Arlovasquez‌:

quinnxarchibald‌:

Quinn looked over at Ben for a moment before shaking his head. “Yeah, you make a very good point. Most people here kind of suck don’t they?” He sighed, thinking of how much time he’d spent hating how fake people were. Despite hating the facade, he couldn’t imagine leaving the way Ben or Monty had. “I dunno about screens though, it’s not the same as face to face.”

He could go on and pretend as if everything was normal. Nothing was normal between them. Nothing was normal for Ben right now anyways. Maybe this would be a good segway into what had happened and the apology that he owed Quinn. But that meant actually talking about things and Ben was not a fan of that action. “I’m assuming you heard what happened.” He blurted. Shit. “I mean what happened at the party. Not with me, particularly,” It wasn’t a big deal what had happened to him or anything. Possession was a big deal but he wanted to minimize that as much as possible around Quinn. Because Quinn seemed to have been through so much because of him already. He should’ve just apologized to Quinn. Instead, he continued to talk about phones. “I honestly think screens are taking over everyone’s lives. Have you ever seen those videos of New York back in the 80′s? No one was on their phone.”

chessieabernathy‌:

Chessie couldn’t stop herself from staring out the window – Even though the sun had gone down, the city lights made it easy enough to see how much snow was beginning to pile onto the terrace. It made her nervous, filling her with dread as she thought of how she’d have to trek through it tomorrow morning. But rather than worry about what’s to come tomorrow, she saw it sit to enjoy herself tonight. “You look like you need a drink,” She comments easily to the person next to her, smirk on her face. “What’s a party without champagne?”

He forgot how commercialized Christmas was in America. People would die to spend Christmas in the City and yet he’d pretty much rather be anywhere but here. It sucked having a guilty conscience. He preferred warmer climates now, one that didn’t require him to wear so much clothing. How did she know? He did need a drink, especially to get through this party. “A good one,” He joked. “I can’t be the only one that thinks champagne tastes pretty awful. Do you have any craft beer?”

buffy-seymour‌:

“What can I say? I like new beginnings.” There was something hopeful about New Year’s Eve and the new year. It was full of potential and hope and change. “Actually, 2018 was a very good year for me. I’m just excited for 2019 to be even better.”

"It’s not really a new beginning. Time is just a social construct. We might not even be living in the actual year 2018,” He lectured, “And there’s no way of knowing. So really can you be optimistic about a concept?”

chessieabernathy‌:

Chessie knows he’s trying to keep this casual, trying his best to push past the tension between them and have a semi-normal conversation. You could see it from a mile away. “The truth will set you free,” she comments easily, taking another puff of her cigarette. She’s unsure how to reply to him – Ben makes it sound like something mundane happened, as if he forgot King’s birthday or was late to dinner. There was no way for her to respond to his comment properly, she decided. There was no way to string together a sentence that was anything short of her telling him King was justified. “It’s not any different for how you are normally,” she finds herself tease, hoping to keep up the light and airy conversation, rather than get into the gritty details he surely wants to ask about. At the mention of O, Chessie purses her lips into a thin line for a moment, biting the inside of her cheek. “We’ve spoken,” she opens with, “It’s been… complicated. With work.” 

"That’s why I’ve never been a fan of the truth,” He joked. Was it bad or good that they could be joking together? Especially after what had happened. The big elephant in the room, or rather the air, in this case, was still there. He wanted to ask her more but knew it wasn’t his place to do so. He didn’t know her like that. “And that’s why I don’t work.” He acknowledged, “It seems too stressful.” The truth was, Ben didn’t have any skills anyways. “Do you think I’d make a good model? I know Paris pretty well.” He had no idea what being a model consisted of but he was trying to keep their conversation as light as she was. “You know if you ever need to get out of the house or whatever, you’re always welcome to give me a call. I’m usually not busy. And it’ll be a nice break for me too. O’s also pissed at me.” 

 taterodriguez‌:

With everything that had been going on in Tate’s life in the last few weeks, any excuse to drink was welcomed in fact encouraged so they weren’t spending their evening alone with a bottle of vodka at Howl.  When they received their invitation from O, it was a hard offer to turn down.  So, Tate slipped into a simple but elegant jumpsuit and threw on their favourite pair of Stuart Weitzman booties before they made their way to O’s apartment.

Upon their arrival, Tate made a beeline to the kitchen to prepare their self a double vodka soda, skipping the wine this evening and shooting straight for the hard stuff.  They were unsure of what events would unravel this evening, but Tate honestly couldn’t care less since there was free alcohol and many places for them to hide.

Instead of seeking an immediate place of refuge, Tate hoisted their self onto the counter of the island in the centre of the kitchen in attempt to remain close to the free booze.  As Tate sipped on their vodka soda, the sound of approaching footsteps went unnoticed until they heard a voice beside them.  “Oh,” Tate exclaimed.  “Didn’t think I’d see you here.”

Living with Chessie and O for the past few weeks meant that Ben was pretty familiar with the kitchen. And since he had to throw away a napkin, he figured he could do it himself. Ben stopped in his tracks when he saw Tate. He was caught off guard that someone else was in the kitchen. Nevertheless, he gave them a slight smile. 

"Surprisingly, you’re not the first person who has said that to me tonight,” Ben added with a shrug. “I’ve been crashing with O and Chessie so I know where a lot of things around here are. I even know which toilet is the best to use in the house,” He joked. “What are you doing in here? I’m honestly thinking about copying you and staying here for the rest of the party. Do you mind if I join you?”

@quinnxarchibald

The amount of guilt that Ben felt towards a certain someone was a bit overwhelming. How do you apologize for screwing your best friend over? Quinn was probably the closest friend that he had. And he ruined it, all because of the fact that he was so desperate. His ex-best friend was the reason that he was back. Thankfully, he hadn’t run into him yet. As per usual, he spoke too soon. Fuck. He wasn’t ready to face Quinn. 

He wasn’t sure if Quinn noticed him yet, but Ben didn’t want to take any chances. He tried to find a hiding place but everything was too obvious. He didn’t want to seem like he was avoiding the other man, not when that was exactly what he was doing. Ben panicked and gave Quinn a slight smile.

“Hey,” He blurted out. He wasn’t quite sure how to act. Should he act like nothing happened? He wanted to apologize but he knew that was going to be a bit hard for him. “It almost feels like old times around here.” Ben was pretty sentimental and just downright stupid sometimes. Why would he start off by saying that out of everything?

quinnxarchibald‌:

“Oh my god, I feel like I haven’t had real social interaction in, like, two weeks. How am I even supposed to talk to people anymore?” Quinn asked, shaking his head as he watched the person sit down across from him. 

Ben looked at Quinn, before turning away. “Why would you want any socialization with anyone around here?” He asked, “I feel like it never ends well.” Ben could say that from personal experience with the last two parties he had attended. “Not to mention that most socialization happens through screens nowadays.”

bishopkirbcy‌:

Glancing to Ben’s hand, Bishop moved to close the distance between, leaning in and said to him, “Go on and hit me.” Lingering a moment longer he pulled back and then just laughed. “Calm the fuck down, Shakespeare. No one here wants to hear your soliloquies. They’re of poor quality and pedantic. I’d say it was a lecture, what you just did, but you have to actually have some merit to do those, and you have none. Your hypocrisy makes me actually laugh, like dude.” Bishop followed up with a chuckle, shaking his head. Ben was doing a lot right now. The way that he shook the other man up was entertaining to him. “To clarify, I’m not talking shit on your relationship, I’m talking shit on you. You fundamentally irritate me.”

He moved back quickly. He couldn’t hit Bishop. He knew King would not be happy. Not only that, but he was a lot taller than Ben. The odds wouldn’t be in Ben’s favor. “I don’t look anything like Shakespeare. You’d know that if you paid attention in English.” For now, he’d only try to hurt his ego. “Yes, Bishop, trying to be nice to you makes me irritating. Because that makes total sense.” He replied sarcastically. “Do you do this to everyone? What’s the harm in trying to be fucking nice to you? Why is that a problem? I don’t see you crawling with friends around here.” He announced as he looked around. 

finnsmythe‌:

“I don’t doubt that. You seem pretty scrappy to me,” he grinned a little. At the suggestion of a shotgun competition, Finn laughed. “Oh my god, yes! I used to do that all the time with the guys! And I did that in college before I dropped out. You’re on. If this fucking blizzard wasn’t happening, and we’d be able to get a case of beer, we’d definitely do that!” Finn was competitive as hell, and he would do all he could to win that challenge. “Yeah, we’re a thing,” he nodded. “I’ll ask O about it. See if she’d be down.”

He wasn’t scrappy. Only he was allowed to call himself that. Or King. That was about it. “I gotta compensate for the height somehow,” He wasn’t ignorant, he knew he was pretty small. “There should always be a case of beer around or a keg. I really need to show Chessie and O how Europeans party,” He thought he was better than everyone because he spent so much time abroad. It was pretty pathetic. “Maybe we could do a bar crawl.” He considered that pretty romantic. See, romance isn’t dead.