⋆ -- moments.)

[raven,]

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____Neil pulled Magda closer, kissed her head and rubbed her shoulders. Olivia hated that. She hated that he was touching her, that he acted nice once she came around. Sneaky sod. Liv touched her temple with her middle finger in hopes of attracting attention. There were those nights when she'd be eating dinner and get a ring--a crying mess on the other end. She'd sit there, counting the things Neil had done and said that upset Magda so much. A lot of these people had Mags call them crying.
____"Oh, thanks girlie." One eye strayed from her friend. She knew her interaction with Mags unsettled Rory. "Oh?" She turned both eyes on her. "Aw, that was nice of you. Maybe we can go, I have Tuesday off--well, we'll talk about it." She looked at Neil when she said such, but her words didn't elicit much. But Mags' attention soon moved from their topic to someone--Carter. She followed up what her friend said, "Yeah. You look really good!" She smiled, caught a passing waiter and took the wine glass that sat upon it's silver platter and threw her head back in a large swallow. She lifted her eyebrows and remarked about the wine--then studied Carter with her lips parted. He was still handsome. Even when his grin faded and eyes landed on Neil. There was a silence, followed by Neil's too-smart of a remark. Her mouth dropped after he was done with the first sentence--his audacity! Olivia spun around. She opened her mouth, Mr. Harp? Shiitake mushrooms, she looked over at Magda, then closed it. Neil went off on a tangent, then pointed an accusing finger (that made Liv want to smack it) towards Carter.
____Then Kate spoke out. Olivia frowned and clutched at the wine glass. Already, a few heads turned towards the four of them and a particular voice spoke out. It was Jason. He spoke in a weary voice that didn't sound very persuading to Olivia, then he spoke about something else that rang def through her ears. She held the wine glass in her other hand and wiped off her sweaty palm, then used the same hand to take the glass and bring it to her lips. Why did she have to bring Neil? This was special. Admittedly, she was being selfish, but no one else brought guests! Yet if they did, they wouldn't be so nasty. She turned her head. "Mr. Harp my ass."
____Things were settling. But if there was any more surprise left in her, it was drained upon the sighting of Renie. She spoke about Magda and how she tore her marriage apart, then added that she hoped they were very happy together. That was an apparent lie. Olivia groaned. "It was ten frigging years ago." She huffed loudly and placed one hand on her hip, watching Madelyn come past. "We're all family here, aren't we?" Olivia pursed her lips and shrugged. That was true. They were all very close, but now there was a large rift and people were picking sides. Renie held Kate's hand for comfort and Magda watched as Carter calmly responded to Neil. Then he strode past and murmured words to Renie--Olivia was expecting a glare and screaming from the people who were on her side--but that was her bad, bad, fault. She'd keep going and keep criticizing until the whole room burst.
____It was Magda's turn as she screamed at Renie. There was a sick feeling that stirred in her gut. That she enjoyed seeing Magda tear down the other girl. Her face remained still and she bit on her tongue so she kept herself lively. Liv bit down on her tongue and looked up with round eyes. Rory. She lifted one eyebrow and gestured with her chin at the two. Neil decided to speak again. His words were tense and spring-loaded; there was something beneath the surface. She watched him intently. He was only a few inches shorter than Carter, but he still felt tall to the 5'4 girl. Then he pulled his fist back and in a flash before his hand cracked against Carter's jaw. "Oh for Pete's sake!" The words flew from her mouth before she could contain them. Liv shoved her glass towards Rory and stretched down, removed her shoe and bared her teeth. "Neil!" She held the shoe out with a shaky arm. "Knock it off! You're already an ass; I wouldn't want to be here if you've had a few drinks."

tags magda, gavin, carter, neil, rory, renie, madelyn, everyone really

[pax.]

ＨＵＧＯ ＬＥＣＴＯＲ
x ↳ ( THE BUSINESS MILLIONAIRE )xxx ( TAGGED ) GEN, EVERYONE IN THE FIGHT BASICALLY

The well dressed brunette chuckled with his drink swaying in his hand as his friend and sometimes off and on co worker Genevieve waltzed over to him from the bustling crowd. Hugo had never been one to take in the misinfortuned but yet for whatever reason gen had always struck a chord in his heart he could not help from offering her assistance from time to time when her unscheduled and hectic life needed some. He returned her beaming smile with his stark white teeth as she bubbily went on to explain her take on the night's events, "Thank you Gen, you look very well put together also," he paused for a moment to take a sip of his red wine as she herself snagged a quite large glass from one of the waitors, "You're absolutly right, everyone does seem to be here. I can say I sure can spot those that still consider their highschool time as their golden years." He laughed half heartedly, sensing her anxiety he hoped cracking a joke would make her feel more comfortable, but, a joke coming from Hugo's mouth was like a baby reciting Shakespeare's sonets. It didn't really work out, at all.

As he heard the mumblings of Gen under her breath he glanced up from his phone messages with atlas, who was telling him that he once again needed a ride to soccer tryouts tommrow, to see what the commotion was about. "Oh dear." he huffed scratching the back of his neck anxiously with his hand, the corporate world had wars of money not battles of fist and this being so, seeing such an event break out between members of his guests did nothing more to infuriote Hugo. "Hey Gen, it's okay! Stay here." Hugo spoke in repsonse to her attempt to stop the hustle, he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before he straightened his suit jacket and made his way towards the commotion. He placed his now empty wine glass on one of the passing tables. The night was still young, dinner had yet to be served and yet someone had managed to start a problem already? Hugo had hoped the rest of the pittsgurg alumni had grown out of such childish behavior. As he squeezed throigh the people, many recognizing him and trying to get out of his path he observed that the crowd had gotten larger than he had remembered and most of the commotion seemed to be coming from a small group of people. As he approached he recognized their faces from the guest list and earlier encounters but had yet to introduce himself formally this very night. Either way, it did not matter so because whether they wanted it or not they would be meeting him now.

"Excuse me?" His tone was harsh and cold as he shoved his way into the group placing his arm defensively infront of the women whose shoe was lifted high into the air with anger and faced the two men who had started the rustle, one obviously had been recently punched. He recognized the injured Carter but the other man, whose face was contorted into anger, man and stood next to Magda, was unknown to him. He turned to face the two guests who he had heard scream shouts of protest as the brawl broke out, he could recall both their names, Olivia and Rory. He nodded at them, his own way of thanking them for keeping their composure. "Stop it this instance! or I will have my security remove you both from my facility immediately" Hugo's arm rested from its defensive position as he raised his left arm in the air in the shape of a snap, ready to call upon his security should any resistance be made. "This is not a jock fight this is a dinner party and I expect my guests to behave like adults not mild mannered children." By the tone of his voice one could tell that he had given countless of speechs, for it was stoney, cold and fierce, unwavering of the validity of what he had spoken.

Hugo turned his eyes from the man and glanced behind him to see the women that stood close by him, "Magda?" he adressed her, loosening his tie with his hands in annoyance, "Is this man your guest?" His dark blue eyes flashed from the infuriated face of the man to Magda's shocked and insecure expression.

[xxxxxx]

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tags madelyn, hella open / status 'don't get me involved please' / wearing something extremely lame tbh
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crash
crasherbrandon's entire body was on fire. yesterday had been spent chasing and corralling a bunch of destructive and hyperactive little hellspawn that were way too excited for the weekend, and as a result he felt as though his spine was breaking. there were faded blue marks scattered across his ear, neck, and a bit of his cheek and jawline because nathan (his most hated, but also most loved student) decided it would just be hilarious to flick ink from his broken pen at him. in addition to this, prominent dark circles adorned the skin beneath his ever-tired ebony eyes. brandi absolutely loved his job- he wouldn't trade it for the world, really. he had a chance to influence the lives of children who might otherwise be struggling without him, the chance to mold their minds and help them develop into the big kids he knew they could be, to help them through their doubts and their playground mishaps. but that doesn't mean it doesn't take a toll on him.
crasherit was clear even upon first glance that the man had way too much on his plate. his shoulders were curled with quite possibly an even worse posture than that of an insecure teenager, and despite his young age there were already strands of silver hair easing their way in. making a living off of being a glorified babysitter (really, kindergarten teachers aren't paid nearly enough) and living on the upper level of the most sad and decrepit little rental house with his landlord, rob, jamming out all night long to aggressive speed metal wasn't the best environment for someone who was already naturally prone to stress. it had been so difficult for him to roll out of bed this morning and haul his excruciatingly sore and bruised up body into the shower. forget things as trivial as looking good, he was just trying to make sure he didn't stink up the entire building or repulse anybody with his sleepy eyes, messy hair, and coffee breath. those traits managed to find their way back to him no matter what, however, and even though he'd washed and brushed his hair this morning he still found himself having to tuck it behind his ears and run his fingers through it to keep it out of his face. tousled hair - check. brandon's addiction also drove him straight into starbucks on the way there, so coffee breath - check. and the sleepy eyes, well those had never really left in the first place. this guy was perpetually sleepy, it seemed.
crasherit took an obscene amount of psyching-up just for brandon to force himself out of the car and into the building. he knew he'd get judged- a nerd in high school, a nerd in adulthood, no husband or wife or even date to speak of, and a sweater with a red and yellow tyrannosaurus rex on it rather than some fancy suit that spoke volumes of his nonexistent wealth. to be honest? he couldn't stand anyone here. maybe it was his own bitterness and failed life that caused him to want to curl his lip at everyone, but adding a painful dose of reality to an already less than fantastic day could make anyone salty. he offered the fakest, most sugary sweet smile to the lady at the front desk as she looked up at him with a similar but much more genuine one. "brandon page?" he offered upon being asked for his name, and took the little name tag given to him (which had his senior yearbook picture on it, ew) while the woman greeted him, checked his name off, and waved him into the room. he murmured a small 'thanks' as he wandered into the ticking time bomb that was the place where everyone was meeting.
crasherat the moment nothing much seemed to be happening, but it didn't take long before he was recognized by someone- luckily it was madelyn, the sweet little artist girl, and not some tool who was more than ready to boast their accomplishments up and down the street. kind eyes were much appreciated, and a cool rush of relief washed over brandon's tense shoulders and aching back. "mads! hey, how's it going? jesus christ, you're even prettier than you were in high school." he mused, giggling lightly and nudging her chin. their conversation was cut short, however, when some sort of drama arose across the room. mads' glass of wine was promptly hefted into the teacher's hands and he blinked once or twice, as though trying to assess what had just happened. some sort of alpha dog bullcrap was going down, and an exaggerated sigh ripped itself from brandon's lungs. he dealt with enough drama between five year olds that seemed more important than this, did these people really have to ruin the reunion? with a roll of the eyes and a slump of the shoulders, mr. page brought the glass of wine to his lips and started guzzling the stuff down like a stressed out mom. is it morally unjust to drink mads' wine after she trusted him? probably. but hey, he couldn't develop a headache if he was too tipsy to tell what was even going on anymore.

[Dare,]

[[ ＣＨＡＮＣＥ ＷＨＩＴＴＡＫＥＲ // ｔｈｅ ｒｉｐｅ]]

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row[ tagged ] everyone, rory, brandon arrow [status] okay but where's the wine? arrow [location] higschool reunion party


arrowboring high school reunion party or not, chance had never been the one to decline an invite to events like these so long as they provided food and drinks. what was the harm in traveling a few minutes from his pathetic little house to spend a night with old friends he should've paid far more attention to? it'd been a challenge leaving a poor whimpering uggy, the chinese crested who'd grown into a nasty case of separation anxiety over the time chance and brandon had owned him, but a huge corporation building now run buy two of his old friends was certainly no place for the energetic little guy who found more pleasure in peeing on table cloth than anything else. this is still uggy we're speaking of, brandon is certainly energetic but he doesn't exactly get kicks out of peeing on furniture, mind you.
arrowsurprisingly enough, chance had arrived a bit earlier than most, the close distance of his house to the building minimizing travel time and allowing him to get checked in and raid most of the food supply before anyone else. as he bounced from server to server that scattered around the room, he took in the space around that had been decorated accordingly for the reunion. everything was so precise and fancy, not a single thing rushed or out of place, a cruel reminder that if he'd worked harder after high school that all of this could've been a normalcy and not a shocking surprise every time he stumbled upon table cloth that probably costed more than his own home.
arrowluxury was something chance could only fantasize about, the idea of finally making it big in a career and being able to afford a large home with functioning appliances. uggy would probably have his own room, brandon could finally get out of that ratty apartment, maybe someone would finally take him seriously, but again it was just a fantasy. nobody in their right mind could ever have such high hopes for the class clown who'd wasted his youth on partying rather than gathering his jumbled life together before it could fall further out of proportion. just the thought of how bad he'd screwed himself over made his whole body tense. what were his friends going to think of him when they realized the boy everyone had such high hopes for was the biggest flop to ever exist?
arrow"just breathe." he hissed out lowly, forcing a smile back onto his carefully toned features and finally just snagging a whole tray of food from one of the servers. if he was going to last more than a few minutes at this thing some major face stuffing was going to have to occur. chance had been in search of a glass of wine to down the delicious little treats with when rory met up at his side. rory was an incredible cartoonist struggling with family issues and always being forced to draw him in various different ways. it'd been a bit since they'd last talked, but just to see a familiar face in the sea of accumulating faces that looked nothing like his old friends was rather nice. "i just hope everyone can still keep up with me" he teased at the other man, only to fall quiet once more as all eyes shifted to a crowd of other people.
arrowit wasn't a proper high school reunion until someone got decked. chance migrated over to the commotion with the silver food tray still wrapped protectively in his arm. most of the action had fallen shy of his vision, but from scanning the shell-shocked crowd and the way everyone was gawking over carter or glaring coldly at some mystery man who appeared seething, he could only assume carter had said just a bit too much. "whoa, guys. this is a reunion, not a boxing ring. everyone go grab a drink or something and chill." he muttered out a bit louder than necessary. it seemed as if others were handling it, but he at least liked to think he could be apart of bringing in the chill vibes.
arrowbut just like that his attention had once more been lost. eyes leaving the commotion to fall upon something he'd been searching for from the start... wine. as if it were nobody's business chance slid through the middle of the crowd and passed on to the other side where he quickly scooped up a glass and pressed it to his lips without a single second of hesitation. the cool liquid poured into his mouth, a smile etching across his lips once more in satisfaction. now it was a party. he just hoped the others could calm down enough to feel the same way.
arrowwith the food tray and glass of wine now in hand, he alternated from the two. a small quiche made it's way past his lips and in the middle of chewing he found himself wandering back through the crowd over to where brandon had holed himself up with his own glass of wine. "you look like hell." chance snickered out rather bluntly, giving his best friend a little nudge before sipping down more wine. "uggy misses you, you need to come give that poor dog some love." both of the two worked and considering brandon dealt with little kids all day, it'd been a bit since he'd gotten the time to come and hang out with their shared dog. uggy was like the wedding rings of their relationship. he'd been the next step that'd ultimately sealed this brotherly bond between both party going men.

[thorne.]

Ｃ Ａ Ｒ Ｔ Ｅ Ｒ'xＲ Ａ Ｍ Ｓ Ｅ Ｙ
location at a fancy dinner partyxxxxtagged gavin, rory, chance [mentioned] ; hugo, magda

xxxxxxxx in that moment, the thirty-five year old was able to feel the impact of the punch way before the other man's fist grazed his face. call it a man's intuition or merely the utter feeling deep within his gut, but he's been in his fair share of after school rumbles to figure out the exact procedures that come to starting something violent and it all reared the same results in the end. while the situation looked almost redeemable at an earlier point within the acceptable time frame, the arrival of renie seemed to forsaken all good graces, purely due to the fact that having both her and magda in the same room always foretold certain events of misfortune. it was simply inevitable in every sense. however this time, it was somewhat his fault for picking the fight. he knew of neil's temperament - heard too many sob stories concerning the matter not to be partially familiar with it by now. even while he wasn't the one to start it, he didn't have to humor the other man in talk of his own downfall or push things to the point of exploding. after all the quiet, mundane days of being a normal, rule-abiding human-being, maybe he wanted to pick a fight that night.
xxxxxxxx either way, it was enough to earn carter a swift and abrupt punch to the jaw - yet another unanticipated ramification gathered from the down-hill course of that evening. and admittedly, the other man had an unexpectedly strong right-hook, quite sufficient in power to have his head flung to the side by the force and the man himself staggering a couple steps backwards from the impact. carter saw stars for the following few seconds, his hands quickly flying up towards his damaged jawline as the bitterly metallic taste of fresh blood splayed along his taste buds. there was a collection of gasps and surprised exclamations that echoed evenly within the gathering throng, all of which were in opposition with the injured man's angry string of profanity and outraged blasphemy.
xxxxxxxx surely, not too much worse is bound to happen at that point. and yet again there were the collective cries of protest, ones that quickly died down when the people in question realize the uselessness of their endeavor foretold. gavin, rory, chance, and even olivia. within moments, carter was able to recover enough sense to finally retaliate to the conspicuous show of emasculation. immediately, he lunged at the other man, shooting a tight fist upward towards neil's face. carter could still feel the inward rattle inside his skull from the initial batter, knowing exactly the extent of discomfort soon-to-be exerted upon him once the adrenaline died down. but he might as well take advantage of it while he still can.
xxxxxxxx he was about to lung not a moment later, making the move to tackle the other man to the ground before neil could follow through with any more physical rebuttals. however before carter was able to act, he was interrupted by the actual interference of someone. the bold individual was hugo lector, who also owns the grand title of the wealthy business man who is also the host of the dining event, and he did not look happy. in other words, their little squabble was indefinitely over, at least for that remaining epoch in which they persist in being present at the party.
xxxxxxxx immediately, carter relented, relaxing his posture into one of more formal, slightly sheepish means. "my apologies, hugo." he expressed in a slightly cracked voice after having cleared his throat. he was still visibly shaking from the encounter, fists still clenched even as he focuses on the noticeably affronted business man. the mark on his face was beginning to appear as an echoing bruise, painted in a yellowish green before it'll likely darken into purples before the next few days. he peered over at magda, suddenly grasped by a slight yet daunting feeling of guilt for the girl, for having much of the situation directed on her consciousness in quite the negative manner. he made a mental note to apologize to her personally on a later, less stressful occasion.

[wallflower.]

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ＬＯＶＥＡＢＬＥ ＬＯＳＥＲ
⋆⋆ ｒｅｎｉｅ ｐｅｔｅｒｓｏｎ
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tagged; everyone basically

xxxxxxas soon as renie had finished saying what she wanted to say, she stepped back, almost as if she was expecting the rage that had been building in magda's eyes to explode. carter started murmruing comforting things, even offering her his wine glass - which she gladly accepted, while muttering a quiet "i know, i know. i shouldn't have said anything. thank you carter" while she shook her head of loose copper curls. really, she was humiliated. she could feel the deep scarlet of her cheeks like they were almost glowing in the dim, dinner party lighting. attempting to not act like the flustered, tight-throat-and-clammy-palms fool that she felt like, renie lifted the wine glass to her lips. however before she even had a chance to swallow the wine, magda had started retaliating in her not so subtle way. the brunette's sheer tone and volume was enough to startle her, so she actually choked on her drink, making a strangled sound as she tried not to splutter. after she had recovered, magda was still hissing. as much as renie really wanted to retaliate, she forced herself to stand still, look at the floor, and grind her teeth as much as she needed to in order to hold her tongue. "okay magda. i'm sorry." the thirty five year old groaned internally at the sound of her voice apologising. at least it had a bored, detached feel to it. the whole situation was draining, and whatever fire had sparked inside her at the sight of the not so happy couple, it had been completely diminished. "why don't we stop arguing for our hots' sake? have a mini quiche. " it was meant to be a peace offering, but considering the last words sounded especially strained, she doubted she sounded sinere. renie wanted to add some snippy comment about how magda had probably already eaten her thirty calorie a day allowance on a rice cake or something, but decided against it. magda had kept her perfect figure from highschool - the flawless mean girl who seemed to have it all. and then there was the 18 year old renie: thick framed black glasses, untameable frizzy hair and eternally in dungarees. renie hated to admit to herself that she was a little jealous of her. then and now.
xxxxxxand then neil started his creepily calm, monotone act. one she remembered from years ago, it had always scared her, because it was his tell that true anger was to follow. renie jumped when his fist collided with carter's jaw. "Neil!" she screeched, glaring at him momentarily before attempting to grip carter by the arm. but the man was already retaliating, his fist colliding with neil before she had the chance to even process what was happening. her mouth fell ajar as there was a loud ( and a little satisfying) thump as carter's knuckles knocked against the other man's jaw. thankfully hugo was at the scene before there could be another round of punches thrown. renie echoed carter's apologies - even though she hadn't been included in any of the physical conflict, and then led carter to a nearby chair, throwing yet another look over her shoulder. she looked at olivia, magda and neil in turn, before uttering a scornful "wow. you haven't changed a bit." with a sigh she returned her attention to the thirty five year old before her. the disorderly gentleman behind her had probably done some damage. nothing major, but there would definitely be some bruising. inhaling sharply, renie grabbed a cloth napkin from nearby, filled it with ice from a wine bucket, and pressed it against his jawline. "that's got to hurt. this'll numb it a bit." she explained. if she was good at one thing, it was looking after people. her main speciality was animals, but humans weren't all that different. to be honest, focusing on saving his clean shaven from even worse bruising gave her an excuse to avoid all eye contact with magda. "you know, carter, you probably shouldn't have punched him back..." renie scoulded, giving a quiet tsk as she examined his yellowing knuckles. "but i'm kind of glad you did." she added quickly, attempting a wink (it looked more like an awkward grimace). "well some more ice would be great. i'll go see if they have any more in the kitchens while you try not to-" as renie had been speaking she had started walking backwards, getting up from her crouching position. of course this only resulted in yet another humiliation. renie's outrageous inch and a half heels caught in a table cloth behind her, causing the ankle to give way, which, in turn, caused a chain reaction of crashing into the same (rather disgruntled) waiter she had toppled over earlier, and then the two of them ending up as a tangle of limbs on the floor. sometime during the fall the tray had slipped from his grip, sending champagne flying. about six glasses shattered, a million sharp shards scattering along the floor, through the air. really, it was a disaster. renie shoved herself to her feet, muttering apologies to the waiter. she had landed in a few of the glass pieces, her hands were scratched, stinging, and she could see that a few of the others surrounding her hand't escaped scratches from the transparent fangs that now littered the floor. a string of curses fell from her lips.


this is so ott but we're going with it ya?? cx

[birdie,]

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xlocation reunion party, reunion bathroom.xxxxtags carter, renie, hugo. everyone.


xxxxxmagda was feeling an array of emotions at this point of the night. they were all emotions the girl, on a regular basis, avoided with a strict regimen. first fear, then guilt, and now regret. they spun about in her stomach like an awful stew.
xxxxxshe felt so small here as the words she so desperately screamed went into the air like white noise. neil wasn't listening, he wasn't going to listen, and the next thing magda saw after screaming his name was an awful blur of her boyfriend crashing to the floor--and carter's fist retracting from his face. her heart leaped high into the air just as she moved down to take hold of him, and support him with her too-thin arms. it seemed like an impossible feat, but she was doing it. and she wished she had done it sooner, maybe she could have held him back, maybe she could have stopped this.
xxxxx"neil, neil. listen to me." she spoke with serenity even though she was easily on the verge of tears. she ignored renie, she ignored the 'peace offering', she made sure to turn her head away from the girl to make it a point of letting her know that she was being ignored; that neil, the man who made them so angry with each other, was more important to her. in response, neil moved about in an attempt to remove her from him so that he could attack carter once more... because once punch was never enough. "stop it. stop. neil." she kept a low tone as he battled with her, but he didn't stop until hugo approached them with words that threatened their attendance here at this party. magda was confused why neil stopped, she knew he didn't care what hugo would do, or what any of these people would do. he was shameless. but he stopped, and that's all she wanted.
xxxxxshe continued to hold neil in her arms as if to hold him back; even if he wasn't fighting. he was unpredictable. "yes, he's with me." her voice was no longer low, instead she delivered the same level of annoyance right back at hugo. the two were at fault here, magda for bringing neil, and neil for throwing punches. but she wasn't about to apologize. apologizing was her last resort, and she wasn't quite there yet. in fact, tonight was a typical night for her and neil. she should have seen it coming. "why do you care?" she had very little room to breathe in this moment, and then she saw red. bright ruby red; and it was gushing from neil's nose in a hurry.
xxxxxmagda reacted the way anyone would to a nosebleed. she was shocked with wide eyes, and then she moved to adjust him accordingly in an attempt to help. her way of doing this was bringing neil's hands up to his face to stop the bleeding. she wasn't really sure what else to do, she was not a caregiver, but she was tired of being so damn little. "excuse us." she spoke with more than a little aggression as she practically shoved mr. hugo lector himself out of the way with a hand that was obviously shaking from this stress she was keeping hidden.
xxxxxthe crowd stared at them as they moved past, but surely enough the two made it to the men's bathroom. the same bathroom magda had no shame walking into. in fact, she walked into the place like that was where she was supposed to, and screamed at any of the occupants to leave immediately, and they did. she sat neil down on the black, glossy counter, and pushed his head up to stop the flow of blood. the bathroom was lit with little light, there was really just emphasis on the luxurious mirrors that reflected a luxurious scene. "keep your head back." magda pushed on his forehead as he tried to position his head straight back up again. he complied, and then she tugged at paper tissues to wipe the trickling blood away.
xxxxx"i should drag his ass to court." neil finally spoke out with a hoarse voice that soon evened itself out. it didn't make sense, because neil was the one who hit carter first, but magda knew neil had the lawyers to pull something awful like that. it made her sick. "you've embarrassed me enough, can't you stop?" she didn't care to look him in the eyes. she worked on cleaning his face instead. "is that all you think i do? embarrass you?" he spoke with irritation lacing his voice. it gave her a headache.
xxxxx"that seems to be your agenda for the night, yes." still no eye contact. neil sighed. "it's hard for me to be with these people, maggie. they don't think i love you. they think they know everything about you, about me, about us." he spoke softly for the first time tonight without a condescending undertone. he started to push his head back up, slowly with caution. magda pushed his head back to a slanted position. "i do love you." those were the words he followed with. "i love you so much, it hurts my head. it messes with me." his hands wrapped around her upped arms, and then he brought his head up to look at her, magda let him.
xxxxx"you're my girl." there was a long pause as his blue eyes locked on hers. she was silent, and the look on her face a little upset. but it was fading the more he spoke. "are you going to say it?" he raised his eyebrows.
xxxxxthere was another pause. magda stared at him, and he stared right back. "maggie..." he sounded disappointed, and he definitely looked the part too. "i'm your girl." she finally spoke up, but she was quiet, her eyes looked down away from him. "i can't hear you..." he moved his hand under her chin, and positioned her face so that she was looking at him. she immediately loosened up, and smiled a small smile just as a hushed laugh left her lips. "i'm your girl." her hands rested on his shoulders, and his on her lower back. "that's right, and i'm your guy. all yours. and i'm going to love you even when you're screaming at me, kicking at me..." of course he was getting into her head, that's what he did. but she didn't see it, she just laughed calmly instead. "i guess i can do the same for you." she responded while she adjusted his tie, and wiped off the remaining blood. "you ought to. everything i do, i do for you maggie. i hope you know that."
xxxxxshe pressed her forehead against his, and they kissed only briefly. magda nodded slowly. "i know that..."