[Kelin,Rora,Jo] Jolene

[JoHanna K Roberts]

Jo stared at Kelin with her mouth open, not even trying to hide the fact that she was at a loss for words. And Jo was rarely at a loss for words, usually when she couldn’t think of something she just told people to fuck off. But here she was, unable to even say that as she stared at Kelin like he had some sort of growth coming out of his face. ‘ No I.. I AM awesome,” she said, making a slight face as she shook her head. Yeah if there was one thing she wasn’t lacking, it was self confidence. This old dude was sitting here telling her how awesome she was, like his own job wasn’t neat. Like, he did the ice bucket challenge and that reached how many frikkin people? He helped more people with that than she ever would with teaching. Even though, let’s be real, more people should appreciate history in her opinion. She got more worked up about history than she did about peoples religious or political beliefs. “ What is that… crap. Ignoring you on set? You want to ‘give’ your time to me? Who says that?!” she found herself saying in an angry tone. But the reality of the matter was she wasn’t mad at him for speaking his mind, she was mad at herself for potentially letting someone in again. It wasn’t their fault they hurt her, it was hers for leaving herself so vulnerable. “ You give speeches? Like is that.. You.. I don’t know what girls you’ve hooked up with on set, but do you think you have to give speeches with them? Cause there is a difference between a whore girl and a real girl. And a real girl… doesn’t care about just getting in your pants and agreeing that everything you’re saying isn’t terrifying. A real girl wants the speech, but she also wants the back up. Because in the bottom of someones soul is the terrifying feeling that someone is going to rip their heart out because at the end of the day words are just words and you can say whatever you want to but it doesn’t make it true. Action is what makes people believe that the words you’re saying are true. I’m not saying to lay it on me, or anything, I mean.. you know do your thing, but .. I just.. “ she said before giving a sigh and scratching her thumb against her eyebrow. “ You were married. Sorry to bring that up, but it’s helping my point. Words are words.. she betrayed you in the worst possible way, and I’m sure the entire time she was telling you how much she wanted your time and that she didn’t want to… ignore you… or something. Sure, maybe you loved your life together, and that’s your business and that’s fine. But think about the first time you guys kissed. Or the last. Was it gone? The spark? Cause that’s not supposed to go out. That little tiny thing that takes hold of your heart and just squeezes on it until you see that person again and know you can kiss them just because you can and it feels like you’re finally getting to breathe again? That’s better than a speech, dude. Words are bullshit. You need to wait… and wait to tell the next girl that you want to give her your time,until you feel like you can’t breathe when she’s not around. “ she said while shaking her head. “ The cards aren’t stacked against you at all, you just don’t know how to play the hand you’ve got,”

[Aurora Jane Bates]

Rory took the album from Ethan, sliding the record out and placed it on the table.  She flipped the switch back to 12 inch and put the speed back before pushing start.  She watched as it began to spin and then the arm lifted itself an lowered down to create that barely there hum, the almost silent crackling that was so familiar.  She looked at him when he said he didn't bite, "Just trying to make sure you're not a zombie," she said with a faint smile.  She sighed, "I'll have you know you're as good an alien in here, gone where no guy has gone before," she joked.  She didn't let guys in her room.  Mostly because she didn't invite them to her apartment.  Because they were too scary.  "Do you mean to tell me Earth Wind and Fire is not your favorite band of all time?" she asked in mock seriousness, sitting down and gestured that he should sit too.  She wanted to know why he was there.  But deep down she felt like she already knew.  But she wanted reassurance.  But she knew asking was kind of pointless.  There was a line, invisible but there, that she, nor he, could cross.  That whole fiance thing.  But her drunken mind was like, well what about it, if he's here?  

[Ethan John Fox]

Ethan lift his eyebrow as he looked over at her. “ Vampire,” he said with a quick wink before he stretched his arms out and moved over to sit down by her. He leaned his back against the wall, resting his head there as well as he turned it to look at her as she sat beside him. “ Second favorite band of all time. All Time Low is my favorite band of all time,” he said, mentally placing him above Black Keys and Maroon 5 which was a little surprising for himself. He sat there as still as possible, appreciating the way the candles flickered, illuminating her skin in almost a heavenly way. She had made her point about how men didn’t frequent her room. He wasn’t sure where that left her with how experienced she was or wasn’t. Either way it meant that she respected herself, and to be honest, he respected her too. Which is why he knew this was a shitty situation. He shouldn’t be dangling anything in front of her when it could hurt her when he himself had no idea what was going on. But right now, with the music lightly in the background, and the way he sort of felt like she could read his thoughts right now, he lift his hand up, pushing her bangs out of her face, draping her hair behind her ear as he grazed his fingertips slowly down the side of her neck and treaded them lightly over her collar bone. He left them there for a moment before he moved his hand to the back of her neck ,holding onto her firmly as he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. There was a slight err of caution here, where he wanted to give her enough of an opportunity to back the hell away, but he couldn’t tell whether he was being hypnotized by the music or the softness of her skin, and he was hoping she wouldn’t force him to figure out any time soon.

[Kelin Dean O'Reilly]

Kelin shook his head laughing slightly. The hand he had. The hand he had was single father recovering from being cheated on, bound and determined that he would find someone else. “Of course it did,” he said quietly, “the spark, it went out, I knew in my gut something was wrong…” obviously he wanted to find someone where that spark never left. And why shouldn’t be look everywhere.  “Of course I want to be with someone where the spark never dies out. I want to find someone and know that I’m done looking. And that is a little terrifying, I thought I had that. And I didn’t. Now I have more than myself to consider.” He sighed an looked at her, “I don’t know what kinds of hook ups you think I have, but can’t we just agree that we’re both people and not look at each other like… unattainable beings. Maybe we could just be two people, who are having a nice time, and would like to watch a movie… and just… see where it goes.” In all this time he realized his arm was still draped over the back of the couch and in their conversation he had leaned toward her, trying to make her understand; he was just a guy trying to put himself back out there, no judgements to anyone. Anyone could be that person. He knew that in his heart of hearts, and something in that heart had told him to stick around. He was just trying to do what felt right, the way he knew something in his marriage felt wrong, and the way he knew reporting her on set felt wrong too. But sitting here, watching her closely for a moment, felt right. At least in the sense that he didn’t want her to feel like he was this scary dude she had to protect herself from. Watching her at a close distance he said quietly, “you’ve been hurt a lot haven’t you?” Kelin thought back to every random dude he’d seen bringing he lunch on set. If anyone knew about getting hurt, Kelin knew a thing or two about it. But it was a different kind of hurt, a disappointment that came with multiple people coming and going. It made a person wonder why they even gave chances anymore.

[JoHanna K Roberts]

Maybe she shouldn’t have scolded him, but even that wasn’t the right word. She wasn’t trying to rant about him, it just came out of nowhere because of the anxiety that she had felt about everyone else. But he had handled it quite well, saying how he was still looking for exactly everything that came with love even after he’d had his heart put into a blender. The fact that he thought he had it and he didn’t was something she could understand –to a point. She never really saw the future with someone, maybe enjoy the now and the present, but a suffocating feeling always came over her when people asked about the future. Plus, she couldn’t help but stop her train of thought. Unattainable? What part of her had been previously seen as unattainable? Because she purposely avoided him and acted like she hated him? That made no sense. She stayed perfectly still, somewhat aware of the fact that his arm was on the back of the couch, but more aware of the movement of his lips. Everything about the way Irish people spoke was beautiful. He had questioned whether or not she had been hurt and she paused for a moment , “ No,” she said quietly, waiting a beat before she quickly added “ Yes,” beneath her breath. “ Every time I break up with someone I well… I took your ring,” she said to give an example. “ It feels like it balances it out,” she admitted, before finding herself back in the same spiral of staring at his lips, and smelling his cologne, and feeling the weight of his arm on the couch. She couldn’t help but stare, her eyes not even willing themselves to pull away. “ You’re ice cream is melting…” she said, completely forgetting the fact that they were freeze dried. “ And the.. you have to pick a movie,…” she said, blinking but not moving her eyes.

[Aurora Jane Bates]

It was interesting to Rory to think that while Ethan said All Time Low was his favorite band, and she too loved ATL for the record, she knew part of that was because Shane Madden was his brother in law.  And Rory realized she knew a lot more about Ethan than she might care to admit.  Although, she also mused, how different was it from maybe Facebook stalking a guy from class and finding out his relationship status and his favorite bands and hobbies and whatever else?  Same sort of concept.  But what was more interesting was the desire to find out more from him directly.  These were treacherous waters for Rory in a lot of ways.  A lot of firsts, a lot of lines to cross, and that was just the basics minus the part about him being a celebrity and being engaged.  At some point she knew whatever was about to happen, there would be some stuff that needed figuring out later.  Right now though, all those technicalities had flown out the window with the electricity.  Because right now, he touched her face and pulled her in close and she wanted nothing more than to close that gap, to hell with the technicalities.  As Rory knew, you couldn't choose who came into your life and when, or how they would affect you, and how you would ultimately feel toward them.  You think you have a plan and then life changes direction.  She knew better than to take for granted any type of person that fell into her world by chance, or mistake, or fate, or whatever you believed in.  But her heart wanted things, and Rory rarely let her heart get what it wanted.  Not today though.  Not today.  Today she gave in to what her heart wanted, gave into desire, and recklessness, and vulnerability.  She knew in that moment as he kissed her that something about it felt right, and knew what it was her heart wanted.  Apparently, what it wanted was him.