For muses_w_remotes | 12.5. Splash quote
12.5. “Yeah? Well, that's a crock. It doesn't work that way. Look, do you realize how happy you were with her? That is, of course, when you weren't driving yourself crazy. Every day? Come on. Some people will never BE that happy. I'LL never be that happy. What am I talking to you for? You don't know anything.”
| Splash
Co-written with notskywalker | Follows THIS and THIS
The guest house was on a large estate and Luke just ran without really thinking. It was only when he got to the front gates of the estate that he finally stopped, realising he had two directions to choose from. It was only then that the panic attack seemed to finally reach a peak and he bent over, throwing up on the grass by the gates. This would probably be the only time in his life he actually felt relieved to throw up because he normally was a really terrible sick person. It seemed to release some of the tension inside him and he grabbed hold of the fence to brace himself.
He was breathless when he was done and dragged himself up into a position that resembled vertical. His shirt was still sweaty and sticking to him, but the breeze here away from the confines of the guest house was nice and pricked the perspiration on his face to cool him down. His hands were still shaking like he had too much caffeine and his breathing was unsteady and rasping. Never in his life had he had a panic attack and he never wanted another one again. One direction was Princeton and the other was an unfamiliar town. He had no keys to any cars, so it was feet or nothing. He tried to regain his breath as he glanced one way, then the other, rubbing his palm over his stomach which was still sore from the tension.
Josh had been the only one able to give pursuit, chasing the runaway groom through the guest house and then through the grounds. Ironic given his position on marriage, but hey--he was doing this for Riley's sister, and to make sure there wasn't going to be a wedding and funeral. Riley was definitely going to kill Luke if he ever got hands on him. "Hey! Hey, boss!" Josh called as he got closer to Luke. "For a saxophonist you can run really fucking fast. I thought you'd be soft." He braced his hands on his knees as he stopped to catch his breath. "Jesus, this is why I play drums. I just have to sit there and look awesome."
Luke turned around with a frown and then shook his head. "What?" he asked, not really managing to grasp the notion of why Josh was here. "Has the bar burnt down?" he asked, putting his hand up to swipe the thick layer of sweat from his forehead.
"I don't know, in this metaphor is the bar your brain? I'm at the wedding, Jackson. Friend of the other groom and all that. And apparently the only one available to hunt you down." He held up his hands. "Not that I'm really equipped to convince you marriage is a good thing. Other than Tab seems to really love you, and apparently married sex is even hotter than normal, and there's always blow jobs in the morning."
Luke blinked, his forehead creased as he tried to latch onto Josh's sporadic train of thought. "I don't want a blow job," he said, shaking his head. "I just need to get as far away from this place as I bloody can. Tab will understand," he mumbled. At least, he really hope she would. He looked at the Princeton sign post, wondering how long it would take him to walk there.
Josh snorted. "Yeah right, and my dick's made of fucking nougat. Look, you're freaking out and I get that. I would too if it was my wedding. Thing of it is, you've got a fiancee back there who doesn't understand right now why you're trying to run away from her." He wanted to mention Riley, but figured the homicidal twin went without saying. Plus he was trying to talk Luke back to the wedding, or at least his girl. "What exactly are you trying to get away from?"
"Nothing..." Luke began. He had no clue how to answer any questions like that. "Everything. I don't know! Everything is just so fast and big. It's all twins and wedding shit! I don't know any of this. It's like, we just got engaged! Then it's all a rush because Riley and Evie want to get knocked up or whatever! And she doesn't do fucking commitment, either! She's going to realise it was a mistake and it'll be all over! It's just... none of this is me."
Josh stared at him. "Are you seriously telling me that it was so fast you never once thought to tell her no? Explain that it was too quick? If it really wasn't what you wanted, you shouldn't have let it get this far. And also? That little redhead has been bouncing around the guest house for two days. If I hear one more chorus of her 'I'm getting married, so stick that up your arse' song one more time... you won't have to worry about doing a runner because I'll kill her."
"No, I didn't fucking think, okay?!" Luke snapped, starting to pace restlessly back and forth by the gates. "I thought I was just tired or stressed or sick or anything but this! You don't know! You're the fucking epitome of sex without commitment! You're Tab with a cock!" His cell phone in his pocket started to ring but he ignored it. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He just wanted to stop feeling like a great pile of shit.
"So people keep telling me, but the way I hear it--she proposed to you. No fucking epitome of sex without commitment does that, even when they're drunk. There has to be something deep down that drives them to. Tab doesn't hide the deep down. If you even took one moment to think about that disgustingly gooey eyed look she gives you, I think you'd know that." Josh stabbed a finger in the direction of the guest house. "Look, be afraid all you want, but don't be a fucking prick about it. At least go talk to her yourself."
Luke shook his head. "She was caught up with her brother. That happens when you're a twin. She was just confused because Riley was heading towards the commitment thing," he said, folding his arms across his chest and looking down at the grass. "Which I have no problem with, but sometimes I can't see where Tab ends and Riley begins."
"Way to give your girl credit for not having her mind," Josh commented with a wry smile. "Tab doesn't strike me as someone who does something she doesn't want to do. Otherwise I'd be up there right now trying to do her regardless of Riley's promise to lynch me. No offense, mate. Just being honest. So you need to at least go and make sure I don't fuck you over. If you bail on this without a word, how do you expect for her to just go back to being your girlfriend, or something? If you even want to be with her. With them. And just a tip, but Riley's the big tall one with glasses and a dick."
Luke shook his head with a small snort of a laugh. "He would, you know. Lynch you. And it wouldn't be pretty." He pushed his hand through his hair, trying to shake the crawling, panicked feeling still creeping through him. "I just... I get one shot at this. I'm not doing it again, ever. No matter what. And it doesn't feel like it has anything to do with me. I feel totally separated from it all and I have done from day one. You know, I love that she proposed to me because I wouldn't have asked her that soon because right up until New Year, she was still in limbo about her relationship past. I wouldn't push her, but even then, I feel like I fucked up something I was supposed to do properly and right, because it happens once. I'm the guy who had to have his girlfriend propose to him and maybe that's just screwed my whole notion of marriage up somewhere along the line because I feel like I'm a step behind everyone else!"
"Oh, Christ," Josh groaned as he pushed his fingers through is hair. Now more than ever he felt ill-equipped to be dealing with this. "Look, if it's really that much of a deal for you, march up there and bloody propose to her! I'm not going to pretend to know anything about marriage, but I think the point is declaring your love for someone, and promising to stand by them no matter what. Which you've done since day one, if what Riley says is true. And sometimes it's sacrificing something for them. Like going along with a twin wedding." Josh shrugged, and shuffled his feet as he tried to work out what else to say. "He's going to lynch you too, if you don't at least go see her. She doesn't deserve to have her heart broken by a messenger."
If Luke was going to answer, he would've wasted his breath. Riley had spotted them from up the drive and swooped on them angrily. He had the front of Luke's shirt seized in his hand and pushed him up against the fence with a small growl. "Thanks, Josh," he said, even though his eyes were firmly on Luke. "You and I are going to talk, mate," he told his soon-to-be brother-in-law. "And I will hurt you if you try to screw me over without giving me the courtesy of listening."
Words: 1595 | All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe
| Splash
Co-written with notskywalker | Follows THIS and THIS
The guest house was on a large estate and Luke just ran without really thinking. It was only when he got to the front gates of the estate that he finally stopped, realising he had two directions to choose from. It was only then that the panic attack seemed to finally reach a peak and he bent over, throwing up on the grass by the gates. This would probably be the only time in his life he actually felt relieved to throw up because he normally was a really terrible sick person. It seemed to release some of the tension inside him and he grabbed hold of the fence to brace himself.
He was breathless when he was done and dragged himself up into a position that resembled vertical. His shirt was still sweaty and sticking to him, but the breeze here away from the confines of the guest house was nice and pricked the perspiration on his face to cool him down. His hands were still shaking like he had too much caffeine and his breathing was unsteady and rasping. Never in his life had he had a panic attack and he never wanted another one again. One direction was Princeton and the other was an unfamiliar town. He had no keys to any cars, so it was feet or nothing. He tried to regain his breath as he glanced one way, then the other, rubbing his palm over his stomach which was still sore from the tension.
Josh had been the only one able to give pursuit, chasing the runaway groom through the guest house and then through the grounds. Ironic given his position on marriage, but hey--he was doing this for Riley's sister, and to make sure there wasn't going to be a wedding and funeral. Riley was definitely going to kill Luke if he ever got hands on him. "Hey! Hey, boss!" Josh called as he got closer to Luke. "For a saxophonist you can run really fucking fast. I thought you'd be soft." He braced his hands on his knees as he stopped to catch his breath. "Jesus, this is why I play drums. I just have to sit there and look awesome."
Luke turned around with a frown and then shook his head. "What?" he asked, not really managing to grasp the notion of why Josh was here. "Has the bar burnt down?" he asked, putting his hand up to swipe the thick layer of sweat from his forehead.
"I don't know, in this metaphor is the bar your brain? I'm at the wedding, Jackson. Friend of the other groom and all that. And apparently the only one available to hunt you down." He held up his hands. "Not that I'm really equipped to convince you marriage is a good thing. Other than Tab seems to really love you, and apparently married sex is even hotter than normal, and there's always blow jobs in the morning."
Luke blinked, his forehead creased as he tried to latch onto Josh's sporadic train of thought. "I don't want a blow job," he said, shaking his head. "I just need to get as far away from this place as I bloody can. Tab will understand," he mumbled. At least, he really hope she would. He looked at the Princeton sign post, wondering how long it would take him to walk there.
Josh snorted. "Yeah right, and my dick's made of fucking nougat. Look, you're freaking out and I get that. I would too if it was my wedding. Thing of it is, you've got a fiancee back there who doesn't understand right now why you're trying to run away from her." He wanted to mention Riley, but figured the homicidal twin went without saying. Plus he was trying to talk Luke back to the wedding, or at least his girl. "What exactly are you trying to get away from?"
"Nothing..." Luke began. He had no clue how to answer any questions like that. "Everything. I don't know! Everything is just so fast and big. It's all twins and wedding shit! I don't know any of this. It's like, we just got engaged! Then it's all a rush because Riley and Evie want to get knocked up or whatever! And she doesn't do fucking commitment, either! She's going to realise it was a mistake and it'll be all over! It's just... none of this is me."
Josh stared at him. "Are you seriously telling me that it was so fast you never once thought to tell her no? Explain that it was too quick? If it really wasn't what you wanted, you shouldn't have let it get this far. And also? That little redhead has been bouncing around the guest house for two days. If I hear one more chorus of her 'I'm getting married, so stick that up your arse' song one more time... you won't have to worry about doing a runner because I'll kill her."
"No, I didn't fucking think, okay?!" Luke snapped, starting to pace restlessly back and forth by the gates. "I thought I was just tired or stressed or sick or anything but this! You don't know! You're the fucking epitome of sex without commitment! You're Tab with a cock!" His cell phone in his pocket started to ring but he ignored it. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He just wanted to stop feeling like a great pile of shit.
"So people keep telling me, but the way I hear it--she proposed to you. No fucking epitome of sex without commitment does that, even when they're drunk. There has to be something deep down that drives them to. Tab doesn't hide the deep down. If you even took one moment to think about that disgustingly gooey eyed look she gives you, I think you'd know that." Josh stabbed a finger in the direction of the guest house. "Look, be afraid all you want, but don't be a fucking prick about it. At least go talk to her yourself."
Luke shook his head. "She was caught up with her brother. That happens when you're a twin. She was just confused because Riley was heading towards the commitment thing," he said, folding his arms across his chest and looking down at the grass. "Which I have no problem with, but sometimes I can't see where Tab ends and Riley begins."
"Way to give your girl credit for not having her mind," Josh commented with a wry smile. "Tab doesn't strike me as someone who does something she doesn't want to do. Otherwise I'd be up there right now trying to do her regardless of Riley's promise to lynch me. No offense, mate. Just being honest. So you need to at least go and make sure I don't fuck you over. If you bail on this without a word, how do you expect for her to just go back to being your girlfriend, or something? If you even want to be with her. With them. And just a tip, but Riley's the big tall one with glasses and a dick."
Luke shook his head with a small snort of a laugh. "He would, you know. Lynch you. And it wouldn't be pretty." He pushed his hand through his hair, trying to shake the crawling, panicked feeling still creeping through him. "I just... I get one shot at this. I'm not doing it again, ever. No matter what. And it doesn't feel like it has anything to do with me. I feel totally separated from it all and I have done from day one. You know, I love that she proposed to me because I wouldn't have asked her that soon because right up until New Year, she was still in limbo about her relationship past. I wouldn't push her, but even then, I feel like I fucked up something I was supposed to do properly and right, because it happens once. I'm the guy who had to have his girlfriend propose to him and maybe that's just screwed my whole notion of marriage up somewhere along the line because I feel like I'm a step behind everyone else!"
"Oh, Christ," Josh groaned as he pushed his fingers through is hair. Now more than ever he felt ill-equipped to be dealing with this. "Look, if it's really that much of a deal for you, march up there and bloody propose to her! I'm not going to pretend to know anything about marriage, but I think the point is declaring your love for someone, and promising to stand by them no matter what. Which you've done since day one, if what Riley says is true. And sometimes it's sacrificing something for them. Like going along with a twin wedding." Josh shrugged, and shuffled his feet as he tried to work out what else to say. "He's going to lynch you too, if you don't at least go see her. She doesn't deserve to have her heart broken by a messenger."
If Luke was going to answer, he would've wasted his breath. Riley had spotted them from up the drive and swooped on them angrily. He had the front of Luke's shirt seized in his hand and pushed him up against the fence with a small growl. "Thanks, Josh," he said, even though his eyes were firmly on Luke. "You and I are going to talk, mate," he told his soon-to-be brother-in-law. "And I will hurt you if you try to screw me over without giving me the courtesy of listening."
Words: 1595 | All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe