, let me stand by you .)

[arizona breckenridge.]

He probably should have been doing this, it was a total betrayal of trust, even worse since it was his sister's promise he was breaking. Arizona drew a hand roughly through his cooper hair as he stared down at the inoffensive Blackberry that sat on his bed, text message all typed up and not sent. A text message to Tierney. A text message that was asking her and a quasi date. A non date. A total non date that wouldn't be breaking raine's promise into a billion little pieces, setting them on fire and then throwing them into a blender just to see if anymore destruction could be done to them. He shook his head and scrubbed his face with his palms, focus, fuckfist. He thought, this was not the time for his imagination to be going wild, this wasn't the time to be diverted by his habit of ridiculous theatrics, a habit he was sure he picked up from Ezekiel or at the very least the friendship had worsened the tendency. Returning to his pacing, he thought over the last conversation with Raine, her mother had decided that it would be okay if she spent a couple months with their fathers parents, but had warned her profusely not to fall victim to their society of materialism and blah fucking blah. Arizona was pretty sure the lecture she'd gotten made her regret even relaying the offer of a visit to her mother. The lecture he got from Raine was enough to make him regret her going, she'd cornered him in the den the day before she left when he was reading, it was a sacred time for him so he was already bristly. "Leave her alone while I'm gone." Was her gruff demand, the first thing that came out of her mouth when she entered the den. It ripped him abruptly from his book and made him all the more confused about what the hell she was talking about, which he promptly told her rather colourfully. "Leave Tier alone, okay? I mean don't shun her or do any of you dumbfuck shit, but don't go out of your way, leave her alone." This demand of course irritated him, Tierney was his friend too, Tierney was Raine's closest friend, having her gone for months and then not being allowed to him, what kind of messed up shit was that, "I can see her if I want to see her, thank you." He said, defensively, but too late he realized he wasn't as careful in his expression or wording and Raine tasted something in it that she did not lake. At all. "Wesley! You are not allowed my friends. No, you aren't allowed to date her!" He flinched against the use of his first name and looked away from her, pursing his lips tightly trying to calm, "I don't... think of her like that..." He lied, horribly at that. He had to admit, since the book store incident the girl had travelled into his thoughts more oft then he'd like, simply because Raine would freak out if he admitted he might be forming a crush on her anything. Tierney and himself – or at least it seemed like it to him – were both going out of there way a little more to talk when she stopped by the house, normally this progress was made when Raine left the room.

It was lame the he felt like he had to hide a friendship with her, but Raine's mind constantly jumped to the wrong and worst conclusions, if he smiled too big at Tierney all of a sudden he was undressing her with his eyes or some shit. Which for the record he'd never done, he held a higher respect for the girl then that. He couldn't deny that his thoughts on girls normally held a licentious nature, but he'd tried to keep that away when he thought about, mostly because it would make it harder for him to try to not be attracted to the delicate girl and he didn't want to disrespect her like that. "And if I did," he said laying it on a little too think, but ti didn't matter anyways Raine was resolved, "She's a big girl Raine, she can make her own choices..." His irritation spiked at the look he got from the teen, "Look you're not her-" He bit the sentence off before he got the word mom out, because that was exactly the reason why Raine didn't want Arizona dating Tierney, because she'd lost her mom, because she thought the girl was so weak. "Oh no!" Began Raine, her tone harsher then it was before, "Go ahead, what is it you were going to say?" Arizona had looked away, embarrassed by his slip and shook his head, "Is that all? Perhaps you'd like to draw up a protective order, can't be within 100 yards of her?" At that point he didn't have to worry about digging a deeper hole, Raine's eyes slitted delicately, "Don't be an ass. I'm serious, leave her alone, You can't like her like that or date her. You are not a good guy for her." Arizona clenched his jaw, but let his sister finish, "Promise me, that while I'm gone you aren't going to go after her and break her heart by sleeping with her and backing out." He had to bring protest on that one, he was not that guy with any girl. "I'd never do that to anyone, Raine, especially her." The answer wasn't enough to satisfy his sister, "Promise me, Arizona. Promise me you'll get over this stupid crush and not encourage hers!" She demanded, he was pretty sure she was two seconds away from adding a foot stamp to that, he nodded solemnly, though he found a little bit of hope in her words. Don't encourage hers? Either Raine suspected affection Tierney's side or Tierney had admitted it to Raine, either way it was a good sign for him. Raine had sabotaged herself.

All the confidence that Raine's slip-up had brought then had dried up as soon as he'd drawn up the text message this morning and let it sit there for two hours so far, still unable to send it. A taunting voice that sounded like Raine's was making fun of him, sometimes reinforcing the not good for her part. He wasn't a total prick, what the hell was Raine talking about, not good for her? He shook his head, Raine was treating Tierney like she was so incredibly fragile, like at a moments notice the girl was going to break into pieces. She looked fragile but the girl was far from fragile, the fact she was still alive after what happened with her mom spoke of incredible strength. Had it been them that lost their crazy, erratic mother they would not have been in the shape Tierney was in. Raine never thought of it like that though, Raine never put too much thought into anything really. He loved her and was the least silly of all his sisters but she still wasn't that mature. Tierney and Raine's friendship was always surprising to him, Raine was loud, bold and reckless, but she was loyal to a fault and the first defend her friends. It was probably how Raine forged the friendship with Tierney, no doubt someone was fucking with the girl, because there were pricks like that at school, and Raine stepped in. From then on his sister probably never left the girls side, going so far as to take the slight teenagers side over her brothers. Raine's words had hurt him, he was shocked she could think of him like that, but it was in protection of her friend and it made him smile, at least he knew Tierney was well protected even when she was getting unnecessary protection of him. Looking back to his phone he shoved his hands deep in his pockets, then back out reaching for the phone and then taking a step back. Dude, grow a pair. He thought running his hands roughly through his hair again, flinching when some hairs caught on a ring his father had given to him, the only jewellery he owned and wore.

Staring at his phone for another long minute, his hand quickly snaked out and hit the send button, something he was pretty sure was nervousness boiled up in it. Who knew sending; 'hey, just wondered if maybe you wanted to do something today at the house? figure you might be as bored as me without raine around.' was so fricken hard. He dropped the phone back on to his bed and stared it down again, "God, you're an idiot." He said, second guessing himself now, he shook his head heard and dove for the phone wondering if maybe there was an undo button, sadly there wasn't and the icon next to the message in his outgoing showed she had already received and read the message anyways. "You've fucked it all to hell now Breckenridge." He muttered, scrubbing his face again and sighing, "Idiot, idiot, idiot." He turned his back on the phone and went to walk out of the room, meaning to go outside and beat his head against the nice brick walls of his home before he froze as he heard the phone vibrate on his bed. He turned on it slowly, like it was some sort of wild animal and took slow steps towards his bed, all the while fuming with inner commentary on how he was being such a dumb ass about this whole thing, it wasn't a big deal. Just two friends hanging out, nothing terrible. Nothing seedy going on, just hanging out. He picked the phone up, pulling up his text messages and smiling at his answer. See, freaking out over nothing idiot. Still, he took to his pacing again while he waited for her to arrive, should he have offered to pick her up? Oh my god, stop freaking out. The annoying inner voice screamed, the tail end of it's rebuff marked by the sound of the doorbell. Again he froze, but he recovered faster this time, all but running to the door to hedge Summer or Aspen off at the pass, of course he tripped in the process and made the last few steps, limping, before he finally pulled the door open, "Hey," He offered, a little breathless, his tone a little more casual then he actually felt. He brought his eyes to her gaze, holding it for a moment before his smile grew bigger, "Come on in..." He said taking a step out of her way, and waiting for her to step through the door so he could shut it, "You hungry or anything? My father did the shopping this week, so we have normal food instead of things like Tofurkey and... Chutney." He said, with a light chuckle and grin.

TAGGED: tierney fawn cassidy a.k.a jinxie .
STATUS: finished .
WORDS: eighteen twenty four, holy crap that's a lot.
LYRICS: jason mraz "if it kills me"
THREADS: clickkk it .
MUSIC: wofltron "uglybird"
NOTES: yay for quasi dates and awkward arizona. :]

[tierney cassidy]

bored. that was a good generalization, right? there were a million words for it, but that was the only one that managed to come to mind. basically she had been spending all of her time in her closet sized bedroom, doing nothing interesting enough to make a habit of it. mostly, she slept. she had read all of the books on the shelf a million times, and since her book store adventure had been a failure, and ended up with an embarrassing patched up half-date with arizona, so there was no helping her out there. the computer was pretty much pointless, too. there wasn't anybody to expect emails from, nor had there ever been, so when her father suggested that she get one, tierney had been a little confused. what was there to do with it? she had entertained herself a few times with the virtual solitaire games, but other than that, it served no purpose. she didn't count on it to occupy her time, even if she had ventured to it once or twice for a quick card game. that didn't leave much else to do in the room except sleep; which is what she did.

since raine had occupied herself with an out of state trip, tierney's life had been incredibly uneventful. the loss of a best friend, even if only for a few months, could take quite a toll on a human being. tierney especially, after just losing her mother. before raine, her mind would have been cemented on the fact that she only had one parent. she was miserable, and alone time didn't go over well with her. but when raine had proved that she was going to stick around, things started to brighten up in her life. rarely ever was she alone, which she figured must be driving the girl crazy, though so far, she didn't seem to have a problem with it. but since she had met raine, tierney had never been by herself for more then forty eight hours. this time, with months between her next visit, tierney wondered if the lack of events in her life would bring up things she didn't want to think about, didn't want to remember. so far, her mind was clear. but raine hadn't been gone for very long, there was still time for memories to mess with her head. lately, though, the only person, besides raine, that was slipped into her thoughts, was arizona.

the thought of him made her stomach ache. she had told raine that there was no affection there, that the two hardly talked. that wasn't a lie.. completely. they hardly talked.. in front of raine. whenever she disappeared, they launched into conversations. he always managed to make her smile, to get a laugh out of her. but it was bad to think of him as anything more than a friend. she couldn't stab raine in the back like that, and if he were in the same situation, he would understand that, too. besides, it wasn't like he actually felt something, too, right? tierney wasn't even sure if she felt something. did an uneasy stomach mean you felt something? what about pink cheeks, and an awkward smile? did they indicate feeling something? if having a crush on somebody meant loving their presence, and aching when their not around, than tierney definitely had a crush on arizona. the problem with that, however, had to be the fact that he was her best friends brother. completely out of the question.. or was it?

she was snapped out of her thoughts as a buzz rattled on her wooden dresser. tierney furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she crossed the small room, searching for the source of the noise. her phone was still lit up, the screen going dark as she reached for it. she flipped it open, her heart skipping a beat when she saw who the sender was. arizona b. ran across the screen in scratchy, pixel letters, followed with a picture of an envelope. selecting 'read now' a smile spread across tierney's face when she realized he was asking her to come over. at the time, she had no second thoughts as she keyed in the reply, "you're right, i'm bored out of my mind. i'll be over in a few." but after sending it, she stared at her outbox for a moment. was this wrong? sure, tierney knew that the two of them semi-flirted when raine wasn't paying attention, but they had never actually been alone together before. at least not at the house. a stab of guilt twisted in tierney's stomach. she had already agreed, though. there was no way she could just cancel now. against all better judgment, a smile spread across her face as she sprang into action, clawing through her drawers for a pair of jeans.

tierney actually found herself rushing, almost as if he would disappear if she wasn't speedy. maybe she was just anxious to see him, despite raine's warnings to avoid him at all costs. she bit her lip, thinking about her best friend, and how she was practically betraying her. it wasn't like this meant anything though, right? this was just two friends hanging out, maybe even establishing the friendship that was never steadily there before. it wasn't like raine even had to hear about it. so why was the brunette stressing out? if nothing extreme happened, there was nothing to disapprove of, and frankly.. tierney wasn't an extreme person. she exhaled, her grip on the steering wheel loosening as she did so. she was panicking about nothing. she and arizona talked all of the time, so what was so different about it now? so raine wasn't there to supervise, but did they really need her around in the first place? tierney's relationship with her best friend's brother was barely a friendship, she couldn't understand what raine was freaking out over. her near hyper ventilation has stopped just in time to near the driveway of the breckenridge house hold.

it took a moment for tierney to peel herself from the driver's seat, but she finally managed to exit the vehicle. she closed the door, running her fingers through her hair with the help of the reflection from the window. she cleared her throat, heading towards the front door, her finger hovering just above the door bell. she paused for a moment, considering backing out now. this way, raine had nothing to prod her for. no, that was rude. she was already here, and arizona was expecting her. absent minded, tierney pressed the button, a buzz sounding loud enough to hear through the door. startled, she took a step back, only to realize her stupidity and managed a quick laugh. was she really that nervous? it wasn't that bad, right? why was her heart rate speeding up? she folded her arms across her chest to calm herself, but let them drop to her side when he opened the door. "hey," she offered back, with a smile. it hadn't occurred to her that one of his younger sisters could have answered it instead, and then she would be stuck explaining. there was no use worrying about that now, though.

all of her nervousness melted away at how casual he sounded. that reassured her; they were just friends. nothing weird was going to happen, raine could stop freaking out. her heart skipped a beat when their eyes met. "thanks." she replied, stepping inside the door to avoid making a fool of herself. a small laugh escaped her lips at his explanation of normal food selections. barely five seconds in the door, and she was already laughing. nobody else had that affect on her. "aww, no surprises from your mom today?" she wasn't sure if she had paused on the word 'mom,' though she still found it difficult to say. she wasn't about to have a break down in front of him, though. the mood was supposed to stay light. "that's a shame. i do love her cooking.." a thoughtful smile spread its way across her face. "i'm okay for now." once she was inside, she turned to look at him, the slightest hint of concern coloring her expression. "are you okay? you sound a little.. winded."

tags arizona and miss elizabeth
words one thousand three hundred
and seventy two
outfit dunnoyet. cx
credits to cara and molly at caution
notes sorry for the wait, babe! your
post was excellent. <3

[arizona breckenridge.]

Worry about what Raine was going to do when she found out - which was likely to castrate him - faded as she stepped through the door. He hated to admit the girl had such a significant calming affect on him, it wasn't even the first time he'd noticed it. Raine & him got along pretty well despite the fact she was desperate to keep him away from Tierney in any capacity further then him acknowledging her as "Little Sister's Best Friend", but they got antagonistic and as much as he tried to control his temper he had to admit he got rather short with his sister and she liked to push it even farther when she had friends over, something about a safety in numbers thing he could only assume was the reasoning behind it. Tierney was usually the reason he didn't get more hotheaded with his most favourite sister, he was glad that Raine hadn't noticed this but maybe she had and it had further fueled this stupid "No Dating" Edict. Either way he was discovering that he might have given his sister plenty to convince her that he really liked Tierney. Too bad she didn't see that he'd also liked her and respected her too much to be the complete and total dick that Raine was convinced he was, it was mildly insulting but after with Ezekiel the other day he was pretty sure that it was just a girl thing. Considering how protective Raine was of her friends, it did make sense, Raine would side with one of them in two seconds flat before she even thought about defending Arizona. He laughed lightly at her question, only a little wary of talking too much on the subject of mothers, her face didn't hold the shadows of it as much as it used to and even less so as she talked flippantly about his own mother but he wasn't going to keep the commentary on his mom longer then he had too, maybe it was his own way of protecting her but it also felt a little like coddling her. "You may be the only one," He mused with a wry grin, his mothers cooking was constantly an adventure, she wasn't a bad cook and she took great care in preparing her meals but they were always weird Vegan meals. He couldn't live on tempeh or hummus and all the assortment of gluten free, sugar free, fat free crap that his mother was always cooking up. Were he the evil child he would burn her cookbook accidentally on purpose of these days, though there was a chance she'd find a worse one to work from after, because that's just they way karma worked. "IIf you miss it too much, there is always leftovers you can help yourself to, " He began with a smile, trying to remind himself to avoid staring like an idiot.

Her concern echoed his as he really looked her over, Raine being gone was affecting a little more then he'd thought it would. Her face wasn't as cheery as it was the last time he'd seen her, and he wondered if maybe Raine's absence echoed losing her mother. Raine and Tierney had pretty much been attached at the hip and aside from Raine Arizona wasn't aware that Tierney had that many friends, which he mostly attributed to her shy demeanour and not any defect in her character. Truly he'd been a little off put by her silence to begin with, it did come off antisocial until Raine had explained to him about Tierney's mom. He figured that Raine's request he avoided going out of his way to keep in contact with Tierney might have had the barest effect on the barely there shadows. He'd almost forgotten his question until he shook his head, "Sorry, I got a little distracted there." Now he felt stupider then he had earlier, acting like an idiot when he as by himself, acting like an idiot around her was simply embarrassing, "But yeah, I'm okay... I was just..." Rushing to get to the door because I couldn't wait to see you... He finished in his head, Yeah, way to sound like a little bitch, Arizona. He hesitated briefly over his next words, "I was in the den," He said, gesturing with his thumb behind him, "I didn't know where everyone else was so I was hurrying to get the door because I didn't want you to wait out there for too long... I hate doing that, I always feel so awkward, just hanging out on someone's doorstep until they can take the time to answer it... Especially when they are the ones that invited you over, it's different when you've just showed up..." Way to go, ramble your head off, really smooth. He probably could have stopped at "I was in the den, didn't want you waiting out there forever." She knew the layout of the house well enough, at this point, to know the den was almost completely on the other side of the house. This is what he did around girls though; he made a fool out of himself. Especially with Tierney, his awkwardness seemed to be increased two fold.

After a show he was a God, he felt invincible, years of hanging out with Ezekiel definitely showed on the boy. He wasn't super cocky or anything, but being on stage no matter how small a crowd he was playing to gave him a high he really couldn't quite explain, the kind you didn't put into words you would just have to feel it to be able to understand. This was about the only time he wasn't awkward, he didn't stumble and he could talk to a girl without saying something stupid. Considering the way he was around Tierney he was pretty sure that he'd still manage to make himself look like a total idiot then too, it's just the way things worked out. It took a certain kind of talent to be that awkward. While Aspen had always caisd that some girls found it endearing he was pretty sure it was just an attempt to make him feel better and since she rarely though about anyone but herself he hadn't the heart to tell her she was full of crap. This grain of salt attitude hadn't done much to improve his self-deprecation and he was pretty sure it had made it worse at times. Scratching the back of his neck, he smiled down at her again, "There isn't much to smash around here," Mostly because him and his brothers had already smashed most everything of value, because that's what boys did. He wasn't sure how they managed to do it so spectacularly and mostly unintentionally but they had, "but, I'm pretty sure we might be able to find something halfway entertaining to do...." He smirked, Well, there you go, that's a little better then staring at her like a dumbass. True he hadn't much room to talk when it came to klutziness, he wasn't the most graceful person by any stretch of the imagination, and she wasn't really that big of a klutz either but their day in the book store and the succeeding afternoon had stuck with him, he thought about it a lot, mostly to make fun of himself and what an idiot he was.

The male offered her a repentant smile, only slightly amused by the slight irirtation the sprang up on her face; she was adorable when she was trying to be fierce. "I'm sorry, really." He began trying not to laugh and ruin his face on innocence, "I really couldn't help it..." He offered, grinning widely at her, but ready for the blow should she try and land one on him. He was thankful that while over time she had picked up a little of Raine's boldness - or maybe she was just becoming more comfortable around the large family - she hadn't picked up Raine's more annoying habit of abusing himself and their brothers. The slightest joke was met with a solid punch to the arm that threatened to bruise. "I actually didn't think much further then inviting you over," He admitted with a slight frown his eyebrows knitting together. So he was a terrible host... He briefly considered inviting her to his room, it was actually semi clean excepting the stray shirt or pair of pants, there was nothing to horribly embarrassing about the room, but he wasn't sure if that was appropriate, and it was probably just one more thing Raine would kill him for. "Is there anything specific you wanted to do, like off the top of your head?" He asked, running a hand through his coppery hair, pretty sure it wasn't doing much for it's perpetually unruly state.

TAGGED: tierney fawn cassidy a.k.a jinxie .
STATUS: finished .
WORDS: fourten seventy three
LYRICS: jason mraz "if it kills me"
THREADS: clickkk it .
MUSIC: leighton meester "your love is a drug" & hayley williams "you aint woman enough"
NOTES: ah, it's all cool. & thank you, lovely.<333 i get the weirdest bursts of muse in the middle of the night. it's so, so weird. lmao.

[tierney cassidy]

her better instincts warned the girl that arizona seemed just as nervous, as equally uncomfortable as she felt. and though that was what she wanted, she wouldn't convince herself that he was panicking the way that she was. that wouldn't benefit the situation at all, and it would only make tierney feel all the more awkward. complicating the situation would not solve any problems, which she reminded herself at least three times in the past minute. but being in his home now, without their unassigned supervisor, only made the guilt build up inside of her. and if raine did find out? she couldn't lie about it. that would only make this visit ten times worse, and prevent an enjoyable outcome. besides, she was not a faker at heart, and lying was not a profession she wanted to take up any time soon. if raine were to learn the truth, even after they had denied everything, that would only make her friend more suspicious than she already was. maybe arizona felt it, too, which could be why he was acting so strangely. or at least, that's how it seemed.

as much as she wanted to scream at herself for not accepting the feelings that she knew were there, tierney couldn't manage to admit that she liked him. she was the type to keep things to herself, to plunge into an everlasting denial until the circumstances changed and she could forget about her issues. but with the way her heart was throbbing at his very presence, it was becoming a challenge to trick herself into thinking otherwise. and if she hadn't felt guilty before, she certainly did now. it felt like betrayal, especially since she had promised raine that there weren't any untold feelings there. at the time, she had been spinning some stupid story out of the attraction between them, and trying to convince herself that she had no set emotions for the boy. but now everything that she had vowed was turning into empty words, without a meaning. and yet, she was overlooking them. when he was around her, it seemed that nothing else mattered. normally, risking her almost-only friendship would terrify tierney into a cowardly escape, but switching raine for arizona didn't sound as heartbreaking as it ought to have been. she inhaled, scolding herself with the unfriendly burn in her lungs.

she scoffed playfully at his reply, shaking her head as if in disbelief. it was almost frightening how attached she was getting to his sarcasm, which he displayed often. her retorting responses were coming easily now, as if she expected this sort of thing from him. "a little harsh, don't you think?" auto-responsively a grin had started spreading across her face. it was hard to control her actions around him, as if he automatically triggered her responses before she realized what she was going to reply. "you know, her cooking isn't that bad." she had to strain to keep a straight face. normally, tierney took it upon herself to eat before she arrived at the breckenridge residence for this particular reason. it wasn't that there was an issue with the way his mother prepared meals, tierney was just the type to enjoy eating things that she had actually heard of. "oh, no. i wouldn't want to deprive you of a future lunch." this time, her grin was wide and noticeable as she carefully rejected his offer. she was glad that she wasn't hungry, otherwise tofu might have sounded delectable.

for a moment, he had seemed to be zoned out. just as she had suspected. he didn't exactly come off as "nervous" but tierney couldn't deny that he wasn't acting his version of normal. that was when she adored him the most, when he was being himself. unnatural or not he still managed to send chills up her spine, and caused her stomach to churn. but when he was off, she noticed, much like he was signaling that he was not himself now, though she couldn't exactly comprehend why without getting her hopes up. "oh," she was temporarily stunned, unsure of what else to say. one moment he was at a loss for words, and the next he was launching into a full blown explanation. she stood silently for a moment until he finished, wondering how she could embellish on his rampage. after a moment of consideration, she decided to take the pity route rather than stand there and make him feel stupid. "well thank you for being considerate, than." a small smile peaked on her face, a wider grin dancing on her lips. for now, however, things were slow.

she was relieved when his serious expression turned into a smile, and he seemed to be falling into his normal pattern. however, his words made her furrow her eyebrows, at first in confusion, and than in repulsion. when he referred to the bookshelf incident, she couldn't help but to flush an unhealthy pink. that had been embarrassing enough as it was, proving how stupid she could be sometimes whenever she was slightly caught off guard, only made worse when he had appeared. this time, she couldn't help but to nudge him sharply, her scarlet glow simmering down, replaced by an all knowing grin. "don't be rude," she didn't want to sound like a preacher, so she framed her words carefully, a laugh falling into them like smiling into a kiss. it was unintentionally, but a natural instinct. "i'm your guest, remember?" his apology didn't seem sincere, what with his wide smile, but she shrugged it off, trying to focus on what was coming up next.

as she thought about it, tierney actually hadn't wondered at all what they would be doing. it hadn't crossed her mind, since she didn't have any real reason to worry, besides her own childishly denied feelings. but instead of admitting it stupidly to both herself and to arizona, a quick witted response seemed to be needed. "hmm," with the affects he had on her, she always seemed lighter, more alive. that made it easier to talk to him, but harder to converse with herself. the truth still hovered there like a storm threatening to drop out of nowhere. now certainly wasn't the time to come to terms with herself, however. this was their first encounter, hopefully out of many, alone, and it was slowly becoming more and more terrifying. but as the conversation bored on, finding comfort became easier, until she hardly noticed the chafing anxiety at the back of her mind. "well, causing severe damage to your fine furnishings was at the top of my list, actually. but.." a grin twisted prominently across her face. "seeing as that is out of the question, i can settle with a movie?" she shrugged her shoulders, feeling extremely unhelpful. a thoughtful smile took the place of her steady lips as she met his gaze for more then just a moment. "we'll figure something out."

tags arizona and miss elizabeth
words one thousand three hundred
and sixty six
outfit ....pending
credits to cara and molly at caution
notes ohmygod. okay, ready? i'm
so so so so so so so so so so so so so so
so so so so so so so so so so so so so so
so so so so so so so so so so so so so so
so so so so so so so so so so so so so so
so so so so so so so so so so so so so so
so so so so so so so so so so so so so so
so so so so so so so so so so so sorry for
the wait, babe. my muse escaped me..

[arizona breckenridge.]

All of this pretty much screamed; wrong. Mostly because he couldn't get Raine out of his head, he could pretty much expect World War Three whenshe got back and found out about this and what could be future afternoons of him and Tierney haging out - but maybe he was getting ahead of himself there, how did he know Tierney wasn't just hanging around because she felt like she had to because he had invited her. Shut the fuck up. That was his problem when it came to girls he was always fucking second guessing like an idiot. He caught her gaze for a minute and he felt like she was thinking about Raine's reaction too and he wondered if she'd gotten a similar "Please don't go there" lecture. Surely Raine would have been a little more tender with her, even if Tierney had balls she wouldn't have gotten the "If you go near Arizona I'll castrate you". Raine had an incredible habit of being pleasant and gentle with anyone that wasn't blood related. Which at times he got, after Raine the rest of his siblings kind of annoyed him. Raine was extra careful with Tierney, which he kind of dug but it also irritated him. He wasn't sure if Tierney had noticed it but he had and he thought it was a little ridiculous, she'd lost someone, her mother but that didn't mean you had to be so delicate all the time, nothing like making the poor girl feel all broken and weird. Sure, he knew she had to be dealt with with some kind of tact because he could see the scars were still on her, some of the wounds still felt fresh but treating her so differently was as bad as ignoring what had happened and being a dickhead. That observation to Raine would only earn him more trouble then he needed, he tried to keep the lectures from her at an absolute minimum and he'd gone a good long while until she'd seen the feelings he'd been trying to deny for awhile crop up. Stupid feeling, because he highly doubted Tierney felt the same. She probably felt nothing more then friendship towards him. Which disappointed him more then it honestly should of. That was his way though. He never did anything halfway, when he committed; he committed. Small crushes didn't stay small for long, granted nothing normally ever came from them because he was so horrible from girls but they still evolved quickly. Half of them felt that this would be another one of those things, he was in love for a couple weeks until he realized there was no hope of anything ever cropping up between him and the girl and then he'd write a song and he was ready to fall in love all over again. Stupidly, he thought there might have been some hope for him and Tierney, but that was the "fickleness" Raine was complaining about. Of course she never took into account that when he had gotten into a relationship, a serious committed one they'd never lasted shorter then six months. No she only focused on the crushes that came and went. If she weren't so blinded she'd see that this wasn't just a fleeting crush for him.

Arizona arched a thick brow, challenging her statement, before he shook his head, "Hardly." He shrugged, unwilling to admit that she were right before he sighed, "No, it's not that bad, but honestly..." He challenged, staring down at her, "and don't lie now," He continued, chuckling a little, "How appetizing does Chutney sound?" Some things weren't as bad but mostly it was always way too far out there for him to enjoy, his mother really needed to start some hippie health nut restaurant that catered specifically to the crazy people that willingly indulged in the food she loved to cook. He scrunched his nose at her, "How so very thoughtful of you...." He returned flatly, though he didn't really blame her, he pushed off the leftovers to anyone he could just to get them out of the faster and then he couldn't be cornered by his mother when he was grazing and being roped into eating a meal he hadn't liked all the much to begin with. "You know, we could totally share a lunch, " He proposed with a smirk forming, "She made some excellent tofurkey soup last night, heavy on the wheat grass." He tried to keep his face straight but it broke into a grin and he let out a laugh, nothing the slight deer caught in the headlights look, no doubt she was wondering how the fuck she was going to get out of that offer, "I'm kidding. No one deserves that kind of torture."

He about kicked himself in the ass, Way to give away you are totally lying. He'd never get how he could be such a fucking idiot like this, but he kept going even as he saw the confusion flit across her features. Was it possible for him to be able to act like, say, a normal person? It wasn't that hard of a concept and it helped you avoid this awkward moments after putting your foot in your mouth. That's just what Tierney did to him half the time, he was always too nervous to begin with, too busy trying to remind himself not to act like a total dumbass and make a complete fool of himself. Slowly he acclimated and he felt like less of a douche and he would fall into an easy rhythm and then being with her felt easy and he didn't second guess everything he said. Still he could never stop the staring, especially after she laughed or she got a little sassy with him after he'd tossed out a particularly smartass comment. If Raine could see those times she'd know they were different or that Tierney didn't need as much protection as Raine thought she needed to give. Though he was pretty sure there was nothing that would break Raine's mother bear tendencies and when they weren't directed towards him he was thankful for it. Reminding himself to stop being an idiot and second guessing and to just be, he went to speak after her 'thank you;, but the smile that flooded her features caught him for a second like it always did but he pushed through it quickly, though unable to help the wide (and probably stupid) grin that answered hers. "Yeah, no problem. All apart of being a good host." He said, with a shrug, reminding himself to not ramble like a total idiot this time and seem more relaxed and not so high strung. Raine wasn't going to come bursting through that door any second, she wouldn't be back in Washington for awhile and he didn't have to worry about her. This was the time to take advantage of to be normal and hang out, because when Raine did come back he was pretty sure he wouldn't have the opportunity to be alone with her again, but for a few minutes here and there.

He could almost follow the train of thought in her eyes, he grinned as her irritation dented her forehead, though he was glad to see she wasn't all that serious and he wasn't in trouble, he could help but chuckle a little, because she was more adorable then anything. Even as she'd elbowed him, he could feel the force behind it but it hardly phased him, he didn't know if it was immunity from the years of abuse he'd put up with from Raine or Thursday, or just because she was really that gentle. He held his hands up, "Hey now, no need for violence." He joked, trying to act like he was mortally wounded but failing miserably. He nodded to her final words. Yeah, she was. Which made him stupidly happy, so much so, he held back words for fear of too much being carried in his tone. There was a good chance she was indifferent as she seemed and that Raine was looking out for his well being more then Tierney's by warning him to stay away from her (though he could never recall a time when Raine had tried to save him from embarrassment). If she felt nothing and he made it to obvious that he felt more for her then their friendship it would make things weird, and even if he couldn't be with her, he still wanted to be with her, around her smiles, laughs and blushes. A tiny voice in his head snickered, Dude, your vagina is showing. It sounded oddly like Ezekiel, it was a phrase they'd tossed around often. He may have sounded like a pussy but he'd enjoyed the quite moments too, when he'd told a decent joke and they were nearly rolling and the laughter faded and they caught each others gaze and even though they hadn't said anything it was good - which was the time Raine always chose to reappear. A grin spread across his face as she poked fun at herself, and he laughed a little, "A movie sounds good. And we have like a million." He grimaced for a second, "I just beg you that you don't make me watch The Notebook." He probably just shot himself in the foot, if any of Raine had rubbed off on her she'd ask to watch it simply because he'd asked for them to not, it was a decent movie but he'd seen it so much he was too sick of it. Plus he wasn't sure how much a romantic movie would change the tenor of the visit, what a way to make things awkward. "Well..." He sighed, "I guess I could suffer through it again," A smile crossed his lips, "For you, if you really wanted to watch it." His words were almost too serious but he refrained himself from being an idiot and saying something stupid like he normally would have in this moment.

TAGGED: tierney fawn cassidy a.k.a jinxie .
STATUS: finished .
WORDS: 1676
LYRICS: jason mraz "if it kills me"
THREADS: clickkk it .
MUSIC: cassie steele "i want you"
NOTES: oh my god i've had such a block lately and i've been so behind, it's insane! midnight muse, ftw! ^__^

[tierney cassidy]

maybe this had been a bad idea. it wasn't he himself that was giving her doubts, but the uncomfortable feeling of the truth kept prying into her thoughts, and making it seem like she shouldn't be where she was now. every time she talked herself out of stressing and finding a reason to be excused, she ended up re-convincing herself that what they were doing was wrong. well, it shouldn't have been considered wrong exactly. they weren't doing anything yet. besides, there weren't any set boundaries that they shouldn't build a healthy friendship, too. still, the arguments in her head continued. was it a sign of obsession, the thrill she had gotten by receiving his text message? what about the way she had instantly leaped to her feet at the sign of an opportunity to see him again? surely it wasn't just to conquer her boredom, and had to do with arizona more than a self inflicted clear schedule.

it seemed like such a betrayal, the more she thought about it. though raine hadn't exactly given her a set of rules when it came to her brother, she had warned the girl to steer clear of him, and to watch out for his "tricks". whatever that meant. the most she could figure was that raine would be mad at the fact that the two were sneaking around, rather than actually at doing the sneaking. it seemed suspicious because they were being secretive. after spending quiet, sleepless nights thinking about her friend's advice, there was only one clear answer. well, one of many. the most probable. tierney considered the fact that raine might have felt that she was being replaced, and the fact that it seemed she would rather pick arizona over her closest friend. maybe it was a sign that raine knew how attached she was to her brother, and she was sparing her the embarrassment by letting her find out the hard way, and leaving her a puzzle to solve. it almost seemed unlikely, though. raine wasn't normally one to complicate things for tierney. why would she now?

the unrealistic answer was looming in the back of her head. why would raine falsely warn her? was it just because arizona was family, and it was a natural occurrence to dislike him? it seemed a little bit more logical than to assume that he was a bad person. sure, he had his moments of sarcasm, but that's what made him seem so wonderful. he knew how to make her smile. she doubted that arizona had one bad character trait. he was too decent of a person. towards her, anyways. that's the part that made her worry. did he act differently when he was around others? was that the message raine was trying to give her? it felt better to believe that the case was just a pre-biased situation because of family relations. nobody could put on a show that wonderful. besides, acting wouldn't be enough to portray such a brilliant personality. maybe it was a little rough to others, but to tierney? she couldn't get enough of him.

she couldn't help but to shoot him a stern (or semi-stern) look at his retort. it didn't truly bug her that he was insulting his mother's cooking, but it was fun to toy with her arguing abilities every once in a while. after a moment of silence, he sided with her, which made her drop her hard expression with satisfaction. she braced herself when he continued, holding her breath for a moment while the suspense built up. his chuckle in between words was enough to make her drop her tensed shoulders, realizing this was going to be an addition to his joke. she couldn't help but crack a smile, and a soft laugh fell through her lips, unable to hold it back. "touche." she had to admit, at least to herself, that chutney didn't sound appetizing in the least bit, and it was more than obvious that he knew he had won the battle. a food war might have seemed a little immature, but it was a simple way to ease into a comfortable atmosphere, with a partly normal conversation.

on the subject of lunch, her heart momentarily stopped. of course, she knew he was using an example, and obviously was still kidding around, but when he continued, it was almost like a small part of her died. like her hopes fell, taking every other emotion with it. she knew better than to let emotions show during these times with arizona, not that there were many. she obviously hadn't had a lot of practice. still, a smile had spread across her face, though her tone came out a little more flat than she had intended. "i think i'll take a rain check." it was obvious she was trying to weasel out of it, especially with the way she put her hand up as if to stop him from actually going into the kitchen and pulling out the said soup. she wasn't sure she could stomach a meal with the dancing her body was doing in the first place, especially now that she knew the ingredients.

she couldn't resist smiling back at his own wide grin as he showed his slight gratitude. it was still a wonder how awkward he could make her. even though she had found the nerve to glare at him because of his explanation of eating the soup being his torture, she still felt like she was relatively inferior, and should watch her mouth. especially because raine wasn't around to hold her back, even though she was feeling rather small, and shy at the moment, and wasn't about to make any bold comments. things were too.. hidden, between them. well, on her end, at least. tierney figured that he looked at her as a friend, and hardly even that. she hadn't found the bravery to ask raine about her brother's opinion, and the girl hadn't dropped any hints on the matter, either, leaving tierney completely unaware of the situation. it seemed like the two got along rather well, though. things were easy around him. words came without pauses to think about them, and comfort flooded her, despite her nerve-wracking constant reminders. but she was in denial of the situation, even though she knew how it seemed. no matter what raine had suggested, or pointed out, or observed there was no way she would consider it as a crush, even if that was what it was. it just seemed too.. forbidden. something that shouldn't be admitted, even to one's self.

it was rather humorous how he put his hands up in defense, though it sent the gears in tierney's mind turning on how violent raine was. she talked about slapping him when he was a "jerk", of course, but she never figured anything could be permanently traumatizing. instead of making a big deal out of things, though, she cleared her throat, hoping to erase her surprised expression from her features, and offered a small shrug. "sometimes it's necessary with you." she didn't mean for it to sound so harsh, which led to a guilty, but sly, smile growing on her lips, even though he probably didn't notice. it was a bold comment, especially for her, who couldn't help but to be nurturing and to show concern for people, mostly because of the habit she had picked up while caring for her father. he seemed hopeless without her, so it was just in her nature at that point. he hadn't seen that side of her yet, so she hoped she didn't seem completely heartless, or consider the worried as overbearing. she cleared her throat again, trying to switch her mind to something more pleasant, instead of fawning over the fact that he might not accept her. not that it mattered. she didn't have the slightest chance.

she was grateful when he brought up the subject of movies, even if she had thought it up first. her mind raced over film titles, deciding what she was in the mood for. honestly, she didn't care, but figured that he would, and very much. it was just a wide rumor that boys needed constant entertainment, and if she was there to solve his boredom, she wanted to do an efficient job, even at the stake of her own. at this point, he mattered more. she just hoped that she didn't make it too obvious. "the notebook?" his suggestion caught her off guard. she hadn't considered that, in fact, far from it. the thought of watching any sort of romance with arizona of all people made her stomach flip. with raine, it was one thing. but the message it might portray terrified her. besides, if he didn't want to see it, she would stick to the plan. keep him entertained. as he justified, tierney felt a glow returning to her cheeks, the heat under his skin enough to tell her that she was blushing. "oh, uh.. that's.. sweet of you, but," she internally kicked herself for stuttering, not that it could really be helped. she looked stupid now, no doubt, but attempted to make a smooth recovery. "i think i would be happier watching some sort of.. action.." it was a lie, but it would be more comfortable then some chick flick flashing across the screen. the last thing she needed was to watch two people fall in love, when the last thing she wanted on her mind was her emotions. especially with the person she was going crazy over in the same room.. same radius. besides, it would be funner to fantasize about this said person holding her hand, or leaning against her to comfort her if the film became strange, or even gruesome. "don't you?" it was a far fetched idea, but the thought of it brought a secret smile to her lips.

tags arizona and miss elizabeth
words one thousand six hundred
and forty nine.
outfit working on it.
credits to cara and molly at caution.
notes finally done, though it sucks?

[arizona breckenridge.]

He was pretty sure if he kept saying that he wasn't doing anything wrong he'd be able to convince himself of it. Sure, he was breaking his promise to Raine, but he wasn't trying to bed Tierney or anything, he wasn't trying to start anything with her like Raine had been worrying about he was simply catching up with a friend. While Raine's intentions were clearly meant to keep their interactions at a minimum because she had been worried something more might develop he felt he was appropriately bending the edict she'd laid down without outright disregarding it. Should it snap at least he could've honestly said that it was not his intention. He was fairly certain that at the time he was considering this to be fail safe logic and that Raine would hold an entirely different view on the matter no matter what he explained to her when he returned. It's not like he was going to keep it from her, at least he would until she came back, but he wasn't going to try and hide it after that. They weren't doing anything wrong, he hated feeling like he had to sneak and go behind Raine who was arguably the person he was closest to in the world, but he'd never known her to be so unreasonable. Arizona knew that Raine would've probably run something similar by Tierney more tame and he wondered if there was a chance the same sort of guilt that was weaving through him touched her, the knowledge gave him a little smug satisfaction, they were both going against her. It was kind of fucked they were two of the people that were closest to her and here they were going against what she'd asked of them, but he couldn't help but feel she was being unreasonable. He didn't like this skewed perspective she'd had of him when it came to dating one of his friends. Had she not complained about him not having a girlfriend and her never being able to have nieces and nephews to spoil because he was so incredibly awkward? Why wasn't she more pleased that he was finally having some moments of incredible un-awkwardness with Tierney? He could see where complications could arise, if him and Tierney didn't work out and they broke up there was a big chance things could get dicey. That was just a road they'd just have to tackle when they came to it though, even though he was pretty sure that was the whole point, not having to reach that point where they were going to have to manoeuvre a break up. He couldn't' foresee something super horrible happening that would make a break-up bad. Yeah, he didn't date much and when he did it was for a few days and he'd move on rather quickly, not because he was a player, he just didn't have those skills built into him, he just didn't do well in relationships. If you thought he was a bad flirter, phew, you'd think that his nerves would cease once he'd gotten the girl. Oh no, it seemed all the worse and while Tier did have a weird way of making him fifty times more nervous it was also the paradox that she seemed to be able to calm him so easily too. Tierney felt different, now he wasn't going to pull out that "The One" bullshit or anything about soul mates, but there was something that was different about her, something he'd love to hold on to. Something that he knew wouldn't allow him to freak out after a couple days and dump her, no, he knew that they would work. They fit well together.

Only she could have made him give in so easily, especially on something he'd felt so strongly about as he did his mothers cooking. It was the simple look, the way her brow had arched just barely, so subtly that it should have made him feel like a total creeper for even noticing the change. He shouldn't have broken so easily under her simple stare, but he had, it was kind of the way the small looks when he was getting irritated with Raine made him pause, the slight shake of her head, that made him sigh deeply and just let Raine go on the way she went on. Making Raine insanely happy and him bummed until Tier flashed him a small smile and it made his face light up like a kid on Christmas morning, like he needed her approval just to move, it should have made him shake his head or wonder how easy it would be for her to talk him off a cliff, but all it had really been able to do so far was make him grin like a fucking idiot. He'd managed to string together a witty enough response, the longer he'd spent with her, the more Raine drifted from his thoughts and the easier it was to just be with her, as well as force himself not to be such a total dunce. A smug smile drew over his lips as he she conceded with a simple "Touche", it wasn't an overbearing smugness that you'd have seen on Zeek but he was proud of himself. "Thank you." He said with a light chuckle that stemmed more from the pleasing sound of her laugh then because he was genuinely amused by the exchange. The look that trailed over her face at his proposition elicited a genuine laugh, more so as she finally voiced her refusal accompanied with a delicate pale hand that she thought might be able to stop him if he were so determined to get past her to the kitchen, with his laughter more of the tension floated away, clearing his mind and reminding him of why he was so ready to go behind Raine's back. "I figured you would," He began, grinning down at her, "It's kind of why I felt safe in offering it..." Another light chuckle tumbled from his lips and he was hoping she wasn't going to be vindictive and change her mind on him, something she'd have no doubt picked up from Raine.

"Oh really?" He asked, an amused smile working itself across his lips in time with the smile that came across hers, it was that influence of Raine working it's way through Tierney, which in some ways was good and bad, he was more then pleased to have seen the teenager loosen up since when he'd first met her. Or rather how easliy it had been for him to forget about her lounging in the living room with him and Raine one afternoon until she'd given a delicate laugh at something on the screen and he'd nearly jumped because she'd almost faded into the background of the room, like an oversized chameleon. Raine and her friends were never that quite, much like Aspen and Summer they all seemed to want to be noticed. Now it was simply impossible for him to ignore her, not that he ever tried or had been trying to that first day, but now he was just pathetically hyperaware of her. "If you think so, you better work on putting a little more force behind it," He began with a teasing smile, nudging her lightly, "I hardly felt that," He continued, chuckling, those kind of comments would have earned him a full on unbridled slap from Thursday or Raine, don't dare challenege their strength but with Tierney he was pretty sure he'd only get something a little harder then her first elbow to his side, if that kind of tactic even worked with her. The questioning look and tone he'd gotten from her when he'd brought up The Notebook nearly made him grin, it was a movie Raine had torture him with endlessly, as well as any other romance she couldn't get anyone else to watch with her. He was more then glad to see she was opposed to the idea as he was, or at the very least was doing a good job of faking it for him. Arizona nodded, "You're kind of perfect." He said looking down at her with a grin as he nodded, "An action movie would be more then preferable," It's not like he wasn't all against chick flicks, but Raine did seem to make him watch a lot of them and honestly watching one with Tierney... It would be different then obliging a sibling or toughing it out during family time, with the way he felt about Tierney and their stolen alone time it would feel vaguely date-y. There was no need to push things deeper into awkward territory if they could help it. "Here," He touched her waist lightly, nudging her forward towards the hall, "New TV in the living room everyone's abandoned the Game room for now," He said with a smirk, as he followed her down the hallway to the overlarge room that held two large shelving units of games and movies mixed in with the puffy coaches and floor pillows, "Pick whatever you like," Arizona told her, his own eyes turned from her face to scan the shelves with the movies on it himself.

____________________

TAGGED: tierney fawn cassidy a.k.a jinxie .
STATUS: finished .
WORDS: 1541
LYRICS: jason mraz "if it kills me" .
THREADS: clickkk it .
MUSIC: paramore "i caught myself" & brmc "beat the devil's tattoo" .
NOTES: sorry you had to wait, lovely, i got behind again. "/ fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail. oh, and fail.

[tierney cassidy]

feeling so comfortable in his home shouldn't have been odd, but the fact that tierney felt guilty for being "unaccompanied" on her visit was a little demeaning. did she honestly feel that she needed her best friend's permission to visit her brother? the answer to that was obvious; yes, yes she did. maybe things would've been a little different, might have felt a little cleaner, if raine hadn't gone out of her way to request that the girl stay away from her brother. it wasn't so much of you you'll get hurt warning, which was probably why tierney didn't feel so threatened while in this household without her closest companion at her side, as she constantly was. if raine had implied the dangers of arizona, tierney might have been a little more cautious. but seeing as her friend had simply asked to refrain all visitations, and not given a valid reason, there were quite a few excuses, aka. huge lies, that she could use if she were to be caught. the thought sent chills up her spine. did she really feel this empowered just because she had received a simple text message? the message hadn't implied much more than a simple get together, and yet it had made her hopes skyrocket. definitely a bad sign.

it wasn't that raine was a bother to tierney, in fact, it was quite the opposite. the girl was constantly begging her friend to spend an afternoon with her. too much time with her father was taking a toll on her, and it was beginning to become obvious. she didn't even bother brushing on makeup anymore, since she spent almost every day in the house, lounging around in lumpy sweatshirts and torn, holey jeans. but the whole secretive nature raine had taken on when explaining that tierney should avoid her brother was a little unnerving. if she hadn't given a good reason, how could she expect her friend to follow her guidelines? the thoughts continued to bore into her brain; was spending the day with arizona really such a mistake? what did she really have to lose? why hadn't raine explained her request a little further? all of her fears seemed irrational, but she had finally talked herself out of the guilt that had been overpowering every other emotion. slowly, she let excitement replace her nervousness. one thing was certain; both girls were keeping secrets, now.

snapping back into reality posed a little bit of a challenge, but since she had been zoning in and out for the past few minutes, it seemed rude to keep putting their conversation off. when she regrouped and focused, she offered a small smile, and a shrug. surrender was so much easier than continuing a pointless argument, even if it did make her feel like she was giving into him. but was that really such a bad thing? his laugh caught her off guard, sending shock onto her face. she hadn't expected her response to be so humorous. her eyes widened slightly, feeling a bit panicked, and an obvious blush spread across her cheeks. maybe she could have declined his offer a little more politely, but it seemed to be too late now. his slightly calmer laugh, however, nudged her gently out of her shell, causing a small laugh to escape her own lips. his mother's cooking truly was.. imaginative. "if, however, you need somebody to rescue you from some family reunion.." it almost seemed ridiculous to offer, but in doing so, she provoked a smile onto her lips. "well.. that i can do."

normally, she might have felt degraded by his questioning tone, but the fact that he dared to counter her explanation made her feel all the more intrigued by arizona as a person. he never gave up easily, which was a quality she preferred in a person. she herself believed in perseverance, which meant always posing an arguments. unless, of course, like it had been prior to this conversation, it was unnecessary. "yes, really." his nudge only made her more eager to reply. "i would prove my strength," a smirk had taken the place of her amused grin. "but i wouldn't want to ruin that pretty face of yours." she reached up to pat his cheek, acknowledging the area that she was referring to. even though their interaction had been caused by a spur of the moment decision on her part, it still made her heart race momentarily. her fingers burned with pleasure, even moments after she had retracted her hand.

the relief on his face was rather obvious, either by the fact that he was radiating it clearly, or the fact that she paid much too much close attention to him. she practically noticed every little action, every little movement that he made. just noticing that she had pleased him made a small smile ease onto her lips, grateful that she had sacrificed a potentially good movie, for a less awkward scenario, and a genuinely happy companion. his comment, though, made all of her congratulatory emotions disappear into a flush of self consciousness. had he just.. complimented her? there was no use getting worked up about something that clearly meant nothing, and yet tierney found the blood burning under her cheeks. she just hoped he wouldn't noticed the faded, rosy color that was painting it's way across the apples on her face. "whatever you say.." it came out as more of a mumble than she had intended, but she wasn't sure that she'd preferred that he heard her, either. instead of worrying about it, though, she simply continued a response in a much more audible tone. "i just figured we should see something that we're both going to enjoy, you know?" she wondered if he would buy her answer as something believable, rather than piecing together that she was trying to avoid an awkward encounter.

instantly, tierney moved forward. the feel of his fingers on her waist nearly burned her flesh, sending shock through her entire body. this seemed to be a very comfortable situation, that was sending her emotions into overdrive. any slight movement could be taken the wrong way. she wasn't sure whether or not he was aware of the way he was acting around her, but at the same time, she wasn't sure that she minded. if he was oblivious, than she could at least fantasize that he didn't know better. "spiffy." each time she entered the room, she was more and more amazed. it was normally crowded with all of the people in the residence, so to see it while deserted only made the room that much bigger, and that much more amazing. instead of lingering on the thoughts rotating through her head, tierney tried to relax, and focus more on the now rather than the what recently happened. carefully, she closed the distance between herself and the shelves, tracing her fingers across the movie titles. when he gave her permission to choose, however, she spun around to meet his gaze. "now, now. that's not very nice." she nearly taunted, trying to appear unhappy with her new found power. "how do i know we'll both be happy with my decision?" she turned her attention, without fully rotating her body, back to the shelves for a moment. "or, of course, we could always play a game, instead?"

• tags wesley breckenridge and miss elizabeth
• words fourteen hundred and forty eight
• outfit unfortunately, it's still pending. i suck.
• credits cara and molly at caution two point oh.
• notes i'm baaack, and so very sorry for the wait.