, moving with grabby hands for it. “Uh, uh, uh! Move over.” He whined but flopped over allowing me enough room to plop down beside him. I slumped over so that I could rest snuggly against him before holding the envelope over both of our heads. “Take a look.”

“It’s from KU!” Lance grabbed your arm, shaking it (and by extension you) with excitement. “Well, open it already.”

“Yeah, yeah. You have no sense of suspense.” You really couldn’t blame him, he’d gotten his letter a week earlier and you had been just as pushy then. You flipped the envelope picking open the paper to reveal the letter.

“Read it, read it, read it!”

You smacked his prying hand away, snatching the letter before he had a chance to. You cleared your throat before speaking, mimicking a faux administrative voice. “Dear Ms. (Y/n) (L/n), it is with great pleasure- oh my god!” Lance beamed, grabbing the letter with one hand and hugging you tight with the other since you had taken to squealing into his chest.

He kept up the ridiculous voice you had been using as he picked up where you left off. “...it is with great pleasure that we inform you that you have been accepted for admission to Kerberos University. Congratulations, (N/n).” He must have set the letter aside because after a moment you felt his other arm come to hold you tight. You relished in the feeling. You two had always been this affectionate, after all, you’d basically grown up together, but sometime around… say seventh grade, your feelings for him had gone from closest friend to friend you wanted to be much, much closer with. So lying here with your ear pressed firmly to his chest and his heart beating steadily with his arms wrapped securely around you was both everything you could possibly want and absolute torture at the same time. You wanted nothing more than to be able to lean up and kiss him, this was the perfect opportunity to, but you couldn't and so you forced yourself to be content with lying with him. And in the meantime, you didn’t have to force yourself to be happy to go to the same university as him.

Realistically speaking the place you'd managed to rent was off-campus and you two would be sharing it with several other people, but your daydreams still took place with you and him in domestic fluff before heading to class and dipping in and out of the house throughout the day. Can you blame a girl? Even if your daydreams were a bit of a stretch from reality, you couldn’t say you were unhappy. Being able to wake up to a post-it note on your oval mirror from Lance wishing you good luck on a test or reminding you that you are fantastic. Cute little things that would send the butterflies in your tummy on a frenzy. The best thing about the shared house, though, was being able to have sleepovers with Lance basically every night. One of you was always falling asleep in the other's room, so much so that you basically shared two rooms- not that you were complaining.

Like this morning, you woke up to the light shining on your face. You groaned quietly in protest before letting your eyes flutter open when the bright annoyance refused to leave. The stars on the ceiling were the first thing you saw. You admired them for a moment, they were the kind that was common in children’s bedrooms- the glowy kind. They weren’t glowing now, it was too bright for that. They were still pretty, though. The stars also meant that you were in Lance’s room, specifically in his bed. It wasn’t abnormal-- like you'd said before you could usually be found here with him and vice versa. You turned, peeking at him from the corner of your eye. He looked beautiful, his features soft and unburdened. It was enough to make your heart thud in your chest. His arm was draped over your midsection, not necessarily holding, but not, not holding you either. You let yourself relax in his presence. “Mmm, good morning, gorgeous.” You blushed, having not expected his flirting to begin this early in the day. It wasn’t real flirting, of course, as you’d reminded yourself countless times in the past, it was just his flamboyant personality.

“Morning yourself. How’d you sleep?” He whined in response, burying his head on your shoulder.

“I’d have slept better if I got to sleep in longer.”

You laughed. “Lance, it’s almost noon.” Just as you had said, the digital alarm on his bedside ticked again, showing the actual time to be 11:48.

“But it’s my day off.” He kept whining and you couldn’t help but chuckle again. It was your free day too and as nice as laying in bed with him was, you had no intention of wasting your one free day by not going out.

“Tough, buddy. Come on-- up and at em’. I’m taking you to breakfast-- er, I guess technically lunch.”

“Oh? Are you asking me on a date, (N/n)?” His voice lilted teasingly. You socked him in the shoulder, glad he wasn’t looking at you to see how flustered his comment had made you.

“Tch, you wish. But seriously hurry up, I’m hungry.”

Lance got up a little while later giving you the opportunity to get ready. The restaurant was a short walk away and was decently cheap (which was good as you planned on paying for both of us!) which was part of why Lance and you frequented this place. The other part was how good their food was. Many study nights had taken place at your humble little hidey-hole.

You two were lucky, though, since it was your free day there would be no studying. Instead, you could sit and enjoy people watching, with good food and even better conversation. Lance's comment stuck with you though, and though you had been quick to write it off, a part of you deeply wished his joking had been true-- that maybe deep down he really had wanted this to be a date. God knows you did. By now the waitress knew your orders, a testament to your frequent visits here. "So what are your plans for the day?"

"I thought you were calling the shots?"

"Haha, you're a free man. You only came cause you wanted food, not because I dragged you here." You stuck out your tongue in a playfully childish manner. He returned the gesture before you both burst into laughter.

"You have a point, but I'm serious. I want to spend my day off with you, so whatever you have planned, count me in." Your heart was making its attempt to pound out of my chest, the butterflies not far behind. You just hoped your blush wasn't as obvious as it felt.

"Well, in that case, you get to spend your day off going with me to the thrift store."

"Oh? Spontaneity or refurbishing?"

"Yes."

"I'm in."

"You don't even know what we're doing."

He beamed at you, "I don't have to. I like surprises and I know it'll be fun since I'm with you." He's too sweet, you could practically melt.

"Alright, sweet! Then after we're done here, we can head over."

Lance had attempted to protest when you paid for breakfast, but eventually, your stubbornness won out, as it generally did in your friendship. You drove your way to a little hole in the wall thrift store that you went to whenever you had a little extra cash on hand. It wasn't as popular as the Goodwill the next street over, but the two ladies who ran it were as sweet as can be and they always had secret gems that you were sure you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else. You'd found an antique chair that, after a quick varnish and reupholstery, was quick to become your favorite chair. Or the time you'd found some beautiful curtains that, while they wouldn't quite fit your window, made for the perfect fabric for a dress. You didn't plan on going for any furniture, save for a nice full-length mirror that you'd been on the lookout for. No, while that had been your original plan for the day, you had completely changed course now that you were in the company of Lance. You wanted to have some fun. In the parking lot, you explained the game to Lance.

“Okay, so the way it works is we both have a budget of ten dollars and we have to create a full outfit for each other. I figure since we’ve known each other since forever it should work better since we know each other's style. And don’t be an ass, since there’s somewhere I plan on going later with you in these outfits. What do you think?”

He grinned at you, “Sounds fun.”

You split up once you got into the shop. Occasionally you’d sneak glances at him and he’d stick his tongue out at you and tell you to stop peaking. You’d laugh and tell him you just wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to make you look ridiculous. Of course, you knew he wouldn’t, he had a better sense of style than most of your friend group combined. Thankfully you were familiar with this sense of style and had already taken to curating an outfit for him. You’d been here dozens of times so you knew just how to find the perfect deals and the most eye-catching pieces. So far you’d found a Nasa shirt that would make a nice contrast to a darker jean jacket you’d found. You wanted to find a nice pair of light jeans to balance it all, but so far you hadn’t had any luck. It was as you perused the aisles of clothes and did the mental math to figure out just how much more you could spend when you saw them-- the most perfect pair of light blue acid-washed jeans you’d ever seen. If they hadn't been exactly Lance’s size, you would have considered buying and tailoring them for yourself. At this point, you figured you could stop but you still had three bucks left and the shoe aisle was calling to you. ”Oh, well aren’t you perfect,” you mumbled to yourself as you found a pair of boots, a pair of knockoff Doc Martens, that looked exactly like a pair Lance had loved before they wore out not long ago. One of the ladies called you over and you obliged her, you wouldn’t ring anything up until after Lance had tried everything on just to make sure everything fit right, but you had no problem with chatting with her until Lance had finished.

“Oh, dear, I think it’s so cute that your boyfriend and you are doing that-- what do they call it Maggie?”

“Goodwill Date Night, love.”

“Yes, thank you hon. I think it’s so cute that your boyfriend and you are doing that Goodwill Date Night and at our humble shop no less!”

You squeaked, trying to shake your hands to tell her, no, but they were full. “We aren’t, he’s not my boyfriend. He’s just my best friend, I just thought it would be a fun thing to do. It’s not like that, Ruth.”

She giggled to herself. “Alright, dear whatever you say.” She turned to Maggie and they talked like two schoolgirls sharing in delightful gossip. You sighed, walking over to the dressing room where you and Lance planned to meet, it was as you walked there that you found on a rack of hats a grey and white striped beanie. It was still a little chilly out so it wouldn’t be terrible to wear temperature-wise, and it polished off your ten bucks leaving you with no more than measly chump change.

A few minutes later Lance joined you, he was grinning but it didn’t meet his eyes. Something was wrong. “Lance are you ok-”

“Here you are! Oh are these for me, you shouldn’t have!” He took the bundle of clothes from you like a child on Christmas, and yet it didn’t feel right. He had just cut your sentence off, something he never did. Just as you were about to comment on it, he bounded over to the dressing room. Worry gnawed at you, but there wasn't much you could do with him in the dressing room. Instead, you took your clothes and went into the dressing room next door to Lance to get changed. It was the perfect outfit, you’d expected no less, of course. The jacket he threw in fit you like a glove, and it was just light enough that you knew you wouldn’t overheat. The cute pair of shoes he'd picked out for you somehow even managed to be comfy!

“You ready?”

“You know it!” Both of you left your respective dressing rooms.

“Yay! The jacket fits! You’re out here looking like a full course meal, Lancy.” You spoke playfully, though you meant every word. He didn’t respond, and you looked up at him to see he looked, well, starstruck. He seemed to realize you caught him and he shook himself out of it.

Yet, when he spoke his voice still had certain awe to it. “You look, you look stunning, (N/n).” Your eyes widened for a moment before you broke your gaze from his, refusing to make eye contact, afraid that if you did you would do or say something to tarnish your friendship, but god, if you didn’t want to kiss his beautiful face right now.

Lance continued to be strange throughout the rest of the evening, although he agreed to keep by your side for the rest of the day as he’d originally told you. Keeping up with the theme of spontaneity, you decided to try another thing you’d always wanted to do but never had the guts to ask Lance on a real date to do it. So a should-have-been date was now a platonic outing with your best friend, even if you still really wished it was a date. So after adorning your new outfits, you began your “penny date”, a concept where one person chooses a number between ten and twenty, symbolizing how many times a penny is flipped, heads for right and tails for left. The penny is flipped when you arrive at a junction and by the time you run out of flips, you have to find something for a “date” at the location. Although Lance was still being weird and a little distant, much to your growing concern, he did seem to enjoy the idea. The game had led you to a little arcade where you and Lance spent the rest of the night playing various retro games and ate more pizza than you’d like to admit.

“It’s getting late, should we turn in?” You two were in an uninhabited corner of the arcade, not that there were many people, to begin with.

“Mmm, maybe. Just a few more games?” You gave him your best puppy dog eyes, instead of laughing or play arguing like he usually did, he looked away, and you swear you could see the faintest hint of a blush on his cheeks.

“Yeah, we can stay a little longer.” You took his hand, it would eat at you forever if you didn’t find out what was bothering him. His head snapped up, eyes fixing on your intertwined hands.

“Lance, please, I know something is wrong. You’ve been acting off since the thrift shop. I thought maybe I was imagining things, but I don’t think I was. You can talk to me, you know? Did I do something to upset you?” His other hand had come up to hold your cheek tenderly.

“No, no you didn’t-- I’m the one that messed up.”

“Hey, you didn’t do anything wrong.” He shook his head sadly.

“I did.”

“I don’t understand.”

“(Y/n).” Was it just you or was he leaning closer as he spoke? “It’s because.” Your eyes started to flutter shut, he was going to kiss you! “I like-”

“Sorry to interrupt but we’re closing. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Lance and you shot apart as if you’d been burned.

That had been almost a week ago. That night the drive home had been filled with a suffocating awkward silence. Since then it was like Lance had been avoiding you. Honestly, at this point, you didn’t know what to do. Your friends had even begun to notice your mopey behavior. A knock sounded at your bedroom door; you had yet to get out of bed today and you weren’t about to now. Whoever it was could just go away. When no other knock came you thought whoever it was had left, and then the door opened. If you had the energy to you’d groan in exasperation. “Oh, (N/n).” The hint of anger you had harbored at the intruder melted away as your friend Hunk sat beside you on the bed. “When was the last time you got up?” You shrugged as best you could while lying face down. “What happened? Did you and Lance have a fight?” His comment made you wonder if Lance was being weird with the others. You supposed it was if Hunk thought you had fought. You shook your head. He got up and you assumed your noncommital attitude had run him off too, but a moment later you felt him sit again. He began brushing your hair and despite your whines, you settled down quickly. It felt nice and you were sure you needed it. He hummed, filling the mocking silence with warmth. “Can you sit up? If not that’s okay, it would just be easier to braid it if you were sitting.”

“Okay.” Your voice was croaky from lack of use, but Hunk still smiled encouragingly. His fingers carded through your hair with ease and when he finished he pulled you into a hug. You broke. Tears that had come and gone in solitude now poured freely down your cheeks as Hunk shushed you. “I don’t know what I did. He hates me now, Hunk. I don’t know how to fix things, I just want him back.” You blabbered, words blurring together. Knowing he couldn’t do much to fix anything, Hunk just rocked you until your sobs subsided. When they did you pulled away from the hug.

“So you did have a falling out?” He spoke carefully, afraid you might fall apart again.

“That’s the thing, I thought we were okay. The other day we were going out to a couple places and after the thrift shop he was being strange and then....” You sighed, hugging yourself, taking a breath to steady yourself. “And then I thought maybe he was going to kiss me and we got interrupted and it’s been even worse since then. Whenever I do see him he acts as if nothing happened but he won't stay around me any longer than five seconds. It’s been a week, Hunk. I’m dying.”

“You said the thrift store?”

“Yeah?” Hunk gave an exasperated sounding laugh.

“(N/n), things are going to be okay. For now, I need you to trust me on that, okay. There are muffins downstairs, fresh. You should go eat. I’ll be back before dinner.”

“Wha-- Where are you going?”

“I’m fixing things!” He called out as he left.

Although a big part of you wanted to lay back down and mope, you needed to work on the schoolwork that you’d put off and... the muffins did smell good. Nobody else was home, so you felt a bit better about leaving the security of your room. After a couple of muffins and the first round of schoolwork, you took a quick shower and put yourself back together. You still felt destroyed but at least now you looked like less of a wreck. You’d taken to studying at your desk in your room by the time Hunk got back. It was much earlier than he had told you, still hours before dinner. “(N/n), you look much better.”

You sighed, “I tried to do what you asked, but I still feel like a raging dumpster fire.”

He gave you a sympathetic smile, “I figured. But I’m proud of you for doing this much. I need to ask you to do one more thing, though.”

“Oh?”

“Can you go meet Pidge at the library, she needs back her copy of some textbook. I don’t remember which one, sorry.” He rubbed the back of his neck like he did whenever he was embarrassed.

“Oh, um, sure.” You wanted to ask how the fixing was going but you didn’t want to seem pushy. Besides, you could always ask him when you got back, you guess.

You got to the library which was thankfully only a short jog away from the parking lot. You pulled out your phone to shoot her a text asking where she was when you didn’t automatically see Pidge. Almost instantly you got a message telling you that she was in a study room. You smiled knowingly, it was typical of Pidge to reserve a study room all to herself for days on end. You trekked that way, keeping an eye out for the room number she said she would be in. It was at the end of the hall. “Hey, sorry for keeping your textbook for so lo-- Lance?” Lance was reclining in one of the chairs; he had almost fallen when you entered.

“(Y/n), what are you doing here?”

“I’m meeting Pidge, to return her textbook. What are you doing here?”

“I’m meeting Hunk, he wanted to try out a new recipe and said he was coming from the culinary building.” Your eyebrow furrowed. What was he talking about? Hunk was at home. It registered then, a light-bulb moment indeed. You’d been had. You turned to leave, but the doors slammed in your face, Pidge’s voice calling out from behind it.

“Sorry, (N/n), I had to do it to ya.” She snorted at her own meme reference. “You guys need to talk through things. I am not spending another second watching you two lovesick fools mope because you each think you ruined your friendship.” You flustered, she really was just gonna expose you like that.

“Pidge, you can’t just lock us in here-” Lance was beside you now, banging on the door.

“Actually I can, and I did. I’ll be back in an hour.” True to her word, Pidge’s footsteps faded away despite Lance and your protests.

You slumped at the door while Lance paced the room like a caged tiger. Watching him stabbed at your heart until you’d curled in on yourself, fighting off a fresh wave of tears. Did he hate being around you that much? What had you done? Lance noticed your disposition, his concern quickly switching from the situation to you. Within moments he was at your side. You were so confused, for a week now he’d been acting like he wanted nothing to do with you and now he was at your side trying to console you. You must have said that out loud since Lance has stopped all of his ministrations to eye you with guilt. “(N/n)-”

“Lance, can’t you just talk to me? We’ve been best friends since pre-K, but it’s like you want nothing to do with me.”

“It’s not that, I swear to you. It’s… It’s actually the opposite.”

“What?”

“I’ve crushed on you for years, honestly at this point, I’m pretty sure what I feel for you is more than a crush. Back at the thrift shop that day I heard you talking with the shop owners. You made it pretty clear my feelings aren’t reciprocated.”

“You like me?”

“Yeah, and I almost kissed you and ruined our friendship and I haven’t been able to face you because I know you just see us as friends, and I don't want to ruin that, but I just-- I can’t want that. Not anymore. I want to go on silly dates with you like that and wake up next to you and hold you and kiss you and just be able to know that I’m not an idiot for falling in love with my best friend-- I… I’m sorry.” He turned away from you, mortified at spilling his heart out.

“Lance.” You took his hand, but he still refused to look at you. “Lancy.” Your voice was soft, tender even. “I like you too. I have for a long time, like a really long time. Why do you think I took you out on that excursion. I mean jeez, I haven’t exactly been subtle.”

“But you told the ladies-”

“I was flustered and to be fair we weren’t dating.” He looked even more embarrassed if that was even possible.

“I am so sorry.”

You shook your head. “You have no reason to be. We could have handled that better sure, but,” you shrugged, “everything turned out right in the end. I guess we owe Hunk and Pidge our thanks. Although I do wonder how he found out about the thrift shop...”

“I may have told him my woes.” You chortled at his embarrassed mumble. You wiped away a tear from laughing to see Lance holding open the arm that wasn’t occupied by your hand. You practically flew into his arms. You stayed cuddled in each other's arms like that for a good long while after all Pidge said she was going back in an hour.

Bonus:

That night, Lance had taken to cuddling you in your bed. You’d been joined at the hip since that afternoon when Pidge had come to free you. Your friends were happy to have you both happy again and were quick to remind you that you owed them, although they were mostly jesting. You didn't mind much either way. Lance was officially your boyfriend, your greatest wish come true. At the moment he was almost asleep, happily tucked in with you when you spoke. “Wait so you mean to tell me that we could have been together for a lot longer?”

“Well, damn.”

#voltron #lance x reader #fanfictions #lance mcclain #swearing #pining #angst #mod alex

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sonder-writes · 4 years

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Day 29: benevolent

One more day to go!! Wooo!

This one is sort of a continuation of that charity shop AU that I did for another day, but this time it’s in that lady at the charity who who Tom spoke to’s perspective:

A general passerby of Tom Riddle’s charity shop might think of Tom as a benevolent man. A well-meaning, kind sort of person, who only wants good for the world. Know him for any longer than that, and it was almost certain your opinion on Tom would be the exact opposite. When Amy had first met Tom, he was just a normal customer, albeit an annoying one, but nevertheless, still your average customer. But then he returned five minutes later, claiming to now be the owner of the charity shop. Amy hadn’t believed it at first, but after catching Hermione Granger before she left the shop for good, it was all confirmed. Amy’s new boss had bought the charity shop for just £10, and then he was off trying to collect some things that his husband had apparently given to the charity shop without Tom’s permission. Amy’s new opinion of Tom was that he was an interesting man, though impulsive and honestly quite mad. Amy had spit out her tea when she saw her new boss on the news.

“A man identified as Tom Riddle has just been caught for stealing. Reports say he stole his own diary back, taking it off someone by force. He also broke into someone’s house to steal a diadem, stole a locket off of a politician who had apparently forcibly taken it off a thief, who had stolen it from someone’s house. Tom Riddle also stole someone’s engagement ring in the middle of a proposal, and stole an antique cup from a restaurant,” said the reporter, “and all of this happened on the same day, in around a two or three hour period.”

Amy blinked. Okay, new opinion on Tom; a weird, criminally insane psychopath. Amy always got the best bosses...

Another man with messy black hair appeared on the screen, “Um, hi. I’m Harry Potter, Tom’s husband. And um, yeah, that’s just Tom for you. He likes to threaten murder as well, but he hasn’t done anything yet... I think.” Amy was concerned about how casually Harry said this, but she supposed weirdos were attracted to weirdos.

“Tom Riddle claimed to have owned all of the items he had stolen, but Harry Potter had ‘contumaciously taken them to the charity shop’, and the items had been bought,” the reporter continued. Tom was now seen looking surprisingly excited, and waved at the cameras.

“Hello, wonderful to have you on my show. My name is Tom Riddle, and welcome back to How I Did It,” said Tom, displaying his charming smile. There was a shuffle as some people tried to shut him up, and then Tom continued slightly more seriously, “yes, I admit to my crimes, but I blame my annoying husband, and he should go to jail with me. Oh and by the way, you should go visit that charity shop I bought just before doing this, it has some great stuff. Trust me, I looked through it all.”

The news moved onto the weather, and Amy turned off the television. She got up and started to get ready for bed. At least she wouldn’t have to work for Tom for a while, since he’d be in jail, and Tom might actually have to give up the charity shop, so it wouldn’t be all that bad.

Oh, how wrong she was.

When Amy turned up to work the next day, there was Tom, looking all smug and bossish.

“Mr Riddle, you’re- you’re not in jail?” Amy said as a way of greeting.

“I got bailed out,” Tom said, then he looked inquisitive, “always seems to happen, even for my worst crimes.”

Oh great, so now apparently Tom had done other crimes before this one.

“Oh! Well, erm, great to have you back,” Amy said with false enthusiasm, “can’t wait to start work with you.”

“Wonderful,” Tom replied, and walked off.

Amy did business as usual for most of the day, until Tom approached her again, “Amy, was it?”

“Yes,” Amy said, suspicious.

“Amy, would you be a dear and run this shop whilst I go to my actual job. Won’t be more than a few hours. Promise,” Tom said, then pat her on the shoulder.

“Well, um, actually, I-” But Tom was already gone. Great, now she was in charge of a charity shop.

“Hi, can I speak to your manager?” asked a random guy.

“Uh, sure, I’ll just- actually, that’d be me,” Amy breaths, “what’s your inquiry, sir?”

“This jumper is like, really old, but like, I wanted a new one, and like, it’s not,” said the guy. Amy tried not to sigh as she inwardly screamed.

“Nothing is new here, sir, this is a secondhand shop,” Amy said calmly.

“What, so like, this used to be someone’s new shop, and then like, someone else got given it?” the guy asked. Amy was now punching the guy in her mind.

“Well, probably, but I mean everything we sell here is secondhand,” Amy said, hoping that her irritation wasn’t showing too much in her voice.

“Oh, ew, then like, why am I shopping here? Like, I never go to secondhand shops, that’s just like, ew,” the guy dropped the jumper he was holding onto the ground and quickly left. Amy finally let out her loud sigh and picked up the jumper.

Um, excuse me, but there’s a bomb under that table,” said a lady. Amy stared at the bomb—criminal boss, control over the shop, an annoying customer and now a bomb—this day couldn’t possibly get any worse, “and also someone just robbed you. Oh and also the bomb exploded two seconds ago and everyone’s dead. Also we never existed, this whole life was made up in your head because you’re still a little traumatised kid, and this is your only escape-”

Amy opened her eyes wide, then turned her head to see her husband still sound asleep next to her. She looked at the ceiling as she tried to recall her dream. It was a pretty damn weird one, that was for sure. Her phone started buzzing, and she picked it up. It was three in the morning, why was anyone calling her this early?

“Hello?” she answered, her voice cracked.

“Hello,” it was her crazy boss that had been on the news last night, “listen, um, I don’t actually want the charity shop, so you can keep it.”

Amy rubbed her eyes, trying to comprehend Tom’s words. Something about her having control of the charity shop, wasn’t it? It reminded her of her dream which was rapidly fading from her memory.

“Sorry, what?” Amy mumbled, “and what are you doing up so early?”

“My sleeping patterns are weird,” Tom answered simply, “anyway, I signed some contracts, forged your signature, and you now own the charity shop.”

“Oh, great...” Amy rolled over in her bed. Perhaps she was still dreaming. She pinched herself, but she could feel it. Damnit. So she really did now own some business. She poked her husband, and he moved a bit, but then woke up, “hey John, I own the charity shop now.”

“What?” John replied sleepily.

“I now officially own that charity shop I’ve worked at for three years,” Amy smiled as it sinked in finally. She never wanted it, but could it really be all that bad? Well, yes, but it didn’t have to be.

#tomarry d&d-athon #near the end i think it got a bit... sidetracked? really weird? but yeah that’s why the endings really messy i guess #sorry O.o #harry potter #tom riddle #tom x harry #tomarry #oh and for some reason i thought benevolent had the exact opposite meaning #so it’s a good thing i looked up the definition xD #harry james potter #tom marvolo riddle #charity shop #benevolent #op shop #weird story #oof #crime #murder #news

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liahswriting · 5 years

Text

Couples Retreat

Relationship(s): Jasper Hale/Reader

Words: 1,905

Warnings: None

Summary: Jasper and his girlfriend are on vacation

"We should go rock climbing. I've always wanted to try that." she said, looking over the attractions available within the surrounding area of the mountain cabin they've rented for the next week. "They also have zip-lining and hiking trails. Sounds like fun."

Jasper grinned at his girlfriend. She casually looked over the pamphlets littering her lap, not paying any attention to Jasper nor the passing scenery as he drove down the mountainside road. The both of them were excited to finally be going on a romantic and adventurous getaway. Just the two of them. They've been together for about two years now but never had the time to spend a long week away until now and she intended to make the most of it.

"We'll have to try it." he simply replied back with a fond grin on his face even if she didn't see it.

"I'm just ready to get there. How much longer?"

"Ten minutes tops. I promise." She only nodded back in response and continued flipping through the pamphlets, mentally making a list of all the things she wanted to do. The cabin they were renting for the week was in an area with a lot of activities. Though the town itself was sparse, the townspeople seemed to never get bored. She finally put the pamphlets down when she heard the GPS announce that they had arrived. Jasper drove the car up the mountain side and pulled down a gravel driveway which gave way to a large and beautiful cabin over looking a fast-paced river bend coursing through the trees that hid the home from the rest of the world.

"Looks even better than the pictures." she casually commented as she got out of the car and grabbed her bags from the back. Jasper followed suit and together they entered and explored the two-level home. The master bedroom, kitchen, living room, and laundry room sat on the top level with a hot tub sitting outside on the wrap-around balcony while the lower level housed two more smaller bedrooms and small entertainment area. The space was definitely more than the two of them needed but both of them agreed that it was nice to have such a big space just for the two of them.

"So what's first on the agenda? Are you done making the itinerary?" Jasper playfully nudged her.

"Well first I'm gonna go to the bathroom and then I'm gonna eat something. I'm starving. Maybe you should take a look around the area. See if you can find a hunting ground."

"That's actually a good idea. When I get back we can go over plans for later."

"Sounds good." she said and kissed him quickly. "Please don't start any legends about the haunted mountain."

"Now why on Earth would I do that, Y/N?" Jasper asked sarcastically with a wide grin on his face. With a stern look from his girlfriend, he rolled his eyes and promised and then he was off. When he was gone, she went to the bathroom and then unpacked the little bit of food she brought for the trip. She opened up a can of soup, wanting something quick and easy to make. After figuring out how to turn the TV on, she sat on the plush L-shaped couch and watched TV while she ate.

Jasper was still gone by the time she was done. She felt a yawn itching up her throat and decided a nap would be great. The drive took five hours and she was tired from sitting in the car for that long. Jasper would be out for a while longer and she figured she had enough time for a short nap before he got back. Maybe even a shower. And she did just that. She took a short shower just to scrub away the smell of the car and then laid down on the master bed which felt softer than she thought it would. The blankets were soft and warm and felt just so comfortable. She ended up dozing off faster than she thought.

Jasper ended up coming back about a half hour later. He found the perfect hunting ground full of deer and smaller animals that should keep him fed for the week. The house was quiet when he got back. The only sound he heard was that of Y/N's steady heartbeat. He found her fast asleep in the master bedroom, freshly showered and in her pajamas. He figured it was best to let her sleep. They'd go explore the town later.

The next day was full of adventure. She ended up sleeping throughout the night and woke early the next morning. After breakfast, both she and Jasper dressed up for the day and took the car back into the center of town where they hit a small stretch of shops first. There was a clothing store, a knick knack store, an antique store, and an ice cream parlor all side by side each other. They both got something from each store. She even picked up a game of bean boozled for the both of them to play together.

"What exactly is that?" he had asked her when he spotted it in the bag.

"Jelly beans. But each color comes in two different flavors -one good and one disgusting. You eat them and try not to puke if you get the nasty one."

"And why exactly did you get it?"

"It's fun!"

"What's fun about puking?"

"Don't be a party pooper. We went on vacation to get away from Edward."

After shopping, they went back to the cabin for lunch and to explore the surrounding woods. They both put on their bathing suits so they could go walking through the river. The water was cold on her legs but she continued wading back and forth through the river with Jasper hot on her heels. Later for dinner they -she- grabbed some food from a barbecue restaurant and then utilized the fire pit behind the cabin to make some smores for dessert. Late at night, they took a dip in the hot tub which quickly turned heated and not just from the water.

"Let's go zip-lining." she said the next day. "There's a zip-lining park a few miles from here. About $80 per person for an hour. Their website says they have some really long and high zip-lines that go down the mountain through some trees. Looks like fun."

"That does sound like fun. Do we have to make a reservation?"

"No we can just walk in but if we do that they say wait times could be up to an hour. I think we should call and make a reservation for the evening though that way you're not a shining disco ball." she laughed at him and he rolled his eyes.

"Ha ha very funny. Go ahead and call then." he told her and she did just that, placing a reservation for a 6 o'clock zip time. In the meantime they just hung out at the cabin. They got around to playing the bean boozled game. Watching Jasper's reaction to eating the dog food flavored jelly bean was hilarious. She gagged when she ate the dirty socks one. They got through half of the jelly beans before being too disgusted to eat some more.

"We're never doing that again." she told him, washing down the nasty taste with a glass of wine.

"It was your idea." he accused back, also washing down the taste.

"I thought I would get lucky and get all the good ones."

"And you'd just let me eat all the bad ones. I'm so glad you love me so much." he accused but his smirk gave way to his teasing tone.

"I do love you so much." she assured him and kissed him for good measure. The two of them decided to toss the rest of the jelly beans, agreeing to never touch those things ever again, and then cuddled up on the couch and watched some movies. At dinner time, she ate something small to tide her over until after zip-lining then they headed out to the park where they signed in. The park was huge and winded down the side of the mountain through a forest of trees. The sun was hiding low on the horizon behind some clouds, leaving the air warm but not hot and allowing Jasper to step out without having to expose himself. The two of them joined up with assumingly another couple making it a little group of four plus two instructors. The instructors took everyone through a practice course before taking them on the real thing. The first couple of lines were very high up but were rather short. The wind whipped through her hair as she went zooming through the trees to the next platform. As they continued on, the lines got longer and longer and seemed to be higher up.

"You're not getting scared now, are ya?" Jasper stepped up behind her and whispered teasingly in her ear.

"Of course not. Why, are you?" she teased back.

"Not even close, doll."

"Then put your money where your mouth is and race me."

"You're on." he challenged. At the last zip-line, the two of them got hooked up side by side on two different lines. When the instructor said go, they jumped off the platform and went zipping down to the platform on the other side. She tucked herself in, bringing her legs up to her chest to make herself go faster. She was quickly gaining on Jasper but then he tucked in tighter as well and gained speed. His heavier weight gave him the upper advantage and he reached the other platform mere seconds before she did.

"You cheated." she accused.

"If thinking that helps you sleep at night."

The instructors thanked the group for visiting the zip-line park before gathering up everyone's gear and informing everyone at the last second to head back to the check-in where they can find pictures of themselves that had been secretly taken while they were out. Of course the two of them bought a couple. They stopped at a diner on the way back to the cabin to pick up a late dinner for her. After she ate, she showered and dressed for bed. The two of them relaxed on the couch until she eventually fell asleep.

On the last day at the cabin, they both partook in one last dip in the hot tub before packing up the car. They decided to check out one of the hiking trails before leaving. At the trail entrance, they found a map that marked a few viewpoints and planned a trail to follow. The path on the trail was well worn from overuse, making it easy to keep track of where to go. They took a lot of pictures on the hike: some of each other, some together, and some of the view. The trail went upwards, giving way to a beautiful view of the horizon. The trees were a variety of colors and birds flew overhead. She took several pictures to remember this moment. When they reached the top, the turned around and went back down. And thus was an end to their vacation. She was already making plans to rent another cabin for next year.

#twilight #jasper hale #fanfiction #imagine #drabble

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howtobeamagicalgirl · 3 years

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I've been doing this thing lately where the little version of me that lives inside my brain and creates my thoughts makes a moodboard about a random part of my life and then prints it out and tacks it up on the bulletin board next to her desk and just stares at it all day and like.... no, no, I get it, I really do, but what do you want me to DO about it?

#anntics #first of all. my life was NOT GOOD when I was fourteen #you can't just pick a weekend where I visited a woman in her early thirties who was one of my only three friends #who I was only friends with bc she was one of the three people who were nice to me #and who was only friends with me bc she saw that I was like kinda shy and awkward and immediately began projecting #and trying to heal her past self through buying me vegan burritos and inviting me to her apartment to watch fmab with her and her husband #and yeah it was a good weekend #we went to a bookstore and drank fancy tea back when reading books and drinking fancy tea were the only personality traits I had #but all of the restaurants and antique shops we visited have been gone for years #and she hasn't spoken to you since she moved to south korea in 2014. so like what about those memories is even worth dwelling on. you know?

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rinnnyxr · 3 years

Text

I LOVE…

Books. The outdoors. Clothes shopping. Finding good deals. Bike riding. Animals, especially cats. Exploring new places. Antiquing. Thrift shopping. Film photography. When someone takes me someplace new. Stargazing. Spending hours reading a book. Learning new languages, or just hearing them spoken. The Victorian era. Hot-tubbing. Trading music with friends. Going on hikes. Swimming in rivers/creeks/lakes/the ocean as opposed to swimming pools.

I DISLIKE… Hot and very humid weather. Driving in heavy, slow traffic. People who don’t realize how their actions affect others. Selfishness. When pets have “accidents” in the house. Bumper stickers like “Country Girl” or “Silly boys, trucks are for girls!” Politics in general. Feeling like I’m not in control of anything. People who treat everything I say as a joke. People who claim to be my friend and treat me badly. Twitter fights. Warm beer. Doing the dishes. Thistles. Feeling hopeless. That panic moment when I have no idea what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. How people still text and drive. Being broke. Not having a job.

SHOWS I LOVE… Doctor Who Breaking Bad Supernatural Pretty Little Liars True Blood Game of Thrones Top Gear UK Parks & Recreation The Office The Walking Dead

I WOULD LOVE TO VISIT… Iceland England Italy Montreal Marseilles The Alps Yellowstone National Park Machu Picchu Greece Ireland and Scotland

THINGS I’M NOT GOOD AT… Making big decisions. Making myself motivated. Exercising/working out. Dealing with hot weather. Controlling my temper in traffic. Keeping a regular “schedule” for chores. Not worrying about silly things. Tolerating other peoples’ irritating behaviors. Having a positive outlook on things that might turn out badly. Keeping friends. Sleeping in. Training pets to mind me. Managing my time. Mathematics. Makeup or other “beauty” related skills. Dealing with other peoples’ children. Being “politically correct.” Ignoring insults and not letting stupid things get to me. Being content.

GOALS THIS NEXT YEAR… Become physically fit. Get better grades in school. Find a better job. Start saving money again. Travel somewhere completely new. Make more/new friends. Spend less time with technology and more time outdoors/doing something productive. Start drawing/painting regularly again. Pick up a new hobby.

Bold all the things you've done: 1) You've gone skydiving. 2) You've kissed someone. 3) You've gone on a road trip. 4) You've gone streaking. 5) You've stayed up all night to watch the sun rise. 6) You've been on a roller-coaster. 7) You've been snorkeling. 8) You've been scuba-diving. 9) You've learned to play an instrument. 10) You've learned to speak another language. 11) You've fallen in love. 12) You've done something charitable. 13) You've purchased a physical CD and/or record. 14) You've been to Disneyland and/or Disney World. 15) You've been to a different country. 16) You've had a pet. 17) You've seen your favorite band/artist perform live. 18) You've done something crazy to your hair. 19) You've slept on a beach. 20) You've seen the Northern Lights.

21) You've wished upon a shooting star. 22) You've observed a solar eclipse. 23) You've learned something crazy and/or awesome about your family's history. 24) You've ordered everything on the menu at an amazing restaurant. 25) You've eaten at the best restaurant in the world. 26) You've met your idol. 27) You've made the news. 28) You've run a marathon. 29) You've learned how to ride a bike. 30) You've learned how to water-ski. 31) You've climbed a mountain. 32) You've thrown an amazing party. 33) You've gone skinny-dipping. 34) You've been to a protest/rally. 35) You've voted. 36) You've lived on your own. 37) You've assembled IKEA furniture on your own successfully. 38) You've been to prom. 39) You've been on a safari. 40) You've been to the Grand Canyon.

41) You've been camping. 42) You've cooked an entire meal, including dessert. 43) You've achieved closure with an ex. 44) You've spent a paycheck on something frivolous for yourself. 45) You've stayed at a fancy hotel. 46) You've been to a fancy spa. 47) You've spent all day in bed, just because. 48) You've scored your dream job. 49) You've ridden a horse. 50) You've played hooky from work and/or school.

51) You've been to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 52) You've seen an opera. 53) You've seen a ballet. 54) You've been to a Broadway show. 55) You've learned how to drive a car. 56) You've tried sushi. 57) You've swam in the ocean. 58) You've driven across the country. 59) You've traveled solo. 60) You've traveled with friends. 61) You've learned how to play a sport well. 62) You've learned how to dance. 63) You've been to all 50 states. 64) You've been to the Eiffel Tower. 65) You've been to the Great Wall of China. 66) You've tried a really fancy wine. 67) You've written a book. 68) You've written a screenplay. 69) You've been to a religious ceremony not of your faith. 70) You've crashed a party.

71) You've been in a wedding. 72) You've attended a black-tie affair. 73) You've been in a band. 74) You've visited the white house. 75) You've read a book in one sitting. 76) You've set a Guinness World Record. 77) You've communicated with someone who doesn't speak the same language as you. 78) You've been to North America. 79) You've been to South America. 80) You've been to Asia.

81) You've been to Australia. 82) You've been to Africa. 83) You've been to Europe. 84) You've been to Antarctica. 85) You've won a contest. 86) You've run for some sort of leadership position. 87) You've been on TV. 88) You've been skiing. 89) You've been surfing. 90) You've been ice skating. 91) You've had a surprise party. 92) You've cultivated a hobby. 93) You've made a best friend. 94) You've had your 15 minutes of fame. 95) You've climbed a tree. 96) You've been in a hot air balloon. 97) You've won an award. 98) You've given a speech. 99) You've learned to swim. 100) You've been rollerskating. 101) You've gotten a tattoo. 102) You've tried a food you were nervous to eat. 103) You've told someone you love them. 104) You've gotten lost somewhere on purpose. 105) You've been on a game show. 106) You've hooked up with someone "famous". 107) You've been mistaken for a celebrity. 108) You've gambled in Las Vegas. 109) You've made a religious pilgrimage. 110) You've hooked up with someone outside your age range.

111) You've gotten drunk. 112) You've gotten high. 113) You've made a bucket list. 114) You've felt alive. 115) You've lived your life to the fullest.

I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a geek. The last video game I played was Guitar Hero.

Something has been bothering me a lot lately.

A lot of thoughts occupy my mind at the same time. i don’t know if I’ll ever be satisfied with my body. Seth Rogen movies really aren’t as funny as people say they are.

I LOVE homemade pizza.

I’m currently looking for some people to start a band with.

My relationship with my dad is very strained.

I don’t understand why people have such a problem with kids. I’ve stood next to a famous landmark. I wish my bedroom had more space in it. A friend of mine has a job. I have never owned a Cabbage Patch Kids doll. I’ve used the library to read newspapers from very long ago.

I can remember when my family moved into this house. My mother’s favorite flower is pretty typical.

I enjoy watching rain falling on a lake.

Someone I know is wearing green today. English accents really aren’t that attractive to me. I love listening to music boxes.

My dog is inside right now.

I’ve taken a college/university course before.

When there’s nothing on, I’ll watch re-runs of Happy Days.

It’s difficult for me to really get into a book. I love to eat lemons.

I prefer small venues for concerts opposed to large ones. Warped Tour isn’t as good as it used to be back in the ’90s. Yesterday was a good day. I would buy CDs all the time if I could afford it. Guitar Hero is overrated.

I’ve been grocery shopping recently.

All Time Low’s new stuff sounds much more New Found Glory than Blink 182.

I usually see the Harry Potter films within the first week of their release.

I’m going to a birthday party sometime in the next month. I prefer sans-serif fonts (Arial, Tahoma) to serif fonts (Times New Roman, Georgia). I don’t think peer pressure affects people as much as they say it does.

I still have a collection of VHS tapes. I would love to own a grand piano.

We use the back door of the house more often than the front door.

I absolutely love the insanity incorporated in some of Poe’s work.

Outer Space fascinates me.

I usually look for meaning in songs. I haven’t charged my cellphone today. My street name is also the name of a city.

Someone I know has done a choreographed dance to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”.

Video games can keep me occupied for quite a while. I like to say “FAIL!” whenever someone screws up.

I don’t like to change my layout that often. I can’t remember the last time I played with a frisbee.

Our fridge doesn’t have a freezer.

Someone new followed my blog today.

My plans are never written in stone; they always change. I love creative cake makers. Summer passes way too quickly. I’ve watched a gay film before.

I really don’t like Xanga that much.

Facebook is stupid. I enjoy making graphics.

Elvis Costello is amazing.

FUCK WMG!

I don’t like waiting until fall for TV shows to start up again.

People are very annoying.

The band I’m listening to right now starts with an S.

I know what déjà vu actually means in French.

My favourite bath towel has a picture of something on it.

I think I’d make a pretty good actor, if I wanted to pursue that area. For as long as I’ve been living, my family has never been without a pet.

I vote for award shows.

I love going to furniture stores. The 90s was my favourite decade for non-mainstream music. My favorite book is pretty popular. I know how to read a map.

I don’t like boring cereal.

Yes, I approve of gay marriage. A friend of mine hasn’t lost his/her virginity yet. I actually wouldn’t like to be royalty.

Most good things in life are either illegal, immoral or fattening.

The idea of living out of a van appeals to me.

When someone has to say “honestly” at the start of their sentence, they’re probably not being honest.

I’ve created my own username for Facebook.

I don’t like waiting for videos to load. Little kids can always make me happy. I can’t stand it when people say “FML” over stupid things. It really sucks when I want to go to the theater but nothing good is playing. Americans suck at remaking Japanese horror films.

Lolcats are stupid, but they do make me laugh.

I get by with a little help from my friends. I often feel like I have to prove myself. I don’t think there should be “age limits” on kids things. I have a lyric painted on my wall.

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travelingtheusa · 3 years

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FLORIDA

2021 Feb 23 (Tue) – We went out for lunch today to Micanopy. It was a small, historic town with lots of antique shops. We wanted to eat at a restaurant but it was closed so we went next door to Coffee & Cream where we enjoyed chicken salad sandwiches with rice and beans. After lunch, we walked up and down the main street wandering in some of the shops and reading the historic plaques describing the history of the town.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped at the post office to mail off some items and at a convenience store to pick up wine and get some lottery tickets. Then we stopped at the Antique Emporium. It was a large warehouse with 55 vendor shops inside. There were so many items we used to use for sale. There is no faster way to feel old than to walk through an antique shop and see your life’s belongings laid out and considered to be “old stuff.”

2021 Feb 22 (Mon) – We took our time closing up this morning. Bonnie and Sheba got to play outside and we chatted with Rich and Margaret for a while. Then we packed up and left Hernando at 11:35 a.m. The campground was just 40 miles away and we were here within an hour. Ocala North RV Park is a very nice, very clean facility. It is large and there were workers putting in new lights, a shuffle board, and a bocce ball court. They are getting ready for a luau in two days. The clerk who checked us in said the owner bought the rundown campground two years ago and has been working on renovating it. He’s done an excellent job.

2021 Feb 21 (Sun) – We all drove over to Matt & Michele’s today. They were hosting a drone speed course event for their local club. It was amazing to watch these little things zip around the yard, sounding like a bunch of angry bees. We could watch the drones fly around the course and watch the TV screens to see what the pilots were seeing in their headsets.

When we got back to the house, Margaret made roast beef sandwiches for us. For dinner, she cooked baked clams and steaks. We visited for a bit after dinner then returned to the rig to get ready for tomorrow’s move.

2021 Feb 20 (Sat) – I did some laundry today. Margaret was kind enough to let me use her washer and dryer. Matt & Michele came over for dinner and Margaret outdid herself, as usual. I think she loves to cook and is glad to have people visit. She not only made lots to eat, but packed us a take-home box.

2021 Feb 19 (Fri) – It started out cloudy, rained, then got really cool. We had to switch to long sleeve shirts and pants as the day wore on.

We drove to WalMart at 8 a.m. to get an oil change on the truck. There was a line of six cars in front of us waiting for service. We checked in then went shopping where we spent almost $200 on items in the store. The damn oil change should be free considering we shopped while waiting and spent so much we would not have spent other wise. Lol.

We got back around 10:30 a.m. and Margaret & Rich took us to Matt & Michele’s house. Paul and Margaret used to work with Matt at NYSDOT. They were building their home and a drone speed course when we were here last January. It is all finished now and everything is very nice. The drone control center and speed course are quite the thing to see.

We returned to the house and finished off Margaret’s egg salad. Later, we went to dinner at Crump’s Landing in Homasossa. It had a large grass covered roof over a seated patio area. There were plastic panels pinned in around the sides to keep it warm along with large gas heaters. It was very nice and the food was good. After dinner, Rich drove us over to Monkey Island. It is a small island in the middle of the Homosassa River where a troupe of monkeys lives. It was too dark to see anything but there is a house and a replica lighthouse on the island that is little more than a mound of dirt in the middle of the river. Guess the monkeys were asleep because we didn’t see any. It was too dark anyway.

2021 Feb 18 (Thu) – We packed up and left Tampa at 10:30 a.m. It was a little more than two hours to Hernando where we are staying in the driveway of friends, Margaret & Rich. We were here last January where we celebrated the New Year with them. Margaret was waiting for our arrival with egg salad sandwiches. We visited for a couple of hours. Later, she made sausage and peppers heroes for dinner.

2021 Feb 17 (Wed) – I went back to ENT doctor today. First I had a hearing test with the audiologist then a follow-up with the ENT doctor. I was told I have hearing loss in both ears and should go back to the VA for a re-evaluation on the hearing aids. The doctor prescribed prednisone for 6 days and a Flonase. Both are intended to reduce swelling and allow the fluid behind my ear to be reabsorbed.

After the doctor, we dropped the prescription off to CVS then went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. After a stop at U-Haul for propane, we went back to CVS to pick up my prescriptions.

2021 Feb 16 (Tue) – Johnny & Linda and Rick & Brenda came over for a barbecue. It was chilly with an overcast sky and cool wind blowing. At least it didn’t rain. We had burgers, baked beans, potato salad, tossed salad and a chocolate cake to celebrate Brenda’s birthday. We visited for almost 4 hours. It was very enjoyable. After they left, we took down the town and cleaned up.

2021 Feb 15 (Mon) – I went to the ENT doctor today. He wanted to follow up and see how my ear was doing after using the drops. While the pain is gone, my ear still feels stuffed up. The doctor believes that I have fluid behind my ear. He asked me to come back for a hearing test.

After the doctor, we stopped at Bonefish Grill for lunch. The Bang Bang Shrimp is good every time! Then we stopped at Publix to pick up some groceries. When we got back to the campground, Paul set up the covered tent for tomorrow’s barbecue.

2021 Feb 14 (Sun – Valentine’s Day) – We went to the Hard Rock Café & Casino for lunch. Thought we’d enjoy a meal and a little gambling. What an UNenjoyable experience! The place is huge with several parking garages surrounding the main casino. We walked deep into the building before we found the café. The food was OK but very expensive - $101! After lunch, we went up to the second floor to the non-smoking lounge. We searched for 10 and 25 cent machines. That didn’t make any difference. When you found a 25 cent machine, you had to bet a minimum of 30 credits – each credit being equal to 25 cents. We both put $20 in a machine and after just 3 or 4 pushes of the button, we were broke. It is nice when you can find a machine to play that will last a little while. After all, you look for entertainment for a while. I don’t mind losing my money if the machine lets me play for an hour or so.

So, we went back down to the first floor and stopped in at a lounge for a cocktail and just enjoy the ambiance of the place. We walked up to the plastic shield and waited for service. Two bartenders were making drinks and even though they came by us to get bottles off the shelf, no one said anything to us. The bar was oval shaped and they were waiting on people on the other side of the bar. After about ten minutes, we spotted a waitress. Paul asked if we could get service at a table. She said yes so we sat at a small table and ordered our drinks. I asked for a double shot of Bailey’s Irish Cream and Paul had a shot of 43. My drink wasn’t more than an ounce. In fact, I questioned her as to whether it was even a double as it looked like so little. The charge for my drink was $22. We left the casino feeling ripped off and very unsatisfied with our experience. Sad.

2021 Feb 13 (Sat) – A fierce thunderstorm rolled through last night. The campground is full of puddles and squishy grass. It rained off and on all day today. There are more thunderstorms on the way over the next two or three days.

At 11:30, we wandered over to the livestock barn to see what was going on with the little piggies. They were having some kind of contest. A group of ten kids with pigs entered the ring. Each one had a long, thin switch that they used to continuously smack the pig on the right side of the face. Apparently, that is how they control the pig; with the switch and a stiff brush in their other hand. It looked like a confusing melee to me. The pigs walked all over the place and the kids followed, switching them in the face while trying to maintain eye contact with the judge. A judge watched and selected two or three contestants. They left the arena and entered cages on the side. The rest of the contestants were dismissed and the selectees came back out, fist bumped the judge, then left, too. Then, the next group of ten entered the ring. We watched for about a half hour. The animals were beautiful – strong, healthy looking beasts with ears that stood straight up and an energy to their trot. Some pigs were pink but more were other colors – chocolate brown, black with a pink band around their center, black with pink spots or pink with black splotches. It must be more difficult than it looks.

2021 Feb 12 (Fri) – We met Brenda & Rick for lunch at Portillo’s. The restaurant is famous in Chicago for its hot dogs and chocolate cake. We sat outside and visited for almost two hours. It was fun.

Next door was a Walgreens. After lunch, Paul and I went to find cards for our grandsons. We addressed them, put in a few candy hearts, and mailed them off.

2021 Feb 11 (Thu) – We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. We were appalled to see many tables with the dishes still sitting on them after diners have left. The service was very slow. We watched the hostess come in, haphazardly wipe off a table and then seat a couple there. She definitely is not COVID protective.

After lunch, we went to Lazydays which was right next door to the restaurant. After buying a few supplies, we met with a salesman who took us to look at several rigs. We found two we liked and when we returned to the office, he worked hard to get us to buy one of the RVs. He even brought in the boss to talk to us. Fortunately, he saw we weren’t looking to buy right now so he just chatted amiably with us then left. Good. I didn’t feel like going through a high pressure sales pitch. They offered to give us a trade in of $32,000 on our current rig.

Campers are starting to come into the campground. There will be a Swine Festival this weekend for the local kids club.

2021 Feb 10 (Wed) – Paul tested the charge on several stanchions and found high voltage running through the line. I called the office and they sent an electrician over. He said they have a fair coming up and run a higher voltage over the line. With lots of people drawing power, it causes the voltage to drop. Since we are the only camper here, the voltage is too high and they can’t reduce it. It should be running around 128 but it’s over 133 and tripping the surge protector (which we thought was broken but was really doing its job). So, we packed up and moved to the other side of the campground where they are not setting up for the fair. The voltage seems to be OK over here. There’s one other camper in this area.

After the set up, we drove to MacDill Air Force Base. We have tried to get reservations on that base a couple of times but they were always full. They have over 400 spaces in their campground. It was full and the sites were very close to each other. We were just as glad we didn’t get in.

We then stopped at the commissary and picked up some groceries, then walked next door to the Class VI Package Store and picked up some wine.

2021 Feb 9 (Tue) – We drove to a laundromat to do some wash. They had a value card system in place. You have to put money on a card and put that into the washer and dryer. It is a confusing system but we managed. For two washers and two dryers, we spent $12.70. That was high.

While the clothes were doing their thing, we went to WalMart and picked up oil and DEF for the truck. Paul asked about having an oil change done but the clerk said they didn’t have a lift big enough to fit the truck. He told us to go to the WalMart in Valrico.

We had lunch at Duke’s Brewhouse. It was a relatively new place (as an evaluator said on Trip Advisor) but was not crowded. The walls were covered with big screen TVs playing every kind of sports. The Tamp Bay Buccaneers are big news after their win at the Superbowl this past weekend. I had a Greek flatbread and Paul had a Caesar wrap. The food was OK.

The electric breaker kicked off twice. Our surge protector usually takes two minutes to bring the electric back on. It did it the first time but not the second. Paul thinks the surge protector has bit the dust. It is almost four years old. That’s an awful short life. Add to that the Jetpack that keeps giving us problems in accessing the Internet. Ugh.

2021 Feb 8 (Mon) – I found an ENT doctor and went to see him this morning. He said I have a bacterial infection in my ear and prescribed ear drops. He said to stop the Amoxicillin that the urgent care doctor prescribed. I am supposed to go back to see the ENT doctor in a week.

We then went to Smokey Bones for lunch. The ribs were delicious! Then I ran into CVS (which happened to be in a Target store) to get the ear drops. I spent a good part of the day cancelling reservations and appointments back in New York. I was supposed to fly out today.

2021 Feb 7 (Sun) – We packed up and left Sarasota at 10 a.m. It was an hour and a half drive to the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. Sometimes I have to wonder about our timing. The Superbowl is being played in Tampa tonight. We always seem to arrive somewhere where something amazing or very big is going on – like a presidential rally or a big concert.

When we arrived, we discovered we didn’t have an assigned site. The saleslady had acknowledged our reservation and promised to send us information before we arrived. She didn’t do that. The guard called someone who told them to just point us to the camping area and to pick a spot. That’s what we did. There are two RVs camped along the fence next to the interstate. Having camped near the interstate before, we knew it would be too loud with the 24/7 traffic. So we found a site on the other side of the field as far away from the road as we could get.

After set up, we went out to get some lunch. We were also going to do some laundry but my ear was hurting very badly. I got a message from Southwest that I had to have a negative COVID test within 72 hours of arriving in NY. On top of that, New York is getting another snowstorm today and another is scheduled for Thursday, all on top of a snowstorm they had a few days ago. I decided to cancel my trip until I could get my ear repaired. Maybe the COVID test will not be a requirement in another month with the vaccine out there. We’ll see.

My sister gave me a homeopathic treatment for my ear so we went to Sprouts Market where I picked up some ear drops. It did help to alleviate some of the pressure in my ear.

2021 Feb 6 (Sat) – We stayed in the trailer all day except to walk the dog. The wind was blowing briskly but it was more balmy than cold. Paul dumped the tanks this evening in readiness for our move tomorrow.

2021 Feb 5 (Fri) – It was cool today. Had to wear long pants, socks, and a jacket in the morning. We ran several errands around town. We went to Millie’s Restaurant for lunch. It was a delightful little café decorated with a French motif. I told Paul that I would like that wallpaper in our next house, wherever we settle down. Next stop was at Petco to pick up dry food for Bonnie. In the same shopping center was a Total Wine where we picked up some wine, a cordial, and a margarita mix. We stopped in a mall to look for sweat pants and jeans for me. It was about 3/4s empty. I guess COVID killed most of the stores. There was a JC Penney’s where I found a pair of soft slacks, not sweats nor jeans. We looked at cruise wear but decided to wait before buying any.

After we got home and dropped off our purchases, we ran back out to a medical clinic. My ear has been painful for a couple of days and I am getting some blood on a Q-tip. The doctor thinks I might have ruptured the ear drum and recommended that I see an ENT doctor. She prescribed an antibiotic. I think she should have cleaned the ear out with a topical antiseptic but she refused to do it. I called back home to my cancer doctor to be sure there was no problem with an interaction with my chemo medication. I stopped taking it yesterday. A nurse called back and said there would be no problem with the two medications.

When we got back, we fed the animals then went into the lodge for dinner and drinks. I still had my free drink to claim from the Queen of Hearts drawing. The bar was full and service was very slow but we finally got our meal. The Exalted Ruler came over to chat with us and Paul met a couple of people who were from4rrrr our hometown. One man came over to sit with us and reminisce about the old town.

2021 Feb 4 (Thu) – I called my brother, Gregory, and made arrangements for dinner. We met them at Longhorn Restaurant. The meal was delicious! Afterward, we went to Greg’s house to visit with him and Potsy for a while. He had us laughing with his stories of doctors, nail guns, and children. I love his sense of humor.

2021 Feb 3 (Wed) – We pulled up stakes and drove 120 miles northwest to Sarasota. We are camped on the side of an Elks Lodge. There are 3 campers hooked up. We got the only 50 amp site. We parked so another camper can fit between us and the motorcoach next to us. The RV is due to come in tomorrow.

We went out to pick up groceries and dog food, drop off postcards for mailing, and refuel. We stopped at the Bayan Tree Chocolate & Café for lunch. They had a display case with specialty chocolates right when you walked in. We sat and ordered off the menu. I got a quiche and Paul had a sandwich. We took home chocolate chili for dinner. It did not taste as good as it sounded.

At 5 p.m. we went to the outdoor Tiki Bar behind our trailer for a drink. Several people were in there with heaters and a fireplace all blazing away. It was cold and everyone was in jackets. We then went into the lodge to pay for our site. We sat at the bar and had a drink. It was Queen of Hearts night so we bought tickets for that as well as the 50-50 drawing. I won a free drink. We paid the bartender for our 4-night stay.

2021 Feb 2 (Tue) – We drove the Loop Road this morning. It was pretty cool. It is a 40 mile road that loops through the Big Cypress National Preserve. About 12 miles of it is hard packed gravel (unpaved). It was in pretty good condition with few potholes. It was a narrow, 2-lane road that wound through the Everglades. There were cypress trees and bushes lining both sides of the road and lots of water on either side. We spotted 3 alligators and several egrets.

When we came out on the main road, we drove to Everglades City to take an airboat ride. We were an hour early, so we stopped at a deli on the Miccosukee Indian Reservation for lunch. We bought a meatball hero, a bag of chips, and an iced tea. We sat in the car and split the meal between us. At 1 p.m. we drove to the meeting spot. It was an entrance into the canal with no office building. Two airboats were sitting there, waiting for customers. Our guide came over, introduced himself (CPT Ryan), and gave us paperwork to sign absolving them of all liability if we got hurt. It was only the guide and the two of us on the boat. We wore headsets so we could hear him speaking over the drone of the engine. He drove us through the Everglades for better than an hour and a half regaling us with stories of his childhood and descriptions of the area with its wildlife, fauna, and flora. We saw gators, great blue herons, egrets, vultures, and turtles. It seemed like we went deep into the wild and untamed wilderness. The water was so clean and pure looking. Not at all what you would expect a swamp to be like. We saw a couple of alligators and many kinds of birds and even a turtle. I was hoping to catch sight of a python but our guide said they were hard to spot – usually only when a bird or gator has caught one. What a great experience!

2021 Feb 1 (Mon) – We packed up and headed out at 9:30 a.m. It was 110 miles to the Big Cypress National Preserve where we are camped in the Midway Campground. There are 32 campsites arranged around the perimeter of a large pond. We have electric hookup only. We dumped our tanks and filled the fresh water tank before pulling into our assigned site. The camp host met us at the entrance, ran through a litany of rules, and wished us well. He warned us to beware of the wildlife. When I asked him what kind of wildlife they have here in the park, he said “Everything!” Does he think they have a zoo in here?

After set up and a quick lunch, we headed out to the visitor center. It was very small. We watched a video about the ecosystem but it failed to explain how it all works together. Outside the center was a wooden walkway that ran along a canal. There were many alligators in the water as well as different kinds of fish. It was quite thrilling.

We then drove to Everglades City. It looked like it has been pretty much beat up over the years. Almost all of the buildings were raised 10 or more feet off the ground. Is that for storm surge or wildlife avoidance? The city is laid out in a large grid. The houses have large yards; they might each be on one or two acres apiece. The local museum was closed. We stopped in a very old store-turned-museum and wandered around all the old stuff. They had interesting signs up describing how various equipment/furniture/ appliances were used. The Smallwood Store was built in 1906 on Chokoloskee Island.

My hair is going through another kind of metamorphosis. It seems to be losing its curl and is more coarse. I guess the change in chemo strength is doing something. I made reservations for a flight back home next month for a PET Scan and checkup. I am not looking forward to going back to New York in February. It’s cold! And with the damn virus, they might make me take a COVID test. Keep your fingers crossed I don’t have to do that. I won’t go back then if they try to make me take that thing. It is too painful.

2021 Jan 31 (Sun) – We went into the Elks lodge for brunch at 11:30 a.m. The food was very good. At 5:30 p.m. we drove to Marathon to meet Tim at the Sunset Grill. We had dinner and watched the sun set. There were clouds in the sky so we did not get much color. A gentleman sitting next to me got a very interesting looking appetizer. I asked him what it was and he said it was cheesecake spring rolls. I asked him many questions about it. What was that name again? Did the waiter recommend it? It is sweet or tart? Is it supposed to be a dessert? He said it was delicious and he couldn’t taste any cream cheese at all. We finally got our hands on a menu and looked up the appetizer, hoping to find out what ingredients could be put into a cheesecake spring roll that would erase all taste of cream cheese. What a laugh we had!!! There was a cheesesteak spring roll on the menu. The bar was crowded, he had misheard the waiter, and he never bothered to check it out on the menu. We had quite a chuckle all night long as we ordered and ate our “cheesecake” spring rolls.

There are the nastiest gnats around here. Their bites sting and just keep itching. Our legs and arms are covered with these small red blotches that won’t stop itching. Ugh. Well, we have checked off the Florida Keys from our bucket list. Time to move on.

2021 Jan 30 (Sat) – We had planned to take a glass bottom boat tour in Key Largo with Tim today. He called to say that the weather for the day was bad for boat rides. The wind is blowing pretty hard which would give us a rough ride. So we cancelled that plan and arranged to meet Tim at Robbie’s Marina in Islamorada. Every time we drive down the road, the marina is packed. Apparently, they have lots of activities going on there and we wanted to see what they have.

We got there at 11:30 a.m. There was a storyboard that told the story of Scarface. The owner found a tarpon with its jaw badly torn and hanging. He called a friend who sewed the jaw back in place. The owner nursed the fish back to health and after six months, released it back into the wild. Apparently, it liked the treatment because it continued to hang around the marina. In addition, it brought friends back for handouts, too. Today, you can pay $2.25 to walk out on the dock to look at the tarpons gathered around and you can buy a bucket of food for $4.00 to feed them. The dock was crowded with people and pelicans looking to sample the food. We skipped the melee and had lunch on the patio. The margarita was terrible. We told the waitress that and she brought another drink. It was a little better but still not good. The food was not that good either.

Tim’s friend, Jimmy, joined us. He and Tim met back up in New York working on the casino boat that went out of Freeport. They have both moved down here to Florida. Jimmy works for a pool company. He was pretty funny. Interestingly, Tim is talking about getting an RV.

It was cloudy, windy, and cool all day long. We went on to the patio at the Elks lodge at 6 p.m. to watch the sunset. We were sure that with all the clouds, the sunset would be fantastic. Unfortunately, the clouds were too thick and too low on the horizon. There were no beautiful colors to see. A couple sitting at a nearby table live next door to the lodge and came over to watch the sunset, too. They peppered us with questions about RVs. They were dressed in winter jackets, gloves and hats. Guess they thought it was cold.

2021 Jan 29 (Fri) – We met Tim at the Florida Keys History & Discovery Center. It is located on the property of the Islander Resort in their convention center. It was small but interesting. Tim and I got in free because we were veterans. Paul got the senior rate.

After the center, we went across the street to Lorelei for lunch. We found a table in the sun out on the patio and enjoyed a delightful meal together. After lunch, Paul and I stopped at Publix to pick up a few things. We also stopped at the post office where I mailed off our passport renewals. Let’s see how long it takes to get the new passports.

Our mail arrived this afternoon. I asked to have our mail forwarded 2 days ago. UPS marked it as a 3 day shipment but it arrived in 2 days. Unfortunately, the package was marked as one of two packages. The tracking number for the second package says it is scheduled to arrive here at the Elks Lodge on Tuesday. We leave on Monday. The UPS driver said they could forward it to us. Just leave the forwarding address with the camp host here.

A cold front came in today. The temperature dropped to a low of 59 degrees. Lol. The Floridians brought out their parkas, gloves, scarves, and hats.

2021 Jan 28 (Thu) – We went to the laundromat this morning to wash clothes. We sat in the truck while the clothes washed, then drove to a Mexican restaurant for lunch while they were in the dryer.

I spent an hour putting together an annual report on finances for the SMART Nomads. Later in the day at 4 p.m. there was a Zoom meeting with National Muster committee (I volunteered to chair the Administrative Team). The meeting went on for about an hour.

2021 Jan 27 (Wed) – We drove to Marathon and met Tim at his boat at 9:30 a.m. Before we got there, we stopped at a nearby Walgreens to have passport pictures taken. He took us out on the dinghy to his dive boat then we rode out to the Sombrero Reef, the third largest reef in the world. The water was such a beautiful green-blue color. Tim said the water was not cold but I thought it was so I did not go in. Paul put on a weight belt and a belt to hold the breathing regulator in place. Right after he jumped into the water with just his bathing suit, Tim promptly donned a wetsuit. So much for the water not being cold! Paul and Tim spent about an hour diving on the reef hookah style (as Tim calls it). The 50’ hoses were attached to the oxygen tanks that stayed on the boat while they swam around the boat. I looked over the sides and watched the colorful fish go crazy for crackers I threw in the water.

After we got back, we transferred to the dinghy and rode to the Dockside Grill where we enjoyed a refreshing drink. Then we returned to the dock and came back to the campground, stopping at Walgreens to pick up our pictures then at Winn Dixie to pick up a few groceries.

At 6:45 p.m. we went into the Elks lodge for dinner and to play the Queen of Hearts. The woman whose name was drawn did not choose the $900 Teaser. She drew a card but it was not the Queen of Hearts. So she won nothing. Next week’s drawing will have a prize over $32,000.

2021 Jan 26 (Tue) – We drove to the post office to make application to renew our passports. The clerk told us to go online. Turns out that all renewals have to be done by mail. That means we have to go get our pictures taken somewhere. Ugh.

We went for breakfast at the Bitton Bistro. Turned out to be a French café. The owner, Michel, is from Morocco. He was the only person working in the café and there were 3 tables taken and several people coming and going to buy pastries. The food was good and we even bought pastries for tomorrow’s breakfast.

We met Tim at the Crane Point Museum. It is a 63 acre hammock. A hammock in Florida is used in the southeastern United States for stands of trees, usually hardwood, that form an ecological island in a contrasting ecosystem. Hammocks grow on elevated areas, often just a few inches high, surrounded by wetlands that are too wet to support them. There were birds in a cage being cared for by rehabbers. The group included pelicans, cormorants, owls, kestrels, egrets, herons, and an eagle. A little further on was a pedicure pool. People could take their shoes off and put their feet in the water. Little fish nibbled on the bottom of their feet. Four people were sitting on the dock with their feet in the water. They said it tickled. We wandered through thick foliage with lots of roots sticking up in the pathway. It was a rough hike through the trees.

After the tour, we drove to the Overseas Pub & Grill and had lunch outside on the patio. It had an Irish menu and I enjoyed shepherd’s pie. Tim had corned beef stew and Paul just had a burger.

2021 Jan 25 (Mon) – What an illuminating day it was! We drove to Key West today. It was 90 miles one way. The road (US 1) passed over one island after another. Each island is called a key and there are many keys (also called a cay). The houses and buildings are painted in lovely pastel shades of pink, green, blue, peach, yellow and dove gray. Some islands are very built up and others are sparse. There are many boats and marinas along the way. Key West was incredibly crowded. The streets are narrow and the houses are tightly packed. The entire place was so built up! We had to wait on a long line just to get our picture taken at the 0 mile marker for the southernmost point in the Continental U.S. There were so many people in town and no parking that we couldn’t even tour the Truman Little White House or Hemingway’s Home. It was very disappointing.

We did stop in at a Butterfly Conservancy. That was delightful. There were butterflies flying everywhere! The docent told us they buy 300 egg sacks a week and release 15-30 new butterflies into the screen area every day. There were also very colorful little birds flying around.

We drove over to the Naval Air Station to check out the Sigsbee Campground. Although they have almost 100 hookups, there were not many RVs camped there at all. We guess that only servicemen who are stationed at the base are allowed to camp there. It was nice but the sites were tight. We are just as glad that we never got in there.

2021 Jan 24 (Sun) – We drove to the Florida Keys History and Discovery Center in Islamorada but it was closed. It is located in the Islander Resort and a guard at the gate told us they are only open Wednesday to Saturday. That was disappointing.

We drove down the road to the Island Grill and had a meal outside on the beach. Out table was a long table with two trees growing up through the table. After lunch, we drove further south to Bud ‘n Mary’s Marina. A friend of ours told us to go see the fish there. There were loads of pelicans begging scraps from a fisherman cleaning the day’s catch. In the water was a manatee, several very long fish (we think they were mackerel), and lots of minnows. The water was a beautiful color.

We stopped at the Hurricane Monument. A carved granite marker stands on the side of the road in tribute to the people who lost their lives in a hurricane in 1935. Next, we stopped at the History of Diving Museum. It was a very informative place. There were displays of deep sea diving gear, SCUBA gear, and underwater equipment. Lots of storyboards told about the personalities that made breakthroughs in diving and contributed to the sport. We enjoyed the museum very much.

2021 Jan 23 (Sat) – We drove to the post office this morning to get pictures and submit paperwork to renew our passports. We will be taking a cruise to Australia and New Zealand next year. Following the cruise, we are planning to take a camper around Australia for 2 or 3 months. That’s when our current passports will expire. We are renewing them now in order to avoid the possibility that our passports might expire before we get back home. Unfortunately, the post office was closed. So we went next door to the Made 2 Order café and had a late breakfast.

After our meal, we drove to Islamorada to the Theater of the Sea. It was fun. We got on a tour that went to several stations. First was the fish display. There were sting rays, parrot fish, and nurse sharks in shallow pools. The guide described the fish and showed how they train the sharks. Next to the display area was a wading pool where people could wade in the water with some of the fish.

Next stop was at a glass enclosure that held two alligators; one female and one male. We learned the females grow to about 6-8 feet and the males can grow up to 14 feet. Another enclosure held a crocodile where the guide explained the difference between the crocodilians.

After that was a stop at the turtle pools. They had leatherbacks, loggerheads, and green sea turtles. One turtle floated around the pool with a life vest on. There was something wrong with its shell that prevented it from surfacing. The vest helps it to be able to take a breath. These critters were so big!

Then we went to 3 shows. The first was where they had several parrots and macaws. The emcee described the different types of exotic birds and where they come from. Then we all went to a large pool where two dolphins performed tricks for the audience. Beside the pool were two small pools where people were swimming with the dolphins. The place offered the opportunity to swim with dolphins, sting rays, and sharks, all for an additional fee. The admission fee was pretty steep - $87 for the two of us and that was with a 10% discount! After the dolphins, we went to another pool where they had sea lions perform tricks, too. And, again, there were people swimming with the sea lions in small pools near the main pool.

The tour ended with a ride on a bottomless boat. The boat had benches on the four sides of the boat with an opening in the center. The two dolphins from the show came swimming by and popped up in the center of the boat and did tricks inside and on the side of the boat while we rode out and back on the lake. The guide said the entire park is landlocked so they pump in over 11 million gallons of water every day.

After the park, we drove to the “world famous” Lorelei Restaurant. It is a bar with a very large patio on three sides that sits right on the bay shore. We found a table where Tim joined us. He was meeting a friend who is in Florida on vacation. The friend didn’t want to come to the table so he sat up in the walkway in his wheelchair watching the women go by. Joey was also there, sitting up on the walkway with a friend.

2021 Jan 22 (Fri) – We drove to Marathon today to see Tim and take a ride on his boat. He actually has two boats. One he lives on and the other is his dive boat. He can take out groups of up to six people to dive on a nearby reef. His son, Joey, was also there.

We parked the truck and got on the dive boat. Tim drove from the dock to a nearby restaurant where we docked at the pier and had lunch on the patio. After a couple of margaritas, we got back on the boat and rode out into the ocean. We parked (can you park a boat?) out near the 7 mile bridge and watched the sunset. Sadly, there were no clouds in the sky so the sunset was pretty bland. You have to have clouds in the sky in order to have a beautiful sunset or sunrise.

We returned to the marina where Tim anchored his dive boat and we transferred to a little dinghy for a ride back to the dock. It was tight and a little nerve racking but we did it without incident. It was a good day.

When we got back to the lodge, I went in and asked if they had any leftovers. It was prime rib night and I thought I could get some of the leftover food. It turned out they had plenty left and we wound up sitting down to dinner at 8:30 p.m. Ugh. That is SO late to eat a heavy meal. We brought most of the meal back to the RV.

2021 Jan 21 (Thu) – After the motorhome next to us left, we readjusted our position in the campsite. We fit much better now. We have no TV stations over the air. Paul had to put the satellite dish up on the roof but it is working fine.

My brother, Tim, came over this morning. We were stuck in the campground because I was waiting for UPS to deliver my medicine (I have to sign for it). At 1 p.m. I called UPS and asked to pick up the package at their office tomorrow. The clerk I spoke with (sounding like she was in India) arranged it. We then went out to lunch at Tower of Pizza. Tim said it is the closest thing to New York pizza outside of New York. It was OK.

We returned to the campground and sat down by the water. A truck pulled up with a 100 gallon tank on the back. The driver put a hose in the water, turned on a generator, and began pumping water into the tank. It turns out that he sells salt water to aquariums for their collections. Who would have thought you could make a career out of that? A UPS truck pulled up and, low and behold, my medication and our forwarded mail were both on the truck. Luckily, we were here so I could sign for my medicine.

There was a beautiful sunset tonight. Tim, who lives on his boat in Marathon (an island further south in the Keys), says the sunsets seem to go on for hours down here. The water is incredibly clear. We walked out on a pier they have here at the lodge. There are little needle nose gars swimming in the water. They blend in with the water and algae so much that it is difficult to see them. I could not spot any dolphins or manatees.

2021 Jan 20 (Wed) – We are in The Keys! We packed up and left South Bay at 9 a.m. and drove 3 hours to Tavernier. We are camped at an Elks Lodge on Overseas Highway. The lodge is right on the water. The Keys is on a narrow strip of land flanked by the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. The sites are very tight. We got into our assigned site (# 13) but we could adjust a little. The motor home next to us will be leaving tomorrow and we will readjust our position after they leave and before the next RV gets here.

We went into the lodge at 6 p.m. for dinner. They had a Queens of Hearts drawing at 7:30 p.m. That was a hoot. The prize is over $31,000. The reason the prize has grown so big is that they have a Teaser. Tonight’s Teaser is $900. If your ticket gets drawn, you get to turn a card over. If you turn a Queen of Hearts, you win the entire pot (+$31,000). You can opt to take the Teaser ($900) and they still turn a card over. If it’s the Queen of Hearts, you win nothing and they start a new game. Twenty-seven cards have been turned over so far. The winner took the Teaser and the card that was turned over was a Queen of Diamonds. The game is still on. The next drawing will be next Wednesday.

I got a series of reservations from the Newburgh KOA for our caravan this summer. The costs were all above our budgeted amount. I called and spoke with the manager of the campground. She explained that she had to just get something into the system to hold our sites. The price adjustments will come later and not to worry.

2021 Jan 19 (Tue) – We drove into West Palm Beach today. After a quick lunch at Zaxby’s, we took a ride on the Diva Duck boat. There were just 8 adults and 2 children on the boat. It was a weird sensation to go from the road into the water. The woman narrating the tour was very good and had lots of tongue-in-cheek jokes about ducks.

After our pleasant afternoon, we stopped at PetSmart to get some dog food then Publix for a few groceries. Paul filled up the truck and I bought lottery tickets hoping to hit the more than $800 million jackpot.

2021 Jan 16-18 (Sat, Sun, Mon) – We stayed in the campground. This was a holiday weekend and we were staying away from the crowds. The folks with the chicken on a leash left today. I wanted to get a picture of it but I missed out. Oh, well. The weather has been cool; lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. Hopefully, it will be warmer down in the Keys.

2021 Jan 15 (Fri) – We drove to Palm Beach today. Palm Beach was named for the coconut groves that were once common along Lake Worth. The only remaining coconut grove in Palm Beach is on the Flagler estate.

First stop was at the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum. What an amazing place! Another example of the opulence of the nouveau rich of the 1800s. Flagler’s family immigrated from Germany to New York. Flagler left home at 14 to look for his fortune. He found it when he joined up with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews to form Standard Oil Co. He made millions (billions in today’s money). In 1902, he built Whitehall as a winter retreat and visited there for 12 years until he died. His wife died 4 years later and left their estate to a niece. She then turned it over to private investors when it became too expensive to keep and they turned the mansion into a grand hotel. In 1959, the investors had gone broke and the building was going to be torn down. A great granddaughter bought the property and turned it into a museum in 1960.

There were more than 75 rooms in the home. Much of the original furniture, as well as furniture from the period, are in the rooms. Each room is grander than the next. It was amazing! In the back of the home was another building housing Flagler’s personal rail car. He built a rail line that connected Jacksonville to the Keys. Flagler is credited with building up Florida and making it a major attraction for tourism and agriculture.

Across the water behind the estate was a marina that housed several yachts. One of them was a small ocean liner with beautiful lines. Ah, what the money people spend their dollars on.

After the museum, we drove into town and had lunch at Almond. It turned out they also have a restaurant in Manhattan and Bridgehampton back in New York. We sat on the patio and watched all the rich cars drive by. I’ve never seen so many high end vehicles – Tesla, Mercedes, Bentley, Ducati, etc. – in one place. Parking is restricted to two hours and while we were eating, two of the wait staff ran out to move their cars so they wouldn’t be ticketed. Our lunch was excellent but we paid for it. It was almost $100 (tip included). Whew!

Next was a drive around town. We wound up on Ocean Drive and drove past Mar-a-lago, President Trump’s Florida home. It’s a strange arrangement. The road cuts through the middle of the estate with the club on one side and the pool on the other side next to the ocean. There was a very large American flag standing on the lawn in front of the club. We couldn’t see the entire building as there was a 6’ hedge in front of the place. Most of them have 15-20 foot high hedges in front of their properties. I guess that’s more attractive than fences and certainly more private. Each home we drove past was more opulent than the next. This is definitely the place to come if you want to ogle the rich and famous.

When we got back to the campground, we could see that most campsites have been filled up. It’s the weekend. The folks next to us have a chicken. They tie a rope to its foot and the rooster just hangs around. He likes to be high so they put him on the handlebars of their bicycle or up on a 6’ ladder. I’ve seen some crazy things during our travels but a chicken on a leash is a new one for me. Lol.

2021 Jan 14 (Thu) – We stayed in the campground all day. I did work on the Nomads newsletter as well as the New York Caravan. Paul worked on finding us campgrounds to stay in. After he found a site in Tampa, I called Southwest and made a reservation to fly to New York next month.

2021 Jan 13 (Wed) – We asked the office to move to a site further away from the road. It must be a main truck route as it was noisy all night long. We got moved from 85 to 151. It’s marked as a handicapped site but the picnic table is located on the wrong side of the rig. Regardless, it is much quieter over here.

After our move, we drove into town to get propane and fuel. We drove through Clewiston and stopped at the Chamber of Commerce & Museum. It was small and not well laid out. The CoC offers a Sugarland Tour which we very much wanted to take. It is four hours learning about all the sugar cane farms in the area. Unfortunately, tours are suspended until September because of the coronavirus.

We drove through South Bay. There were many slum areas, dilapidated houses, and closed stores. This town is suffering greatly. Trip Advisor listed only one restaurant in the entire town – Subway.

2021 Jan 12 (Tue) – We packed up and left Cocoa at 9:50 a.m. and arrived at the South Bay RV Campground at 1:30 p.m. We ran into traffic going through the Palm Beach area. The campground is owned by the county. It is neat, clean, and well laid out. Unfortunately, it is right by a major truck route and quite noisy. We only got a 30-amp site while there are 50-amp sites open. The campground is about 90% full. It sits at the base of a levee. There is a lake and creek on the property with signs warning of alligators. Check-in was online as they are keeping everything contactless. There is nothing to do in South Bay. This is the kind of campground you come to when you want to get away from it all.

2021 Jan 11 (Mon) – We went to the Brevard Zoo today. Paul thought it was very nice. Not too big and all the animals were out and visible. We had to make a reservation online as they are limiting the number of people in the zoo at any one time. There were lots of animals from Australia and Africa. It was about a two hour tour.

We stopped at the Melbourne Seafood Grill for lunch. I had a crab cake and Paul enjoyed clams. Then we got some fuel in preparation for tomorrow’s move. When we got back to the campground, we did some wash. Sheba brought some hairballs last night while laying on our bed so we had to wash the sheets and bedspread. It’s time to take the flannel sheets off the bed anyway. We are headed into southern Florida where the weather is sure to be warmer (we sure hope so!).

2021 Jan 10 (Sun) – We did laundry today. It seemed like Sunday was wash day for a lot of people in the campground and we got the last two machines.

We met George & Linda at El Leoncita for dinner. The food, margaritas, and company were all good.

2021 Jan 9 (Sat) – We drove back to Merritt Island and picked up Denise with her dog, Levi, then drove to Cocoa to George & Linda’s. George made dough balls to go fishing with his grandson, Ryan. Their son, Neil, came over and we all went down to the lake. Ryan, Neil, George, and Paul fished while Linda, Denise, and I went for a drive around the neighborhood. It was cool with a brisk breeze blowing.

No fish caught, we returned to the house and George grilled up some burgers and hot dogs. After visiting, we returned to Merritt Island to drop off Denise, then back to the campground. Sheba ran out of the door when we got back at 8 p.m. and it took a bit of effort to get her back inside because it was dark and we couldn’t see.

2021 Jan 8 (Fri) – We went out to pick up food for Bonnie. The vet recommended that we only give her one protein source. Rather than mixing up beef and chicken, we should only feed her chicken. We also have to make sure her dry food is chicken as well as her treats.

Next door was a WalMart. We ran in to pick up a few things. While at George & Linda’s the other day, I noted she was cooking with a Blue Diamond pan. We got to talking about different kinds of pans. I have been thinking about getting rid of my Teflon pans for a while. So while we were at WalMart today, I picked up 3 new fry pans and a Dutch oven. I also picked up a roasting pan and a small baking pan with rack. After we came home, I spent time rearranging the cabinet and getting rid of the old pots and pans in favor of the new ones.

The day was very windy today. Sheba didn’t spend more than a few minutes outside before looking to come back in. It was just too breezy. She sure loves her new toy.

2021 Jan 7 (Thu) – We stayed around the campground for the day. Paul ran out briefly to pick up some hardware to fix the silverware drawer. It was not working smoothly and he had to replace the hardware slide. The drawer works very nicely now.

At 8:30 p.m., we went out to watch the Space-X launch. It was delayed for a little bit but the rocket finally took off at 9:15 p.m. It was so quiet but very bright. The launch was successful and they were able to capture the booster rocket.

2021 Jan 6 (Wed) – We went over to George & Linda’s for dinner tonight. They grilled chicken and Brussel sprouts. We enjoyed the food with margaritas.

I pulled out the NY Caravan file today to see what actions I have to take. I contacted one campground to confirm our arrival. After some discussion, the owner decided that they could not support our caravan. We have too many large rigs. It was with some disappointment I found another campground. The next one is $11 more per night. That will certainly put a dent in our budget.

2021 Jan 5 (Tue) – We packed up and left KARS RV Park at 10:30 a.m. Since the drive was only 27 miles, we waited until near checkout time before leaving. We had to stop and dump the tanks first. It was a good day to leave as a bunch of Fish & Wildlife trucks pulled up in the field across from us this morning. It looked like a manhunt was underway. I called the office only to find out they are doing a controlled burn around the property today.

It was 50 minutes to Patrick Space Force Base in Cocoa. We checked in with the camp host. She said we were lucky. That someone just left a very nice spot (they have a first-come, first served policy for campsites). The site looks out at the river without a camper in front of our site. It’s OK. The camp host told us this is a historic stay. They just changed the name from Patrick Air Force Base to Patrick Space Force Base last month. It’s a nice campground but a little tight. We have full hookups with 50 amp service.

We went out for dinner to Grill’s Seafood Restaurant. It was right on the water and we sat out on the deck. It was enclosed in glass so it felt like the inside but with all the view of the outside.

2021 Jan 4 (Mon) – We took Bonnie to the vet this morning. We might have inadvertently solved the problem on our own though. Bonnie has been doing a lot of barking and appeared to be very hungry. She has been suffering urine infections off and on for two years now. She’s been through a variety of antibiotics but the UTI always returned. We remembered a friend who used the same pro-digest we give Bonnie. She said she stopped giving it to her dogs because they had renal issues. We stopped giving all extra stuff to Bonnie – the pro-digest, multivitamin, glucosamine, and fish oil. We’ve just been giving her the liver medicine and regular food. She’s also been getting lots of extra treats. Interestingly, Bonnie has calmed down. She’s not doing the excessive barking or restless moving around. Maybe the antibiotic she was on and the pro-digest disagreed with each other.

At any rate, the vet’s office only allowed one of us in so Paul sat out in the car. After hearing of Bonnie’s story, the vet recommended that we give her only one protein source. We feed her Hill’s Science Diet (approved by the vet association) but mix it up between beef and chicken. The vet said that a dog’s system has to do a reset every time the protein source changes. Her long standing issue with diarrhea could be related to the changes in protein. She suggested we give her only one protein for three weeks and see how her system reacts.

The vet took some blood and found that Bonnie’s thyroid level is low. So now she is on a thyroid medication. She needs to go back for a recheck in two weeks. We’ll see about that.

When we got back to the campground, we did the laundry. There were two washers and two dryers in the laundry building when I looked in last week. Today, there was only one washing machine. We only did the whites.

A Falcon 9 Space-X launch was planned to take place between 8:30 and 12:30 tonight. We rode down to the waterfront, set out our chairs, and waited to see the launch. The sky was clear and the stars were so bright with no moon to fade out the stars. It was so cold; in the 40s. We waited 20 minutes, trying to find out online if the launch was going to be live streamed. People finally started posting on Facebook that the launch was rescheduled for January 7. That was disappointing. We are in such a perfect place to watch a launch, right across the river from the NASA launch site.

2021 Jan 3 (Sun) – We drove over George & Linda’s this morning. She made hash with the leftover corn beef. That and eggs with toast was scrumptious. The mimosas were a nice touch. Denise (George’s sister) and her little dog, Levi, joined us. After our meal, we sat out on the patio around their fire pit and had a nice visit.

On the way back to the campground, we stopped for lunch at Kelsey’s Pizzeria. We’ve seen a number of them around and wanted to try them. We couldn’t eat in their store. They instructed us to go next door to Harry & Jack’s, a bar and grill. They had indoor and outdoor seating. None of the wait staff wore masks. There were 3 tables occupied near us when we sat next to the bar. The first group left and the waitress haphazardly wiped the table but didn’t touch the seats. The other two tables vacated and neither of them was wiped down at all. We got our pizza. It wasn’t New York.

After lunch, I stopped in at Supercuts next door and got my hair cut. The woman did a terrible job. The good thing about it is that my hair will grow back in.

2021 Jan 2 (Sat) – Another day in the campground. The weather has turned cold. We went over George & Linda’s for dinner. She made reubens with corned beef and sauerkraut on rye bread. It was so good. We are invited over for breakfast tomorrow where Linda will make corned beef hash with the leftovers. After dinner, we watched a movie with Liam Neeson. It was awful. It certainly wasn’t his usual genre as a kick-ass fighter. I think the name of the movie was “The Other Man.” Don’t watch it!

2021 Jan 1 (Fri-New Year’s Day) - We stayed in the campground all day. Our church had a Zoom meeting at 1 p.m. We would normally have a potluck meal on New Year’s Day but no one’s getting together in groups this year. There were about 20 of us online. It was confusing to me with everyone talking over each other. But it was good to see all our friends. The call lasted about an hour.

2020 Dec 31 (Thu-New Year’s Eve) – We met George & Linda at the pier by Doc’s Bait House near their old condo. We were going for a boat ride on the Banana River and lunch down river. Unfortunately, as soon as we got past the bridge, the wind was whipping up the water and waves were splashing over the boat, getting us all wet. It was too rough to go boating so we returned to the dock and pulled the boat out of the water then followed George back to his shop. We met their dog and checked out their new Renegade Class C RV. They bought it in July and it still smells new. After putting away the boat, we went to Fishlips for lunch down by Port Canaveral. The meal was good but pretty expensive.

After lunch, Paul and I drove to Patrick Air Force base to check out the campground. Most of the gates into the base are closed and you have to drive a couple of miles around the runway to get to the campground. They are also pretty full but there are still a few empty spaces. We will look to move there next week.

We returned to the campground and spent a quiet night watching TV. We turned in at 9 p.m. How’s that for celebrating the new year? I think we are officially “old fogies.”

2020 Dec 30 (Wed) – We ran some errands today – picked up groceries and got some propane. George & Linda drove over to the campground and we chatted for about an hour then drove to Denise’s house. We picked her up and drove to Carrabba’s for an early dinner. We all sat out on the patio and enjoyed margaritas and a good meal.

2020 Dec 29 (Tue) – We packed up and left Mayport Naval Station at 9:30 a.m. It was 160 miles south to Merritt Island where we are camped at the NASA owned property KARS RV Park. We have been here twice before. It is pretty full now; almost every campsite is occupied. We have a site way in back behind the storage area nowhere near the water. They continue to improve the campground.

2020 Dec 28 (Mon) – We drove into St. Augustine for lunch. Our meal was at the Florida Cracker in the old historic town. St. Augustine was settled in 1565 and is said to be the oldest city in the United States. It has been under six flags over the years – Spain, Italy, France, England, Colonial America, and the U.S. (I think). It is an interesting tour. There were many people out and about, too many without masks. Traffic coming into town was all backed up. We walked around for a while then left. We stopped at the post office on the way back to mail off a package and got fuel for tomorrow’s move.

2020 Dec 27 (Sun) – We dialed into the virtual service at our church this morning. It appears that the minister contracted the coronavirus and was quarantined for two weeks. That must be why they stopped having in-person services last week.

We took down our Christmas decorations today. I thought we were leaving tomorrow, Monday, but we are leaving on December 29. That’s actually on Tuesday.

2020 Dec 26 (Sat) – We drove into town and had lunch at North Beach Fish Camp. It was a seafood place. I had a cod dish and Paul enjoyed crab claws. On the way back to the campground, we stopped at Publix to pick up a few groceries.

The weather is pretty cold today. The temperatures have dropped into the thirties and there is a freeze warning for the area tonight. We’ll have to remember to disconnect the hose before going to bed. At least the wind has died down.

The vet called to say that Bonnie’s urine sample had come back normal. The antibiotic has done its job.

2020 Dec 25 (Fri – Christmas Day) – It was very cold this morning but warmed quickly to the 50s. The wind was blowing strongly. Last night’s storm left many homes without electric and the news showed streets and homes where trees fell onto them. It was a very destructive storm.

We went to the Oasis Galley on base at 3 p.m. for a holiday meal. It was supposed to be $9.20 per person but the guy just waved us through when we arrived. I don’t know if it was because he was having problems with the register or that it was almost time to close the mess hall (dinner was being served from 1 to 4 p.m. At any rate, we got a great meal for free. There was salad, shrimp cocktail, turkey, dressing, steak, mac & cheese, cranberry sauce, corn, kale, green beans, biscuits, eggnog, coffee, tea, and a variety of pies. We brought our pumpkin pie back to the trailer and had it later with coffee.

2020 Dec 24 (Thu) – We dropped a urine sample from Bonnie off at the vet’s office this morning. Then we went to breakfast at Another Broken Egg. They have such good and unusual selections. We both enjoyed our meal very much. We sat out on the patio with a lot of other people.

After breakfast (more like brunch), we drove to General RV to pick up our new loungers. The shipment never came in so we bought the floor sample. The saleslady we dealt with was out today. The person we dealt with today must have thought we were really stupid. She said they never had new furniture to order and we were always going to get the floor sample. Then she said the saleslady we first dealt with (Brandi) tried to order it but it wasn’t available. I then asked for a discount on the cost of the furniture since we had to take used furniture rather than get it new. She tried to tell us that the sample was only on the floor for 4 days. We sat in it over a week ago so that wasn’t true. Brandi had told us it was out for several weeks. In addition, the floor sample was still sitting on the floor. It was not sanitized and packed up for us. The woman tried to mumble that she couldn’t have sanitized it earlier because people would have still sat on it. Paul told her no one could sit on it if it was disassembled and she tried to tell him they would have. It was one of the most aggravating hours we have ever spent. The woman was either incompetent or an out-and-out liar. At any rate, we waited while they sanitized and took the furniture apart (2 chairs with a center console). She refused to give us any plastic to wrap up the furniture so it wouldn’t get dirty in back of the truck. We did get a refund of almost $200.

the old furniture

the new furniture

Paul then drove into downtown Jacksonville. Since it was Christmas eve, he figured a lot of the stores and offices would be closed. He was right. It reminded me of when we went to Phoenix and arrived on a weekend. It was like a ghost town. We stopped at the St. Johns River Riverwalk and strolled along the waterfront. There were a few people out but not many.

The day started out very nice but turned nasty late in the afternoon. Severe thunderstorms rolled through and there were warnings of tornadoes in the county. The temperatures dropped drastically and the prediction was for iguanas falling out of trees tomorrow (lol. Temps are supposed to be freezing)

2020 Dec 23 (Wed) – We did some laundry today. Since the machines are free, we are taking advantage of the benefit. Someone got annoyed we weren’t right there when our wash finished and they took our laundry out. They put it on top of the dryers. We put our stuff in the dryers and made sure to come back before it was done.

We went out for lunch at Cracker Barrel today. The food was good and they were doing a brisk business. It’s hard to believe there’s a pandemic out there. After lunch, we stopped at a liquor store to pick up some Bailey’s Irish Cream. It’s for Christmas day.

2020 Dec 22 (Tue) – The day was cold and blustery. We stayed in all day.

2020 Dec 21 (Mon) – We ran some errands today. Went food shopping at WalMart, picked up dog food at PetCo, got some fuel at a very sloooooooow pump (took a half hour to fill the gas tank), and dropped off an envelope at the post office.

At sunset, we drove over to the southeast side of the base to see the Christmas Star. Not since 1600 (400 years ago) has Saturn and Jupiter been aligned next to each other. They are so close that they look like a big star in the sky. This great conjunction is referred to as the Christmas Star. I think it’s because it’s happening during Christmas week. We saw nothing. Maybe it was hidden behind some low clouds on the horizon. We’ll try again tomorrow night.

I volunteered to put together a cookbook for SMART as a fundraiser. Paul was looking through our church cookbook one day and brought up the suggestion that we should do it for our travel club. I pitched the suggestion, went through lots of questions and hesitations, and finally got the go ahead today. Hope I don’t regret the offer.

2020 Dec 19&20 (Sat & Sun) – We stayed in the campground this weekend. We dialed into the church for a virtual service on Sunday morning. We had some initial trouble getting the live broadcast but it turned out to be a problem at their end, not ours.

2020 Dec 18 (Fri) – We ran out to get propane this morning. The weather has been cold (it was 37 degrees this morning) and the heat has been running almost constantly. We ran out of propane two nights ago (luckily, we have a second tank to switch to when one goes empty). The place we first stopped at was out of order and we struggled to find another place. The refill was finally achieved.

Karen called today. She is a travel agent and we are working with to arrange a cruise to Australia in 2022. We have tentatively decided on a Holland America 15-day cruise to Australia/New Zealand in January 2022. We also spoke with her about arranging a campervan trip around Australia following the cruise. We plan to take two months to travel around Australia after the cruise. She’s looking into it.

We returned to the campground and hunkered down for the day. I sure hope it gets warmer soon. This is Florida!!!!

2020 Dec 17 (Thu) – We drove into St. Augustine this afternoon. It took us over a half hour to find a parking space. We finally wound up parking in a church parking lot for $10. Then we walked into town and came upon the Lightner Museum. It is in the former Alcazar Hotel which was built from Henry Flagler in 1888. One half of the 5-story building houses government offices and the other half features the museum collection. The building was stunning and the hotel must have been amazing! The collections were from the 1800 and 1900s. There were pottery, crystal, and glass artifacts; furniture; paintings; sculptures; and more. A stuffed lion was on display that was a gift to Winston Churchill. The lion was placed in the London Zoo and sired over 40 cubs before being stuffed. I don’t know how it wound up in a museum in Florida.

At 5 p.m. we went to dinner at Harry’s Seafood Grill. It was a New Orleans style restaurant. The waiter was very animated and made the meal enjoyable. He said he was originally from Queens and worked in Melville. I had rice and beans with sausage and Paul had a scampi dish.

We walked down to the marina and took the Night of Lights boat tour. It was a boring ride back and forth in front of lighted store fronts in the freezing cold. The captain was absolutely silent. Most tours of this kind would have had a dialogue about the area. He should have described some of the landmarks or talked about the history of the marina or told the story about St. Augustine. Aside from his mandatory safety briefing (which was 75% unintelligible), he said nothing during the entire ride. We were supposed to get complimentary coffee or tea but they didn’t have that either. We didn’t think the boat tour was worth the expense.

2020 Dec 16 (Wed) – It rained for most of the day today. It was cool and miserable. I called the office today and was able to extend here at Mayport for another 3 nights until January 1st. Hopefully, that will be all we need to take care of Bonnie’s issue.

2020 Dec 15 (Tue) – We went food shopping at Winn Dixie to get groceries for the week. Then we went to Bono’s Pit BBQ. We bought a rack of ribs and brought it back for dinner. Yesterday and today have been blustery and the temperatures have been in the low 50s in the morning. The wind was blowing so hard today that you had to be sure to hold the door when you got out of the car or the RV. There were white caps and big splashing waves out in the river. We swear that the winds were gusting to 50 mph.

2020 Dec 14 (Mon) – We went furniture shopping today. After wandering through several stores, we finally arrived at General RV and paid for two lounge chairs. The clerk said she thought she could get it in by Friday, Monday at the latest. If it doesn’t come in, then they will give us the floor sample. We have to call on Friday so they’ll have time to sanitize the floor sample if it doesn’t look like the new chairs will come in on time.

After paying for the chairs, we stopped at Taco Bell for lunch. Yuck! They no longer have the taco salad. Now it’s bowls. I got a chicken quesadilla and Paul got chalupas. My meal was very skimpy and too spicy. I won’t get that again!

The vet called to say that Bonnie has a bacterial infection and needs to go on antibiotics. We turned around and drove to his office to get the medication. After ten days, we have to give another urine sample. The time period will be close to when we are scheduled to leave. Since we don’t have a reservation for the next campground, I called the office at Mayport to see if we could extend for a few days. The clerk said they have no vacancies. We have to call back every day to check on availability. Ugh.

2020 Dec 13 (Sun) – We went to lunch at Seaglass, a restaurant on base. We were the only two diners in the place. It looks like it would be really nice on a Friday night with folks gathered around the bar and socializing. That won’t happen for a while, if ever again. I had avocado toast and Paul had chorizo hash. It was good. We returned to the campground and let the animals play outside. Sheba is fascinated with the geckos crawling on the palm trees.

2020 Dec 12 (Sat) – The day was rainy and overcast. We just hung around the campground all day.

2020 Dec 11 (Fri) – We went out for lunch today at Colhane’s Irish Pub. The food was very good. I had my usual – shepherd pie and Paul enjoyed potato soup and a salad. He’s down to 208 lbs. His goal is in sight and he’s very focused. We came back and let the fur babies have time outside.

The vet called today. Aside from slightly elevated liver enzymes, he really doesn’t see anything in Bonnie’s bloodwork to indicate a problem. He is going to do a culture on the urine sample we left. He’ll call back in a couple of days.

2020 Dec 10 (Thu) – Paul offered to take me out for breakfast this morning. That’s very funny since he lost his credit card and we had to invalidate it. Now, I’m the only one with a credit card. After the breakfast that he treated me to (that I paid for), we went to Winn Dixie for groceries (I splurged on a lottery ticket), then to PetCo for dog food, and last to the post office to mail off a letter.

On the way back, we drove into the Village of Mayport. It is a small fishing village with a ferry port. There weren’t many businesses at all. When we got back on base, we drove around the docks looking at all the big Navy ships. There were about a dozen ships tied up to the piers.

We took Bonnie to the vet this afternoon. In the last two or three months, she has started this kind of barking routine. She gives a bark, waits about ten seconds, then barks again. She keeps this up until we are moved to do something. It’s either feed her, walk her, or pet her. She goes out for a walk about every 1-1/2 to 2 hours and has a bowel movement almost time. That’s many more than she used to have (which was two – one following breakfast and one following dinner). The doc took blood and promised to call us tomorrow.

2020 Dec 9 (Wed) – We stayed in today and spent the time putting up and decorating our Christmas tree. The season is here!

2020 Dec 8 (Tue) – We went to the post office to mail off the claim form to New York. It will be interesting to see how much is due to my mother (who passed away in 2009). My sister, Susan, had filled out a claim in 2010 for money due to my mother. The five of us each wound up getting $20 (she was due $100). This time around will probably be $2.50 each. Mom didn’t have much to her name when she died. I can’t imagine what this money is from.

We stopped for lunch at the Hangar Bay Café. It was a small place run by an African American retired Navy guy with an Asian wife. The menu had a lot of ramen on it. Paul got pork ramen and I ordered fried chicken. The food was good. The gentleman didn’t want to talk about his service. Even though there was an 11x13 picture of him in dress uniform on the wall, he kept avoiding my questions about his time in the Navy.

The commissary and PX are both off-post. We stopped in there to get a few things. You have to show ID at the register at the commissary and at the entrance at the PX to ensure you are military. When we got back to the base, we drove around the housing area. There is a second campground (called Osprey Cove) on base. It is not on the water but cloistered among spreading trees with lots of Spanish moss. It is very lovely and intended for long-term stays.

2020 Dec 7 (Mon) – We packed up and left Kings Bay Subbase at 11 a.m. It was much later than we normally move out but the drive was only an hour to the next campground. We ran out to the post office before we left so I could mail another registered letter to a lawyer used to sell Travis & Sam’s house. We’ve had serious issues with him and have had to make a formal complaint to the Judicial Review Board.

We arrived at Mayport Naval Station, Pelican Roost RV Park a little after noon. They gave us the option of choosing one of several sites. We elected to take a space at the end of the aisle on a curve. We can get a somewhat obscure look at the ocean. We stayed here last December. The ships sail right past the campground on their way out of and into the port. They blow their horns to say hello and goodbye.

We went out to the bank to get a paper notarized. I was cruising around the internet and put in Unclaimed Funds in New York State. Surprise, surprise! My mother’s name came up. The website doesn’t tell how much is owed, just there is some money due. I printed out the form and filled in the required information. I will mail it out tomorrow.

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