Emily Collins.
As soon as I opened my apartment door, I heard the, usual commotion of my son and bestfriend arguing over something, again.
“That is not how it works, little guy.”
“It is! You do not know anything so— so— so—!”
Archer is pointing an accusing finger at Alex and his face is all scrunched up into a cute but angry scowl when I enter the living room and I quietly laugh to myself at his loss of words. “A duck, you are a duck so you don't know anything uncle Alex!”
“Heeeeey! What did I say, uh, what did I say about calling me uncle out in the open like that? What would the girls think?”
“That you're old and annoying and cranky—”
“Ugh, I can never win with you, god!”
Jasmine laughs loud and squeezes my son soon more closer to her, laughing into his dark hair. “Oh dear, baby, let me tell you something.” He nods and turns to face her. “The only girls that Mr Ducky over there sees are the one's passing by in the hallway and at work. His actually g—”
“Hey guys!” I yell, much too loudly, interrupting my best friend and for good reason too. “I brought home a visitor.” I gesture behind me when three pairs of eyes look towards me.
“Connor?” Jasmine immediately stands, confusion laces her features as she stares from him to me and from me to him. I can tell she's trying to figure it out in her pretty little head but fails. “What are you doing here?” She questions, coming to stand in front of us and gives me a pointed look.
I know what that look means.
It means, you better start explaining before I beat you.
Connor chuckles and scratches the back of his head uncomfortably. “Uh, I. . . actually, I needed to talk to Emily so, uh, I waited till she was done with work?”
“And here he is.”
“Yeah, and here you are. . .”
Her hazel eyes snap to mine and she gestures with it, silently and I nod my head in understanding, ready to make an excuse when Archer comes rushing in.
Archer runs to the blonde man beside me and stares up at him in wonder before running off and I find that so weird until seconds later his running back into the room with a magazine in his hand, waving it around.
“You're from the magazines!” He beams tugging at the man's pants before flipping pages and showing it to him.
Connor's blue eyes twinkle in amusement and he crouches to the little boys height, immediately drowning in conversation with the little guy and I know something is off when Alex is there at the corner of the room, pouting at everyone.
“Emily! Can I talk to you for a minute?!” Jasmine hisses and doesn't let me answer before yanking my arm into the kitchen's direction.
“Ow! That kinda hurts.” I mutter.
In the kitchen, she let's me go, thankfully, and places her hands on her hips, looking at me expectingly and I pout at her, shrugging my shoulders.
“His an old friend, Jaz. I just. . . his presence shocked me before and I just, I never told you guys why I moved her and you guys never ask either and for that I'm grateful but. . . all that anger from my past just resurfaced suddenly and I lashed out on him but, he used to be my best friend when we were younger. Just, let it go, please?” I quietly mumble but I know she hears me when she softly sighs.
“Okay but I never ask because you never ask me either.” She mumbles as well and I nod my head in understanding, again.
Jasmine smiles at me and takes the few steps before wrapping her arms around me, tightly, engulfing me into her warmth and familiar scent.
Is it weird that she smells like Jasmine?
Jasmine smells like Jasmine.
“I know your brain is probably wanting to question me, too, so I'll spare you the torture.” She chuckles and removes herself from her hug. “When I dated this rich guy from my own home town, Connor was his supposed cousin and we kicked it off since the get go so, yeah, that's how I'm friends with the goof ball. I guess.” She informs, laughing.
Alex comes into view behind the honey haired girl, standing far off in the shadows, thinking that I don't see him. But I do, so damn clear.
His gray eyes focus on the woman in front of me and he smiles to himself, sneakily and silently watching her talk about what they made for dinner and that they aren't even sorry for eating without me this time because I was late on purpose and now I missed the greatness of her cooking, that causes her to laugh and him to beam more.
“We should get going though. It's been a long Saturday.”
My eyes snap back to hers and I frown. “You guys aren't staying for our saturday movie night? Archer isn't going to like that, at all.” I question.
“Actually no,” Alex steps into the kitchen. “I took him to the water park today and I'm pretty sure his about to knock off any minute now so. . . that's okay. I have to leave though, long day and all that.” He shrugs, apologetically smiling.
Jasmine's eyes flicker to him and she bites her lip before looking back at me. “Yeah, uh. I have a date anyway.” She states.
My eyes widen at her and I almost wait for her to tell me that she's just pulling our leg but I know it's true when her eyes flicker back to the dark haired man and she sighs softly, shaking her head.
“That's. . . uh, nice?”
Unsure on what to say so I stand there, awkwardly.
Alex's jaw is clenched and I know he wants to say something but chooses to be silent because last time that she told us she had a date and he questioned it, people. . . everything turned loud and messy and she left his apartment crying. I know that must have fucked him up, seeing his bestfriend cry and knowing that he did that, made her cry.
“I have a date tonight as well.” He decides to say instead and I gape at him, not knowing if it's a prank or not because this is Alex after all, you could never really know with him.
Jasmine's head snaps to his direction.
“You d— do?”
“Yeah, I do.”
I stay silent, leaning against the counter.
Both of their attention is focused on each other now and I watch back, not knowing how this is about to turn out but praying they don't fight.
“I, we, didn't know that.”
“Now y'all know though, right?”
“Uhmm, yeah, thanks for that, I guess?”
I gulp, thinking I might need to step in because Jasmine's eyes shine and I know that look all too familiar, she's about to burst. I can't tell if it's going to be from anger or sadness or both and one thing about this one, is that she hardly ever cries. She's thick and strong headed but when she does, you can't help but run after her and hold her.
“Is she pretty?” She asks, innocently gazing up and him and I internally curse, you never ask a guy that shit, never ever!
Especially Alex when his angry.
He nods his head and chuckles, “Oh yeah, got a fine piece of ass too! Might as well hit it tonight since I have no other plans.” He mocks.
Two gasps,
One from me,
And the other from Jasmine.
“I—” She whispers, shaking her head at him, disappointment lacing her features and I know that he feels bad when she just leaves, without saying anything else to either of us.
His shoulders sag and his expression turns sad again as he watches her disappear from his eye line. “I'm an idiot.” He mutters, cursing at himself and I hug him, trying to comfort him.
“Just tell her already.”
Emily Collins.“I think you should try a more modern look, for your hair and makeup because everything else is vintage, no? It would look nice but that's just my opinion.” I tell the nervous looking bride and bride's mates in front of me. “Just relax. It's not that stressful, I promise you that you will still look beautiful no matter what.” I assure her.Sarah is one of my recent clients, recent as in eight months ago! And today she came in for a last minute appointment, it was a stress run for her.I had to reassure her about everything, again, for the third time but I didn't mind because this was basically my everyday thing with the bride's and groom's, they were always so nervous and stressed.“Uhmm,” She bites her lips while in deep thought and then she smiles, probably figuring it out by herself
Emily Collins.As soon as I opened my apartment door, I heard the, usual commotion of my son and bestfriend arguing over something, again.“That is not how it works, little guy.”“It is! You do not know anything so— so— so—!”Archer is pointing an accusing finger at Alex and his face is all scrunched up into a cute but angry scowl when I enter the living room and I quietly laugh to myself at his loss of words. “A duck, you are a duck so you don't know anything uncle Alex!”“Heeeeey! What did I say, uh, what did I say about calling me uncle out in the open like that? What would the girls think?”“That you're old and annoying and cranky—”“Ugh, I can never win with you, god!”Jasmine laughs lou
Emily Collins.Connor watches Alex with careful eyes and I know why he does it. His never been one for confrontation or anything with fighting and Alex is an intimidating figure.Two successfully people in the same room is deadly serious.Especially when both these people are off male inhabitants.Alex is tall and has dark hair, the way he dresses and speaks and even walks, it's all too steady and calm, as if he always knew his next step, next move. Sometimes that alone freaked me out.Another thing that I know about is that Jasmine probably rushed out off here, faster than a lightning bolt and he must have sensed something is wrong with her because she is hardly ever in a rush, even so, if she is, she'd still talk and make conversations, regardless. It's a somewhat good and bad habit of hers but you eventually get used to it and her sometimes tard
Emily Collins.One thing that I hated,Had to be the fact that my sleep broke.And I wouldn't ever be able to fall back asleep again, that was torturous for me, staying wide awake in the silence with only your wicked thoughts to get and keep you going. Can you imagine that? For me? It meant I were to constantly have an internal battle with myself.I was comfortable right now and refused to leave this warm, cuddly bed so I endured the little torture I was put through, once again, by myself.Working odd hours everyday, does this, tires and exhaust me to the point that when Sunday's roll around, my routine sometimes take a little dip and instead of waking up at eight, it's already thirty minutes past ten and yet, I still want to go back to sleep and never want to wake up, until tomorrow, that is.“Archer?” I knock on his doo
Alex Henderson.Archer stomped his small feet, damn loud, in front of me and i could tell it was annoying the rest of the people around but really I didn't give a fuck about them.The boy really did whatever he wanted.Either way, I could tell him to stop and he won't.I huffed and he turned to look at me grinning widely, that was doom, I knew it too. “What's with the devil's look, huh?” I question, watching him with careful eyes and he shrugs his shoulders, still smiling.“Are you coming with us?”“Where?”He looks irritated at my lack of attention and glares at me and reaches out, pinching my leg. “Ow! What the fuck, man?” I hiss, stopping to sooth the now aching leg and he laughs.“10 buckroos for my swear jar!” He happily chirps.
Emily Collins.Jasmine and Alex were behaving weird earlier but I let that slide, they had weird things going on between the two of them that they needed to sort out and I wasn't going to jump into that mess, yet.Taking sides?I definitely wasn't about that anymore.Connor used his finger to rim his little teacup and smiled to himself as he did so. I remember him doing that when we were younger as well. It used to be so weird when I first noticed him doing it.But I guess, after years of being his friend, it kind of grew on me and then, when he didn't do it. That used to concern be at those times, not sure why.His blue eyes are focused on the outside world, watching as the cars go pass and the people. I figure that this must be new to him, the busy streets and all this loud chatter. But maybe not, he was kind of used to this, the l
Emily Collins.My eyes are heavy and tired and I can barely keep them open for much longer. I had completely forgotten how tiresome packing and arriving at the airport at such an early hour can be and goddamn, add another four human beings to the mix and I was completely and utterly exhausted from it all.I'm only on the plane! I can't imagine how tired I'm going to be when I arrive back at Rosewood, that thought alone makes me internally groan.I had been watching the sky for a long time now, it was dark and had barely any stars but that was the usual, you could hardly ever see the stars in the city but I never complained. I never liked the stars that much after moving to New York because I always felt them looking down at me and laughing.From what was to what is.Sad as that is, it bothered me.So I never looked or seeked ou
Emily Collins.The air was chilly when we stepped out of the plane, following after the other passengers and I feel it, the familiarity hits me in waves and waves, quickly making reality set in.Memories from six years ago flood through my mind in a fast pace as I walk pass certain things, everything is new looking and shiny, as always, they tend to do revamps on almost everything in this town after every three years or so, that's what I seem to remember anyway, that, and a lot of other things, important things, hurtful things.Memories of everyone I knew, my old friends, all of us together, going on family trips, coming here to this place, it rings in my mind just like it has rang that day I had left, like a warning bell.“Damn, who be owning a limo though?” Jasmine jokes and I turn to look at where her eyes are set and I see it, the black limo parked and waited