Sidney Jenkins, Prepare to Meet God.

Sid took a deep breath in when he heard something glass breaking downstairs, got up from the couch and walked down slowly to find Mason in the kitchen, red-faced and crying, throwing cups and plates onto the floor. “Mace!” He didn’t stop, or acknowledge Sid’s existence in any way. “MASON CHRISTOPHER JENKINS! STOP IT! NOW!” If there was one thing he didn’t enjoy doing, it was yelling.

He could feel his father’s blood running through his veins. Mason did stop, turned around and looked at him, shaking. Sid approached him, keeping his distance, remembering when Mason was a toddler and would eat something that would upset his stomach and he wouldn’t let either him or Cassie hold him – they just had to stand there and watch him cry himself tired enough to fall asleep. “Mason, what’s going on?”

Mason sniffled. “Oh yeah, you wouldn’t know, would you?” He snapped. “Why the fuck would you know?”

“Hey- stop smarting off to me and stop cussing, Mace. You’re in my house and I love you, but that’s not okay. Tell me what happened.”

Mason frustradedly shook his arms up and down, like Sid should just read his mind or something.

“What happened? Why are you upset?”

“Why weren’t you there? Why haven’t you been there…for any of this?”

“Any of what, Mace?”

“You just…stroll in that house and expect everything to be okay!” His voice started shaking again. Sid pulled out a chair and sat down, focusing. “You just…you don’t consider that things aren’t okay.”

“Well I can’t know, Mason. I can’t know what’s going on with you when you don’t tell me. That’s why I constantly ask.”

He’d calmed down, it seemed, and walked forward, leaving the ceramic mess on the floor, and took a seat by Sid.

“What happened tonight, Mace?” Sid repeated calmly.

“Chloe called my phone,” he mumbled, shutting down, leaning back and crossing his arms.

“Yeah? What did she say?”

Silence. There he goes.

“Did something happen at the house, Mace? What did she say?”  Mason shook his head and Sid scooted closer.

“She said…” Sid waited, watching him. He got up, stepping over the glass, and poured him a glass of soy milk. Mason took a few sips and a deep breath.

“Mom was crying tonight and he was yelling…but…uh…she didn’t leave her room. She just heard things.”

“Does that happen a lot?” Mason shrugged his shoulders.

“Sometimes. Usually after one of the exchanges happens, after you leave.”

“Was Chloe okay when she called, Mason?”

“I think so…”

“Okay. Listen. I love you guys more than anything, Mace. I do. I really do.” Mason shifted and Sid paused. “What?”

“Well you give me that speech a lot, it’s just…” Sid, again, had to remind himself he was dealing with an extremely smart ten year old.

“It’s just what? I don’t hand out the word easy. Not to anyone.”

“Well…I mean…you weren’t supposed to have me.”

“What…what do you mean by that?”

“Chloe told me that I was a mistake- like, that you guys didn’t really want me.”

“No – Mace- you weren’t a mistake. You weren’t planned…”

“You and Mom weren’t even together.”

“Right…” Don’t go farther, Mason, he begged. I am not discussing my sex life with you.

“And she got pregnant and…I dunno. You guys were fine with just having Chloe.”

“Mason, you weren’t planned. That doesn’t mean we didn’t want you. Lots of babies aren’t planned- that’s kinda how sex works, no matter what. But we absolutely wanted you.”

”Yeah? Then why did Chloe say you didn’t see me much until way after I was born?”

“It’s complicated, Mace. As soon as I could, I was there, and I’m not gonna stop. Are you doubting that we love you? That we’re happy you’re our son?”

He shrugged. Sid waited.

“I dunno, it just kinda seems you’d want someone else.”

Sid stood up, walked over and leaned down. He scruffed Mason’s hair and kissed the top of his head.

“I don’t want anyone else for my son, Mace.”

“Yeah?” he felt his son shaking so leaned down again and hugged him.

“Yep.”

“But I’m weird and we don’t have anything in common.”

“We’re gonna find things. I promise. And I like how weird you are.” He pulled back and knelt. Mason wiped his eyes off.

“Are you okay, Mace? We love you, and we’re extremely proud of you, okay? You need to know that.”

He nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

Sid got up and grabbed his phone from the counter. “Clean this up. I’m calling Tony to come watch you while I go over and see if everything is okay at home.” Grudgingly, with a sigh, Mason got up and walked out for the broom. Tony picked up on the second ring.
”Ellllo?”

“Hey, Tone. Uh, can you watch Mace for me on, like, really short notice?”

“Uhhh I think so, why? What’s up?”

“Something’s wrong at Cassie’s place and I don’t want to leave him alone tonight.” He gave Mason a thumb’s up after he cleaned and watched him walk upstairs. “You can just watch telly and pig out if you want – I think he’s going to bed. I just…you know.”

“Sure. I’ll be over in ten.”

Tony came in, and Sid yelled upstairs that he’d be home soon, and he went over to Cassie’s place, knocking a couple times before Daryl opening the door. Well, how awkward is this.

“Uh…yeah?” Hey, Bud, thought Sid. Last I heard you guys are getting a divorce so you have just as much of a right to be here as I do. Maybe less. My kids live here. Yours don’t. Fuck off.

“I need to see Cassie,” Sid said in his best no-bullshit tone.

“Hey, Sid,” Cassie’s voice came out from behind Daryl. “He was just leaving.”

On cue, Daryl put his hands in his pockets, abandoned his protecting-my-turf act, and walked out. 

Cassie’s back was already turned when Sid walked in and closed the door behind him. “Mason told me something happened….” He put his hands on her shoulder and she flinched away from him.

“Are you okay, Cass?”

Cassie walked away, still not facing him, and went to the kitchen. He followed.

“Don’t worry about it Sid…I’m getting a restraining order and he’s moving out.”

He sat down. “Okay…so…something…” Cassie turned around and put a mug of tea on the table, a bruise forming on her face already.

“Holy shit!” He got up but she pushed him away again. He took the hint and sat down, sipped on her tea. She sat across from him and, after a few minutes of silence, Sid reached out again to squeeze her hand.

“I’m proud of you, Cassie.”

She half-smiled and looked at her feet. “I’m gonna go check in Chloe, alright?” She nodded, and he got up, kissed her forehead, and walked down the hallway.

“Hey Chlo? It’s me.”

“Come in Dad…”

Sid walked in to find her curled up on the bed, tapping on her laptop. He barely got to say hi before his phone rang. It was Tony, so he picked it up.

“Hey, Sid, can you come home? Something’s wrong with Mason.”

Sid closed his eyes, and knew nothing at that moment but Tony’s lips ontop of his, his hands travelling from his shoulders to his stomach. Nothing existed at that point – not the rain pelting against the window, the dinner party going on downstairs, the sheets that Sid needed to wash. Nothing at all – just Tony’s lips ontop of his. This was perfect, and Sid didn’t want to go into why. He only knew Tony couldn’t leave, couldn’t lift himself up off of him even if he was just going to lay beside him. He wrapped his arms around him to pull him down more firmly.

Don’t get up. Don’t leave. Tony only took his mouth off of Sid’s for a moment. ‘Let’s get rid of this dreadful thing…’ he murmured, and Sid just watched as he pulled the beanie off of his head, ran his hands through his hair, and then the glasses. “That’s better,” he said, setting them neatly on the bedside table. “Shut up,” replied Sid and pulled him down into a kiss again.

A group of people laughed loudly downstairs as Tony’s hands travelled down Sid’s stomach and the kiss slowed to a stop as Tony put his hands on Sid’s belt. Sid nodded and kissed him again, and oh God, oh God that felt good, he tried not to moan as his belt-buckle and zipper came undone and Tony’s hand felt it’s way into his briefs. “All those years fuckin’ teasing me in the locker room, fucking liar…” Sid murmured as he began kissing his neck. Tony laughed, pulled Sid’s pants and briefs down to his knees.

Sid kicked them off.  From squirming, his shirt was up to his chest. He closed his eyes and Tony’s lips covered his again. Amazing. God, so perfect. Amazing. But he opened his eyes again, leaned down on the pillow and looked up at Tony.

 Tony. This was…As Tony began kissing him again, he started freaking out. “What was I gonna say?” Tony asked between kisses, moving his hand faster between Sid’s legs, noticing the tension building. “You have a big cock, and I think about it when I wank off?” He left the question unanswered and let Sid moan into his mouth.

 “Oh God don’t stop…please…for the love of God don’t stop what you’re doing…” to prove his desperation Sid grabbed onto Tony’s shoulders again, tighter, closed his eyes and leaned back on the pillow. A loud noise came from downstairs, a plate dropping, laughing and yelling, and Sid matched it with yelling out in orgasm, unable to help it. Tony kept his arm around Sid but reached down the side of the bed for a towel and cleaned them both up. He then continued to kiss him, but noticed a change. Sid’s breathing got lighter and lighter as they continued to kiss, until Tony noticed he wasn’t breathing very well so he got off of him. Sid got his inhaler off the bedside drawer and took it, then sat up. T

ony remained laying down, but gently scratched Sid’s back. “I like girls,” Sid stated.

“Okay. I know.”

“I like them a lot.”

“Yes. So do I.”

“So…” his voice was shaking, and if 12 years being Sid’s best friend taught Tony anything it was how to tell he was crying at all times. Sid was good at hiding.

“So…so nothing.” He moved closer.

“Tony….you…”

“We don’t have to call it anything, okay? Nothing at all. For now it can just be us laying here together…”

“We just did a lot more than that.”

Tony leaned over and placed his lip’s on Sid’s back, tracing his spine, every vertebrae sticking out beautifully.

“Holy fuck, holy fuck holy fuck….”

He was freaking out again. “Shhh…” came Tony soothingly as he lay Sid back down again, covering him up with his quilt. He lay beside him again, rubbing his shoulder. Sid stared up at the ceiling.

“I’m not ready to….”

“We don’t have to.”

“But you’re…”

“I’ve wanked off a few times before, Sid. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it.”

Sid gave a huge sigh of relief and slipped his hand inside Tony’s.

“You uh…I think you did that better than I can in all my years of practice…”

Tony laughed, squeezed the hand.

“And you kiss really well, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Will you…uh….do it again?”

Tony obliged, leaning over. While kissing Sid he unzipped his pants. “Is it okay if I…?”

Sid nodded, but tried to ignore how much he liked the sound of Tony’s moans as they kissed, how, when he moved down to kiss his neck, Tony moaned more desperately until finally, he moaned loud and pulled the towel over to himself, came into it. He tried to ignore how much he liked that, wanted him to do it again, maybe wanted to do it to him, and just pulled a breathless Tony down into another kiss.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
goodness.
WOW.

there’s this boy. i know all of the worst journal entries start this way. and i haven’t started with one for…about a year. i just went to check. it’s a good thing. boys mess things up and complicate things, what with their undeveloped brains and puberty and hormones. I know, God still loves them just as much. (But He saved Eve to be the grand finale of creation. My theory is that, secretly, yknow, he likes us more.)
  Anyhow. There’s this boy. He’s the son of my boss. Oh yeah, by the way. I got a job at a bakery. She’s a really wonderful woman to work for. All sweet and mommy-like.
Anyhow, his name is Sidney, and he comes in after school usually, about the time I get started on my shift, and eats a piece of cake while scribbling in his notebook. I hate to be all cheesy, but honestly he’s so cute. He’s got this gorgeous, long dark red hair, and he keeps it tucked into a hat (which makes him look like a ferret.) His voice.

 Sigh. Maybe it’s hard for me to get used to the accents of the West Country (which is apparently what Bristol is called. Funny. I always thought America was the West. Silly me, from Baisingstoak) but I go weak whenever he says something to me. I had to run an errand over to his house yesterday after church, before work. Completely nervous, mind.

I don’t even know why. It’s not as if I’m going to date him, right? But he opened the door and just looked at me awkwardly before asking if I wanted to come in, rather than stand there staring at him. I was then immediately met by his little brother, Mason, who was roller-skating round the house. Sid looked embarrassed by him, but he seemed to like me.

He grabbed onto my legs (he seemed to like the fabric of my dress, because until Sid proposed we go to the kitchen he didn’t let go) and said ‘Woww. You’re REALLY pretty. Do you like dinosaurs? Because I like dinosaurs.’ I said yes, and he started rattling off names and aspects of these creatures. Sid tried to get him to stop, but I waved him off and told Mason how very smart he is to know so much about dinosaurs. I miss working at the half-way house so much! I’m not quite sure, but Mason meets every criteria for autism that you can notice with social interaction.

He reminds me of my kids there. All I really wanted to do was sit on the floor with him and talk about dinosaurs, but alas, I was on an errand for work, so Sid led me to the kitchen, where we made even more awkward conversation. Finally, I got what I needed and left. I know this is a bad idea, liking him. I am trying to hold my thoughts captive, but he’s wandered into them at least 20 times uninvited today, and he’s only in one of my classes. This is not a good thing.

 Not good at all. Boys are not good. They break hearts. I’m not sure, but I don’t believe he’s a Christian. I know his best mate, Tony, is not. He’s pretty outspoken about it. So…who knows. For now, I need to stop thinking about him and just be thankful I’m here right now in the first place.

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. All I DO know is(not much) but that there’s something ABOUT this girl (Cassie) I’ve dismissed  before. I thought she was so…odd when I first met her. Different.

Weird. I don’t know. Tony made fun of her enough that I just kind of shrugged. But then she starts working for my mom at the bakery. OH GREAT. GREAT. She likes me, too.

I’m pretty sure she likes me. I don’t know. Yes, I know the I DON’T KNOWs are becoming redundant, because I can barely think enough to write right now.  She came to the house (!!!!) to get some stuff for the baker y today. That’s just how my mum runs her business, I guess.

I’ll criticize her on disorganization when I own one too. Mind, it was chaos. It’s Sunday afternoon. So that means I’m in charge of the littles. Okay, okay, we can’t call Allie a little anymore. Me and Allie were in charge of Mason.

 And…chaos. Yeah. He was having another bad day, so was running around the room like a crazy person. No, scratch that. He wasn’t running. He was roller skating. Around the room.

Which, you know, I would get killed for if mom was home. “A GIRL’S AT THE DOOR A GIRL’S AT THE DOOR A GIRL’S AT THE DOOR A GIRL’S AT THE DOOR” he screamed, you know, because he has to repeat everything four times or the world goes to crap. “SID’S GIRLFRIEND IS HERE! OOOHHH KISSY KISSY!” So, I told him to shut up and opened the door for her, and sure enough, there she was.

 And, since this is my journal and not even Tony’s going to find this out, I think I can admit something unless he decides  to hack into my computer which isn’t really outside of his character so he really…

Anyway.

Confession time.

She’s beautiful.

Like, she has the most innocent giggle.The whole time we talked (about homework and whether my mom wanted her to get sweet cream or regular butter) she kept saying ‘oh wow’ and giggling. And she took an odd fascination with Mason. Not in a ‘oh, it’s so inspiring that he has autism sob story’ kind of way. No, it’s like something in her lit up and they were equals or something. I don’t know. Either way, Mason has a new best friend. Which is good. Maybe he’ll stop calling her my girlfriend.

Overall, though, it was pretty awkward and at the time I was expecting Tony. He would’ve martyred me for hanging out with the weird Christian chick. (And not getting into her pants. If that had happened, it would’ve been okay.)

Something tells me I’m not getting into her pants, yet I haven’t dismissed her yet.

so sometimes the fiction could be interpreted as depressing. but i still like it.i’m also too lazy to break into paragraphs right now.

Set in stone

Set in stone

Set in stone

Set in stone

Sid kept writing over and over on his notebook until Tony looked over at him, having noticed the chronic frown on his face for the past week. He flicked a piece of paper at him but Sid didn’t look up. He peeked over to the notebook and furrowed his brow and the writing, then poked Sid, who just glared at him. Tony quickly wrote on the side of the notebook

What’s set in stone?

Sid didn’t write back, just scratched Tony’s writing out. The bell rang for class to be over, and everyone filed out slowly. Tony grabbed Sid on the way out. “Sid!” He looked up at him. “Oh? Hey…hey Tony.” He got back to walking.  Set in stone. It’s set in stone. The words raced through his head and he didn’t even want to stop them. “Sid…are you going to lunch?” He shook his head and went to the green, laid down by the tree everybody usually hung out at. Michelle walked up to Tony. “Do you know what’s going on with him?” He asked. Michelle shook her head. “I’m going to go talk to him, though. Something’s off. I’ve never seen him like this.”

Michelle sat by Sid on the green. He was laid out comfortably, his hair gently tousled by the wind, hands ontop of each other on his chest. He had his eyes closed but he opened one of them and peered up to her. He didn’t need to say hello. She lay down beside him comfortably and they sat comfortably for a while.

“The lights in your place didn’t go out last night,” she observed. She didn’t say anything about the yelling but it kept her up, too. Sid just shrugged. “Sid?” he looked over at her. “Are they fighting again?”

“Again, Chelle? They never stopped.”

“Yeah, but…”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Michelle.”He never called her Michelle unless he was pissed at her.

“Fine, then. We won’t talk about it.”

“You can come over tonight, though. If you want. They’re going out to a dinner party so there won’t be any yelling or broken plates.”

“Yeah? What will there be?” Sid’s haze broke and he got a smile on his face.

“Uh…me, junk food, Tales From The Dark Side marathon? What else is necessary, may I ask?” Michelle laughed. She hated that show, and he loved it. He sighed and put his hands behind his head.

“So besides the fighting…”

“Michelle…”

“Everything else is okay?”

“Yeah, of course. Why?”

“You just don’t look well, is all. You’re not yourself.” He wasn’t himself, everything wasn’t okay, and he wasn’t well, but Michelle would freak out if she knew the half of what was going on, so he just concentrated on the shape of a cloud that resembled a bong.

“I dunno, Chelle. Sid’s still in here. No alien possession here.”

“You know what I mean, wanker.” He smiled slightly.

“Yeah, I know what you mean, and I’m fine.”

“It’s…” Michelle trailed off.

“It’s what? A nice day?”

“It’s April. You know.” Sid got a horrible feeling in his stomach. Shit. He hadn’t even thought of it. Allie’s birthday was coming up. He got out his cellphone under the pretense of checking his messages, not really wanting her to know he’d forgotten the significance of this month. Two days till she was born, three days till she died. Fuck. He’d forgotten about that.

“Yeah.” He kept to himself how stupid that made him feel.

“Not an easy month and everything…”

“What the hell are you getting at?”

“It’s just that it’s fine if you’re not…okay, or something. We get it, okay?”

“It’s fine, Chelle. I’m fine. Just come over tonight.”

Sid cleaned his room, not having done so for a month, feeling accomplished. When Michelle came upstairs, let in by his parents, who were leaving, she stood in his doorway, amazed, for a few minutes before clearing her throat. He looked up at her, bottle of room cleaner and paper towel in his hand. “Oh hey – you’re early.” 

She smiled, impressed as she walked into his room. “You cleaned it. I’m literally shocked.” Even the beer cans he kept on ‘display’ on his bookshelf were gone. He’d also taken down the porn pictures off his wall, which was slightly disconcerting, despite it being a pleasant change. “No more porn on the walls.”

“Yeah. Slightly less awkward when the parents walk in now.”

“Right.” That had never mattered to him before in his life. She shrugged it off and they sat and watched. Halfway through the first half of the marathon, they heard the front door slam. Sid had his head on Michelle’s shoulder and was half sleeping but he looked up and muted the volume. Then the screaming started. Sid just sighed and turned the volume back on and up, and he felt Michelle’s hand on top of his and her lips touch the top of his head. “How many years till Uni again?” He asked, hearing something shatter downstairs. “One, Sid. Just one.” He closed his eyes and squeezed her hand. “And what’s the plan?”

“We are going to York. Together.”

“York,” he said dreamily. The television broke for commercial and he heard a slap and everything got quiet. Even Michelle jumped and Sid started on his feet. “Sid, slow down…”Michelle urged him. He ignored her and ran downstairs. She waited at the top. “What the fuck?” Sid asked as he came downstairs, not caring about whether he was allowed to swear. His dad rubbed his temples and his mom gathered her purse together and headed toward the door, which Sid blocked. His mom tried to move him. “Sidney, move. Now.” He shook his head stubbornly and tried to get her to look at him. She just grabbed his shoulder and shoved him out of the way. Sid ran out the door after her. “Mom…” he put his leg in her car door as she got into it. “Sidney please stop it.”

“Just fucking look at me Mom. Look at me.” He tipped her face up toward him with his finger and she winced and pulled away, and he caught a glimpse of the slap bruise beginning to show. He just hugged her, kneeling down on the concrete. “I’m coming back home, Sid. You’re being dramatic.” He held onto her, hoping for a confirmation.

“I’ll be there in the morning, Sid. Pancakes?” He then looked up at her.

“Deal.” 

He got up off the ground and went back inside. His dad sat on the couch.

“Sid I can-“ he just ignored him and ran upstairs to his room. Michelle sat  on the bean bag chair and he sat beside her.

“Sorry,” he murmured. She just wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. Sid sighed and leaned over onto her shoulder and turned up the TV. She rubbed his shoulders as he closed his eyes. “Fuck it…” he murmured and sat up.

“Sid you’re not okay.”

“Oh fuck off Michelle, okay? It’s my parents, not me.”

“Oh and you’re doing just fine, are you? What’s ‘set in stone’?”

“What?”

icedteaandlemoncake:

omgskins:

why skins worked - blog post

http://icedteaandlemoncake.wordpress.com/2010/07/23/why-skins-worked/

from icedteaandlemoncake

http://www.icedteaandlemoncake.wordpress.com

reblog! <3

icedteaandlemoncake:

potionsmaster:

would anyone be interested in it because there are already a bunch of skins blogs out there that are great. idk i just thought about it.

i can help out. i write skins reviews and analyses on my wordpress blog, icedteaandlemoncake.wordpress.com and i have a skins fan fiction tumblr, skinsfanfiction.tumblr.com.

Halfway up the stairs he stopped and looked at a family picture took right when Chloe got home, framed. Both of them sat on the couch leaning over Chloe in between them. Cassie’s head lay on Sid’s shoulder, and his arm around hers, both of them dozing while the baby looked up at them. Sid’s mom had gotten the shot before picking up the baby and letting them get some sleep.  He stared for a second.

He wanted to look back and say they were so happy, but they weren’t. This was the first relatively happy time their marriage had seen since shortly after their honeymoon. And things were hell. At least right now, they weren’t fighting. Who knew how long that would last? Sid looked up from the wall as Michelle  walked up to him and kissed his cheek.

 “We’re gonna go,” she said, squeezing his arm.

“Alright…thanks. And sorry. This should’ve been a fun day.” Chloe ran out and gave Michelle then Tony a hug, both of them kissing her on the forehead.

“That’s okay. It was fun for a while. Not your fault,” Tony said, tousling Chloe’s hair.  He waved goodbye to them.

“Call if you need anything at all, Sid,” Tony said as he left. Chloe yelled “BYE” enthusiastically and went back to her room. Sid groaned and walked up the stairs. The smell of pot hit him as soon as he got up the stairs. He rubbed his face with his hands.

What now, seriously? What now? He opened  the bedroom door and heard the bathwater running so he opened that door too and just leaned against the door to look at  Cassie. She had the bathwater running near full, and she was sitting in the tub, fully dressed. She had a joint in her hand, and inhaled, and then extended it to him. Sid raised his eyebrows, crossed his arms. This was a surprise. They hadn’t smoked since they found out they were pregnant, having agreed to keep it away from Chloe.

. Beside the bathtub sat a now-empty but just bought container of oreo cookies and the annihilated remains of Chloe’s birthday cupcakes. Also, a nearly empty half-gallon of milk sat on the floor. Sid scanned the room then looked back at her. She just smiled and laughed. “Oh come on – don’t be a pussy. Try it.”  What the hell.

 He walked over, took a seat by the bathtub, leaning against it, and took the offered joint. He sucked in the smoke and held it, handed it back to her. He closed his eyes- this felt amazing. He hadn’t felt the soothing touch of the smoke in his lungs unique to weed in years and he never realized how bad he missed it. “Trip down memory lane,” he said after exhaling, handing it back to her. She put the half-finished joint on the bathroom sink, splashing water on him.

He didn’t say anything, but grabbed a cupcake and licked the frosting off of it. “Doesn’t it feel nice, all of this?”

“No.”

“Oh don’t be such a downer, Sid. We’re fine. Everything is fine.”

“No it’s not. I mean…we’re fine. You and me. But everything else in this world is fucked.”

“Nope. We’re completely dandy. Today went just fine. My father didn’t hit me, or my daughter. The birthday cake that I spent all night on last night is not in a messy pile of goo on the floor. I didn’t just eat…like…10,000 calories. We’re fine. Completely fucking fine. Our daughter is five. We’re together. What the fuck else matters?”

Sid leaned his head back and she ran her hand through his hair. She didn’t stop the water when it overflowed and soaked through his shirt and pants. He didn’t either. She dropped her arm around his neck and he raised her hand to kiss it. She stroked the side of his face and moved closer to him, splashing more water overboard. She leaned on his shoulder and he closed his eyes.

“We’re fine,” he repeated.

“And dandy.”

She moved his face to the side and kissed him. He kissed back unenthusiastically.  “Wanna make another one?” She said while kissing his neck, both of them decidedly oblivious to the fact that they were flooding their own bathroom. Sid didn’t answer – he got up and sank down in the bathtub with her,  the water splashing loud. Their bodies rested against each other and pushed Cassie under, lips locked. Sid reached up with his foot, much more difficult with denim, and turned the faucet off, then got about removing Cassie’s clothing.

so instead of catching you up on all of the fan fiction i’ve ever written, i’m going to do current excerpts. less tedious.